Pakistan's Descent into Chaos: Terrorist & Drone Attacks

Oracle

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Terrorists may disrupt Indo-Pak peace: US

Noting that terrorist groups might try to provoke conflict between India and Pakistan, United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday told US lawmakers that he is concerned about the current situation in Pakistan.

"I worry a lot about Pakistan. It has huge economic problems... They have a serious internal terrorism threat that is seeking to destabilise Pakistan itself. And I worry that some of those terrorists might try and provoke a conflict between Pakistan and India," Gates told a Senate Committee hearing.


"I think that there's a lot to be concerned about with Pakistan," he said in response to a question from Senator John McCain, who said that there is a serious disruption of ties between the US and Pakistan as a result of the arrest of American diplomat Raymond Davis over alleged murder charges.


"There's been serious disruption, obviously, with this American citizens who is now being held in prison, the whole role of private contractors, the continued allegations of relationships between Inter Services Intelligence and the Taliban. I'm deeply concerned about the situation in Pakistan, which obviously is vital to the sustained and long-term success in Afghanistan," McCain said.


Acknowledging that sanctuaries still exist in Pakistan, Gates however praised Islamabad for moving troops from the India border to wards the Af-Pak border.

"The Pakistanis have 140,000 troops on that border. These things improve step by step, not as quickly as we would like, but we get to a better place over time," he said.


"If you'd asked me two years ago if the Pakistanis would withdraw six divisions from the Indian border and put them in the west, I would have said impossible. If you would have asked me if we would begin coordinating operations on both sides of the border with Afghan and ISAF forces on the one side, and the Pakistanis on the other, I would have said that's very unlikely," he noted.


"They are chipping away at some of these sanctuaries. It's very important what they've done in South Waziristan and Swat. But it's a mixed picture and it's something we just need to keep working at it," Gates said.


Sharing concerns of Senator McCain on Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that "the vector" is going in the wrong direction overall for Pakistan.

"We're very unpopular there... It's highlighted in each crisis whether -- I mean, we provided extraordinary support for the floods last year -- 'we' the military. And then registers in a popular way shortly. You have an incident like the one we're going through right now and our popularity is back down in very small numbers," he said.


"I do think we have to stay at it. It is where lots of terrorist organizations head, not just Al Qaeda. They are more combined in their efforts than they've ever been. So I do think we have to continue to work at it. I'm as concerned as I've ever been," Mullen said.

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Oracle

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Falah-e-Insaniat: The Lashkar's latest front organisation

On Thursday the United States of America stated that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was capable of launching a 26/11 style attack in Europe and other parts of the world. Indian intelligence agencies have always said this and have warned about the Lashkar's growing capabilities.

The fact that the Lashkar has emerged as a global outfit has often been spoken about and IB officials now say the LeT is ready to strike on behalf of the Al Qaeda, which has been tied down by US pressure and drone strikes on its bases in Afghanistan.

Post 26/11, there has been a ban on both the Lashkar as well as its fund-raising outfit, the Jamaat-ud-Duwa. Despite their movements being restricted a great deal and funds drying up initially, the Lashkar has managed to get back on track.


The Lashkar has launched a new outfit called the Falah-e-Insaniat which acts as the front organisation to raise funds for terror operations. Intelligence officials say this was an expected reaction from the ISI and the Lashkar since they were finding it hard to raise funds in the wake of the ban on the JuD.

Post the ban on the JuD a lot of financing that was pouring in from the Gulf and also sympathisers have completely stopped. The JuD used to raise millions of dollars through donations but following the ban the donors stopped contributing since they would have come under the radar if they had continued to do so.

The IB says for the donors, this new organisation is thus a fresh lease of life. The donors have always wanted to contribute to the Lashkar since they are viewed as freedom-fighters. With the FeI in place, they have vowed to donate more since they want it to remain in circulation and understand that a lot of funding is needed for it to carry on.

Post 26/11, the Lashkar has always aimed at going global, but it was under immense pressure from all quarters and hence had to slow down its operations. There were also issues pertaining to heightened security and funds. The Lashkar needed some time to overcome these obstacles and today it appears that the LeT is ready to strike.

The Lashkar has no dearth of global players. They will derive a lot from the experience of the likes of Sajid Mir, who is known to have cultivated a global network. Mir's network has often been spoken about and he can arrange for many more terror operatives like David Headley in the future.

In addition to this, they also have the Al Qaeda's network to fall back on which is still strong in large pockets in the West.

The IB says the US has managed to keep the Al Qaeda quiet and also busy in Afghanistan. This has only led to the rise of the Lashkar which is all set to become the next Al Qaeda. The Lashkar, which subscribes entirely to the Al Qaeda's view, has started sharing the same ideology called Global Islamic Jihad which seeks to target the West and, especially the United States of America.

Moreover the Lashkar operatives have also been told that they need to rise from just being India-centric and focus on the rest of the world as well.

The IB says this new approach also justifies the ISI working to groom newer home grown outfits since terror operations in India can be taken care of by these outfits while the Lashkar-e-Tayiba grows into a full blown global jihadi outfit.

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'America must rework its relationship with Pakistan'

Aziz Haniffa in Washinton, DC
Bruce Riedel: In conversation with Aziz Haniffa, the former CIA stalwart discusses the US-AfPak-India conundrum.
Since its release last month, Central Intelligence Agency veteran and senior adviser to four Presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues Bruce Riedel's new book, Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of Global Jihad, has been creating waves in administration, Congressional, think tank and diplomatic circles. The book is filled with rare insights and the author's no-holds-barred recommendations on how the United States can extricate itself out of this deadly embrace.

You mentioned that it was Strobe (Talbott, deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration and now president, The Brookings Institution) who had suggested the title of your book.

I thought Strobe's idea for the title captured beautifully in two words the complexity of this relationship, the contradictions in this relationship, and above all, how this relationship has been poisoned for America and for Pakistan. So, Deadly Embrace seemed to me to be a beautiful title.

Are you advocating the US get out of this deadly embrace? Is it possible?

We need to transform our relationship with Pakistan to a positive embrace, where we are working to help build Pakistani democracy, help those forces in Pakistan who want to resist jihadism and the dark forces, keep the Pakistani army in the barracks and help Pakistan normalise its relationships with Afghanistan, and, above all, with India.

The big idea for America in the 21st century in South Asia has to be to build a South Asia which puts war and terror behind it and puts trade and transit in front of it.

There's the story of someone getting hold of the tiger's tale and the tiger taking off so fast that you can't let go of it even if you want to. Is that the case with Pakistan as far as the US is concerned? A deadly embrace that Washington cannot simply extricate itself out of even if it wants to?

It's certainly been the case for many, many years. For good reasons and bad reasons, America has pursued a highly schizophrenic policy towards Pakistan. What we need now is constancy and consistency, support for the democratically elected leadership of Pakistan, with all their warts. Because we've tried the generals and that's how we got into the mess we're in. So, we have to help Pakistan help itself.

There are some people in this town, looking at the unraveling situation in Pakistan and reminiscing nostalgically about the good old days of the Pakistani generals when things seemed less complicated and there were fewer people to essentially deal with. Can't it be argued that this offered perhaps a more pragmatic strategic scenario, even if it were totally contrary to America's democratic values?

The generals are the reason we are in the mess we are in today. Each Pakistani military dictator, above all Zia-ul Haq, but all four of them, have steadily moved the country towards a more radical outlook. They have harbored Islamic extremists, they have played Russian roulette and plotted war after war with India that's how we got into this mess.

We know what Pakistani generals can do. We know that they will produce a Pakistan that is not healthy. They've had four opportunities and that's what they have done. One of the tragedies in Pakistan is that the armies can't run the country, but they won't let anyone else run the country. We shouldn't slip into that mistake again.
The good old days of the generals were not good old days. It was they who produced the global Islamic jihad.

It's become almost a clich now that Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism. You in fact coined the phrase 'syndicate of terror'. Is there any possibility of it letting up, or is it going to exacerbate even further because it's a Frankenstein's monster that's gripped Pakistan by its jugular to the extent that this genie cannot be put back into the bottle anymore?

The battle for the soul of Pakistan is underway between the dark forces, the syndicate of terror and their allies in the Pakistani establishment. And those who still believe in Muhammad Jinnah's vision of a Pakistan, which is a moderate, modern democracy in which anyone could practice their faith.

The outcome of that battle is crucial to the globe in the 21st century. It's easy to be pessimistic and to assume that the dark forces will win.

I am an eternal optimist because the Pakistani people have fought back against dictatorships time and time again and brave Pakistani like (former Pakistani prime minister) Benazir Bhutto, with all her faults, like the governor of Punjab (Salman Taseer, assassinated for his liberal views by his fanatical Islamic bodyguard), with all his faults, are the kind of people we need to support.

You were the chair of President Obama's initial Af-Pak Strategic Report. Did you consider it a deadly embrace then ?
I certainly from well before that have been saying and writing that Pakistan is the epicenter of international terrorism, that the syndicate of terror was a threat to the survival of Pakistan.

If my contribution to the President's first (Af-Pak) review focused on anything, it was more to understand the nature of the Pakistani challenge and the imperative of changing US-Pakistan relations than any other single issue.

You've also always argued about the perfidy of the ISI and written about how you are convinced of the ISI hand and connivance in the Mumbai terror attacks by unleashing its surrogate, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba

The evidence of an ISI role in the planning of Mumbai mounts continuously. How far up in ISI, we still don't know. How far up in the Pakistani army, we still don't know. But connivance in the long effort to plot that attack, which we now know about so much from (Pakistani-American Lashkar operative) David Headley, I think is pretty clear.

Are you convinced that this alliance between the ISI and the Lashkar is still very much alive and well? While the ISI may have created the Lashkar, could it be that it no longer holds its reins?

No one who's not in the ISI today can tell you exactly what's going on. But we have a long track record and I don't see any reason to believe that the history of ISI's relations with Lashkar-e-Tayiba and other groups like that has substantially changed.

Why is that? Is it because the Pakistani military's concept of strategic depth vis- -vis India through proxy wars via groups like the Lashkar is still very much a priority?

The ISI has seen groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba as assets in asymmetric warfare with India. They have seen them as useful for creating a strategic depth. They have believed that the US will cut and run in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Until we change those beliefs we are not likely to see the ISI get out of the business of being a patron sponsor of terrorism. In my book, I argue the US now needs to draw specific red lines and make clear what is totally unacceptable. And then, if we identify Pakistani intelligence officers involved in support of international terrorism, we should put their names on the list that the United Nations puts out of international terrorists and abettors of international terrorism.

We should put them on America's lists, we should make it personal. I think that is the 'or else' that we've been missing for a long time.

Headley mentions a Major Iqbal as his handler. Do you believe that this Major Iqbal should be put on these lists by the UN and the US?

If we could find out who Major Iqbal is, absolutely he should be on the list. After all, half-a-dozen American citizens were murdered in Mumbai.

Pakistan, its military and the ISI still believe it's India that is Pakistan's primary existential threat and not terrorism. You mentioned at your book launch how (Pakistan's chief of army staff) General (Ashfaq) Kayani proudly talks about the fact that he is the most India-centric general. So, can this perception ever dissipate and India not be looked at as Pakistan's most dire threat?

It won't be easy. It's not going to happen overnight. But creative diplomacy--working with India and others like China, like Saudi Arabia -- I believe in time can change the strategic formulae that Pakistan has. I don't see an alternative to doing that. It's a very difficult challenge but it's the big idea that American diplomacy needs to promote in South Asia today.

You've argued that the most recent Af-Pak Strategic Review released by the Obama White House got it only half right. That the portion that was not addressed is how to help Pakistan deal with India. You've argued for Obama to broker a rapprochement between Delhi and Islamabad. But how do you do it when India goes ballistic when it gets even a whiff of such and effort by Washington?

We all know about how the Indians reacted when it was rumored that (the late former special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard) Holbrooke's original brief was to include India which necessarily translates into trying to resolve the Kashmir imbroglio?

We don't announce that we are going to mediate. We shouldn't mediate between Pakistan and India. What we should be is cheerleader, facilitator, and supporter. President Obama has spent the last two years building a relationship of trust with (Indian) Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh. I think that's money well put in the bank for the future. Where we go now has to be subtle it can't be coercive. It has to be with India, not against India.


But how? Because for all the subtlety or good intentions and sincerity, whenever India gets even a whiff about efforts at such involvement whether it's mediation, facilitation, creative diplomacy or whatever it really annoys New Delhi.

That's why I believe the President was smart to build a relationship with the prime minister so that the two of them can have highest and serious discussions, as I believe they already had on these issues--out of the glare of publicity, quietly, behind the scenes.

We are not going to tell the Indians what to do. But India, after all, has a bigger stake in a healthy Pakistan than we do. So what we've got to do is to help them as they try to work their way through these problems. Again, I'd start with the small--transit rights, trade facilitation, the famous bus, things like that. Moving on those things to see if we can get back to what we were before Mumbai.

But some may argue that by suggesting this kind of a policy and pushing for this creative diplomacy, you are buying into the simplistic solution that is Pakistan's contention in attempting to get the US and the international community involved to mediate the Kashmir problem, which Islamabad seems to have sold even to the likes of (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Admiral (Mike) Mullen and (former commander in Afghanistan) General (Stanley) McChrystal. That is, you resolve Kashmir, you would alleviate terrorism and consequently also help Pakistan move its forces to the western border from the east with India?

I am not suggesting that solving Kashmir solves all the problems between India and Pakistan. Clearly, it won't.

On the other hand, not addressing the Kashmiri issues leaves ne of the big issues between these two countries unaddressed. I believe we need a more complex dialogue.

It's not just about Kashmir by any means. It's about normalising the relationship between India and Pakistan. Here are two countries that share the same subcontinent, but it's almost impossible to go from one capital to the next.

Usually if you want to go from Mumbai, or you want to go from New Delhi to Islamabad, you go to Dubai. That's not normal. We ought to try to help them fix small things like that as a means to start moving toward big things --more fundamental issues. Not because that will solve all the problems in the world, but it sure would help solve some of the problems.

Are you fearful that as Steve Cohen predicted in a recent interview with the Council on Foreign Relations Pakistan will disintegrate? And does the assassination of the Punjab governor and the Pakistani government's reticence to even address the blasphemy (law) issue, let alone repeal it (the law), clearly indicate that the extremists are on the offensive? People like Sherry Rehman, who was pushing for amendments to the blasphemy law, have gone into hiding fearing for their lives.

I actually don't worry that Pakistan is going to disintegrate--I don't think that's on the immediate horizon.

I am much more worried that the dark forces in Pakistan are going to take the country over. In my book, I talk about thinking the unthinkable ---the jihadist Pakistan.

I think that's a much more likely outcome than a country that just disintegrates and becomes Somalia. Pakistan is not Somalia. Fortunately, I don't think a jihadist Pakistan is imminent. Not inevitable, but I think it's a real possibility for the first time in Pakistani history and it's another reason why we need to help those forces in Pakistan who want to return to Mohammad Jinnah's vision of a democratic, modern and moderate Pakistan succeed in their battle over the dark forces in Pakistan.

How concerned are you over the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal? Every time this concern is raised with senior Pentagon officials, they dismiss these fears and declare that the Pakistan military has assured them of their safety and security.

It's the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal in the world. If Pakistan is taken over by the dark forces--the jihadists--they will get the arsenal as well. It's simple as that. That's the big nightmare.

There are a lot of concerns for an individual weapon falling into terrorist hands. Pakistan has done a lot to make sure that can't happen. The bigger question is whether Pakistan--if Pakistan becomes a jihadist state--will be a jihadist state with the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal in the world.

And those who say that we should then somehow secure them are living in a fantasy world. There is no secure Pakistani nuclear arsenal option. That's why it's imperative that we help those in Pakistan who are fighting the dark forces.

Do you feel that there has been the kind of serious thinking in US administration circles and proactive contingency plans on tap for a failed Pakistan or a jihadist Pakistan with a massive nuclear arsenal? On how to quickly foreclose on such an unraveling situation and make sure it never happens?

If they are reading my stuff, and I am pretty confident they are, they have thought about it. What plans they have made, I am not witting of, nor at liberty to speak to it.

India is concerned about a premature US withdrawal from Afghanistan, particularly with the ISI-supported Afghan Taliban still very much a force to be reckoned with and with all of the talk and efforts of reintegration and reconciliation. Are India's deep concerns justified?

Do you believe that beyond all of the administration's rhetoric and appreciation of India's assistance in Afghanistan's development and infrastructure, there is a genuine effort to involve India strategically toward a solution in Afghanistan? Is this for real or are all of Washington's declarations just hype?


India is, and should be a major player on Afghanistan. It has historic ties with Afghanistan. It has invested an enormous amount of money in trying to help stabilise Afghanistan since 2001. It has every reason to be part of the process.

I believe the President has now made clear that we are engaged in a process of transitioning from NATO-led to Afghan-led and that that process hopefully will culminate in effective Afghan forces by 2014 and that we will be there after 2014, although not in a combat role. Stabilising Afghanistan is critical to the whole effort of stabilising Pakistan and stabilising South Asia.

I believe the President understands that. I know there are a lot of people in America who are war-weary and they think this mission is impossible. I think it's too soon to give up.

But with regard to the Obama administration involving India strategically in terms of a solution in Afghanistan, is this for real? Is India involved in a substantive way with the US in this effort? If so, how is Washington dealing with Pakistan's paranoia?


Pakistan's paranoia has to be dealt with through the way that I have laid out before and in my book. But, yes, making India part of the solution, I believe, is for real. When the President went to New Delhi and when he invited Prime Minister Singh to the White House, he made clear we are not trying to cut India out of Afghanistan.

Source
 

Rage

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@ Oracle, gents,


Could I please request you guys not to post articles on this thread?

This thread is meant for specific incidents only. Not op-eds or opinion pieces. Thanks.

..

Girls college attacked in northwest Pakistan, 35 injured

A Muhammad
Peshawar, Mar 1 (PTI) Thirty-five people, a majority of them girls, were injured when militants lobbed grenades at a state-run girls'' college in northwest Pakistan today, police said.

Two men riding a motorcycle hurled grenades at the Government Girls College at Gulimera in Mardan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province this afternoon. A large number of students were participating in a function at the college at the time of the attack.



The injured, including a teacher and a passer-by, were taken to nearby hospitals. Seventeen girls were discharged after being provided first aid.

District police chief Waqif Khan described the condition of nine injured girls as critical. They were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Mardan city.

Khan dismissed reports that some persons were killed in the attack. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban militants, who consider the education of girls as "un-Islamic", have attacked scores of girls'' educational institutions in northwest Pakistan over the past few years.
PTI MUH RHL


http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4982104

----

Police say blast kills 4 in Pakistan


PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police say an explosion near a small police building in Pakistan's northwest has killed four people and wounded at least 30.

The blast occurred Thursday morning in the Hangu area, which is right outside the tribal regions where al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters have long proliferated.

Police official Rasheed Khan says the victims were rushed to hospitals.

Security and government offices are routinely attacked by militants in Pakistan's northwest.


©Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-03-03-Pakistan_N.htm
 

Oracle

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/\/\/\ OK Rage!

Pak: Suicide bomber targets funeral, 34 killed

At least 34 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a suicide bomber targeted members of an anti-Taliban militia who were attending a funeral in Pakistan's restive northwest region on Wednesday.

The bomber targeted the funeral prayers of the wife of Hakeem Khan, a leader of the 'peace committee' or anti-Taliban militia of Adezai, a tribal area near Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

The attacker, a youth who was on foot, ran into the crowd of mourners at Mattani, 35 km south of Peshawar, and detonated his explosive vest.

Over 200 tribesmen were attending the funeral.

Bomb disposal experts from the army carried out the controlled detonation of a bomb that was found at the site of the attack.

Thirty four people were killed in the suicide attack, district administration official Siraj Ahmed Khan told reporters outside the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.

Over 50 people were also injured, other officials said. The condition of eight of the injured was described by officials as serious.

The Darra Adam Khel chapter of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killing of militants in a military operation in Adezai area.

An emergency was declared in hospitals in Peshawar.

The anti-Taliban militia of Adezai, formed in 2008, has been at the forefront of efforts by tribesmen to flush out militants from the region around Peshawar.

A leader of the militia, Abdul Malik, was killed in a suicide attack in 2009.

In recent months, leaders of the militia have complained that the government has not been providing adequate support for their efforts to take on the Taliban.

The Taliban have repeatedly threatened members of pro-government militias in northwest Pakistan.

The militants want to have control on areas surrounding Peshawar so that they can gain unfettered access to the city.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the suicide attack and reiterated his government's resolve to root out the "cancer of terrorism from every nook and corner of the country."

He said, "Such cowardly attacks on peaceful citizens cannot demoralise the nation."

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Bangalorean

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Wasn't sure where to post this, since this is not a terrorist or drone attack. But it's certainly part of Pakistan's descent into chaos. Also, it is yet another instance of the Pawkee obsession with YYY (Yindoo-Yehudi-Yamreeka)

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/pak...sses-kidnapping-ring-on-the-loose-in-Peshawar

Attractive ladies in Peshawar delude youngsters due to their appealing look and later abduct them for heavy ransom as the Western and Indian cultures influence the Pakhtun society and push teenagers towards moral and spiritual evils.
It is quite disappointing that our society is declining in front of us but we have no strategy to cope with the Indian and Western culture.
 

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80 people reportedly killed in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan

80 people reportedly killed in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan

2011-03-17 20:39:30
ISLAMABAD, March 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 80 people were killed in U.S. drone strikes launched Thursday morning in different parts of Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, reported local state-run Urdu TV channel PTV, but the report failed to give details other than saying 12 missiles were fired at different targets in the afore-said area.

Late Thursday morning, there came in the news that U.S. drones launched a strike in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. Initial reports by most of the local media said that two missiles were fired at a house in which militants were said to be holding a meeting inside, killing 4 people and injuring several others.

But the death toll has kept rising as more information came in from the remote area with inadequate communication facilities. Some local media reports said the target of the U.S. drones is a house at a village in the Datta Khel area in which a meeting was being held by local Taliban militants while others reported that the target was actually a tribal "jirga" or council of elders to resolve dispute over the ownership of minerals in the mountains in North Waziristan tribal region.

According to a tribal elder who asked to remain anonymous in a telephone interview from Miranshah, center of North Waziristan, the tribesmen from Madda Khel tribe were holding a meeting at Nawai Adda area, some 25 kilometers from Miranshah, when two U.S. drones fired four missiles at the participants of the tribal council at 11:30 am (local time)

The elder said that the strike killed 41 people including six tribal elders and some children.

The injured were later transferred to the hospital in Miranshah and some of them were in critical condition, said hospital sources.

The tribal elder rejected the reports that the target was a meeting held by militants. He said that all were local tribesmen. He said that the Madda Khel tribe had sold a chromite mine on 8.8 million rupees (slightly over 100,000 US dollars) to a man and both parties later disagreed over the payment method and the jirga was called to settle the dispute.

Member of National Assembly from the region, Kamran Khan, condemned the drone strike and said that mostly innocent people were killed and injured in the Thursday's strike.

Residents said that they had seen four drones hovering over the area before and after the attack. They said two aircraft fired missiles.

Thursday's strike is the 23rd of its kind in Pakistan since 2011 and also one of the most deadly strikes in the country over the last few years. To date, at least 187 people have reportedly been killed in such strikes since this year.
Editor: Xiong Tong

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/17/c_13784458.htm
 

smartindian

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some forum member here were talking about ISI and pakistan got what its wants . pakistan benefited a lot by releasing Raymond Davis . ballalllaaallaall..... and next day 80 pakistani killed by american , violating sovereignty of pakistan . this is what isi wanted? and it will not be last drone attack



a gift from US after devis release. :pound::pound::pound:
 
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The Messiah

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some forum member here were talking about ISI and pakistan got what its wants . pakistan benefited a lot by releasing Raymond Davis . ballalllaaallaall..... and next day 80 pakistani killed by american , violating sovereignty of pakistan . this is what isi wanted? and it will not be last drone attack



a gift from US after devis release. :pound::pound::pound:
delusions are part of the makeup of the said creature!!! :pound: :pound: :pound:
 

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Gunmen attack Pakistani embassy official in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU: Mehboob Asif, visa assistant at the Pakistani embassy in Kathmandu, miraculously survived a gun attack on Thursday, triggering speculation about the growth of the underworld in Nepal and international gang rivalries.

The 36-year-old was said to be heading towards the embassy from a nursing home around 8.50am when two men, one of them said to be wearing a green T-shirt, fired on him, hitting him in the stomach and hand. The audacious attack occurred on the busy Ring Road that encircles Kathmandu valley, chock a block with people and traffic throughout the day.

An unidentified eyewitness told Image Television, a private television channel, that he saw the two men fire four shots at the Pakistani, jump on his motorcycle as he fell and drive off on it. Police found the abandoned vehicle near the Kanti Children's Hospital.

"The Embassy of Pakistan is confident that the Government of Nepal would undertake investigations at appropriate levels to bring the criminals to justice," the Pakistani Embassy said in a statement. Pakistani ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain, who visited the injured official at the Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj, said he had full faith that Nepal, being a very friendly country, would investigate the matter seriously.

This is the third attack in a public place in five days. It started with Indian leather trader Anjani Kumar Chachan being killed in his own shop in Kathmandu by two motorcycle-borne attackers Sunday evening, followed by an abortive attempt on newly nominated Energy Minister Gokarna Bista near his residence Monday. Gokarna was attacked by the pillion-rider of a passing motorcycle and received deep knife wounds.

Police said they had arrested five men from different areas of the capital Thursday following the gun attack. While investigations are on, the speculation that is rife is whether it was an isolated attack due to personal enmity or associated with a long string of international crimes committed in India, Nepal and third countries like Thailand.

The speculation is bound to arise with Jamim Shah, a Nepali cable TV mogul, being killed in broad daylight in one of the most protected areas of the capital in February 2010. Shah was alleged to have links with terror kingpin Dawood Ibrahim and involved in running a huge fake Indian currency network through Pakistan, Nepal and India. A year later, Shah's murderers are still at large and India's Research and Analysis Wing has had the finger of suspicion pointing at it.

The Shah murder had a sequel last month when another Nepali media tycoon with dubious links, Yunus Ansari, was shot at inside Nepal's most fortified prison. Yunus Ansari, also alleged to have Dawood associations and under arrest since his bodyguard was caught fetching a consignment of fake Indian currency and drugs from two Pakistanis in a hotel, survived the attempt inside the Central Jail in Kathmandu.

His attacker, now identified as an Indian contract killed called Manmeet Singh, told investigators he was hired by a man based in Dubai. There are rumours that the same people who killed Shah had Ansari on their hit list as well and the arrest by Nepal police came as a bit of luck for the former minister's son.

With Indian security agencies claiming the ISI was using the Pakistani Embassy in Kathmandu to pour fake Indian currency in Nepal and from there to India, as well as facilitating terror attacks on Indian targets, only time will tell if Mehboob Asif was a pawn in a bigger game or the attack on him was an unrelated act of violence.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...official-in-Kathmandu/articleshow/7979684.cms
 

Pintu

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13085776

14 April 2011 Last updated at 17:11 GMT


Pakistan militants killed 2,500 in 2010, report says


Hundreds were injured in militant attacks - most
victims were civilians

More than 2,500 people were killed in militant attacks in Pakistan in 2010, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

Nearly half of victims were civilians killed in suicide blasts. There were 67 such attacks last year, the group said.

The report also said at least 900 people had been killed in US drone strikes during the same period.

The number of people killed by the army is not mentioned, but it estimated to be in the region of 600-700.

Pakistani troops are battling insurgents across the north-west. Many of those it has killed are believed to be militants, but civilian lives have been lost too.

The HRCP is the main human rights watchdog in the country. Its findings are often disputed by the authorities, the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says.

The group's findings show a rise in the numbers being killed in Pakistan's conflict.

BBC research published last July suggested 1,713 people had been killed by militants over the preceding 18 months, while 746 people had died in drone attacks during the same period.
'Increasing intolerance'

The HRCP released its data in its annual report on the state of human rights and security in Pakistan between January and December 2010.

"Pakistan's biggest problem continues to be violence carried out militants," HRCP chairman Mehdi Hasan said.

"In 2010, 67 suicide attacks were carried out across the country in which 1,169 people were killed," he said. "At least 1,000 of those were civilians."

Dr Hasan said that in all 2,542 people had been killed in militant attacks in the country last year.

He said the most glaring example of government oversight had been in Balochistan province, where targeted killings shot up rapidly with 118 people being killed in 2010.

Dr Hasan said the figure was set to increase in 2011, as the government seemed unconcerned about the unravelling of the law and order situation in Balochistan.

The HRCP report also spoke about increasing intolerance against religious minorities in the country.

It said 99 members of the Ahmedi (Qadiani) sect had been killed in attacks in 2010, while 64 people had been charged under the country's blasphemy law.

There was no immediate response to the report from the Pakistani authorities, nor was there any word from militant groups.
 

Rage

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Breaking News

Pakistan: Twin Blasts Strike Karachi Buses




At least one person has been killed and 17 injured in two blasts targeting buses in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

The explosions, in separate parts of the southern port city, hit buses carrying naval and security officials.

The blast targeting the naval officers' bus was reportedly detonated on a motorbike close to the vehicle.

The country's commercial capital has been hit by a wave of recent political and ethnic attacks.

Human rights groups say such attacks claimed 775 lives last year and scores more have died in 2011.

Militants linked to al Qaeda and Taliban have also carried out attacks in the port city in the past.

Eyewitnesses suggest that the blast targeting the Pakistan Navy employees was so powerful that it damaged almost two dozen houses nearby.

Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province, where the navy's main facilities are located.

Policemen on the scene have said it is unclear if the bomb was detonated remotely or by the motorbike ramming into the vehicle.

Minutes after this blast hit the bus, travelling through the Defence Phase II area of Karachi, the second explosion shook another bus in Baldia Town, some 12 miles (20km) away.

In a separate attack near Quetta, armed men attacked and set fire to a bus, killing at least 12 people, reports said.

The incident took place on a main road at Sibi town, some 110 miles (180km) southeast of Quetta, the capital of the oil- and gas-rich southwestern province of Balochistan which borders Iran and Afghanistan.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13191208
 

Virendra

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It is starting to show more clearly than ever. In the past decade or so the epicentre of militant violence in South Asia has shifted from Jammu and Kashmir to long way down the other side of the border. Frequent bombings, kidnappings, high profile murders and ravage left after army campaigns - Pakistan is perhaps living the dream it always saw for India instead.

Seeing all this, the post US scenario in Af-Pak is so unpredictable.

Regards,
Virendra
 

Armand2REP

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Pakistan: 'Militants' attack Karachi naval air base
22 May 2011



Militants have attacked a Pakistani air base in Karachi, the country's largest city, police say.

Explosions and gunshots were heard as the attackers fought with troops at the Mehran naval aviation base. There are reports of casualties.

Eyewitnesses say black smoke is billowing from the base.

Militants in Pakistan have vowed to avenge the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US special forces on 2 May, and have carried out several attacks since then.

BBC News - Pakistan: 'Militants' attack Karachi naval air base
 

BangersAndMash

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16 injured as explosive-laden vehicle rams into police station in Peshawar, Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 16 people including policemen and one child were injured as an explosive-laden vehicle rammed into a police station early Wednesday morning in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, reported local English TV channel Express.

According to the report, the entire building of a CID (Center of Investigation Department) police station located on the University road of the city was leveled to ground after being hit by an explosive-laden vehicle at about 4:40 a.m. local time Wednesday morning.

Many people were feared buried under the building after explosion and 16 people so far pulled out by the rescue team have been shifted to nearby hospital. At least four of the injured people are in critical condition, said hospital sources.

The blast, which occurred in the heart of the city, was so huge that even people living at the outskirts of the city can hear the blast, said an eyewitness.

Police have cordoned off the area and an investigation into the case is underway. No group has claimed the responsibility for the blast yet.

Wednesday morning's incident in Peshawar is the latest terrorist attack in Pakistan. Following the killing of the al- Qaida chief Osama bin Laden by the U.S. forces in Pakistan early this month, a series of terrorist attacks have been launched by Pakistan Taliban in the country, most of which are targeting at the army and police.

16 injured as explosive-laden vehicle rams into police station in Peshawar, Pakistan
 

ejazr

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Suicide bomb kills six at Pakistan police station

AFP: Suicide bomb kills six at Pakistan police station

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a truck bomb into a Pakistani police station at dawn Wednesday, flattening the three-storey building in a massive explosion and killing six people.

The country's main Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the attack in the protected military zone of the northwestern city of Peshawar, saying it was their fourth reprisal for the US killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

The bombing will likely highlight doubts about the security forces' ability to protect not only themselves, but major cities and fuel a long-running debate about the security of the country's nuclear weapons.

Militant unrest, much of it in the form of suicide attacks, has killed nearly 4,400 people in the past four years as the Taliban and militants linked to Al-Qaeda wage a bloody onslaught on Pakistan's US-allied leadership.

Five policemen and a soldier died in Wednesday's explosion, a relatively low toll given the enormity of the blast, but officials said the building normally had only a skeleton staff at the time of the attack.

An AFP reporter saw flames from the stricken building, shattered glass on the ground, pancaked rubble, burning tyres and the charred remains of at least three vehicles, including a small truck.

Constable Farid Khan, who had his shoulder fractured in the attack and was admitted to a hospital told AFP that he was saying his morning prayers inside the police station when a deafening explosion took place.

"The roof of the building collapsed with the impact of the blast," he said, adding he could not get up because of his shoulder injury and his colleagues later took him to the hospital.

Rescuers were trying to reach four or five people believed trapped alive in the rubble, police official Muhammad Ijaz told AFP.

"It was a huge blast which completely destroyed the three-storey building," Ijaz added, saying there were usually 10 to 15 people present at that time in the police station.

Senior police official Shafiullah Khan said six people had died, after one policeman succumbed to his injuries in hospital and the body of another was pulled out of the rubble.

Police said another 23 people, including nine policemen and a child, were wounded in the blast in Peshawar, the gateway to the tribal belt on the Afghan border where US drone strikes target Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives.

The razed building housed the police Criminal Investigation Department and was located in the Peshawar Cantonment area just 150 metres (yards) from the US consulate. The area houses military families and security is normally tight.

Police said the attack was carried out with a small truck containing at least 200-250 kilograms (440-550 pounds) of explosives, and that body parts were hurled more than 300 metres (yards) away from the blast.

"We will further step up these attacks to avenge Osama bin Laden's martyrdom," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"These attacks will continue until the US drone strikes and ongoing Pakistani military operations are stopped in the tribal regions," he added.

The military rushed to seal off the area around the Peshawar police station after the 4:38 am (2338 GMT Tuesday) blast.

Last Friday, the Taliban bombed a US consulate convoy, killing one Pakistani and wounding 11 other people in Peshawar, the first attack on Americans in Pakistan since bin Laden's killing in the town of Abbottabad on May 2.

Late on Sunday, heavily armed Taliban gunmen stormed a naval base in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi, destroying two US-made surveillance planes and killing 10 personnel in a 17-hour standoff.

That was the worst assault on a military base since the army headquarters was besieged in October 2009, piling further embarrassment on the armed forces three weeks after bin Laden was found living under their noses.

Bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, a garrison town north of Islamabad, in a raid that humiliated Pakistan's security establishment.

Following the brazen attack in Karachi, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday in Kabul that he was confident Pakistan's nuclear weapons were safe, but admitted the issue was a "matter of concern".

Tensions between the United States and Pakistan have run high since the Al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks was killed.

However, the Pentagon said Tuesday that Pakistan had returned the wreckage of a US helicopter that was damaged and deliberately destroyed during the raid.
 

Blackwater

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6+1 Taliban killed will get 72 Russian virgins.How lucky they are:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 

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