A DEADLY NARRATIVE

By: Ismail Khan

As high level US visitors come to Pakistan the impression is that efforts are being made to revamp end reorient the US-Pakistan relationship after the Raymond Davis and OBL incidents. This may or may not be so but much more is happening on the street and a narrative is taking shape that is getting more and more takers. It would be folly to ignore this reality.

If confused and convoluted official statements are ignored then what eye witnesses and some from the forces that battled the attackers in Karachi’s Mehran Base have said is eye-opening. It is being reported that there were up to 11 Chinese on the base. No one has explained why they were there when the base was home to US supplied P3c Orion Aircraft – especially when US sensitivity to transfer of their technology to China is well known and clearly communicated to Pakistan. It is clear from events as they unfolded that the primary objective of the attack were the US supplied aircraft and not the Americans on the base for maintenance and training. There is plausible evidence that the attackers attempted to take the Chinese hostage but the Americans were not targeted. It is said that some of the attackers had tattooed arms-a typically American habit but frowned upon in this part of the world. One such tattooed person who looks to be an American was shot dead in a bush and had communication equipment with him indicating that he was controlling the operation. Reports on the number of attackers vary from

12 to 25 and most believe the higher figure. The talk of help to the attackers from inside the base is now leaning towards the notion that this help came from the Americans on the base and not, as people are being tutored to believe, from penetration of the Navy by militants. The journalist Salim Shahzad was probably killed because he was peddling the story about ‘Al Qaeda within the Pakistani ranks’ – something of which there is no evidence. There is, however ample evidence of covert American presence in Pakistan after they used their moles to gain access through liberally supplied visas. If Raymond Davis was not enough then the stand-off in Peshawer just a day ago is a more recent event-diplomats when checked identify themselves, they don’t sit and sulk behind locked doors and black tinted glasses in their host country defying the laws of the land.

There is more on the street. A Tehrik Taleban (TTP) spokesman speaking from Mohmand (a supposedly subdued tribal agency of FATA) has said that even if the Americans/NATO leave Afghanistan their fight against Pakistan would go on because they are fighting to bring ‘Islamic rule’ in Pakistan and that Pakistan’s nuclear assets are not in danger because these are Islamic assets to be used in the service of Islam. These pronouncements come when the US is being asked to pull out after the OBL killing and after pulling out rely on small forces carrying out focused operations. Pakistan has been pushing for a shift to political resolution in Afghanistan balking at the pressure to get into North Waziristan in tandem with US led military operations in Afghanistan and stepped up Drone strikes. The reports of US drones targeting the anti-Pakistan TTP and the new revelations of TTP’s global agenda as well as long term designs on Pakistan are all coincidentally timed to ramp up the pressure on Pakistan even as the Hedley courtroom drama makes headway in incriminating the ISI – already reeling from the US delivered below the belt blow in Abbottabad. The earlier reports of Raymond Davis’ contacts with TTP now start making sense because the best option would be to stay covert and get the TTP to do the dirty work in Pakistan with careful pay-offs using Indian RAW and Afghan NDS assets as well as old Pakistan hating loyalists like the ex NDS chief now operating from the background. Cleverly orchestrated this could keep the TTP in the dark about who they were actually working for. Add to all this the fact that post OBL and post Mehran the military and the ISI are in the dock and severely downgraded domestically – something that surely gladdens the hearts of the US, the Indians and the Afghan government.

What does all this add up to? It gives the Pakistani street a narrative that fits neatly into anti-American sentiment. To many the logic is simple – use covert operations to launch the overt OBL raid. Use covert operations and local assets to launch a ‘terrorist’ attack that sends the message about not transferring US technology. Use covert contacts to create the pressure that will get Pakistan into North Waziristan to help create the environment for the Obama promised withdrawal in July. If this narrative is flawed then it is time for the US to start telling the Pakistanis what they are up to and to end the charade of de-hyphenation when it is actually a trilateral hyphenation against Pakistan – the CIA, RAW and NDS behind the smoke screen that is the TTP. A civil-military confrontation, public opinion and media running down the military and ISI, lawlessness and internal breakdown are bonus dividends not to be scoffed at.

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.

Institutionalized Hatred

By: Ghalib Sultan
ZoneAsia-Pk

On April 3rd 2011 suicide bombers hit the Shrine of Syed Ahmad Sakhi Sarwar. The blasts occurred on Sunday during the 942nd Urs (death anniversary) of the Saint and left more than 100 people injured. There were three suicide bombers but out of the three, one of the bombers was unsuccessful in his bid to bring carnage to the peaceful worshipers, and was arrested by the police after his explosives failed to detonate.

Sufi worshippers, who follow a mystical strand of Islam, have increasingly been the target of bloody attacks by militants in Pakistan. The shrine was targeted because Islamist extremists regard the veneration of Sufi saints – a much loved and widespread practice in Pakistan – as un-Islamic. In July last year, two suicide bombers blew themselves up among crowds of worshippers at Pakistan’s most popular Sufi site, the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, where the death toll reached to about 42 people. On October 7, 2010, the Sufi shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi was hit by suicide bombers, killing nine worshippers. Also in October 2010, a bomb blast outside the country’s second most popular Sufi shrine, dedicated to the 12th century saint Baba Farid, also known as Ganjshakar, in the Punjab town of Pakpattan killed four people.

The third suicide bomber was a 14 year old boy, identified as Omar Fidai alias Fida Hussain. Along with him, the police also detained another person from the shrine but have not disclosed any details up till now.

Intelligence agencies have expressed their fears that terrorists could attack the police and their facilities for the rescue or killing of their comrade, who was captured alive from the site of Sakhi Sarwar shrine blast in DG Khan. Security sources have said that the associates of captured attacker Fida alias Omar Fadai could strike to get him released in the same manner that terrorists in Lahore did to get release their associate from Jinnah Hospital. The security agencies have said that in view of this threat, it is imperative the captured attacker is move out of DG Khan to a more secure place. In this regard, the security authorities and intelligence agencies are in contact with each other to chalk out a strategy for moving the captured terrorist and keeping him alive as there are also fears that he could be killed by his fellow accomplices to wipe out any proof and information to get to their master mind.

Both the detained suspects were apparently from North Waziristan, one of seven tribally administered areas close to Afghanistan. All those areas are militant hotspots, but North Waziristan is considered especially so, being under virtual militant control and also being home to extremists from around Pakistan and the world, much to the consternation of the West.

Young boys, often with little or no education, are used by the Taliban as suicide bombers. As well as being less suspicious, terrorism analysts say their handlers find it easier to persuade them to carry out suicide missions. The captured boy’s comments to the policemen offer a glimpse into the level of his indoctrination.

“You all are accomplices of the enemies of Islam who are bent upon eliminating Islam and Muslims,” Hussain allegedly said, according to an interrogation officer. “If I get a chance, I will again strike as a suicide bomber.”

Such ‘brainwashing’ shows the extent to which terrorists and militants are able to train unprotected and hapless youngsters to carry out devastating suicide attacks, and such training is based on the ability of militants to move about freely, as well as their aura of supremacy and legitimacy that they continuously remind the conservative, uneducated local populace about – that they are warriors of Islam, that they are fighting the true Jihad, and that all those who join their struggle will be blessed with the bounties of Paradise should they die fighting. This is why hundreds of young Muslims have been recruited by Muslim tribals, terrorists and militants, on being given money and direction by the Muslim operatives of Al Qaeda, to kill yet more Muslims in Pakistan, whether they belong to the Army, the police forces, or even the general populace.

It is not easy to exactly pinpoint the root cause of exploitation and ‘brainwashing’ of the young and impressionable suicide bombers, especially because their use in attacks becomes subject to context, circumstance, and ‘inspiration’ i.e. which specific entity wanted a certain place or person to be attacked (and hence, ordered and financed a suicide bombing). The factors responsible for transforming the youth of Pakistan into walking bombs ranges from appalling education standards and the absence of social security nets to the predominance of the ‘madrassa culture’ that replaces these critical foundations of society. But one thing is certain, and is evident from all past and present incidents: the ingrained belief of the suicide bombers – of being convinced that such mission are virtuous in nature and warrant a fee pass to heaven – is something that strikes at the very heart of Pakistan’s existence as an Islamic state, its use of religious zealots as proxies to fulfill a personal, political, economic and ideological agenda, and the existential situation of the Islamic Republic being itself attacked by jihadi’s.

The madrassa culture has lost its true essence and has now become a place where all kinds of hatred is spewed towards non-Muslims, and today, even against Muslim brothers who do not follow a particular sect of Islam. Anyone who deviates from this ‘self proclaimed’ path is a sinner and has no right to live, according to madrassa teachings as well as the beliefs of madrassa students. The government and people of Pakistan must decide what is the solution to terrorism and extremism in Pakistan; more troops, or more teachers?

Pakistan to compensate US drone strike families: official

MIRANSHAH: The government will pay compensation to the families of 39 people who died in a US drone strike last week, an official said on Saturday.

Civilians and police were among those killed when missiles hit a compound in Datta Khel on March 17.

Civilians and police were among those killed when missiles hit a compound in Datta Khel in North Waziristan on March 17. In protest, Pakistan refused to participate in a trilateral meeting with US and Afghan officials and belligerent condemnation came from the prime minister and the army chief.

Tribal administration official Asghar Khan said that a compensation package was ready for the victims’ families. “Each of the families will be paid Rs300,000, while Rs100,000 will be paid to each of the six injured,” Khan said, adding that payments would commence from Monday.

Compensation is paid to police and civilians who are killed in bomb blasts or terror attacks but this is the first time that compensation has been announced to US drone attack victims even though hundreds have reportedly died in the attacks that increased steeply when US President Barack Obama took office.

Drone attack ‘unjustified’ and ‘intolerable’: Kayani

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, strongly condemned the predator strike which killed more than three dozen people in North Waziristan on Thursday. The army chief called the attack “unjustified and intolerable” and said it was a violation of human rights. “A jirga of peaceful citizens, including elders, of the area has been targeted carelessly with a complete disregard to human life,” Kayani was quoted as having said. He said that “such an act of violence takes us away from our objective of elimination of terrorism”. It was imperative to understand that this critical objective could not be sacrificed for temporary tactical gains, Kayani said, adding that security of the people of Pakistan, in any case, stood above all. The army chief offered condolences to the bereaved families.

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.

DISCORD or DISCONNECT

By: Fatima Rizvi

The media is discussing USAID refusal to divulge details of its operations to a Parliamentary Committee including the NGO’s supported by it not to discuss anything or appear before the Committee. The Foreign Office is reported to have said that it would take up the matter with the US Embassy. The perception is growing that under the façade of a ‘strategic relationship’ what the US really wants is unhindered and unchecked access into Pakistan at all levels and all spheres and this is what the US is paying Pakistan for. It would be tragic if this were true or if even such a perception was to exist and gain ground.

Read Complete Article: http://www.zoneasia-pk.com/ZoneAsia-Pk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3125:discord-or-disconnect&catid=70:free-talk&Itemid=84

Yousuf Raza Gilani says Pakistan would accept no pressure for Waziristan ops

Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gilani today said his country would not succumb to any external pressure to launch a military operation in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, asserting that no one can ‘dictate us’ on the when and where of things.

Pakistan has been under pressure from the US to launch a military operation in North Waziristan on the lines of the one it carried out in Swat, but it has remained non-committal.

Speaking in the National Assembly or lower house of the Parliament, Gilani said Pakistan will not accept any pressure from the US or any other country to launch a military operation against militants in the restive tribal region.

“We can sacrifice our lives for the defence and security of the country, so no one should have the impression that they can dictate when military operations should be conducted in North Waziristan and South Waziristan,” he said.

The US has stepped up pressure on Pakistan in recent months to launch a military action in North Waziristan, which senior American military officials have described as a safe haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda elements.

Observers have said Pakistan is reluctant to act against militant networks in the region as they have close links to the security establishment and only target US and allied forces across the border in Afghanistan.

“I want to tell the House that the decision will be made by Pakistan on where to conduct a military action. No one can dictate to us,” he said in response to concerns expressed by parliamentarians about pressure from the US to move troops into the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.

Gilani, however, made it clear that his government would act wherever its writ is challenged by militants, as it did in the northwestern Swat valley last year.

Describing the impression that Pakistan launches military actions on the dictates of “American or foreign elements” as wrong, he said there will be “no compromise on the sovereignty and integrity of the country”.

The government has taken all sections of the political leadership, both within and outside the parliament, into confidence before launching operations against militants in areas like Swat, Malakand and South Waziristan, he said.

“No section of the political leadership will say it favours terrorism, all are opposed to it. The whole nation is standing up against terrorism like a wall because it has spoiled our economy,” he added.

U.S. Military Seeks to Expand Raids in Pakistan

By: MARK MAZZETTI and DEXTER FILKINS

WASHINGTON – Senior American military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground raids across the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out militants there.

The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited because of fears of provoking a backlash.

The plan has not yet been approved, but military and political leaders say a renewed sense of urgency has taken hold, as the deadline approaches for the Obama administration to begin withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan. Even with the risks, military commanders say that using American Special Operations troops could bring an intelligence windfall, if militants were captured, brought back across the border into Afghanistan and interrogated.

The Americans are known to have made no more than a handful of forays across the border into Pakistan, in operations that have infuriated Pakistani officials. Now, American military officers appear confident that a shift in policy could allow for more routine incursions.

America’s clandestine war in Pakistan has for the most part been carried out by armed drones operated by the C.I.A.

Additionally, in recent years, Afghan militias backed by the C.I.A. have carried out a number of secret missions into Pakistan’s tribal areas. These operations in Pakistan by Afghan operatives, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, have been previously reported as solely intelligence-gathering operations. But interviews in recent weeks revealed that on at least one occasion, the Afghans went on the offensive and destroyed a militant weapons cache.

The decision to expand American military activity in Pakistan, which would almost certainly have to be approved by President Obama himself, would amount to the opening of a new front in the nine-year-old war, which has grown increasingly unpopular among Americans. It would run the risk of angering a Pakistani government that has been an uneasy ally in the war in Afghanistan, particularly if it leads to civilian casualties or highly public confrontations.

Still, one senior American officer said, “We’ve never been as close as we are now to getting the go-ahead to go across.”

The officials who described the proposal and the intelligence operations declined to be identified by name discussing classified information.

Ground operations in Pakistan remain controversial in Washington, and there may be a debate over the proposal. One senior administration official said he was not in favor of cross-border operations – which he said have been generally “counterproductive” – unless they were directed against top leaders of Al Qaeda. He expressed concern that political fallout in Pakistan could negate any tactical gains.

Still, as evidence mounts that Pakistani troops are unlikely to stage a major offensive into the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, where Al Qaeda’s top leaders are thought to be taking shelter, United States commanders have renewed their push for approval to send American commando teams into Pakistan.

In announcing the results of a review of the strategy in Afghanistan, Obama administration officials said they were considering expanded American operations to deal with threats inside Pakistan. They offered no specifics.

In interviews in Washington and Kabul, American officials said that officers were drawing up plans to begin ground operations to capture or kill leaders from the Taliban and the Haqqani network. American officers say they are particularly eager to capture, as opposed to kill, militant leaders, who they say can offer intelligence to guide future operations.

Even before finalizing any plans to increase raids across the border, the Obama administration has already stepped up its air assaults in the tribal areas with an unprecedented number of C.I.A. drone strikes this year. Since September, the spy agency has carried out more than 50 drone attacks in North Waziristan and elsewhere – compared with 60 strikes in the preceding eight months.

In interviews, the officials offered a more detailed description of two operations since 2008 in which Afghans working under the direction of the C.I.A. – a militia called the Paktika Defense Force – crossed the border into Pakistan. They also offered a richer account of the activities of these militia groups throughout the country.

According to an Afghan political leader, one of the raids was initiated to capture a Taliban commander working inside Pakistan. When the Afghan troops reached the compound, they did not find the Taliban commander, but the Pakistani militants opened fire on them, the Afghan said.

An American official disputed this account, saying that the C.I.A. militias are not sent over the border to capture militant leaders, but merely to gather intelligence.

In a second raid, the Paktika militia attacked and destroyed a Taliban ammunition depot and returned to base, officials said. Both of the C.I.A.-backed raids were aimed at compounds only a few miles inside Pakistani territory.

The Paktika Defense Force is one of six C.I.A.-trained Afghan militias that serve as a special operations force against insurgents throughout Afghanistan. The other militias operate around the cities of Kandahar, Kabul and Jalalabad as well as in the rural provinces of Khost and Kunar.

One American service member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the C.I.A.-backed militia near Khost had recently deployed in the mountains along the Pakistan border, where it would spend the winter trying to intercept Taliban fighters. So far, the C.I.A.-backed force has proven effective, he said.

“The rockets we endured for the past seven months suddenly dried up,” the service member said.

In the past, the American military has had only limited success in its few cross-border operations. In October, an American military helicopter accidently killed a group of Pakistani soldiers during a flight over the border in pursuit of militants. The episode infuriated Pakistan’s government, which temporarily shut down American military supply routes into Pakistan. Several fuel trucks sitting at the border were destroyed by insurgents, and American officials publicly apologized.

Two years earlier, in September 2008, American commandos carried out a raid in Pakistan’s tribal areas and killed several people suspected of being insurgents. The episode led to outrage among Pakistan’s leaders – and warnings not to try again.

28 die in NWA drone attack

By Malik Mumtaz & Mushtaq Yusufzai

MIRAMSHAH/PESHAWAR: The US spy planes on Tuesday launched the biggest missile attack in North Waziristan tribal region and killed 28 suspected militants and villagers in the wake of heightening tension in the Pak-US relations over Faisal Shahzad’s alleged involvement in the botched New York car bombing.

Official sources in Miramshah, the principal town of North Waziristan, said the unmanned US spy planes fired the biggest number of missiles at a time against a single target.

“It’s terrible. They intend to intensify the drone attacks as the number of planes hovering over the area has gone up dramatically,” remarked an official in Miramshah, who declined to be named.

The official and tribal sources said 13 people, including villagers and militants, were killed in the first round of missile strikes in the Doga area in Dattakhel subdivision while 15 others, believed to be militants, were killed in the second hit on a house in the Gorweek area.

According to sources, nine drones took part in the coordinated missile strikes in the mountainous Doga area in Dattakhel subdivision, located near the border with the Urgoon area of Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

The area, which is about 65-70 kilometres west of Miramshah, is the hometown of MNA from North Waziristan Kamran Khan. Pakistan has deployed one Army brigade in this area. According to sources, the drones first started firing missiles at a speedy car travelling towards Doga from the border area of Afghanistan. Three people, suspected to be the militants, were killed and two others injured in the strike .

Later, the drones started targeting suspected hideouts of the militants affiliated with North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur and his deputy Maulvi Sadiq Noor. Security officials said some of the missiles hit tented hideouts of the militants which they had temporarily established in mountains.

Besides local militants, officials said, foreign fighters were also killed in the series of missile strikes. Tribesmen said they saw nine bodies of the local militants being shifted to their native villages near Miramshah for burial. The sources close to the Taliban said there was no prominent figure among the victims.

An official of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) on condition of anonymity said death toll might rise as some of the missiles struck houses of local tribesmen in the village. He said five tribesmen injured in the attack in Doga were brought to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Miramshah and three others were rushed to Peshawar.

Later, the drones fired three more missiles and struck the hideout of Maulvi Sadiq Noor in the Gorweek area of Dattakhel tehsil. The official sources said 15 militants were killed and four others injured, while militants claimed only 10 of their men had been killed in the attack.

The government officials said it was the 31st missile attack by the US spy planes in North Waziristan since the beginning of this year and 13th on Dattakhel, stronghold of Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led militants.

They said over 500 people, including militants and local tribesmen, had lost their lives in these missile strikes and several others were maimed for life. Meanwhile, tension prevailed in the militancy-stricken North Waziristan with tribesmen fearing a likely military operation after a strong-worded threat to Pakistan by the US following the arrest of Faisal Shahzad.

The peace committee, headed by prominent cleric Maulana Gul Ramazan, has been trying to bring together the government and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Taliban. But the committee members have not been able to overcome the differences between the government and the Taliban after the May 11 attack on a military convoy near Khattay Killay in which nine soldiers were killed and 16 others were injured.

Since then the military authorities have been facing problems in taking troops form one area to another for security reasons. The militants had threatened to attack the troops if they came out of their camps in Miramshah, Mir Ali and Dattakhel. The militants said that they had imposed their own curfew of their own and would not allow the troops to move in the area during the curfew hours.