Pak Tea House » Entries tagged with "FATA"
In Pakistan, ex-spy's killing raises questions
Published on May 03, 2010 Karin Brulliard, The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/02/AR2010050202801.html?nav=emailpage ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Shrouded in white, the spy’s bullet-riddled body was buried Sunday, and with it clues to a cloak-and-dagger mystery gripping Pakistan. The funeral was for Khalid Khawaja, 58, a former Pakistani intelligence agent who journeyed last month to the militant-controlled borderlands of North Waziristan, only to be killed by a little-known insurgent group that accused him of working for the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart. That is where this whodunit becomes more of a why-done-it. Khawaja placed himself solidly in the anti-American, pro-Taliban camp. So did his traveling companion, a fellow ex-spy and U.S- trained Taliban architect with the nom de guerre Colonel Imam. “How could the mujaheddin kill their supporter?” asked Mohammed Zahid, 45, an engineer who was among a modest crowd … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, Islamabad, Pakistan, Politics, Punjab, Punjabi, Religion, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, violence
We Shall Overrun: The Young, Urban, Middle Class Pakistani Manifesto
By Nadeem F. Paracha http://blog.dawn.com/2010/03/20/we-shall-overrun/ 1. Asif Ali Zardari is the devil incarnate. 2. The Pakistan Army is the saviour. 3. The Taliban are resisting American imperialism. 4. We hate American foreign policy unless it suits us. We are against American imperialism if it means we have to ditch the Taliban as that would be against the aspirations of our founding father, Mohammed Bin Qasim. We will no longer shop at Marks and Spencer because they are somehow connected to Israel. However, that does not mean we will switch off our computers and cell phones whose chip technology has been made possible due to major contributions from Israeli scientists. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, Benazir Bhutto, Democracy, FATA, Humor, India, Iran, Islam, Islamabad, Pakistan, Punjab, Punjabi, Religion, Taliban, USA, Writers, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Zardari
Our Internal Demons
By Adnan Syed It has been 30 years since Pakistan took the fateful steps of sponsoring the Jihad on a state level. The fight against the Russian aggression in Afghanistan was probably justified. It was a blatant attack on a sovereign nation by a teetering super power. However when Pakistan went on to label the fight as a state sponsored Jihad, flock of die hard Islamists started congregating in Pakistan to fight the godless communists. This was precisely the turning point in Pakistani history when all the internal confusion of Pakistan’s relationship with Islam translated into a thoughtless action by the state that still haunts us to this day. We can blame General Zia-ul-Haq or Jamaat-e-Islami, or our dreaded indescribable “establishment” for pointing out the path of state sponsored armed Jihad. General … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Benazir Bhutto, Constitution, Democracy, FATA, Islamabad, Jinnah, Justice, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, Pakistan, psychology, Religion, secular Pakistan, state, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism
Pakistan Weighs Attack on Militant Lair
By SABRINA TAVERNISE, CARLOTTA GALL and ISMAIL KHAN Published in The New York Times: April 29, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/world/asia/30pstan.html?hp ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani military, long reluctant to heed American urging that it attack Pakistani militant groups in their main base in North Waziristan, is coming around to the idea that it must do so, in its own interests. Western officials have long believed that North Waziristan is the single most important haven for militants with Al Qaeda and the Taliban fighting American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan has nurtured militant groups in the area for years in order to exert influence beyond its borders. The developing shift in thinking — described in recent interviews with Western diplomats and Pakistani security officials — represents a significant change for Pakistan’s military, which has moved against Taliban … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, India, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, USA
Pakistan: Clear and present danger
Raza Rumi If the parliament and judiciary want to continue exercising their newfound powers, they have no option but to act strictly within the framework of the Pakistani Constitution Pakistan is a surreal country. Only here we have long, protracted struggles for democracy and only here we are almost always ready to scuttle democracy. Perhaps Iskander Mirza was not all too wrong while making the assessment that democracy does not suit the genius of our people. An added qualification is that it does not suit the genius of the elites, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Constitution, human rights, Judiciary, Justice, Law, lawyers movement, Media, minorities, Pakistan, Politics, public policy, Rights, secular Pakistan, Society, state
The More Things Change…
…the more they remain the same The ISI – a proxy for the Army, since Z.A.Bhutto’s creation of ISI’s infamous Political Cell – seems to be making it clear that it (too) is beyond accountability. After Malik Qayyum tried to show he still had some nuisance value by declaring to Hamid Mir that ‘a former head of a powerful intelligence agency had confirmed to him that (the missing person) Mr Janjua was dead’, there were news items about the police (possibly) investigating a handful of former and serving intelligence and army officers in relation to missing persons. Mrs Amina Janjua promptly responded to the possible muddying of the intelligence agency’s name by writing to The News. She declares in this letter that she does not seek investigation against any ‘valuable’ national agency … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, Citizens, Democracy, human rights, journalism, Judiciary, Justice, Pakistan, Taliban, USA
Terrorism in Pakistan: 2009
Total Terror Attacks in 2009: 87 No. of People Died: 1,204 (approximately) No. of People Injured: 2,843 (approximately) Summary: On an average 7.25 terror attacks per month On an average 14 people died per terror attack On an average 42 people injured per terror attack … Read entire article »
The Sre Vala Killings
The weekend killings of scores of villagers in Sre Vala shows the dark side of the war, where up to 75 innocent Pakistani villagers were mistakenly killed. War is an ugly phenomenon, and as much as we despise the loss of innocent lives, unintentional civilian casualties do happen. Yet limiting the civilian bystander casualties to the minimum is what will define the success or failure of the operation being waged by the Pakistan Army. The war will be won less with the boots and more with the realization that what Pakistan offers is a far superior alternative to the nihilistic Jihadis that were planning to conquer Pakistan. In the Khyber bombings, 75 innocents died due to a massive intelligence failure. Families and children died when the army that they support, dropped bombs on … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Army, FATA, human rights, Rights, state, Taliban, Terrorism, violence, war
Pakistan's Silent Surge
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mr. Shah Mahmood Qureshi talked with The Newsweek about operation against the Taliban, drone strikes and their effectiveness, as well as the new round of strategic dialogue with the United States. The interview is a pleasant read, and Mr. Qureshi comes across as diplomatic yet candidly clear in his message. His assertion that Pakistan only started winning the war when Pakistani took ownership of the war is quite possibly the single most important determinant why the tables finally turned in this conflict. He uses the term the Silent Surge to describe Pakistan’s Army drive to root out the militants from FATA area. We can all agree that Pakistan’s silent surge is working; though it took thousands of civilian and military lives before Pakistan finally started getting an upper hand … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Democracy, FATA, India, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Taliban, USA
Engaging Pakistan
Cross-post from Frontline, Feb 27 – Mar 12, 2010 By Praful Bidwai India must open a broad-horizon dialogue with Pakistan on all issues including Afghanistan to achieve real progress in bilateral relations. As New Delhi and Islamabad prepare to resume their bilateral dialogue, India’s policy towards its western neighbourhood faces an unprecedented challenge. How India crafts its response to the complex and rapidly changing situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan will influence to a major extent the fate of one of the most volatile regions of the world, indeed a part of the crucible in which global history is being made. Rising to the challenge demands a radical reorientat ion of some of the fundamental premises and priorities of India’s foreign policy. Consider Afghanistan first. A major shift is taking place in the balance of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, India, Pakistan
The Economist: Pakistan's role in Afghanistan
The Economist Print Edition, March 18, 2010 A HIGH-LEVEL delegation of Pakistanis is due to sweep into Washington for the restart on March 24th of a “strategic dialogue” with America. The Pakistanis have muscled their way to the table for what looks like a planning session for the endgame in Afghanistan. The recent arrest of the Taliban’s deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and a clutch of his high-ranking comrades, has won them a seat. The Pakistani team, led by the foreign minister, will include both the army chief and the head of the army’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). America has upgraded its own representation at the talks, last held in mid-2008, from deputy-secretary to secretary-of-state level. The dialogue is supposed to cover the gamut of bilateral issues, including help … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Democracy, FATA, Great game, India, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, USA
Now India and Pakistan Can Get Down to Business
High-level talks in February, billed by some as a failure, actually set the stage for progress. WSJ Op-ed by Najam Sethi, 07 March 2010 On initial appearances, the first high-level bilateral talks between India and Pakistan since November 2008 weren’t a success. When the two foreign secretaries convened in New Delhi on Feb. 25, at times it was as if they were at different meetings. The Indians tried to focus on terrorism sponsored from within Pakistan, while the Pakistanis wanted a broader dialogue. In the end, there was no noteworthy result. But appearances in this case are deceiving. This meeting is likely to prove more successful than many expect. That’s because interests on both sides are at last correctly aligned to give talks a shot at success. For India, it has been a … Read entire article »
The Year of the Drone, by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann
We are reproducing an important paper on the drone attacks in Pakistan. This report analyzes the numbers behind the drone attack casualties. This paper further discusses the drone policy implications for the US, Pakistan as well as for the Taliban. I encourage you to visit the New America website for full report with various graphs, further statistics and footnotes that give important details behind the information given in this paper (AZW) Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative Policy Paper The Year of the Drone An Analysis of U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004-2010 Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann February 24, 2010 For full report please go to http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/the_year_of_the_drone Our study shows that the 114 reported drone strikes in northwest Pakistan from 2004 to the present have killed between 830 and 1,210 individuals, of whom around 550 to 850 were described as … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, FATA, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism, USA
Speculation surrounds Pak arrests of Taliban
Junaid: Rumors are flying that Pakistan’s arrests of Taliban leaders may signal secret negotiations. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4863 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, Great game, Islamabad, Pakistan, Peshawar, state, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism, USA, war
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