Defining Moment for Pakistan's media and the military establishment !

Pakistani journalists' Syed Saleem Shahzad killing has changed Pakistan and its media. This sole event has brought Pakistan's media and the military establishment at loggerheads putting the military on the defensive for the first time in the history of the country.

“I have never worked for any well-funded international news organizations. Nor have I worked for the mainstream national media. My affiliations have always remained with alternative media outlets. This has left me with narrow options and very little space to move around in. Those who loom large on the political horizon by and large target mainstream information outlets and well-financed news organizations for the launch of their media campaigns, interviews and/or disclosures. Alternative media persons need to work twice as hard as others to draw their attention…,” wrote Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who was tortured to death, in the preface to his book Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 that hit the stands just 10 days before his brutalised body was fished out of a canal.

But in death, Shahzad — who was the Pakistan bureau chief of the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online — has turned out to be a game-changer in a country where journalists are often part of the collateral damage in the war on terror. Before his body was found on May 31, over 70 journalists had been killed in the country since 2000. And, in the fortnight after his end, at least three journalists have been killed — two while reporting a blast in Peshawar and a third in mob violence outside the Multan Press Club.

While some of these journalists killed in the line of duty were victims of targeted attacks, Shahzad's case shook media honchos to the core. Top guns of the industry — seldom seen in protest meetings over attacks on freedom of expression and minorities — took to the streets; rubbing shoulders with lesser mortals in the profession and, more importantly, began openly questioning the feared Inter Services Intelligence by name.

Had Shahzad been killed at any other time, the volte face by some of the media bigwigs would not have been so evident. But, Shahzad died at the end of a month which began with the U.S. raid in Abbottabad to take out al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and terrorists laying siege of a naval airbase for 17 hours three weeks later.

After the initial loss for words at these show-stopping events, the media — particularly, the mood-setting television news networks — stuck to the all-too-familiar narrative on security-related matters; pedalling conspiracy theories that sought to put the blame outside Pakistan. Of course, there were some notable exceptions who questioned the country's strategic policy that has harmed Pakistan most than any other country and called for introspection, especially by the military which has shaped not just the nation's history but also its thinking. But the mainstream narrative focussed on the U.S.' violation of Pakistani sovereignty in the Abbottabad raid and the “outside hand” in the “PNS Mehran” attack; prompting columnist Ayaz Amir to write: “Islam is not the state religion of Pakistan, denial is. And our national emblem should be the ostrich, given our proclivity to bury our heads in the sand and not see the landscape around us as it is.”

Shahzad changed that. Known to have contacts within terror networks and intelligence agencies, the unsaid view is that he had crossed some “red lines.” What these lines were or who drew them will probably never be known — given the track record of enquiries in Pakistan — but it drove home the fact that proximity to the security establishment does not necessarily ensure personal security.

Protest

Overnight, several prime time television anchors and columnists — known to toe a certain line — changed their tone, began asking searing questions and joined the 24-hour protest staged outside Parliament House on Wednesday to demand the setting up of a commission to enquire Shahzad's killing. Some of them did live talk shows from the site of the dharna and openly admitted that the media — which had been so supportive of the security establishment — had been forced by circumstances to turn against it.

In all this the democratically elected government got a bit of a breather for the first time since it was voted to power three years ago. The guns were trained elsewhere with even the higher judiciary coming in for some fire over the Supreme Court taking suo motu notice of actress Atiqa Odho being let off by airport authorities after detention for carrying two bottles of liquor in her luggage. What peeved a lot of people was that the Court could take notice of this but not to a petition filed in January to act against a cleric who had issued a fatwa against Asia Bibi, the Christian woman facing death sentence for blasphemy.

However, this comfort was short-lived. Though the federal government accepted journalists' demand for a commission headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge, the past-midnight decision to assign the task to Mian Saqib Nisar was taken without consulting the Chief Justice. As a result, Justice Nisar has made his acceptance conditional to approval by the Chief Justice. The Government's contention is that the law does not mandate consultation with the Chief Justice before appointing a judge of the apex court to head a commission. But, Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jehangir said, “the government just cannot disturb benches of the apex court by picking judges of its choice to head such commissions with consulting the Chief Justice.”

Given that there was an identical hiccup in the setting up of the commission to enquire into the circumstances that led to the U.S. raid in Abbottabad, the government's decision to walk the same path has led to questions about its own seriousness in getting to the truth in both instances. So much so that now the Pakistan People's Party — which has always been regarded as an anti-establishment party and one of the few that does not owe its existence to the powerful military — is being called the security establishment's bedfellow.

The China Pakistan Nexus !

China is adamant that the West "must respect" Pakistan's sovereignty.

The message was delivered during Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani's recent four-day visit to Beijing, which celebrated no less than six decades of strategic relations - involving, among other issues, nuclear collaboration and support over the ultra-sensitive Kashmir question.

The Times of India reconstructed the message as a stark warning that: "any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China."

Chinese diplomacy dwells on too much sophistication for such a crude outburst; but even enveloped in red velvet, the message - in view of the non-stop US drone war over Pakistan's tribal areas, not to mention the "get Osama" raid in Abbottabad - was indeed a bombshell.

Whatever the merit of charges that Islamabad helps some Taliban factions - such as the Haqqani network in North Waziristan - the Pakistani politico-security-military establishment has had enough of being treated by Washington as a mere satrapy, or worse, a bunch of punks.

Pakistani popular opinion, from urban centers to tribal areas, roundly abhors Washington's drone war. And even before the Navy SEALS raid to get Osama the sordid Raymond Davis case was configured as the ultimate humiliation.

Davis, a CIA asset, shot two Pakistanis dead in broad daylight in Lahore; an American "extraction team" killed another one who was trying to save Davis from arrest; and then the CIA paid blood money to finally extract Davis out of the country. Sovereignty? What sovereignty?

Strategic ports

There's frantic spin in the US especially among the right that Pakistan must be taught a lesson because it "harbors terrorists". The mighty conceptual leap would be for these righteous, misinformed, armchair warriors to advocate teaching China a lesson.

Gwadar is an ultra-strategic deepwater port in the Arabian Sea, in Pakistani Balochistan, not far from the Iranian border and only 520 km away from the hyper-strategic Strait of Hormuz. Beijing financed close to 80 per cent of the construction of the port via the China Harbor Engineering Company Group. The port is currently managed by Singapore. The lease will end soon - and it will go to China.

Islamabad now wants the Chinese to build a naval base at Gwadar. That will be a monster geopolitical earthquake in a crucial node of "Pipelineistan" as well as the New Great Game in Eurasia.

Sleepy (for now) Gwadar has been building up for years as the key node of the IP (Iran-Pakistan) pipeline, which used to be the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) or "peace" pipeline, before New Delhi got cold feet. For Washington, the prospect of a steel umbilical cord linking Iran and Pakistan has always been anathema.

What Washington wants - and has wanted badly since the Bill Clinton years - is the TAP (Trans-Afghan) pipeline, which then became TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India). Even millennial rocks in the Hindu Kush know TAP or TAPI will only be built when the war is over in Afghanistan, with the Taliban an inevitable part of the government.

In this ongoing, epic IP (or IPI) versus TAP (or TAPI) battle, what is never mentioned is that the winner after all may be... China.

New Delhi knows a pipeline crossing Afghanistan is, well, a pipe dream. But still it has not committed itself to IPI - in part because of relentless Washington pressure, in part because it does not trust Pakistan.

China, on the other hand, has already proposed itself for an IP expansion. This means that starting at Gwadar, another pipeline would be built, by the Chinese of course, crossing Balochistan and then following the Karakoram highway northwards all the way to Xinjiang, China's Far West.

Those who have already traveled the spectacular, 1,400 km-long Karakoram highway from Kashgar in Xinjiang, Western China, via the Khunjerab pass to, of all places, Abbottabad in Pakistan, know it for what it is - a graphic example of strategic Sino-Pak collaboration. Further on down the road, Beijing engineering will connect the Karakoram highway with a railway across Balochistan towards Gwadar.

Pakistanis involved with the development of Gwadar love to bill it as the new Dubai. Well, it might as well become Western Hong Kong.

No wonder Beijing's strategic analysts are tasting what could be the geopolitical equivalent of the finest shark-fin soup; the Chinese Navy positioned at the heart of the Arabian Sea, a stone's throw from the Persian Gulf; a great deal of its Middle East oil imports shipped to nearby Gwadar - and then by pipeline or railway all the way to Kashgar; and the Chinese economy profiting from extra gas supplied by Iran and, in a near future, Qatar.

Keep on truckin'

It's not only China possibly winning a crucial "Pipelineistan" chapter plus an Arabian Sea base to add to its "string of pearls" network. In terms of its AfPak vulnerability, Washington may be contemplating a triple X defeat.

For obvious reasons the Pentagon cannot use Chinese or Iranian seaports to supply no less than 100,000 US troops, 50,000 NATO troops and over 100,000 private contractors in Afghanistan - legions of mercenaries included - which dabble in over 400 military bases all across the country. Nearly 80 per cent of this monstrous quantity of supplies transit through Pakistan. And that means, essentially, Karachi.

So one cannot imagine the "kinetic military action" (White House copyright) in AfPak without a non-stop serpent of trucks leaving Karachi and entering Pakistan via Torkham or Chaman every single day.

All the stuff Kabul - and the immense Bagram Air Base close by - needs goes through Torkham, at the end of the fabled Khyber Pass. All the stuff Kandahar needs goes through Chaman, in Pakistani Balochistan, not far from Quetta, where Mullah Omar theoretically lives when he's not being pronounced dead by the Pentagon.

The Pentagon of course could rely on alternative routes such as the interminable Northern Distribution Network (NDN) from Riga in Latvia to Termez in Uzbekistan, which connects via a bridge over the Oxus to Afghanistan. But NDN is not only long but also impractical; it does not allow too much cargo; and the Uzbeks forbid the transport of lethal weapons.

As for the Manas base in Kyrgyzstan, that's only for troops coming in and out, and for storage of jet fuel.

The bottom line is that Islamabad knows the Pentagon simply cannot conduct the AfPak war without the Karachi-Torkham (300 trucks/tankers a day) and Karachi-Chaman (200 trucks/tankers a day) routes delivering like clockwork.

So if you break the balls of the Islamabad establishment to a tipping point and Taliban networks will have a free hand at attacking US/NATO convoys to Kingdom Come. Compare it with Beijing acknowledging Pakistan's "contribution and sacrifices in the war against terrorism".

On message

Beijing actively helped Islamabad's nuclear weapons program. Next August, China will launch a satellite into orbit for Pakistan. Roughly 75 per cent of Pakistan's weapons are made in China. Soon 260 Chinese fighter jets will become the core of the Pakistani Air Force.

Even before Beijing delivered the message that Pakistan's sovereignty shouldn't be messed about, the Pakistani military had already delivered their own message.

It concerned that most photographed rotor of the stealth Black Hawk helicopter that crashed beside Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. The Pakistanis threatened they would let the Chinese tinker with it - and that would certainly yield some ace reverse engineering.

It didn't happen. But still they didn't get the message in a Washington whose leeway over Islamabad is a strategic rent that goes basically to Pakistan's military. If the US congress would cut it - threats abound - there's no question Beijing would be delighted to make up the difference.

Washington may still have a sterling opportunity to get the message next month, when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meets in Astana, Kazakhstan. There's a strong possibility that Pakistan may be enthroned as a full member, upgraded from its current status of observer.

This means, in practice, Pakistan as a member of the still embryonic Asian answer to NATO. An attack on any NATO member is an attack on them all, according to its charter. The same would apply to the SCO. Ladies and gentlemen, draw your conclusions - and start dancing to the sound of the Sino-Pak shuffle.

Pakistan Army Attacks back at the MURTIDS ! Watch video !

Watch how Pakistan Army strikes back. Pakistan Army using what they call lame tactics to get the Queen Bee. God be with them and we will Inshallah defeat the Murtids.

http://sawantspeak.blogspot.com/2009/10/pak-army-torture-exposed.html

The video says it all ! Pakistan army strikes at the inner core. Get the PICTURE!

Prelude to the Attack on PNS Mehran Naval Base Karachi !

Al-Qaeda cells operating within the Navy got busted and Al-Qaeda set out to teach Pakistan Navy a lesson ! Unbelievable how Jihadi Pakistani Armed forces have become. Lets cleanse them from these forces and bring back the glory of Pakistani armed forces !

This attack is being dubbed as the turning point between the Jahidi forces in the Armed forces and Jihadi groups

Al-Qaeda carried out the brazen attack on PNS Mehran naval air station in Karachi on May 22 after talks failed between the navy and al-Qaeda over the release of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al-Qaeda links, an Asia Times Online investigation reveals.

Pakistani security forces battled for 15 hours to clear the naval base after it had been stormed by a handful of well-armed militants.

At least 10 people were killed and two United States-made P3-C
Orion surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft worth US$36 million each were destroyed before some of the attackers escaped through a cordon of thousands of armed forces.

An official statement placed the number of militants at six, with four killed and two escaping. Unofficial sources, though, claim there were 10 militants with six getting free. Asia Times Online contacts confirm that the attackers were from Ilyas Kashmiri's 313 Brigade, the operational arm of al-Qaeda.

Three attacks on navy buses in which at least nine people were killed last month were warning shots for navy officials to accept al-Qaeda's demands over the detained suspects.

The May 2 killing in Pakistan of Osama bin Laden spurred al-Qaeda groups into developing a consensus for the attack in Karachi, in part as revenge for the death of their leader and also to deal a blow to Pakistan's surveillance capacity against the Indian navy.

The deeper underlying motive, though, was a reaction to massive internal crackdowns on al-Qaeda affiliates within the navy.

Volcano of militancy
Several weeks ago, naval intelligence traced an al-Qaeda cell operating inside several navy bases in Karachi, the country's largest city and key port.

"Islamic sentiments are common in the armed forces," a senior navy official told Asia Times Online on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"We never felt threatened by that. All armed forces around the world, whether American, British or Indian, take some inspiration from religion to motivate their cadre against the enemy. Pakistan came into existence on the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations and therefore no one can separate Islam and Islamic sentiment from the armed forces of Pakistan," the official said.

"Nonetheless, we observed an uneasy grouping on different naval bases in Karachi. While nobody can obstruct armed forces personnel for rendering religious rituals or studying Islam, the grouping [we observed] was against the discipline of the armed forces. That was the beginning of an intelligence operation in the navy to check for unscrupulous activities."

The official explained the grouping was against the leadership of the armed forces and opposed to its nexus with the United States against Islamic militancy. When some messages were intercepted hinting at attacks on visiting American officials, intelligence had good reason to take action and after careful evaluation at least 10 people - mostly from the lower cadre - were arrested in a series of operations.

"That was the beginning of huge trouble," the official said.

Those arrested were held in a naval intelligence office behind the chief minister's residence in Karachi, but before proper interrogation could begin, the in-charge of the investigation received direct threats from militants who made it clear they knew where the men were being detained.

The detainees were promptly moved to a safer location, but the threats continued. Officials involved in the case believe the militants feared interrogation would lead to the arrest of more of their loyalists in the navy. The militants therefore made it clear that if those detained were not released, naval installations would be attacked.

It was clear the militants were receiving good inside information as they always knew where the suspects were being detained, indicating sizeable al-Qaeda infiltration within the navy's ranks. A senior-level naval conference was called at which an intelligence official insisted that the matter be handled with great care, otherwise the consequences could be disastrous. Everybody present agreed, and it was decided to open a line of communication with al-Qaeda.

Abdul Samad Mansoori, a former student union activist and now part of 313 brigade, who originally hailed from Karachi but now lives in the North Waziristan tribal area was approached and talks begun. Al-Qaeda demanded the immediate release of the officials without further interrogation. This was rejected.

The detainees were allowed to speak to their families and were well treated, but officials were desperate to interrogate them fully to get an idea of the strength of al-Qaeda's penetration. The militants were told that once interrogation was completed, the men would be discharged from the service and freed.

Al-Qaeda rejected these terms and expressed its displeasure with the attacks on the navy buses in April.

These incidents pointed to more than the one al-Qaeda cell intelligence had tracked in the navy. The fear now was that if the problem was not addressed, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supply lines could face a new threat. NATO convoys are routinely attacked once they begin the journey from Karachi to Afghanistan; now they could be at risk in Karachi port. Americans who often visit naval facilities in the city would also be in danger.

Therefore, another crackdown was conducted and more people were arrested. Those seized had different ethnic backgrounds. One naval commando came from South Waziristan's Mehsud tribe and was believed to have received direct instructions from Hakeemullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban). Others were from Punjab province and Karachi, the capital of Sindh province.

After Bin Laden was killed by American Navy Seals in Abbottabad, 60 kilometers north of Islamabad, militants decided the time was ripe for major action.

Within a week, insiders at PNS Mehran provided maps, pictures of different exit and entry routes taken in daylight and at night, the location of hangers and details of likely reaction from external security forces.

As a result, the militants were able to enter the heavily guarded facility where one group targeted the aircraft, a second group took on the first strike force and a third finally escaped with the others providing covering fire. Those who stayed behind were killed.

(The Journalist Saleem Shahzad who exposed the contacts between the Pakistan Navy and Al Qaeda was found dead June 1, 2011 in Gujrat. ISI is suspected of abducting him but ISI has denied the charge).

Drones or Ababeels ? God Sent ? Nothing Happens without Gods Will so Stop the Groans !

The advocates of wounded pride and injured sovereignty lose sight of the critical fact that these actors of the “Islamic internationale” who use Pakistan as a springboard of Islamic revolution the world-wide are the first and foremost violators of the country’s sovereignty.

Ever since the WikiLeaks revelation that the army chief requested for drone attacks, there are many ‘hurt’ egos and protests doing the rounds. Very few it seems are willing to take into consideration why the attacks are a timely necessity. Our current anti-drone mindset is simply strengthening the agenda of the extremists, and we should very wary of representing views that protect and serve the interests of the terrorists who are holding a gun to our future.

First, we must not lose sight of the fact that large swathes of areas in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas lie beyond the state’s control. These places remain under the control of foreign and local terrorists, who over the years have eroded the state’s writ, administration and intelligence gathering abilities by decimating maliks and political agents and heavy-handed terrorist activities all over Pakistan. As it is, years of negligence from the government has rendered Fata impoverished, shoving the people there away from the mainstream country, at times from even those who share the same culture and language in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Today, we don’t have adequate human intelligence to know what is going on our own soil. Take, for instance, the fact that the ‘rumour’ of Hakimullah Mehsud’s death in a drone attack could not be confirmed for weeks due to lack of ground intelligence; the same can be said about the mystery in which the death of Baitullah Mehsud’s was shrouded in for days.

Drones hone in the audio visual signatures of the terrorists while depending critically on real-time information about the targets from human intelligence that the US has developed. The unmanned aerial vehicles are targeting known terrorists and neutralising the existential threat to Pakistan and to the larger world. The ruthless and barbaric Baitullah Mehsud topped the long list, comprising Abu Laith al-Libi, Abu Sulayman Al-Jazairi, Hamza Rabia, Midhat Mursi, Abu Akash, Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim, Rashid Rauf, Abu Zubair al-Masri, Usama al-Kini Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. Each and every single one of them was decapitated by drone attacks.

Briefing journalists in Miranshah, General Officer Commanding 7 Division, Maj-Gen Ghayur Mehmood, who is in charge of the troops in North Waziristan, had confirmed the deaths of many ‘hard core’ elements with a sizeable number of them being foreigners. “Conceding there have been a few civilian casualties, he added the drone attacks also had social and political repercussions,” the news report read.

Without denying the collateral damage, it is also an uncomfortable truth that most of those dying in the attacks are mostly “facilitators” hiding and working for the terrorist network and not ordinary innocent victims of senseless terror attacks across the country.

It is a folly to think that terrorism can ebb with mere negotiations. The experiences in South Waziristan and Swat are enough to convince everyone of the terrorists’ duplicity when they would violate every accord and use commitments to gain time, strengthen and strike back. The destruction of schools and enforcing a primitive, alien and tribal sociology is an ugly manifestation of their ideology. But this is not to sideline the importance of negotiations which need to be conducted only from a position of strength and only at the stage when the terrorists have been rooted out so as to afford the moderates in their ranks an opportunity to join back the society and start anew.

The advocates of wounded pride and injured sovereignty lose sight of the critical fact that these actors of the “Islamic internationale” who use Pakistan as a springboard of Islamic revolution the world-wide are the first and foremost violators of the country’s sovereignty.

Many Pakistanis are confused and may be myopic, unable to differentiate between good and evil: they are tormented over the deaths of “terrorists and their facilitators” but ignore the 35,000 killed across the country for no crime of theirs. May be no fault of theirs; apparently the establishment’s ‘good and bad’ Taliban policy has backfired, as those considered assets for our foreign policy are coming to haunt us. The attack on GHQ and a host of others apparently do not seem to have convinced our security establishment of revisiting their outdated policy of harnessing the “assets”. Security analysts believe attack on PNS Mehran by well trained “fidayeen” carried signatures of such groups. It is this very mindset which has confused people to blame external forces rather than to look internally.

The drone strategy needs to be however discussed under a different light. It must be realised that the UAVs are tactical and offer short-term benefits but allows the space for intervention by local security agencies. A space that shrunk and then became non-existent over the last few years! Can anyone deny that Baitullah’s death did not provide some leverage or that Hakimullah’s death was a blow?

Would you rather have the militants culled in a remote region where the casualties from them can be contained, versus in a city such as Quetta where the US had long-held that the terrorists have moved and a strike there will increase the number of dead?

Indeed, that would result in an unacceptable greater civilian death toll causing political and civilian backlash.

We need to move on from debating whether drones are right or wrong. It is about time people come out of the injured pride and wounded sovereignty cliché prevailing these days and end the hypocrisy over drone strikes. You can’t have your cake (read “zero terrorism”) and eat it too (read “no collateral damage”). The debate has to centre on a long term counter-terrorism policy in which the security establishment willfully participates.

Pakistan in Total Disbelief on Terrorism ! When will Pakistan Transform from a Nation to a Society ?

Most Pakistanis are in disbelief and under a spell on terrorism which is wreaking havoc in their land of the pure. They cannot believe that the very Islamists they trained have turned against them ! Army officers are not following orders to kill Islamists who in this case are terrorists because they think that they might be committing a sin. The enemy within is getting stronger and a huge rift in the armed forces is brewing ! Can Pakistan leash the Islamists ?
Watch how Pakistan Army Strikes back !
href="http://sawantspeak.blogspot.com/2009/10/pak-army-torture-exposed.html">

The picture says it all - I shouldn't even write more. These Ultra Right is at it again and what they are holding on that placard is unbelievable 'Living one day like Osama bin Laden is equal to living like an army commander for 10 years'. This is the mindset and that's what Pakistan is dealing with but here is the good news- This is Pakistan's 5% and they will be routed again in the next elections. In the last elections they got less then 5% vote and all of Pakistan voted Left or Centre Right.

This is the most difficult article I have ever written. Trying to gather infomation and trying to read the mind set of the a certain Pakistani populous has been very difficult for me. Even though the people on the far right in Pakistan are like 5% but they have influenced the mind set of a major chunk of the population especially north of Pakistan. Its like a tug of war talking to them and trying to explain where I am coming from. First of all they will tear you apart if you call them on the Right. They do NOT want to be labelled right even though their mind set is like Ultra far Right(Read KKK).

Criticising even pro-violent Islamists to them is like walking on ice where they are about to push into a pitfall of Anti-Islam or Anti-Pakistan. The Ultra Right here like any where else is the custodian of the religion and the Nationalism even though in Paksistans case its the enemy within or the Islamists. Under no circumstances they will believe that 'God fearing faithful ultra right pious devout 5 times praying Mullahs' are creating havoc by training suicide bombers. NO amount of arguements is going to convince them that we really have a problem here with the pro violent Taliban, LeT etc.

Thank God for the free 90 plus channels have started to harp my tune on the enemy within. Believe me the conspiracy theorist are having a hay day here and everything in Pakistan is very coordinated and the theorists are just killing me. Everthing is America and Wests doing and even the planes that were destroyed was an American act. I was like that doesn't make sense since the US is ready to replace the planes that were destroyed in the attack at the Mehran Base.

Its like wading through a sea of conspiracy theories and then every day its a new one but the Right is not ready to believe that its the TTP bombing Pakistan. Their belief is that NO Muslim can send bombers in Pakistan to kill fellow Muslims. Its like an oxymoron for the Right.

But let us differentiate with the other 95% that do believe that we really have a problem. Pakistan has to pull up its socks and deal with terrorism with an iron fist even if that means alienating the ruthless right. We have to write off the 5% crazy mullah but we can reign in the 15% fence sitters. Fence sitters are just watching the show but sway either way either because they are poor or vulnerable. But the slide towads violence has to stopped NOW.

What needs to be done in Pakistan to tackle terrorism ?

Pakistans biggest problem is the dysfunctional Police system. 99% of Pakistanis DO NOT trust the police. The West should fund and modernize the police system in Pakistan. Imagine NYC without an effective police system and now imagine Pakistan with thousands of gun trotting Mullahs trying to impose their own misinterpreted Islmic laws. They Police in Pakistan is corrupt, ill equipped and the training does not go far enough. A new structure has to be built with forensic labs and investigators. Pakistan doesn't have an effective forensic lab to tackle crime or terrorism. Investigators need to be hired enmass to control violent crimes to control the lawlessness.

I am amazed to see how disillusioned and confused Pakistanis are about terrorism. They cannot believe that the very Taliban they nurtured with US and Saudi help would turn against Pakistan instead of India. They are waking up to a very changed scenario but most of them are in still in disbelief that the bearded, devout, 5 times a day praying pious Muslims have turned against the citadel of Islam. After talking to literally hundreds of Pakistanis during my stay here I am just dumb founded how deaf Pakistanis have become and cannot see that these Islamists are destroying Pakistan. They Taliban and other terrorist organisations regard the Pakistani army under whatever pretext their enemy number one.
History in a nut shell ::
When Zia UL Haq took over the helm of affairs in Pakistan in the late 70's he started to promote Islamists in the armed forces. The trend stopped right after he was gone but the damage had been done. There were a spate of recruitment in the low ranking soldiers at that time who have become entrenched into the armed forces. Now there are widespread claims that these Islamist soldiers challenge orders from their peers against the Talibaan and LeT etc.

Why Israel is Successful in defeating terrorism ?
Our new terrorist policy should be what Israel enacted following a spate of suicide bombing by Palestinians in mainland Israel.
As part of the 2nd Intifada, the IDF adopted a policy of house demolition of suicide bombers in response to a wave of suicide bombings. Israel justified the policy on the basis of deterrence against terrorism and eye for an eye after negotiations failed. This collective punishment turned out to be good deterrence against suicide bombers who had killed 1000's of Israelis and the houses of Israelis living in mainland Israel. This policy right or wrong turned out to be a huge success and the suicide bombing declined even before the barrier was built to keep the terrorists out.
In February 2005 Israel ordered an end to the demolition of houses for the purpose of punishing the families of suicide bombers unless there is "an extreme change in circumstances". However, house demolitions continue for other reasons. In 2010, 315 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished in East Jerusalem. 402 people have been displaced and about 1,296 people have been otherwise affected.
There has be some other punitive measures that would deter the suicide bombers, because right now it’s like a walk in the park for them with no repercussions
in the North Western, which is the epicenter of terrorism in Pakistan . Family Honor and sanctity of women are both very sacred to them and that should be used as a weapon by the ISI. A policy needs to be formulated not just against terrorists but also supporters and sympathizers of terrorists. Mass arrests and of families and detention should be organized on mass scale against the whole village that produces suicide bombers.
Madrassas :
Madrassas have biggest the migraine for peace loving Pakistanis. Madrassas or Quranic schools have become a breeding ground for terrorists and their sympathizers. Pakistan needs to come to grips with this menace this very instant to keep sanity alive. All Madrassas should be closed down for a month and cleansed and every teacher needs to be reappointed under a government scrutnized and NGO supported syllabus. All unlicensed madrassas should be banned first and later converted into a police station with a regular primary school teaching regular subjects.
All madrassa teachers should be screened and along with their students should be put under probation. That means they have to report to a probation officer every Friday to make sure they are not getting influenced or brainwashed. They should be informed about the repercussions that their families would endure in case they try an adventure.
Iron Fist :
I know these are iron fisted tactics but we really do need a tyrant to deal with these crooked terrorists. They see no mercy and we have make new rules to enforce the law. NOW is the time to set up Kangaroo courts, secret detentions centers, top secret cherry picked elite force for interrogations and an clamp down like Pakistan has never seen before. The clamp down on MQM in the 90's should look like baby talk. Pakistan really has to put its foot exactly where its mouth is.

Any thing short of these will not get us anywhere and we will reel to something like Liberia !

Guess who got arrested for the PNS Zafar Karachi attack. My greatest fears are being reinforced over and over ! NO Afia Siddiqui, thanks to her arrest in the US, was not involved this time around ! Pakistani intelligence operatives arrested a prayer leader of a seminary at Faisalabad on Friday for alleged links to the terrorist attack on a naval airbase late on Sunday night in Karachi that killed 10 security personnel, sources said.

The operatives of intelligence agencies raided the Deobandi madrassa at Siana Chak village in Faisalabad district of Punjab province and nabbed Qari Qaisar, the prayer leader, sources told PTI.

The arrest was made on the basis of information linking Qaisar to the terrorists who stormed PNS Mehran, the Pakistan Navy's main air station in Karachi.

Qaisar, who is also linked to a banned organisation, was taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation, the sources said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on PNS Mehran, saying it was carried out to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden in a US raid on May 2.

The terrorists killed 10 security personnel and destroyed two maritime surveillance aircraft during the brazen attack that embarrassed the military.

Four of the attackers were killed or blew themselves up while two more reportedly escaped.



(to be continued)

Adding another one to Osama Bin Laden Assassination Conspiracy Theories !

Why we’ll never see dead Osama bin Laden
What really happened?

Like a lot of conspiracy theories here is another regarding OBL's assassination.
But this one kinda makes sense !

In August 2010 after Pakistani authorities shared intelligence with US about the compound in Abbottabad, US after its own intelligence gathering ascertains that the compound is occupied by Osama’s children. Compound surveillance continues through the next year in anticipation of capturing Osama bin Laden.

In January 2011 the young CIA contractor who is given the charge of Pakistan Station Chief works “extra hard” to gather clandestine information related to ISI and Al Qaeda relationship.

The contractor, now infamous as Raymond Davis the “American Rambo” receives a call from one of his assets, early morning on January 27 about a high value target. But the asset refuses to lay out details on phone or to leave the Lahore city, where he had gone underground. Raymond Davis hires a rent a car and drives to Lahore, while his security detail follows him in a bullet proof Land Cruiser.

Raymond Davis is able to loose his Islamabad’s ISI “detail” by leaving in am unmarked rented car. The ISI agents falling for his trap follows the embassy’s Land Cruiser. Raymond Davis arrives at Lahore one hour earlier than his detail and meets with the asset. The asset gives him some pictures of an intelligence building at Tarbela and recording of a phone call. Listening to the phone call, Raymond Davis realizes the gold mine he had struck, and immediately calls his security detail which had also reached Lahore, knowing if ISI reaches him first, he would not leave Lahore alive.

Next hour when the security car catches up with Raymond Davis, the ISI bosses realize that Raymond Davis had given them a slip earlier in the morning and in couple of hours he did in Lahore, he might have got some important information. Resultantly, they put two contractors on his tail. Raymond Davis seeing a tail fears the worst and shoots them both in the back, at a traffic stop, without logically realizing that there was no way ISI could have known what he was holding.

His security detail which was close behind rushed to his “rescue”. However, by this time police had chased and arrested Raymond Davis, while the security Land Cruiser running over pedestrians escapes towards US consulate compound in Lahore. ISI officers quickly reach the scene and confiscating the memory sticks realize Raymond Davis has unearthed a deep secret which even their immediate bosses didn’t know about.

The sensitivity of information rattles the entire echelons of the ISI and even its own officers are sent under house arrest while the relevant cell steps forward. At that time even some of the top intelligence officers of the secretive ISI outside the relevant cell did not know that Osama bin Laden had died and his body was kept frozen at Tarbela. Young Raymond Davis had unearthed the biggest secret of the century, somehow. But now the Pandora’s Box had been opened. Pak top brass knew it had only a few days or weeks at best to capitalize Raymond Davis’ arrest before US get the intel.

In the next six weeks Pakistan plugs all leaks related to Osama’s death and makes sure that maximum gains are made for Raymond’s release. However,when Raymond Davis is released on March 16, his debriefing results in a tsunami of US policy, personal agendas and fueling of political rivalries. Everyone in the US chain of command now wanted to use the information to further personal goals from General
Petreaus to President Obama. On March 17, knowing that Pakistan had lost its trump card General Pervaiz Kayani releases a press statement in which he critically criticize drone attacks, first from him. From then on Pak Military raised its stance against drone attacks, fearing that US now might target its nuclear assets. While in USA, politics was at its full swing. General Petreaus wanted to get the buckle for Osama bin Laden’s death on his belt for his future political ambitions, while President Obama wanted the credit to help his sliding popularity. While the tussle continued, the other issue still pending was how to confirm Osama’s death.

In the next one month, nearly every week a top US official visited Pakistan, everyone meeting with General Kayani trying to convince him to hand over Osama’s body. While the stance from Pakistan remained, “Osama, Who?” It was a first in the history that so many US top officials had visited and met with a military chief of a foreign country in such a short time. Seeing nothing getting through the top military brass of Pakistan, US started a political and media campaign on the sides to put extra pressure on Pak Military.

Politics within Obama Administration was also at its full swing. Petraeus was pulling all the strings to take the credit, while trying to lay out a plan to get Osama bin Laden’s body out of Pakistan. President Obama on the other hand in one smooth move decided to “promote” Petraeus to the head of the CIA. The news got out in the first week of April that Petraeus was being transferred to the CIA. While at the main front, Obama continued to pressurize General Kayani and General Pasha and on April 5, Obama Administration submitted a report to the Congress that Pakistan government had no clear strategy to triumph over militants. Alongside the report the media campaign against Pak Military and the ISI continued.

The second week of April began with a bang for top Pak Military brass. On April 7, Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer and White House advisor wrote a report arguing that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are not only a deterrent to India but also to USA. The obvious had now become clear that Obama Administration has indirectly sent a clear threat to Pakistan’s nuclear assets. The timing of the report was perfect with Centcom Chief Gen James Mattis meeting with General Kayani next day. In the meeting General Mattis asked about Pakistan’s cooperation in capturing Osama bin Laden.

This was ironically one of typical Hollywood thriller scene. Pakistan knew that US knew that Pakistan knows that US knows that Osama is dead. But Pakistan continued the naive game of “Osama Who?” while US continued to play the game that “Osama must be captured”. General Mattis leaves with veiled threats and stresses that Pakistan must do more to against the Al Qaeda and Taliban, or indirectly saying that Osama bin Laden must be handed over.

For the ten days US waits and sees how Pakistan responds to the threats, but Pakistan acts by burying its head in the sand – see no evil, hear no evil. Obama Administration ups the ante and on April 18 on Pakistan’s Geo TV, Adm. Mike Mullen said Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence “has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani Network.That doesn’t mean everybody in the ISI, but it’s there.” Again, international media had its field day against Pakistan’s ISI and its links with Taliban.

After putting pressure on General Kayani, Adm. Mike Mullen meets with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wyne and General Kayani on April 20. Admiral Mullen again demands indirectly that Pakistan needs to help USA in locating Osama bin Laden. Pakistan’s response was again, “Osama, Who?” Admiral Mullen however, left with another threat that if they came to know about Osama bin Laden’s location they would go ahead and take unilateral action. This is the same message which President Obama repeated in his announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death, when he said, “We will take actions in Pakistan, if we knew where he was.”

In response to continued threats from USA, Pakistan starts taking back its air bases from US in an attempt to avoid launching of any operation from its own soil. As a result on April 22 the news appears that Pakistan had taken back Shamsi Airbase from CIA/US forces. While Obama Administration was piling pressure on Pakistan, General Petraeus visited Pakistan on April 26 and met with General Kayani openly asking him to hand over Osama bin Laden, otherwise get ready to face the consequences. Same day Washington also critically attacked Pakistan Army’s counter-terrorism efforts. General Petraeus left with a clear message that unless Pakistan hands over Osama, US forces would be forced to take action over Pakistani soil. Pakistani Military knowing that US knew that Osama bin Laden was dead couldn’t understand Obama Administration’s continued stance on capturing Osama bin Laden. General Petraeus left with the ultimatum that either Pakistan handed over Osama or US would get him.

Same day meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) is held at Rawalpindi, one week ahead of schedule at the Joint Staff Headquarters. The top brass discussed the Osama issue and decision is reached to work out the Obama’s strategy leading to continuous threats for capturing Osama bin Laden alive, even after knowing that he was dead. While in Pakistan intelligence community starts using all of its sources to reach to the bottom of US’ demand of capturing Osama bin Laden. On April 28 President Obama signs General Petraeus’ transfer to CIA and next day signs the orders to attack the Abbottabad compounds. Thus Osama bin Laden’s credit is assured to President Obama.

On 29 April after President Obama signed the orders to “bring back” Osama bin Laden,Pakistani security agencies get a report that another order had been signed which had authorized US forces to neutralize Pakistan’s nuclear assets, if needed. The report was nothing short of seeing a death angel for the top Pak Military brass. Seeing the imminent threat, General Kayani tried his last shot when on 30 April 2011 he clearly stated in his Youm-e-Shuhada address: “Pakistan is a peace-loving country and wants friendly relations with other countries and our every step should move towards prosperity of the people. But we will not compromise our dignity and honour for it”. However, it didn’t stop what was about to come 24 hours later.

As night fell on Sunday, 1st May four choppers from a US Afghan base at a low altitude towards its destination in Abbottabad, to the same compound where Osama’s children were in the hiding. Without any detection courtesy of their latest stealth technology and Pakistan’s outdated technology the choppers continued over the Pakistani territory. Ironically, ten years ago a Pak Air force air commodore had raised concern about the outdated radar technology citing that US or worse India could fly helicopters into the country and take out nuclear installations and in reply he was shown the boot while no upgrades to the systems were made.

Anyway, the four choppers made it to the compound in Abbottabad. It is then that PakArmy was notified that they have a choice. Either face an entire barrage of US choppers attacking Pak nuclear assets or hand over Osama’s body. In the meanwhile the small gun battle at the Abbottabad compound continued and to give the drama some authenticity the US forces torched one of their own choppers. Pressed for time a Pakistani helicopter flew from Tarbela carrying dead body of Osama bin Laden which was stored in a cold storage there. While at Abbottabad Pak Army soldiers encircle the entire area around the compound within five minutes of the start of fire fight. The firefight continued for 35 more minutes, waiting for the Pakistani helicopter. Once the Pakistani helicopter reached the compound the three US choppers and the Pakistani helicopter flew towards the Afghan border, this time without the need to fly below the radar detection altitude.

Next day, the world woke up to the news that Osama bin Laden was dead and President Obama had delivered what President Bush and Dick Cheney couldn’t. But the Pak Military brass did not wake up, because they never slept the night before.