Imran Khan: Terror linked to Insincere Leadership

LAHORE: Chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan Thursday said elimination of terrorism, corruption and supremacy of law and order could be ensured in just 90 days only if the leadership was sincere and then no one could stop investment from flowing in, Geo News reported.

He expressed these views while addressing a seminar of International Federation of Medical Students here.

Imran Khan said PML-N and PPP’s bickering was nothing but a charade.

“An MNA alleged that ISI was behind my coming to the fore as a leader, although the nation is well aware which test-tube leader the ISI created and where that leader is these days,” he said.

Imran Khan said the Lotas (turncoats) had no ideology of their own, they can always be found trailing toward a party which is in power.

Karachi Target Killings, four arrested

KARACHI: Police parties in separate raids arrested four suspects for their alleged involvement in the acts of targeted killings and seized arms recovered from their possession, Geo News reported Wednesday.

According to police sources, police of Liaquatabad super market police in a raid station arrested two accused identified as Junaid alias Kala and Irfan alias Afoo. The were allegedly involved in the target killing of SHO Shafiq Tanoli’s brother Naveed Tanoli, police sources said.

SP Liaquatabad Town Naveed Khwaja claimed that the two arrested accused had been involved in targeted killings of 45 people in different parts of the city and that they were being further investigated.

In a separate police raid, a party activist Umair son of Fazal-e-Rabi was arrested from Muhammad Pur area of Orangi Town for his alleged involvement in several acts of target killings. Firearms were also recovered from him, police said.

According to SP Orangi Town, Khurram Waris the accused had been involved in firing on passenger busses and he was wanted in different crimes including allegedly killing seven people by opening fire on 1-D route bus.

In another raid in Mauripur, a team of CID Polices held a man named Bakht Chandio for his alleged involvement in target killings.

SP Fayyaz Khan said the accused belonged to an ethnic organization, who had been allegedly involved in recent target killings in Gulistane-e-Jauhar, illegal occupation of land and kidnappings for ransom.

MQM Most Likely Behind Target Killing: Here’s Why

These Long Wars

In this piece (4 Political Activists Gunned Down in Karachi) all the dead are listed as being either from, or related to someone from the PPP, the ANP or the JSQM. All three parties have a leftish bent, derive their base support from rural Pakistan, and have a not-insubstantial following in the cities as well. Plus all parties are known for a bit of an ethnic bent (in the JSQM’s case it’s out and out an ethnic party), with the PPP being known for having a serious Sindhi following and the ANP for representing Pashtun folk. The PPP does try its best to appeal to all of Pakistan, but faces a backlash in urban centres and suburban environs with anyone even minorly conservative.

And that backlash in Karachi is killing its workers. Who is missing from this list of the dead? What major party, known for its Karachi stronghold, doesn’t seem to have its workers dying here? Obviously, the urban, centre right, “purportedly” non-ethnic MQM. I seriously doubt that ANP members are gunning for PPP people. Or that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi or the Pakistani Taliban would waste their meagre and hunted resources in Karachi, wreaking vengeance on their old ANP foe.

The article is missing any references to the MQM. The Dawn newspaper has a policy of simply boycotting coverage of the MQM, unless another party mentions it. Ergo, we are left with only one culprit hunting down rival parties members all over Karachi.

Of course the last question is, why? Why is the MQM hunting members of opposing parties? Two old reasons and a surprising new one. Firstly there is the old segueway of political partywork connecting sometimes seamlessly into the criminal underground. There is a fight over the spoils of that. Secondly, the Musharraf dictatorship kept the city quiet by reading the MQM the riot act. The Musharraf dictatorship could use the stick of the Karachi Corps Command to whack anyone who decided to raise a ruckus in the country’s major port city. But the present government either does not trust the military, is not trusted by the army, worries that if it unleashed the army, collateral damage might occur where the army goes after those it has been aching in Karachi to harm and the ensuing collateral damage would be left strewn around the civilian governments neck. The fight for black and grey resources, and deep tensions over the use of the military to suppress the killings are two reasons why these killings continue.

But a new reason may simply be, that the left(ish) parties star may be rising. That parties like the PPP, ANP and JSQM may be gaining a filip because the poor labourers who a generation ago voted for them, now have educated children who want to go up in the world, recognise these parties as a ready made vehicle to work from their own ethnic perspective and wish to use them to improve their own position. The MQM has its own children who want to rise, but whereas a generation ago it was the MQM’s cadres that could boast of being “educated” (completing high school, gaining some college education, completing bachelors) a new multi-ethnic “educated” generation has come about in Karachi, one where ethnicity is not considered a great barrier to being called “educated”. The desire for upward mobility is no longer the sole prerogrative of the Muhajir working and middle class. Its spread across ethnic lines to many children of Karachi, who’s families could a generation ago be described as “rural” when they arrived in the city.

So the younger, more desperate have linked up with these national and nationalist parties, the fight for control over Karachi’s resources has gotten more desperate, and the desire to make something of oneself manifests itself in greater, more reckless displays of political bravery. And the aging youth (pretty soon aging men) of the MQM, find themselves having to face a tide of younger and possibly hungrier kids. The children don’t have martial co-ordination as good as the MQM, so they find themselves more the hunted, than the hunter in these targetted killings. And why should the ANP, PPP and JSQM have better internal co-ordination than the MQM? They’ve demonstrated their lack of capacity to respond effectively or demonstrably whilst in government. So the MQM can continue sending out bullet ridden messages to workers of rival parties.

And what does our government do, in a situation that can only be described as a rising tide? One in this case of human blood and not salt water
At the central police office, it sets up a “special cell”, which, “has been recently set up on the chief minister`s directives to keep the exact record of targeted killings in an effort to prevent misreporting of the incidents in the print and electronic media.”

Our government decides to just sit at home and count the bodies.

Which considering the past behaviour of our government, seems quite apt.

Weary of US, Pakistan moves closer to China

ISLAMABAD – With no end in sight to serious differences with the US, Pakistan is moving closer towards its old friendly neighbour China to offset the possible adverse impact of prolonged ‘stalemate’ with Washington, which is mounting pressure on Islamabad for an offensive in North Waziristan but is unwilling to halt drone attacks and withdraw hundreds of its spies and defence contractors from the country.

Pakistan is getting weary of persistent US demands for a full-fledged North Waziristan operation which Islamabad believes is not possible in the near future owing to the army’s intense engagement in various Tribal Areas in an effort to eliminate terrorism. In this backdrop, Islamabad is intensifying its diplomatic efforts to move closer to the time-tested friendly state, China and one such endeavour is the two-day visit of Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to Beijing beginning today (Thursday).

During the visit he would meet senior Chinese officials and will also discuss with them the differences with Washington over various issues. “Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir is visiting China for discussions with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on bilateral, regional and international issues on April 28-29. The foreign secretary will hold consultations with Chinese Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun,” Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said in a statement.

However, another official seeking anonymity said it was more than a routine visit of one of the most senior Pakistani diplomat to China this time. “Foreign Secretary Bashir has always been a strong advocate of more closeness in ties with China as compared to the US,” he said. “He will discuss in detail Pakistan’s plans for enhancing cooperation in various sectors with China and one major part of the strategy is the field of defence and security to reduce dependence on Washington,” he said.

As Bashir visits China, Defence Secretary Lt General (r) Athar Ali is also leaving for the US in the next few days to participate in the Pakistan-US Defence Consultation Group meeting.

Why attack Libya and not Syria?

Two countries, two cases of extreme violence committed against citizens by their own government.

In one case, the Obama administration responds with military force. In the other, it doesn’t.

Libyans in the besieged city of Misrata walk past a tank that belong to the forces of Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The U.S. and its allies have imposed a no-fly zone over Libya.

Why?

The question has been raised in response to the radically different U.S. reactions to the bloodshed in Libya and Syria. More than 400 people have been killed in Syria over the past several weeks as Damascus has cracked down on protesters seeking reform, according to the Syrian Human Rights Information Link, a prominent human rights group.

Why Syria is different for the U.S.

The United Nations says it has information that 76 people were killed in that country last Friday alone, apparently during peaceful marches. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has described the protesters as “armed criminal groups,” and shows no sign of letting up.

President Barack Obama has condemned the violence “in the strongest possible terms” and is seeking ways to “increase the pressure on the regime … in a targeted way,” according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. So far, however, the response has amounted to little more than talk.

Rights group: More than 400 killed in Syria

Over in Libya, however, the U.S. reaction was entirely different when strongman Moammar Gadhafi promised to show “no mercy” to residents of the rebel-held city of Benghazi. Washington worked furiously behind the scenes at the United Nations to win an international mandate for a naval blockade, a no-fly zone and a license to take military action to protect civilians.

Obama promised no use of ground troops, but U.S. air power was used to devastating effect against elements of Gadhafi’s forces before control of the operation was handed over to NATO commanders.

The White House says the two situations can’t be compared.

Libya was “a unique situation,” Carney told reporters Monday. “We had large portions of the country that were out of the control of Moammar Gadhafi (and) we had an international consensus to act. We had the support of the Arab League to act in a multilateral fashion.”

But Washington is “pursuing a range of possible policy options” in Syria, he stressed. The administration is looking at “targeted sanctions to respond to the crackdown … and to make clear that this behavior is unacceptable.”

American “values and principles apply to all countries,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates added Tuesday. “Our response in each country will have to be tailored to that country, and the circumstances peculiar to that country.”

Part of the reason the Obama administration intervened militarily in Libya and not Syria is because “Libya happened first,” noted Danielle Pletka, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank. “So the international community responded there first.”

Protests in Benghazi first broke out in mid-February. Protests in the Syrian city of Daraa started last month after a violent crackdown by security forces on peaceful demonstrators protesting the arrests of youths who scribbled anti-government graffiti.

Witnesses describe fighting in Misrata

Second, there is “nowhere near the consensus on Syria as there is on Libya,” Pletka told CNN. Syria, as opposed to Libya, stands at the heart of the Arab world. Assad has more friends and allies to call on.

“Assad is a dictator, a sponsor of terrorism, (and) a thug,” Pletka said. “You could argue he’s worse than Gadhafi.” But “on Syria, the Arab League is not going to be nearly as forward-leaning. (They’re) much closer to Assad.”

Among other things, Gadhafi has been accused of trying to have then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah assassinated in 2003. There’s a “personal antipathy” factor between Gadhafi and other Arab leaders, Pletka said.

At the same time, Israel may have a hostile relationship with its neighbor, but the Israeli leadership is “very comfortable with the devil it knows” in Damascus.

Obama, Pletka said, has shown an extreme reluctance to engage in unilateral military action. Ousting Assad would change the entire political dynamic in the Middle East to the benefit of the United States, she said, noting Syria’s close ties to Iran and organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But unless and until a firmer international consensus emerges, more concerted action is unlikely.

Military action in Libya may also have became a priority partly due to fears of al Qaeda, according to Rick Nelson, a terrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, another Washington think tank.

Al Qaeda is “good at using countries in chaos to carve out safe havens,” Nelson said, noting that the second-highest number of foreign fighters for al Qaeda in Iraq came from Libya. As Libya became more unstable, it may have become a priority for Western powers to ensure the country doesn’t become more of a home for al Qaeda leaders.

Nelson echoed Pletka’s point about the lack of an international consensus on Syria.

“People don’t want to be on Assad’s bad side,” he said. If you attack Syria, “you’re crossing a line that is changing the whole strategic calculus in the region in one move,” he said. “The stakes are a lot higher.”

Fake Degree Holder PPP MNA Praises Acquittal of Rapists!

ISLAMABAD: While there is a hue and cry among NGOs and human rights activists against the Supreme Court judgment in Mukhtaran Mai’s case, there are a few who are ready to welcome the apex court’s decision saying that the courts are dispensing justice even when they are under pressure.

One of them is the fake degree fame PPP MNA Jamshed Dasti from Muzaffargarh who not only praised the SC over the judgment but also criticised the NGOs and human rights activists for not accepting the verdict of the court and propagating against the people of Muzaffargarh. He also termed the Mai episode as a conspiracy to defame Pakistan and Islam and alleged that billions were made by projection of a fake drama.

The PPP MNA swears by God that no such incident ever took place in Muzaffargarh. The brother of Mukhtar Mai, he said, had committed adultery with one of the girls of the Mastoi clan and in the jirga it was held that Mukhtaran Mai may be married to a person from Mastoi clan but this proposal was rejected by a few members.

He says neither Mastois were feudal nor anyone else and it was a wrong projection that feudals had given verdict of gang rape of Mukhtar Mai. When asked that one person had confessed to committing rape with Mukhtar Mai, Dasti said he had to confess to rescue all others.

While hailing the SC judgment and criticizing those who are protesting, Dasti said, “I appeal to the chief justice of Pakistan to take action against those who were maligning the apex court for a thing which could not be proved in the Lahore High Court and then in the Supreme Court”.

“Mukhtar Mai case was a conspiracy against Islam and NGOs have minted billions so far along with Mukhtar Mai, who too has become billionaire by cashing on a fake and concocted drama,” said the MNA adding that the then Lahore High Court, Justice MA Shahid Siddiqui, who is in the SC now, and Justice Ijaz Chaudhry, now the LHC Chief Justice, had penned downed the historic judgment by examining each and every aspect of the case and similarly the Supreme Court verdict also speaks of nothing but truth.

“The courts have proved that they are dispensing justice even when they are under pressure,” said Dasti adding: “The courts have cleaned the blot on Muzaffargarh which appeared as a result of this concocted story.”

Even the NGO mafia had protested against LHC judges in Muzaffargarh in 2005 and now they were protesting against the Supreme Court to prove themselves loyal to their masters. Dasti vowed to register his protest against what he called the NGO mafia in the National Assembly as well.

America’s Secret War

By George Friedman

The United States had no use for the Iraqi regime and had supported the Shah’s Iran in a war against Iraq in the 1970s, ending in a peace that had not been favorable to Iraq. With the Iranian revolution, the Americans were looking for a lever to control Iran, . . .

The Carter administration wanted to motivate Saddam to fight, but he had little to gain simply by fighting Iran. What Saddam wanted was to become the dominant power in the Persian Gulf. Absorbing Kuwait, which had historically been a part of Iraq under the Ottoman Empire until the British carved it our for their own interests, was a key goal, but so was dominating the region politically. He knew that if he defeated Iran, Iraq would be the dominant power in the region. He was also quietly assured by the United States that it would have no objection to his claiming his prize – Kuwait – once he defeated Iran. The assurances were very quiet and very deniable.

The United States then did everything it could to make sure that Iraq could never claim the prize, shifting its weight back and forth during the Iran-Iraq war, in classic balance-of-power style. The famous Iran-Contra affair engineered by Bill Casey was part of this strategy, with Americans delivering Hawk surface-to-air missiles and TOW antitank missiles to Iran in order to stave off an Iranian defeat – while also arranging for supplies to Iraq. Under the circumstances it was a clever move until better options emerged.

The Iran-Iraq war lasted nearly ten years and cost millions of lives. In the end, Iraq won – or, more precisely, was less exhausted than Iran. After some months of recovery, Saddam turned to collect his prize. In his famous meeting with U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie on July 25, 1990, just before the invasion, Saddam calmly explained his intention to invade Kuwait, and Glaspie, not informed by the State Department that the policy had changed, proceeded to give Saddam the reassurance of American support that had been the U.S. policy transmitted by ambassadors and back channels for a decade. . . .

What Glaspie didn’t know. and what Glaspie hadn’t been told, was that the United States had never expected Iraq to win and certainly was not prepared to let Saddam collect his war prize.
—
[Dr. George Friedman's firm Stratfor has been dubbed by Barron's as "The Shadow CIA." It has provided analysis to Fortune 500 companies, news outlets, and the U.S. government. This is an excerpt from Chapter 1: The Fourth Global War, pages 19-21. Copyright © 2004-2005 George Friedman]

[ . . . the incubator story seriously distorted the American debate about whether to support military action. . . .

Americans would have been interested to know the identity of "Nayirah," the 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl who shocked the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on Oct. 10, 1990, when she tearfully asserted that she had watched 15 infants being taken from incubators in Al-Adan Hospital in Kuwait City by Iraqi soldiers who "left the babies on the cold floor to die." The chairmen of the Congressional group, Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, and John Edward Porter, an Illinois Republican, explained that Nayirah's identity would be kept secret to protect her family from reprisals in occupied Kuwait.

There was a better reason to protect her from exposure: Nayirah, her real name, is the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the U.S., Saud Nasir al-Sabah. . . .

Both Congressmen have a close relationship with Hill and Knowlton, the public relations firm hired by Citizens for a Free Kuwait, the Kuwaiti-financed group that lobbied Congress for military intervention. --John R. MacArthur, "Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait?," HBO Films, January 6, 1992]

Alan Geyer and Barbara G. Green, “Lines in the Sand: Justice and the Gulf War,” Westminster John Knox Press (May 1, 1992)

[When George H. W. Bush ordered American forces to the Persian Gulf - to reverse Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait - part of the administration case was that an Iraqi juggernaut was also threatening to roll into Saudi Arabia.

Citing top-secret satellite images, Pentagon officials estimated in mid-September that up to 250,000 Iraqi troops and 1,500 tanks stood on the border, threatening the key US oil supplier.

But when the St. Petersburg Times in Florida acquired two commercial Soviet satellite images of the same area, taken at the same time, no Iraqi troops were visible near the Saudi border - just empty desert.--Scott Peterson, "In War, Some Facts Less Factual," Christian Science Monitor, September 6, 2002]

Marc Perelman, “New Front Sets Sights On Toppling Iran Regime,” Forward, May 16, 2003

[AUDIO: Fifty years ago, in a bold and far-reaching covert operation, the CIA overthrew the elected government of Iran. Although the coup seemed successful at first, its "haunting and terrible legacy" is now becoming clear.

Operation Ajax, as the plot was code-named, reshaped the history of Iran, the Middle East and the world. It restored Mohammad Reza Shah to the Peacock Throne, allowing him to impose a tyranny that ultimately sparked the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

The Islamic Revolution, in turn, inspired fundamentalists throughout the Muslim world, including the Taliban and terrorists who thrived under its protection.

In his new book "All The Shah's Men," New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer asserts "It is not far-fetched to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's repressive regime and the Islamic Revolution to the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in New York."-- Stephen Kinzer, "All The Shah's Men," NPR On Point, August 20, 2003]

VIDEO: Barry Lando and Michel Despratx, “Web of Deceit,” 2004

[The trap had been baited very cleverly by Glaspie, reinforced by Tutweiler's and Kelly's supporting comments. And Saddam Hussein walked right into it, believing that the US would do nothing if his troops invaded Kuwait. On August 2, 1990, eight days after Glaspie's meeting with the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein's massed troops invaded Kuwait.--Kaleem Omar, "Is the US State Department still keeping April Glaspie under wraps?," Jang, December 25, 2005]

Stephen Kinzer, “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq,” Times Books, April 4, 2006

Barry M. Lando, “Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush,” Other Press (January 23, 2007)

[The now-infamous Downing Street documents showed how President George Bush managed his move to war by fitting intelligence to his policy, and by refusing to accept the reports of United Nations inspectors who could find no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Now there is a new hot document that confirms that Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair intended to sucker Saddam into war. It demonstrates that this aim was present long before the Bush-Blair talks, and indeed that provocation formed an integral feature of the U.S. war plan.--John Prados, "A War Conspiracy Documented," tompaine.com, February 21, 2007]

Reclaiming Pakistan’s Lost Space

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-It is amazing to see the glibness with which the rulers continue to lie to the nation about the drone attacks and the surrender of Pakistan’s sovereignty to the USA. Feigning anger and regret over the drone attacks which have multiplied yearly since the Zardari government came to power, the civil and military leadership continues to give access to the US to kill Pakistanis in Fata through these lethal drone attacks. Even a parliamentary resolution has failed to push the government into acting against these drones and moving to control the free-wheeling, gun-toting and murderous American Rambos in the guise of CIA operatives, US Special Forces and private US mercenaries, who have added to the murder of Pakistani civilians and security personnel. Instead, as the WikiLeaks revealed, Prime Minister Gilani informed the US government that they could continue with their operatives and drones in Pakistan while he made declaratory noises to the contrary for the Pakistani nation’s consumption! Much earlier, Bob Woodward, in his book Obama’s Wars, had put on record how President Zardari, in a revealing cavalier mindset, informed the US leaders that collateral damage in terms of Pakistani lives was of no concern to him. That Pakistani lives are simply irrelevant “collateral damage” shows the utter contempt the “democratic” rulers of Pakistan have for their people.

Meanwhile, despite skilful propaganda to the contrary from Western sources (both through NGOs and officials) and some of their embedded media personnel in Pakistan, the people of Fata are increasingly becoming more vocal and resentful of the drones and therefore more resentful towards the Pakistani state. Even PPP members from Fata have denounced the drone killings as primarily targeting civilians. While only a handful of militants have been known to have died in the drone attacks, the civilian death toll goes beyond 2,000 and includes large numbers of women and children. Beyond those killed, there are hundreds who have been physically disabled and an equal number that is suffering from shell-shock and trauma – with no provision of any medical care and assistance for the entire Fata region. The ratio of militants to civilians killed is around 1:10 – a figure reaffirmed by Gulabat Khan, a Malik from North Waziristan. Reflecting the mainstream tribal view in Fata, he also regretted that no one has bothered to inquire or offer assistance to the locals who have suffered human and material losses as a result of the drones. Worse still, the government has still not inquired into the killing of the 40 Maliks in the recent drone attack against a tribal jirga. Khan vowed revenge against the US and the Pakistani state which would go on for 500 years. Therefore, it is not surprising to find the tribes of Fata announcing a jihad against the US which means more radicalization spreading to the rest of the country.

For Pakistan, the costs of this subservience to the US and surrender of national sovereignty has proven extremely costly and far outweighs any short term gains that may have been made – although that is itself a contentious issue. Terrorism has run riot across the country and President Zardari himself has declared that Pakistan has so far suffered with 33,500 casualties and a $68 billion loss to the economy; hundreds of thousands have been displaced far beyond Fata which has become a devastated region losing its tenuous connection with the rest of Pakistan since the people are now being compelled to acquire food and material from Afghanistan instead. This is how we have destroyed the Fata tribals who were in the forefront of supporting the creation of Pakistan and gave their lives for Kashmir in 1948.

Ironically, Pakistan has also become far more insecure as a result of becoming a surrogate for a US militaristic agenda that is rapidly slipping into a quagmire of confusion and hysteria. By opening up the whole country to the US, our rulers have also allowed all manner of external intruders into conducting low intensity operations in our sensitive areas not only of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but also of Balochistan. Add to this the bombings of shrines and mosques and the accentuating of Shia-Sunni and Deobandi-Barelvi divides, and the costs for Pakistan of the present alliance with the US rise even higher. Even Karachi and, increasingly, Punjab are becoming susceptible to militancy and violence as the provincial governments remain unresponsive to the needs of their people and the federal government remains preoccupied in appeasing the US and the destabilizing IMF.

Not that the US has achieved anything from its military-centric approach to fighting terrorism. All that has happened is that a more conducive environment has been created for extremism and militancy post-9/11. The hope that Obama would bring more rationality to a trauma-ridden US policy-making elite was dashed very early on when the generals prevailed on him in connection with the militarist policies in Afghanistan; and just as the Zardari regime has pushed further the detrimental policies of Musharraf, so Obama has done the same in terms of accentuating the neocon militarism.

We feel it is time for all hues of the Pakistani nationalist leadership to put aside its other differences and come together on a singular platform of reclaiming Pakistan’s sovereignty and national dignity so that we can isolate and fight the militants and extremists in our midst more effectively through a strategy of space denial. Since Parliament has failed in pushing the government into taking the necessary steps to end drone attacks and delink from the deadly US militaristic agenda for this region, PTI has been compelled to bring people on to the streets and take direct action against this loss of sovereignty and drone killings. The PAF chief had declared over a year ago that Pakistan had the technical capability to bring down drones but the political decision was lacking.

The US public has to realize a number of points: One, that they have to extricate themselves from this so-called “war on terror” which is causing a loss of $140 billion a year in Afghanistan as well as undermining the US position in the region. Ann Paterson, the previous US ambassador to Pakistan, admitted the adverse impact on the US of the drone policy. Two, the US is violating its own humanitarian laws with the drone attacks by acting as judge, jury and executioner and incinerating the families and neighbors of suspects. Three, in the long term, the US “war on terror” has added to the radicalization of Muslim youth in the US and Europe.

Today we Pakistanis of all shades and convictions need to come together to support our Fata brethren and protest their killing and displacement. We have to show by actions that they are one of us and we will not allow the US, Nato or our own misguided rulers to continue their military policies against the people of Fata. We also want to show that we are sensitive to their developmental needs and the urgency with which Fata needs to be brought into the mainstream of Pakistan. It is not enough to simply issue statements against US policies and drone killings; we need to act so that the voice of the people becomes a force for the rulers to reckon with. Unless we stand up for our rights no one will protect us. As we gather together the multiple strands of the Pakistani nation to reclaim our territorial integrity, sovereignty and national dignity, the message will go out to the rulers and their foreign masters that they are nothing without the support of their own nation.

AFGHAN STALEMATE

Last week Admiral Michael Mullen made rather blunt remarks in Islamabad that ISI’s continued links with the Haqqani network were at the core of Pakistan’s problematic relations with the United States. “The ISI has a rich history of how they operated in this part of the world, to protect their own country…The Haqqani network had fuelled the Afghan insurgency by supporting, training and funding fighters who were killing American and coalition troops in Afghanistan,” said the Admiral. Jockeying between the conflicting strategies of simultaneously wooing and weakening the Haqqani’s, Admiral is often fatigued enough to relapse into Bush era strategic environment. Dynamics of Afghan conflict have moved to new planes; it is an open secret that Admiral’s boys had been intimately negotiating with Haqqanis, both with and without ISI’s facilitation.

Likewise, recently released biannual report of the White House to Congress on Pakistan and Afghanistan, has cast critical aspersions on Pakistan, both in the domain of governance and counter-insurgency operations. This report is an indictment on Pakistan; and it accepts no responsibility regarding deliberate ambiguities in American policies towards Afghanistan and Pakistan. White House is of the view that “There remains no clear path to defeating the insurgency in Pakistan, despite the unprecedented and sustained deployment of over 147,000 forces”.

The latest phase of the Mohmand operations which concluded in March has been cited as an example of Pakistan’s inability to hold and build areas cleared of militants. The fact that 50,000 internally displaced persons has been able to return to their homes in Mohmand agency as a result of “Operation Brekhna” finds no appreciation. Pakistan’s political and military leadership have been assessed harshly. America expects Pakistan to perform a feat single-handed which Americans could not accomplish with the military might of over 40 countries at their disposal.

America’s policy of measured vagueness in the context of troops’ pullout from Afghanistan has begun to haunt it; indeed the bluff has been called. Though tempo of the events in Libya has eclipsed the Afghan issue, it will soon reoccupy the centre stage. Libyan conflict cannot be resolved inline with American blueprints without inducting a large number of land forces into the North African theatre; and such numbers would only be available if and when troops could be de-inducted from Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Though, Defence Secretary Robert Gates had told a recent West Point audience that “any future defence secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should have his head examined”, he may already be busy in a number crunching exercise; challenges of extricating over 100,000 American troops from Afghanistan without a clear victory are indeed phenomenal.

Morale of the American troops is marred by fatigue, homesickness, weariness and mental disorders. Suicide rate among the American soldiers is on the rise; there were 252 cases in 2010. This trend is linked to drug abuse, brain injuries, depression and back home worries. Apart from numerous cases of indiscipline in Iraq and Afghanistan, several cases of shootings within military establishments have also occurred inside American mainland.

President Karzai has announced the start of the transition process in Afghanistan. Going by the numbers, recruitment of Afghan security forces is expected to achieve its target figure of around 300,000 Afghans by coming October. However, infiltration of security forces by the Taliban is out of the ordinary. There have been a number of recent cases of Afghan security personnel killing foreign soldiers. Earlier this month, two American soldiers on a training mission were killed by a policeman.

Representation of Pushtuns in the security forces remains a challenge. Only 3.7 per cent of recruited Pushtuns are from southern Afghanistan against a target figure of 10 per cent. Tajiks are over represented in the Afghan National Army by about 8 per cent and by more than 15 per cent in the police. With these compositional and Psychological issues at hand, Afghan security forces represent a ticking bomb.

Reconstitution of the upgraded ‘Peace Commission’ radiates a ray of hope. President Karzai has announced that the upgraded commission also enjoyed US support. However, track record of such earlier efforts is not quite enviable. Moreover any concept or terminology that originates from America is not likely to sell well amongst the masses of Afghanistan. Any solution that is not owned and led by Afghans is destined to doom.

Turkey has since long been sincerely trying to play its role to sort out Afghanistan problem and for this purpose it has hosted several rounds of talks between Pakistani and Afghan leadership. Turkish initiative of allowing Taliban to set up their liaison office in Turkey is a positive development. This would bring various factions of Taliban closer to each other; and existence of a formal office would give legitimacy to an otherwise established reality of the political clout of Taliban. It would be appropriate if other countries as well as OIC, NAM, SAARC and the UN also allow such representation to Taliban. However, once again the fundamental error is exclusion of Iran from this process. Sustainable peace cannot be achieved in Afghanistan without taking Iran on board.

If anything could restore normalcy in today’s troubled Afghanistan, it is a comprehensive national reconciliation in which all Afghan have a stake. Fast emerging unfavourable security situation has compelled the US to negotiate with Taliban for a political settlement. Strenuous efforts (read machinations) are being made by the USA to win over Taliban. Initially these contacts were made secretly with India as behind the door facilitator. Later on, secrecy had to be abandoned when the US as well as President Karzai concluded that without active participation of Pakistan no headway could be made. Main stream Taliban entities are still united under Mullah Omar and have rejected pre-conditions of USA. They are aware that the US is no longer in a position to call the shots. Despite two troop surges the balance remains tilted in favour of Taliban. Taliban could not be split up. They are convinced that they have already won the war, and the countdown has started. Hence they are in no mood to compromise on American terms. For them, the US is now like a wounded animal which has transformed from a hunter into a hunted prey.

There are test balloons indicating an American stay up to 2024. President Karzai has recently stated that America intends to establish permanent military bases in Afghanistan. The US has for long been eying on Kabul, Baghram, Kandahar, Shindad and Herat as its military bases. These places are being speedily fortified and modernised. However, resurgence of Taliban, war weariness, haywire economy and uprisings in Middle East and Africa are compelling America to call it a day. Though Lisbon summit extended the tenure of this dead-ended war till 2014, a speedy withdrawal may be in the offing.

Nato supply route re-opened

PESHAWAR: Nato can resume supplying its troops in Afghanistan through a key Pakistani route on Monday after protesters against US drone strikes lifted a blockade, an official said.

Imran Khan addresses the crowd during a rally against the US drone strikes in Peshawar.

Supporters of former cricketer Imran Khan’s political party on Sunday ended a two-day sit-in at a Peshawar road, which was called to compel the US to end a covert missile campaign against militants in Pakistan’s tribal belt.

“Peshawar ring road has been cleared and re-opened for vehicular traffic,”senior local administration official, Mohammad Siraj Khan told AFP.

Trucks will only be able to use the route from Monday morning because of security reasons, he added.

Imran Khan -who leads the Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party -earlier said his supporters would “block supplies for Nato in different parts of the country if drone attacks are not stopped within one month.”

“We will also stage sit-in in Islamabad if the government fails to stop these strikes,” he told a crowd of some 5,000 people at the end of the two-day sit-in.

Supporters waved party flags and chanted slogans such as “stop the drone attacks, stop killing innocent people and down with the government,” during the speech, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

“We want a sovereign Pakistan,” Khan said, adding that “the American people will hold even bigger demonstrations if they come to know that the innocent civilians are being killed in the drone attacks.”

The party called the demonstration in protest at US missile attacks from unmanned aircraft in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, which many feel infringe Pakistani sovereignty and which locals say sometimes kill civilians.

Public anger intensified after a March 17 drone attack killed 39 people including civilians.

Nato supply trucks and oil tankers are the targets of frequent attacks blamed on insurgents attempting to disrupt supplies for the more than 130,000 international troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Most supplies and equipment required by coalition troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through central Asia.