Bleeding Pakistan, Just Listen to Condy Darling!
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Sri Lankan air force pounds LTTE position in Vavuniya
Colombo: Sri Lankan air force fighter jets today pounded an LTTE base in the island's embattled north as the government vowed to continue operations against the Tamil Tigers following the deadly rebel attack on the Anuradhapura air base that left 33 people dead.
"The Slaf targeted a LTTE location which was identified as a threat to the forward defence line at Periyathampane in Vavuniya in north," a Defence Ministry statement said here.
"The air sorties were carried out this morning following information from ground and air surveillances that were conducted for long period," it said, adding the LTTE sustained "severe" damages due to the air strike.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wicramanayake said that two MI-24 helicopters, one beach aircraft, three small pt-6 aircrafts, one K-8 aircraft and one ml helicopter were destroyed by the LTTE during their attack on the Anuradhapura air base on Monday that left 13 soldiers and 20 rebels dead.
One bell 212 aircraft was destroyed by accident near the base in which two army officers and two other officers lost their lives, Wicramanayake told Parliament.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, in a statement, said the attack on the Anuradhapura camp would not in any way upset planned military operations against the rebel positions.
At least 21 people were killed and over 20 injured when a suspected suicide bomber attacked a truck carrying security personnel and ammunition in the Swat region of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Thursday.Police in northwestern Pakistan say an explosion tore through a military truck Thursday, killing at least 30 people, mostly soldiers.The blast caused the ammunition-packed vehicle to catch fire as it traveled along a road in the remote Swat valley. At least 12 other people were wounded. It is unclear exactly what caused the explosion. Police say it was a roadside bomb. But other Pakistani officials say the cause is still being investigated.On Wednesday, the Pakistani military deployed more than 2,000 troops to combat a rise in violence by pro-Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, The US has said it is encouraging Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to work more closely with Benazir Bhutto and other moderates, even as three top Senators urged the General to ensure the safety of the former premier in the wake of the recent attempt on her life. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice while touching upon the situation in Pakistan at a US congressional hearing on wednesday, said the US hopes "there will be an effort of all moderates to be prepared for fully democratic elections to take place in the parliament in December, so that Pakistan can take that next step toward a more stable democratic environment." Senators Joseph Biden, Joseph Lieberman and Patrick Leahy meanwhile in an unusual letter to Musharraf, warned that the suicide attack on Bhutto's motorcade which killed 140 people, highlighted risks faced by all candidates in the elections.
After remaining tight-lipped for a week on Benazir Bhutto's movements following the deadly attack on her homecoming procession, her party today announced that the former premier, who is battling high fever at her residence here, would visit her hometown of Larkana on October 27 to pay respect at her father's mausoleum.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) spokesperson Sherry Rehman told reporters here that Bhutto, who escaped unhurt in the Thursday night attack that left nearly 140 people dead and hundreds injured, would travel to Larkana on October 27 and visit the tomb of her father, former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Her party has thrown a shroud of secrecy over her plans and movements since the attempt to assassinate her. She made only two brief appearances in public in the wake of the blasts -- visiting the injured in Karachi's hospital and going to the mausoleum of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, to offer prayers.
Bhutto, who returned home on October 18 from an eight-year self-imposed exile, is currently suffering from high fever and has been closeted with close aides at her residence, Bilawal house, which is heavily guarded by security personnel and PPP volunteers. She has received only a limited number of visitors, including leaders of parties like the MQM and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.
The PPP, however, said it was not satisfied with the investigation into the deadly Thursday night attack despite the removal of a top police officer whom the former Prime Minister had accused of being linked to the torture of her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, in 1999.
DIG (Investigation) Manzoor Mughal -- who, Bhutto had alleged, was present when Zardari was tortured while in police custody in 1999 for corruption charges - has been removed as the officer heading the probe into the blasts. But the PPP said it was not satisfied.
"The PPP wanted the removal of Mughal because we had reservations about his involvement in the investigation, but this is not all that we wanted," party leader Capt Waseef Syed said in Islamabad.
Mughal went on leave yesterday and was today replaced by DIG Saud Mirza, who will head a new five-member investigating team.
Noting that the PPP had not been officially informed about the status of the investigation, Syed said: "we are not satisfied as the government has not met our demand for bringing in international experts for the probe. International forensic experts should be brought in because there is too much involved in this attack which has hurt the heart of Pakistani politics."
The government has said it has no plans to rope in foreign experts as Pakistani investigators have the expertise needed to probe suicide attacks.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is warning Arab politics could become more radical unless the current window of opportunity for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking is fully exploited. At a congressional committee hearing, Rice also said the Bush administration remains committed to diplomacy in dealing with Iran's nuclear program. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.Secretary Rice defended the administration's effort to convene a Middle East peace conference as early as next month in the face of skeptical questioning from members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Rice countered that the political situation in the region is far different from the last big U.S. push for a settlement at the end of the Clinton administration, and that a major change is the growing degree of Iranian influence in the area with groups like Hamas.
She said the timing of the U.S. effort is propelled by the need to give moderate forces in the Middle East a boost and to deal a blow to extremists:
"Our concern is growing that without a serious political prospect for the Palestinians that gives to moderate leaders a horizon that they can show to their people that indeed there is a two-state solution that is possible, we will lose the window for a two-state solution, that you will see the further radicalization of Palestinian politics, of politics in the region," Rice said.
Rice said the conference, to be held in Annapolis, Maryland near Washington, will occur before the end of the year, but said she has yet to issue invitations to potential participants.
She expressed agreement with committee members that key Arab moderates like Egypt and Saudi Arabia need to participate. She said a Palestinian leader, no matter how politically strong, cannot make the compromises necessary for peace without strong Arab support.
In more than two hours of testimony, Rice also stressed the United States' continued reliance on political means to resolve the Iran nuclear issue, amid recent tough rhetoric from Vice President Dick Cheney, who said flatly earlier this week Iran will not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
In response to questioning from Democratic committee member Sheila Jackson-Lee, who called the Cheney remarks dangerous, Rice said the entire Bush administration including the vice president, believes in pursuing a diplomatic course.
"The key is that the Iranians do have to know that the international community is going to be tough, to prevent an unpalatable decision later on about an Iran armed with a nuclear weapon," she said. "And when we say consequences, we do mean that we also - while the president does not take any options off the table - we do have economic ways that we can go after this, and we are doing precisely that."
Rice said Iranian policies, on the nuclear issue, in Iraq and elsewhere, constitute perhaps the single greatest challenge to U.S. security interests worldwide.
At the same time, she said Iran is vulnerable to concerted international pressure.
She said the fact that the latest U.N. Security Council-sanctions resolution against Iran was approved unanimously stunned the Iranian leadership, and touched off an internal policy debate in Tehran that the United States would like to see continue.
"We believe this devastating attack serves as a stark reminder of the need for effective security mechanisms for the protection of all candidates and their supporters (particularly, although not exclusively, Ms. Bhutto and members of her party)..." The senators asked Musharraf to provide the level of security to Bhutto offered to any former Pakistani premier.
They also urged the General not to use security concerns as a rationale for imposing a ban on political rallies in Pakistan, and wanted a full probe into the October 18 attack. Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate. Leahy is head of Senate panel responsible for financing foreign operations.
The valley in the conservative North West Frontier Province is a stronghold of the banned radical group, Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammed, or TNSM, which has close ties to Afghanistan's Taliban militants.
Swat district is a popular tourist area located about 50 kilometers north of Peshawar, and has long been under the control of the provincial government.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf banned TNSM and jailed its founder Sufi Mohammad in 2002, after the group sent thousands of volunteers to Afghanistan to fight U.S.-led forces that ousted the country's Taliban rulers. As troops fanned out in Pakistan's north-western province to counter activities of a pro-Taliban cleric, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Images] said the main threat to the country's national security is "internal" with a handful of extremists out to disrupt law and order.
"The only solution to this problem is "to reject forces that fanned hatred, led to sectarian strife and involved extremist forces", he said addressing troops at Skardu in the Northern Areas.The beleaguered military ruler said, "The real threat to the stability of Pakistan is internal and a handful of extremists are out to disrupt law and order."
"In an Islamic society, there is no place for obscurantist elements that are trying to polarise society by creating divisions or imposing their own will," he said.
Musharraf's comments came as some 4,000 troops were deployed in Swat Valley to counter the activities of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah and his banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammedi. Fazlullah, popularly known as the 'FM Maulana' and 'Mullah Radio' for broadcasting calls for a jehad from an illegal FM radio station, and his 400 armed followers have challenged the writ of the local administration and taken over duties performed by the police.The Army said yesterday that the troops were being deployed at the request of the NWFP government to aid the local administration and to stop the cleric and his men from "terrorising" the people.Musharraf said security forces were fighting extremism along with the entire nation. He hoped the nation would "rise to the occasion and urged it to consolidate itself internally and follow the slogan 'Pakistan First'. Musharraf also said that though peace and stability is ensured by the armed forces, economic stability too plays a pivotal role for progress and prosperity.
"Due to operational readiness, high standard of training and morale of our troops, the defence of our country has become impregnable. Our strong armed forces equipped with latest conventional and non-conventional weapons are a guarantee for peace," he said.
Who Tried to Kill Benazir Bhutto?
[From: Terrorism Focus (The Jamestown Foundation, USA)
October 24, 2007 - Volume IV, Issue 34]
Benazir Bhutto, twice-elected prime minister of Pakistan and the
first woman head of a Muslim state, decided to terminate her self-
exile and return to Pakistan last week. By all accounts, more than a
million people (mostly poor and young) welcomed her enthusiastically
in the port city of Karachi on October 18. In the midst of the
celebration, the political rally was targeted by a series of suicide
attacks killing around 140 people. Bhutto and her top party leaders,
however, remained unhurt.
Who would have been the potential beneficiary of Bhutto's
elimination? Benazir Bhutto's late father, who was hanged after a
fraudulent trial in 1979 by a military junta, was the founder of the
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)—a progressive and secular political
party that emerged in 1967 and played a critical role in the ouster
of then military ruler Ayub Khan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto remained head
of the government from 1971 to 1977 and was removed from office in a
military coup led by a religious conservative, General Zia ul-Haq.
General Zia, besides his Afghan jihad affair in collaboration with
the United States in the 1980s, introduced strict and controversial
Islamic laws in the state, leading to a transformation of state
policy and society. During his time in power, Saudi-funded
seminaries mushroomed and religious political parties gained
significant government support, developing links with the army and
intelligence outfits. The products of this era further nurtured a
hatred for the PPP, as it was continuously challenging Zia's
conservative policies.
In this context, Bhutto is seen by religious extremists as someone
representing liberal and progressive forces and by default pro-
Western/American. Due to U.S. entanglement in Iraq and the
controversies relating to the war on terrorism, critical views about
U.S. policies are popular in Pakistan and the credible reports that
the U.S. played a role in bringing Musharraf and Bhutto closer have
not gone well, especially with religious conservative forces in the
country.
Before Bhutto's return, Pakistani media gave extensive coverage to a
strong threat given to Bhutto by Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader
of Waziristan closely associated with Taliban and foreign/Arab
fighters hiding in the area. He announced that his suicide bombers
were in Karachi to "welcome" Bhutto—alleging that she was returning
as part of a U.S. game plan to fight the war on terrorism (The Post,
October 13; Dawn, October 9). Bhutto responded to this threat by
arguing that Mehsud was just a pawn in a bigger conspiracy in which
the real culprits are "some retired army officers in the
establishment" (Daily Times, October 18). Interestingly, Mehsud,
after the attacks on October 18, denied that he had ever threatened
Bhutto in the first place. His denial might have had some
credibility if he had clarified his position soon after his
statement appeared in the mainstream Pakistani press on October 6.
Secondly, the mode of the suicide attack, in terms of the type of
device used and its strength, was similar to other attacks in
Islamabad and Rawalpindi in the last few months, which are believed
to be conducted by Baitullah Mehsud and his associates. In this
case, however, the face of one of the possible two bombers was found
intact and his features appear to be of a non-Pashtun (The News,
October 20, 21). It is likely that Baitullah Mehsud used some of his
comrades belonging to Punjab or Sindh provinces. It is also possible
that the bomber was associated with the Red Mosque—as Bhutto had
supported the military operation against the mosque, inviting the
ire of those associated with the religious center.
There are also rumors in Pakistan that Musharraf's major political
ally, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and his associates might have
orchestrated the attacks, as their political future would be damaged
by Bhutto's return to Pakistani politics. Musharraf, on the other
hand, benefits from Bhutto's return as her understanding with him
has provided him support at a time when he is deeply unpopular.
Additionally, it is argued that though Musharraf, Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz and Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao have all survived
assassination attempts (by suicide bombers), his chief political
allies Chaudhry Shujaat and his cousin Chaudhry Pervez Elahi have
never faced any such attack or even threat. These latter two
officials are known for their sympathies with local religious
extremists, and Chaudhry Shujaat is on record having said that "our
hearts are with Osama and brains with Musharraf" (Weekly
Independent, October 11-17, 2001).
Another plausible scenario is the possibility that former ISI
officials or rogue elements within the intelligence outfits, linked
with Taliban and other militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,
Harkat ul Jihad-e-Islami and Jaish-e-Mohammad, were involved in
orchestrating the attack. Some former ISI officials are known for
providing such "guidance" to their former clients.
Bhutto has asked Musharraf to appoint credible police officers to
pursue the investigation and also involve foreign forensic experts.
The government of Pakistan, however, has so far refused to accept
this demand, giving some credence to the view that the government
has something to hide. It is unlikely that any credible information
about the real identity of the attackers will be made available to
the Pakistani public and international community. That would not be
unprecedented, as Pakistanis are still waiting to hear who
assassinated the country's first prime minister, Liaquat ali Khan,
in 1951.
Hassan Abbas served as the Sub-Divisional Police Chief in the NWFP
from 1996-1998, and was the Deputy Director of Investigations in
Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau from 1999-2000.
If the government of the United States and its terror mechanism are to be believed, the country faces potential terrorist threats from 755,000 people at last count.
Equally, it is apparent that the threat of terror is only escalating exponentially: the list, which featured 1,000 names in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington DC, had swelled to 158,374 by June of 2004; a year later it was 287,982; and in June 2006 that number had again swelled to 525,906.
The list is used to check people entering the country through border crossings, airports and seaports.
USA Today, while reporting on the latest numbers, points out that lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that at the present rate of growth, the list will become totally valueless.
'It undermines the authority of the list,' the paper quotes Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies as saying. 'There's just no rational, reasonable estimate that there's anywhere close to that many suspected terrorists.'
The Homeland Security Committee in the Senate is chaired by Joe Libermann, a Democrat and one time aspirant for presidential honors. He tells USA Today that he plans to call a meeting to discuss the list, and points out that 'serious hurdles remain if (the list) is to be as effective as we need it to be. Some of the concerns stem from its rapid growth, which could call into question the quality of the list itself.'
The Government Accountability Office, which released its report on the list this week, says that despite there being this list, and a smaller subset called the no-fly list comprising persons not allowed to board flights bound for the US, several people on that list had in fact boarded international flights to the US in recent times.
The terror list has, over the years, become something of a joke -- literally so at times, with late night talk show hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno, and other political satirists ranging from Bill Maher to Jon Stewart, milking it for laughs.
Last year, Wired magazine mined government records to tell the story of a State Department diplomat who regularly gets hassled at airports because his name is on the terrorist list; of a technical director at a technology firm who works with the Pentagon on chemical and biological warfare defense systems and is on the list; an active duty Army officer who holds top security clearance and has served four tours of duty, including one in Afghanistan, who the list says is a suspected terrorist, and a former US Army officer and anti-terrorism expert, who finds himself on that list.
Amusingly, a Continental Airlines crew member found himself on that list, and pointed out the irony: "If I am safe enough to work on a plane then I should be fine to be a passenger sleeping."
Embarrassingly, a US Senator and his wife, who were not identified in news reports at the time, were detained at an airport because their names figured on the list of potential terrorists; in another instance, Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts was prohibited from flying because his name sparked a terror alert, as per an Associated Press report earlier this year. Apparently, the Senator's name came up on a no-fly list, while he was attempting to board a US Airways shuttle out of Washington.
Even more embarrassingly, when the Zapolskys tried to board a flight out of Dulles International, in Washington DC, their son was detained for 'further scrutiny' because his name was on the no-fly list. The son was 11 months old.
Being on the list causes problems that extend way beyond the check in counters of American airports -- in separate instances, a janitor was sacked because his name was erroneously placed on the list; various people have submitted written complaints to civil liberties unions pointing out that they have been denied home loans, and other facilities, for similar reasons.
To get off that list, you need to submit several notarized copies of their identification, following which the watchdog body will cross check their credentials and, if satisfied, issue them a letter clarifying their status.
In its story, Wired magazine pointed out that 28,000 people had filed the relevant paperwork; however, the authorities are not forthcoming about how many of these cases had been cleared.
