Gearing up for revenge: Lyari don Arshad Pappu’s brother, cousin set free

By Salman Siddiqui

The two men sat on the floor of a room that looked more like a billet than a dera befitting the leading members of Lyari don Arshad Pappu’s gang.

The two men were released on the eve of Eid. They said, however, that freedom came only after they paid a packet to senior police officials, who had refused to let them go even though no charges were proven in court.

One of them, Pappu’s brother, named Yasir Arafat after the legendary revolutionary Palestinian figure, looked like a dehydrated parrot with a beard. His brother in arms, Waheed Baloch, sat in the corner with an expression of defiance made prouder by his worn-out threads.

The two men were released on the eve of Eid. They said, however, that freedom came only after they paid a packet to senior police officials, who had refused to let them go even though no charges were proven in court.

Thirty-year-old Arafat was facing 33 cases, including the murder of the defunct Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) chief Uzair Baloch’s father Mama Faizoo, five murders and various police encounters. He was caught in 2005, but when none of the charges stuck, his lawyer and friends bailed him out on Chand raat last week.

As Coca Cola bottles, tea and joints were served in the hash-hazy room, Waheed Baloch, who served nine years for killing Mama Faizoo, introduced himself as a cousin of Arshad Pappu. “My only crime, like Yasir, was that I had blood relations with Pappu,” he said, repeatedly stressing that he had nothing to do with the murder of Uzair’s father.

But the fact is that these two groups – Arshad Pappu’s and Rehman Dakait’s – have been on the warpath long before the PAC was formed. The history of bloodshed dates to the time when Rehman Dakait turned on his boss, Arshad Pappu’s father. The blood went bad between prodigal son and biological son. Later, Arshad Pappu went to jail and Dakait was shot dead in a police encounter in 2009. Nonetheless, there were men to keep the torch burning. Uzair Baloch took over Dakait’s group that continued to battle Pappu and his men.

Today, as Waheed emerges from nine years of incarceration, 45 years old, he has another battle to fight. Unless he exacts some form of revenge for the killings that have marked these years, he will not be able to face his eight children and wife who left Lyari and fled to Balochistan.

Karachi killings

The men have emerged to find a different Karachi. “Things weren’t this bad during our time,” said Arafat. Waheed has noted that in the current wave of violence many innocent Baloch have been killed.

They both claimed that they could “clear Lyari of the PAC goons” in just five hours if the government did not “side” with them and stayed out of “their conflict”. “The people who are with us haven’t taken up arms for 500 rupees like the PAC,” sneered Waheed.

The Pappu group members ridicule Zulfiqar Mirza’s claim that he was working for the good of the people of Lyari and the Baloch people. “Who are these people who Mirza is backing?” said Mohammad Yousuf, a group member who also served time. “They are not the sardars of the Baloch people like Arshad [Pappu].”

For Waheed, PAC chief Uzair Baloch is a nobody, whose father was a driver. “Baba Ladla is a kid in front of us. His dad Ghulam Hussain was just a low-level [electricity company] worker,” he said, rhetorically asking how these ‘low lifes’ could claim to be leaders of the Baloch and the people of Lyari?

Arafat and Waheed alleged that the Amn Committee not only had political backing from a powerful personality but that they were also minting money for him. The PAC denies the claim. “At least Rs100 million was being made a week in extortion rackets, land grabbing, gambling dens and the drugs business in Amn Committee-controlled areas,” said Waheed. “Where does it all go?”

He alleged that the one political bigwig has armed the PAC to the teeth. “The fact of the matter is that today Lyari has as many arms as the state of Afghanistan itself, all of which are with the PAC.”

Future course

Although it is clear that Arshad Pappu’s group is gearing up to settle old scores, Arafat chose restrained words when asked about a course of action. “We are the victims who have been kicked out of our homes. Our houses have been burnt down. So many of our people have been killed…I’m just hopeful that God would lead our path.”

Waheed was more direct. “I used to be a man like you, just making an honest living for my family,” he said. “I was a crane operator at the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and worked there for 18 years. Just put yourself in my place and tell me what would you do if you came out of prison after nine years for a crime you didn’t even commit?”

It is more personal than political: “My father, a frail old man who fought with no one in his lifetime, was killed mercilessly on the footsteps of a mosque. Forty bullets were pumped into his body. We’ve lost count of the number of our brothers and people who have been butchered. So tell me, what do you think we will do next?”

CIA, ISI cooperation scaled back after Davis episode

ISLAMABAD: Cooperation between the American and Pakistani spy agencies has been scaled back because of an incident involving a CIA contractor shooting two Pakistanis, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Thursday.

The possible presence of more CIA contractors like Davis worries the ISI.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official in Islamabad said the case of Raymond Davis had strained but not broken relations between the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligences (ISI) because the ISI didn’t know about Davis before he shot and killed two Pakistanis on Jan 27 in Lahore.

“It’s not business as usual; it’s not open war,” the official told Reuters. “Cooperation and operations together will continue at a lesser scale.”

Another intelligence official denied rumours that the two agencies were not working together. “We are not ready to split,” he said. “There has been a patch up because we have both realised that in the larger interest of the region and the war on terrorism, CIA and ISI must work together.”

An Associated Press story, however, construes that Pakistan’s premier spy agency is ready to split with the CIA because of frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert US operation involving hundreds of contract spies. The AP cites a document it has obtained as the basis of its conclusion.

The case of 36-year-old Davis, a former US special forces officer, has strained the already-uneasy alliance between the US and Pakistan, who are supposed to be united in the face of militants waging a war in Afghanistan.

The possible presence of more CIA contractors like Davis worries the ISI because they don’t know how many there are, their identities or their duties. Officials say there could be “hundreds”.

“We are concerned,” the first official told Reuters. “We don’t know how many and we have asked them (CIA) to give this information to us. But they haven’t done that yet.”

It is widely thought the CIA is running a network of spies in Pakistan for a number of reasons: identifying militant targets for a campaign of strikes by unmanned drone aircraft, gathering intelligence on militant groups and on Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

Downward spiral

Signs of strain were evident in a letter the ISI sent to the Wall Street Journal in response to an article the newspaper published on the tension between the agencies.

“It is regrettable that CIA leadership on many occasions has failed to show respect to the relationship of the two agencies and has acted with arrogance towards ISI which has resulted in weakening the relationship on which it is entirely dependent,” the ISI said, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

“Involvement of CIA with Raymond Davis is beyond any shadow of doubt. Post incident conduct of CIA has virtually put the partnership into question. Irrespective of the commonality of objectives in this war on terror, it is hard to predict if the relationship will ever reach the level at which it was prior to the Davis episode.”

Pakistan’s intelligence ready to split with CIA

By: KATHY GANNON and ADAM GOLDMAN

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s ISI spy agency is ready to split with the CIA because of frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert U.S. operation involving hundreds of contract spies, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with U.S. and Pakistani officials.

Such a move could seriously damage the U.S war effort in Afghanistan, limit a program targeting al-Qaida insurgents along the Pakistan frontier, and restrict Washington’s access to information in the nuclear-armed country.

According to a statement drafted by the ISI, supported by interviews with officials, an already-fragile relationship between the two agencies collapsed following the shooting death of two Pakistanis by Raymond Davis, a U.S. contracted spy who is in jail in Pakistan facing possible multiple murder charges.

“Post-incident conduct of the CIA has virtually put the partnership into question,” said a media statement prepared by the ISI but never released. A copy was obtained this week by the AP.

The statement accused the CIA of using pressure tactics to free Davis.

“It is hard to predict if the relationship will ever reach the level at which it was prior to the Davis episode,” the statement said. “The onus of not stalling this relationship between the two agencies now squarely lies on the CIA.”

The ISI fears there are hundreds of CIA contracted spies operating in Pakistan without the knowledge of either the Pakistan government or the intelligence agency, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told the AP in an interview. He spoke only on condition he not be identified on grounds that exposure would compromise his security.

Pakistan intelligence had no idea who Davis was or what he was doing when he was arrested, the official said, adding that there are concerns about “how many more Raymond Davises are out there.”

Davis was arrested Jan. 27 in Lahore after shooting two Pakistanis. A third Pakistani was killed by a U.S. Consulate vehicle coming to assist the American. Pakistan demanded the driver be handed over, but the AP has learned the two U.S. employees in the car now are in the United States.

Davis has pleaded self-defense, but the Lahore police upon completing their investigation said they would seek murder charges. The ISI official told the AP that Davis had contacts in the tribal regions and knew both the men he shot. He said the ISI is investigating the possibility that the encounter on the streets of Lahore stemmed from a meeting or from threats to Davis.

U.S. officials deny Davis had prior contact with the men before the incident, and CIA spokesman George Little said any problems between the two agencies will be sorted out.

“The CIA works closely with our Pakistani counterparts on a wide range of security challenges, including our common fight against al-Qaida and its terrorist allies,” he said. “The agency’s ties to ISI have been strong over the years, and when there are issues to sort out, we work through them. That’s the sign of a healthy partnership.”

The CIA repeatedly has tried to penetrate the ISI and learn more about Pakistan’s nuclear program. The ISI has mounted its own operations to gather intelligence on the CIA’s counterterrorism activities

The ISI is now scouring thousands of visas issued to U.S. employees in Pakistan. The ISI official said Davis’ visa application contains bogus references and phone numbers. He said thousands of visas were issued to U.S. Embassy employees over the past five months following a government directive to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington to issue visas without the usual vetting by the interior ministry and the ISI. The same directive was issued to the Pakistan embassies in Britain and the United Arab Emirates, he said.

Within two days of receiving that directive, the Pakistani Embassy issued 400 visas and since then thousands more have been issued, said the ISI official. A Western diplomat in Pakistan agreed that a “floodgate” opened for U.S. Embassy employees requesting Pakistani visas.

The ISI official said his agency knows and works with “the bona fide CIA people in Pakistan” but is upset that the CIA would send others over behind its back. For now, he said, his agency is not talking with the CIA at any level, including the most senior.

To regain support and assistance, he said, “they have to start showing respect, not belittling us, not being belligerent to us, not treating us like we are their lackeys.”

NATO and U.S. operations in Afghanistan could be adversely effected by a split between the ISI and the CIA. Washington complains bitterly about Pakistan’s refusal to go after the Pakistani-headquartered Haqqani network, which is believed to be the strongest fighting force in Afghanistan and closely allied with al-Qaida.

The ISI official said Pakistan is fed up with Washington’s complaints, and he accused the CIA of planting stories about ISI assistance to the Haqqani network.

Relations between the CIA and ISI have been on a downward slide since the name of the U.S. agency’s station chief in Pakistan was leaked in a lawsuit accusing him of killing civilians in a drone strike.

Fearing for his safety, the CIA eventually pulled the station chief out of the country. ISI leaders balked at allegations that they outed the CIA top spy in their country. Former and current U..S. officials believe the station chief fell out of favor, but the Pakistanis say this is not the case

Those accusations and the naming of ISI chief Shujah Pasha in a civil lawsuit in the United States – filed by family members of victims of a November 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, by insurgents – started the downslide in relations, the ISI official said.

To help repair the crucial relationship, the CIA earlier this year dispatched a very senior officer to be the new station chief who was previously the head of the European Division, one of the most important jobs in the National Clandestine Service, the agency’s spy arm.

The spy agencies have overcome lows before. During President George W. Bush’s first term, the ISI became enraged after it shared intelligence with the United States, only to learn that the then-CIA station chief passed that information to the British. The incident caused a serious row, one that threatened the CIA’s relationship with the ISI and deepened the levels of distrust between the two sides. At the time Pakistan almost threw the CIA station chief out of the country.

Raymond Davis – US Blackmails Pakistan

By Sajjad Shaukat

Controversial debate continues between Pakistan and the United States in connection with the arrest of American national, Raymond Davis who is an under-cover secret agent of American CIA, and has become a symbol of anti-American resentment in Pakistan because of the dreadful murder of two innocent Pakistanis in Lahore and subsequent suicide by the wife of one of his victims.

Like other US high officials, even President Barack Obama urged Pakistan on February 15 this year to free Raymond as he has diplomatic immunity under the Geneva Convention. Meanwhile, the visiting Chairman of the US Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, while addressing a press conference in Lahore pointed out that issue of “Davis has nothing to do with local courts as diplomats enjoy immunity…we cannot allow that one incident can break the strong relationship between the two countries.”

On the other side, legal experts in Pakistan opine that Raymond Davis is a murderer who has no diplomatic immunity. Many Pakistanis are suspicious about Davis, who was arrested with loaded weapons, a GPS satellite tracking device, photographs of Pakistan’s defence installations and tribal areas, while American authorities are still silent about his role in Pakistan.

It is notable that the former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has stated that he was dropped from the new cabinet owing to his principled position on the question of diplomatic immunity to the killer, and he adopted a stance, seen by majority of people.

Some sources confirms that Raymond Davis has visited Pakistan twice under the cover of diplomatic status, and this time he came with changed name to conceal his identity. However, Davis is killer and is an agent of CIA, while Washington is blackmailing Islamabad by applying coercive diplomacy. In this respect, on the one hand, US high officials say that on the issue of Davis, America will not break relations with Pakistan; while on the other, they continue pressure on Islamabad for his immediate release.

The issue of Raymond Davis is not new one as past history of Pak-US ties prove that America has always blackmailed Pakistan on various occasions. In this context, it is of particular attention that in the aftermath of the November 26 catastrophe of Mumbai, Washington, while tilting towards India had blackmailed Islamabad. Setting aside the ground realties that Pakistan, itself, has been the major victim of terrorism, which has been bearing multiple losses in combating this menace since 9/11, with the support of the US, Indian blame game against Islamabad, continued during exchange of information between the two neighbouring countries regarding Mumbai mayhem.

While, rejecting Pakistan’s stand that its government or any official agency was not involved in the Mumbai attacks, presenting one after another list of bogus evidence, New Delhi wanted to make Islamabad accept all other Indian demands since our rulers admitted on February 12, 2009 that Ajmal Kasab is Pakistani national and Mumbai terror-attacks were “partially planned in Pakistan.”

In fact, being a responsible state actor, Islamabad’s admission which had emboldened New Delhi was forced by the US-led some western countries which have continuously been blackmailing Pakistan by insisting upon our government to “do more” against the militancy in the tribal areas by ignoring internal backlash and sacrifices of our security forces during war on terror-while paying no attention to the Lahore-terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team including other similar terror-incidents. In that context, India wanted to avail the Mumbai tragedy in increasing further pressure on Pakistan with the help of America in order to force Islamabad to confess that all the terrorists responsible for Mumbai attacks came from Pakistan. In that respect, US former Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Milliband who had visited India and Pakistan stressed upon Islamabad to take actions against the banned Jamaatud Dawa and the already banned Lashkar-i-Tayba. Speaking in Indian tune, they had also said that the terrorists involved in the Mumbai events came from Pakistan.

In that connection, Ameria had played a key role in getting passed a resolution through the UN Security Council which added Pakistan-based Jamaatud Dawa and four of its leaders to the list of Al Qaeda-related terrorists. Without any doubt, this similar approach by the US and India show that these states are in collusion to destabilize and ‘denuclearise’ Pakistan through blackmailing diplomacy as demands on Pakistan to take action against the Jamaatud Dawa and its related welfare organistions including admission regarding the departure of the Mumbai culprits from our soil were forced. And Islamabad accepted these false allegations as our country was facing serious internal and external challenges of grave nature.

In the recent past, IMF decided to sanction loan to Pakistan after American green signal. Past experience proves that economic dependence on foreign countries always brings political dependence in its wake. While, at that critical juncture, our country had been facing precarious financial problem, US-led some western allies compelled Pakistan to accept some Indian false demands.

Hollowness of New Delhi’s allegations and forced admission of Islamabad could be gauged from the fact that on February 27, 2009, Pakistan’s Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Nuaman Bashir remarked that he had no proof that Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of the Mumbai attacks used Pakistani waters to reach India. The statement of our naval chief coupled with American duress makes it quite clear that Mumbai mayhem was pre-planned by the Indian intelligence agency, RAW to further distort the image of Pakistan in the comity of nations.

Another example of blackmailing is that the US is emphasising Islamabad to to take action against the militants of North Waziristan. It also continuous drone attacks on Pakistan’s soil without bothering for the sovereignty of the country.

Inaction of the US-led west over Hindu terrorism and such duplicity undoubtedly indicates that America and major European states have their common interest in India. Hence, they blindly support New Delhi’s shrewd diplomacy against Islamabad. These major countries only tolerate Pakistan owing to its role as a frontline state against terrorism, otherwise, they leave no stone unturned in blackmailing our country so as to harm our interests. In this respect, forced demands on Pakistan regarding Mumbai mayhem entailing accusation of cross-border terrorism either in Afghanistan or the Indian-held Kashmir are also part of this blackmailing practice.

In fact, we are living in an unequal world order. The prevalent global system tends to give a greater political and economic leverage to the affluent developed nations who could safeguard their interests at the cost of the weaker countries. Whenever, any controversy arises on the controversial issues, the UN Security Council enforces the doctrine of collective security against the small states, while the five big powers protect their interests by using veto. This shows discrimination between the powerful and the weaker. In this context, it is notable that in 2001, UN had permitted the United States to attack Afghanistan under the cover of right of self-defence. In case of the Indian occupied Kashmir, the issue still remains unresolved as UN resolutions regarding the plebiscite were never implemented because Washington and some western powers support the illegitimate stand of India due to their collective interests.

Particularly, in economic context, the world order reflects greater disparities as the flow of capital and credit system is also dominated by the United States and other developed countries-the consequent result is an increase in the activities of the Multinationals which have shattered the economies of the poor developing states. Besides, international financial institutions like I.M.F and World Bank are under the control of the US and its partners who protect their interests by blackmailing the governments of the small states through financial pressure. In these terms, US-led countries especially blackmail Pakistan directly or indirectly.

In sense of Hobbes, Machiavelli and Morgenthau, a renowned strategic thinker, Thomas Schelling remarks about the US, “coercion to be an effective tool of foreign policy.” Kissinger also endorses politics of bargaining and pressure through threats, coercion and even violence as essential elements of the American diplomacy. In this regard, diplomacy itself becomes the real tool of blackmailing.

Returning to our earlier discussion, Raymond Davis is a murderer, but the US blackmails Pakistan for his release as the latter depends upon Washington for military and economic aid in wake of multi-faceted problems. America should remember that it also depends upon Pakistan which is a frontline state of the US war on terror, and without Islamabad’s support the sole superpower cannot win this ‘different war’ against terrorism.

Davis’ is the missing link of US support for ‘TTP’ terror in Pakistan

RUPEE NEWS

Undoubtedly this is the biggest scandal in US Foreign relations since the US was shot down by the Soviets in the sixties. Then, as now, both sides played out the drama in an iterative manner-neither side letting the other know how much they know.

‘Davis’ is the missing link to US support for ‘TTP’ terror in Pakistan

There are clear indications that there is much more to the “Raymond Davis” affair than the Pakistanis are letting on. THis isn’t about murder and diplomatic immunity. This is mush bigger. Something is very wrong with this picture, and Islamabad is tight lipped because it now has concrete evidence that Mr “Raymond Davis” is linked with the Tehrik e Taliban e Pakistan (TTP) and some of the terror activities that have been happening in Pakistan. The Pakistanis are not stupid. Americans stick out like sore thumbs in Pakistan. When they go running around in their black SUVs laced with Satellite equipment they are tracked, traced and followed. In a cat and mouse game, the contractors can sometimes shake their “tails”. On other occasions they cannot. In fact the ISI gives them enough rope to hang themselves with. In this case, it seems Mr. Davis fell into a trap and his situation is now fully compromised. In panic Mr. “Davis” used the Nuclear option and killed the two Pakistanis who were trailing him-knowing full well that killing Pakistani spies or those who knew his identity would blow up in this face. He doesn’t have to say much-the equipment he carried tells a long and bloody story. All this is irrefutable evidence in a Pakistani court of law. The Pakistanis have already released the pictures of the equipment and the evidence that they have gathered. Of course they are still holding on to the juiciest details.

The US has postponed the Afghan-Pakistan-US Trilateral meeting, dropped hints about postponing the date of Mr. Zardari’s visit to the US, and floated all sorts of other threats. Normally Islamabad would have been cognizant of the the problems of spoiling its relationship with the sole Superpower. However the smirking Pakistanis are so confident in the validity of their cause, that they are letting the US escalate the issue.

Pakistan has ignored some of the US pressure and has not buckled under intense US pressure. Both General Kayani and Former Foreign Minister Mahmood Qureshi were not very impressed by US posturing. In fact right after their threatening phone calls and messages Islamabad formally charged Davis with pre-meditated murder in the Lahore High Court. The Court promptly remanded Mr. “Davis” to prison for another 14 days of interrogation. There were stories that if Mr. “Davis” does not cooperate, the interrogation would have been upgraded to level 3 (a euphemism for torture). There are reports that despite admonitions from the US Embassy, Mr. Davis is singing like a bird, and has already given enough information to the Pakistanis to get him convicted in any court of law.

The Former Foreign Minister Qureshi publicly confirmed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressured him to “publicly confirm diplomatic immunity of Davis. However, I refused to do so because it was against the factual position in the case.” FM Qureshi’s confirmation that Mr “Davis” is not a diplomat was repeatedly discussed on all 80 TV channels with copies of his passports and visas prominently displayed for the audience. Mr. Quresh said that
“The kind of blanket immunity Washington is pressing for Davis is not endorsed by the official record of the Foreign Ministry,” adding that Washington even “threatened that Hillary Clinton would not meet me at the Munich conference on February 6 if the request was not granted.”

The situation is so polarized that even traditional US allies in Pakistan have condemned the intrusive murders. Mr. Pervez Hoodbhoy who almost never criticizes the US has condemned the “Davis” affair. The PMLN is of course threatened the PPP with a vote of no-confidence.

It is clear that Mr. “Davis” shot the Pakistani operatives knowing full well who they were. The Pakistani authorities have informed the the media that they are very well aware that Mr. Davis was in touch with the “Pakistani Taliban” (TTP). There is conjecture that Mr. “Davis” walked into a trap laid out by the ISI. In fact his contacts were actually ISI agents. All that he said and did is in the hands of the Pakistanis. Mr. “Davis” thought that by shooting the two operatives, he would eliminate the evidence against him. In fact, it made matters worse. Other operatives who were in the vicinity had already taken the necessary precautions. The ISI has leaked information to the media that Mr. “Davis” had crossed a “red line”.

Clearly, the Americans have panicked because the know that the Pakistani side knows much more than it is prepared to admit in public. This is typical behavior when spies are caught with their thumbs up their noses. There are clear indications that Mr. “Davis” has broken down after sustained interrogation in police custody, and has spilled his guts-making the Pakistanis aware of explosive stuff. Its not that this stuff has surprised the Pakistanis. When you have 3000 of these guys running around the country-something gives. The ISI is one of the world’s most powerful spy organizations in the world. It has deep roots in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Nothing that crawls or walks in Pakistan is hidden from the ISI and other agencies. On top of this there is a million man Pakistani army. 180 million Pakistanis are also watching the Americans and reporting on them. The panicked Americans have continually given highly contradictory versions about Mr. “Davis’s” identity and the nature of his assignment in Pakistan.

It is very clear that Mr. “Davis’s” discovery and detention has sent alarm bells ringing all the way to President Obama’s White House. In a way the Pakistanis are amused. They know they have the Americans where they want them-right up against the wall. The Americans are fully aware that the “Davis” case is shaking the very foundations of the transactional relationship with Pakistan. While the CIA, the State Department and the White House think that this is a new discovery-the Pakistanis point to a long trail of evidence that directly points to the US consultants and their hirelings in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The ISI and the Army believe that at the right time, the details of what the Pakistanis know will be revealed to President Obama and the world.

Pakistan and Pakistanis have known for a long time who is behind the TTP (Tehrik e Taliban e Pakistani). Its not that hard to guess. What surprised the Pakistanis was their ability to inflict bloody attacks on the Pakistani military in order to destabilize Pakistani. Mr. Davis is not an isolated incident-there is a history behind much of what is happening in Pakistan-most of which can be correlated to the rise of the US “consultants” and “contractors” in Pakistan. It is pedagogical to note that last year when the ISI put in requests for deep security checks on those coming into Pakistan-the US put up a hissy fit and forced about 500 of these “Davis types” through without any background checks. Is is noted that the ISI became very suspicious of the insistence of the US in getting these guys into Pakistan at short notice. These guys got very special attention-and that has paid off in the arrest and detention of Mr. Davis. This points to the fact that this incident was not just an accident-it was an incident waiting to happen. The ISI was ready to pounce on the situation once it happened.

Pakistan has been very suspicious of these “contractors” especially when Pakistani state institutions were attacked. The attacks on the the Army HQ, and the ISI sent alarm bells among the rank and file of the Pakistani government. The vibrant Pakistani press has also been on the trail and has repeatedly pointed out the facts about the former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh (who was eventually fired by Mr. Karzai). However the US security establishment was in cahoots with him.

The Pakistani military and its highly efficient intelligence set-up had concluded a very long time ago that the TTP was being aided by the very sort of free-wheeling “contractors” that Mr. Davis represents. It was just a matter of time when things came to a boil. It is amazing that the Americans are surprised they have finally be caught red-handed. This has happened in the past, but during the reign of President Musharraf, the Americans got away with it and escaped. This time Mr. “Davis” was caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

Over 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan facing the new Taliban “Spring Offensive” are totally dependent on supplies running through Pakistan. The last time Pakistan shut off the spigot, the Americans ran out of toilet paper and had to cut down on food rations. It must have been hard eating food with dirty hands! If the tiff between the US and Pakistan is not resolved the US may face the consequences in Afghanistan. Failure in the Hindu Kush will certainly impact the presidential elections in 2012.

Lahore shooting: Three more Americans barred from fleeing Pakistan

By Zahid Gishkori

ISLAMABAD: The government has barred three more Americans from travelling outside Pakistan on allegations that they were in the vehicle that crushed a man to death in Lahore immediately after Raymond Davis, a detained US citizen, was involved in a shootout that killed two other men.

The Punjab government has asked the federal government’s assistance in securing the custody of the three American men who are accused of trampling a motorcyclist to death while they drove to try and rescue Raymond Davis, who is accused of killing two men in Lahore.

“The interior ministry has placed the name of the three Americans, including the driver of the US consulate in Lahore, on the exit control list,” said one federal interior ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Putting a name on the exit control list (ECL) legally empowers the government to prevent that person from leaving the country. Raymond Davis is currently in the custody of the Punjab police in Lahore and awaiting trial for murder.

“We have sought access to get custody of these accused because they are wanted by the Punjab police in connection to the Raymond Davis case,” said Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab Senator Pervez Rashid. He added that the preliminary investigation report has been sent to the federal government.

The federal interior ministry, through the Foreign Office, has also written to the US consulate asking for the three accused Americans to be handed over to the Punjab police, said the interior ministry official. He declined to name the three individuals, however, saying that it might compromise the investigation.

Meanwhile, the US embassy in Pakistan said that they were not aware of these developments.

“We have not received any such information on the issue as yet,” said Courtney Beale, acting spokesperson of the US embassy in Islamabad.

Both the United States and Pakistan governments are handling the situation with some caution, given the popular reaction against Raymond Davis. While the US government claims that Davis has diplomatic immunity, the court in Lahore has yet to adjudicate on the matter.

Who killed Benazir Bhutto?

President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also co-chairman of the PPP, spoke in Naudero on the third anniversary of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007 and did not make any major revelation about her killers. He had been saying that he knew who had killed her and people on both sides of the political divide wanted to hear him reveal names. The PPP supporters wanted him to finally nail the killers; the PPP-haters wanted to see him get into trouble by naming anyone without proper conviction.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (R) places visits his mother’s grave in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on the third anniversary of her death.

TV channels actually let their not-so-literate newscasters use sarcastic sentences, as they looked back at President Zardari’s decision to approach the UN to get at the truth, and then, not being satisfied with it, descend into a curious silence before getting a joint investigation team (JIT) to move afresh on the case. During this process, opponents like Mumtaz Bhutto have been hinting broadly that Ms Bhutto was killed by those whom she was close to, making it quite clear that he, Mumtaz, held her husband responsible for her death (without providing any proof whatsoever). Unfortunately, a split within the PPP, headed by Naheed Khan and Safdar Abbasi, swelled the chorus, asking for ‘full investigation’ into the conduct of ‘all present’ at the place of the murder.

The UN inquiry was perhaps the wrong thing to do because the UN could never have fingered the killers. Yet there were things in its report that constituted good pointers. Like the Scotland Yard inquiry, it too reposed credence in the nexus between the Pakistani establishment and the terrorists in Fata. It took seriously the tape that had Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud discussing his assassination plot to get rid of Ms Bhutto for al Qaeda, whose spokesman had already warned that she was to be eliminated since she was deemed to be an ‘American asset’. You have to be from outside Pakistan to believe that Baitullah was no saint when he swore that “Taliban do not kill women”. Pakistanis simply refuse to see that a phone call from Islamabad can get anyone killed at the hands of the Taliban, even when it happens again and again in front of them.

The JIT, in November of this year, issued its 48-page inquiry report which said that the TTP had carried out the assassination. It stayed clear of the army personnel and other important members of the establishment but did say that the military “did not allow the team to get statements” from the military hierarchy. But it did something else which would scare off any TV channel know-all anchor: it indicted Baitullah Mehsud, and accused Ibadur Rehman, Abdullah and Faiz Muhammad (former students of Madrassa Haqqania, Akora Khattak in Nowshera), Ikramullah (suicide bomber), Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Hasnain Gul, Muhammad Rafaqat, Rasheed Ahmed, Nasrullah and Nadir of “carrying out, facilitating and financing the attack”.

Picking up cues from the UN report, the JIT also charged Syed Saud Aziz, a former Rawalpindi police chief, and Khurram Shahzad, a former superintendent of police, with criminal negligence of duty and “hosing down the crime scene”. The electronic media revisited the scene on the third anniversary of the assassination and found eyewitnesses who gave accounts, adding more details to the dossier. The local PPP leader who was in charge of managing the Liaquat Bagh meeting where Ms Bhutto spoke stated that the armoured vehicle which carried her away from the scene had one of its rear tyres flattened and was blocked by a crowd that did not belong to the PPP but could have been organised by persons from within the establishment. This crowd blocked the vehicle and allowed a man to fire at Benazir and a suicide bomber to emerge from Liaquat Bagh to blow himself up near the first assassin. Names have been named and they belong in the list presented to Pervez Musharraf by Ms Bhutto in a letter when he was in power. In this letter, she said that she had been told that the establishment would try to get rid of her. And this establishment contained elements who exercised policy control even after retirement. The JIT report demands action. Will the government be allowed to start action against the well-known “nursery” of jihad named in the report? Or will the trail fade like that of Pakistan’s earlier assassinations?

Video Proves US, NATO Are Lying

A video footage of the Sept. 30 attack by US helicopters working for NATO in Afghanistan proves beyond doubt that US and NATO officials have been lying and misleading the international opinion. In this incident, the US military in Afghanistan is involved in the deliberate murder of three Pakistani soldiers.

Grabs from a TV video show (clockwise) a NATO helicopter hovering over hills near Mandato Kandao post inside Pakistan’s Kurram Agency and a pall of thick dust rises after the helicopter attacks the security post.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan-A dramatic footage of the deadly attack on Mandato Kandao in Upper Kurram Agency last week leaves little doubt about the violation by Afghanistan-based foreign forces.

Contrary to NATO commanders’ claim of firing in self-defense on September 30, the images shown on DawnNews TV of the smoldering security post tells a different story.

The video shows NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) aircraft hovering over the security post before blowing it up. Three paramilitary soldiers were killed in the attack.

Official sources told DawnNews that the helicopters had carried out two attacks, first at about 5:25am and the second at 9:40am.

The video filmed from a distance shows the post being reduced to rubble. According to local people, the dead and injured had suffered severe burn injuries.

After the attack, tribesmen and soldiers are seen rescuing survivors and shifting the bodies.

Not only NATO helicopter gunships but two small aircraft also flew over Mandato Kandoa, the border point with Danda Pathan area of the Paktia province of Afghanistan.

Local tribesmen claim that ISAF and NATO have set up a base in Danda Pathan where military aircraft have been spotted.

This was the third such incursion as NATO helicopters had attacked the Matta Sangar area of Upper Kurram on September 27.

In that strike NATO claimed killing six insurgents and injuring eight others while local people contradicted the claim and said those killed were Muqbal tribesmen.

INDIA’S JASWANT MOMENT

by GHALIB SULTAN
First Published on: Aug 26, 2009

Secular, Democratic, Shining and Incredible—these were the adjectives with which India marketed itself. No one except Indians—Hindoo Indians—used these descriptions of India. Shining India took a fall when Indians themselves rejected this classification by the BJP and they did this by voting the BJP out and the Congress in. The general feeling in India was that poverty, corruption, crime and the miserable state of the common man were the realities that could not exist under the Shining India label therefore this label and its creators must go.

Of course there were other unsavory matters associated with the BJP. The support of fanatic, intolerant Hindu militant organizations. The botched Ram Mandir controversy that all but destroyed India’s secular image. The holocaust in Gujerat when mad Hindoos killed thousands of Muslims aided abetted and ignored by the Modi administration. Then there were the foolish utterances by Arun Gandhi in his short sighted bid for a political career. There were indirect consequences of these events—terror attacks by Hindoo mobs on Muslims and Christians, atrocities by security forces in insurgent areas like Kashmir and all of the north eastern states, Hindoo terrorism with involvement of military personnel (attack on the train Samjotha Express) , terrorist—criminal mafia involvement in the Mumbai incidents and political appeasement of Hindoo militancy for votes.

There were also direct consequences. The increase in violence and scale of operations in Kashmir and North East—both racked by separatist movements. The emergence of Muslim militant movements and attacks by them in retaliation to Hindoo terrorism. Stepped up brutality and violation of rights by India’s security forces—the rape and murder of two teenage girls in Shopian Kashmir and the more recent murder of Kashmiri youths are just two examples of many such incidents.

Now we have the Jaswant controversy. The treatment meted out to a respected liberal moderate and tolerant political leader who has served India well truly destroys India’s secular and democratic credentials. The Congress that is seen as an enlightened party has been silent—adding to the damage done to India’s image. India wants to be seen through the tinsel town magic of Bollywood and the bevy of Indian beauties who strut the stage. India wants to be seen as democratic, secular, moderate, tolerant and progressive. India wants to be seen as a world power with powerful connections to the US, Israel, Russia and capable of buying space in spots like Afghanistan. There is, however, another India and the Jaswant incident has highlighted it.

India is over populated. It lacks water resources. Its farmers commit suicide. It has a vicious caste system that keeps the lower castes deprived, humiliated and exploited. Its politicians are corrupt. It stereotypes Muslims as criminals and terrorists through its films. It has a biased media that can be irresponsible (as evident after the Mumbai attacks). It has slums and horrendous poverty. India has an intolerant and extremist segment in its population. These realities have to be confronted and managed otherwise the BJP’s Shining India debacle will be repeated.

Of course India is not the only country with such problems—there are many others?