[wvns] Fierce Fighting in Pakistan
Fierce fighting in Pakistan's Waziristan kills 68 :
Pakistani soldiers backed by helicopter gunships killed 48 pro-Taliban
militants but lost 20 of their own men during fierce fighting in a
tribal area close to the Afghan border, a military official said today
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?ccode=ENG4&newscode=4497
===
28 More Pakistani Soldiers Missing :
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212107698.shtml
Taliban militants, who have already kidnapped some 300 Pakistani
soldiers, may have taken 28 more in Pakistan's restive North
Waziristan tribal region.
The English language newspaper Dawn reported Sunday that official
sources listed more than 20 soldiers of the Frontier Corps as missing
in Spin Wam, adjacent to region's Hangu district.
The report quoted a spokesman for militant Ahmadullah Ahmadi as saying
on telephone that the militants had seized 28 security personnel in
the Spin Wam area.
The newspaper said the incident occurred last week after militants
attacked a checkpoint with rockets and missiles, forcing the personnel
to lay down their weapons.
===
FLASHBACK
Musharraf wipeout hits Bhutto
Bruce Loudon
South Asia correspondent
October 08, 2007
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22546041-601,00.html
A RESPECTED stalwart of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party quit
in disgust last night amid signs the exiled former prime minister is
the big loser in President Pervez Musharraf's overwhelming election
victory at the weekend.
There were no surprises in the outcome of the ballot. General
Musharraf won 98 per cent of the electoral college votes (a handy 100
per cent in Balochistan) as the opposition either abstained or
resigned from the assemblies, and the PPP candidate failed to secure a
single vote - the sort of numbers normally seen only in countries such
as Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
Today General Musharraf's hand-picked appointee to the key job of army
chief, Ashfaq Kiyani, will be installed in his new job as vice-chief
of the army and successor-in-waiting.
But there is no sign of General Musharraf quitting his army post yet.
The Supreme Court has yet to consider petitions challenging his right
to run, and it is quite possible the court will disqualify him when it
meets on October 17, opening up the country to even deeper crisis.
But what surprises most analysts in Islamabad is the extent to which
the poll reflected an opposition in almost total disarray after being
outmanoeuvred by General Musharraf, with the eve-of-poll amnesty deal
for Ms Bhutto and her controversial husband Asif Zardari overshadowing
the election and causing deep divisions within the PPP and across the
political spectrum.
Nasirullah Babar - widely esteemed in Pakistani politics and for years
one of the people closest to Ms Bhutto - quit in protest yesterday
over the amnesty deal, giving expression to the disenchantment with
the exiled leader within the PPP.
The country's most prominent journalist, Hamid Mir, writing on the
front page of The News, said General Musharraf had succeeded in
"destroying the traditional political role of the PPP" founded by Ms
Bhutto's father, the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged by
former military dictator Zia ul-Haq.
Mir quoted a senior PPP leader as saying: "Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was
hanged on April 4, 1979, by General Zia, but his party was hanged on
October 5, 2007 (the day Ms Bhutto did the amnesty deal), by General
Musharraf."
Another prominent commentator, Zahid Hussein, said the PPP - "a great
party of change " that had been at the heart of Pakistani politics for
decades - had been destroyed by the pact.
In securing the deal, all Ms Bhutto's negotiations yielded was an
amnesty on corruption charges for herself and her husband and their
immediate colleagues. There was no mention of her demands for
constitutional changes to allow her a third term as prime minister or
amendments to override the presidential power to dissolve parliament.
And the deal, though it will ensure an unhindered return home from
exile for herself and her husband next week, opens the way for similar
amnesties for political crimes for thousands of members of the
notorious MQM party in Karachi, her home city, accused of murder and
looting.
As The News noted in an editorial: "If there were any doubts that the
country's largest party has sold its democratic soul for the sake of
its leaders' skins, the document should dispel them brutally. The
message that has been sent to ordinary Pakistanis is that it pays to
be a politician and it pays to involve oneself in corrupt practices."
While what many regard as a grubby deal over corruption charges has
left the PPP riven by dissent, it has also tarnished General
Musharraf's image, because when he launched his military takeover
eight years ago he maintained he was doing it to rid the country of
those who had plundered its wealth.
In a television interview yesterday, cricketer-turned-politician Imran
Khan, emerging as one of the most forthright opponents of military
rule, spoke scathingly of Ms Bhutto's pact with General Musharraf,
maintaining that politically it would have been better for her not to
deal with the military ruler she had for so long campaigned against.
Mr Khan pointed out that the present parlous state of Pakistan's
opposition contrasts with the situation a few weeks ago, after General
Musharraf failed in his bid to sack the Chief Justice.
Instead, General Musharraf was able to boast last night of an
unprecedented election win for a military ruler, with the PPP's
disarray such that its nominated candidate in the election, Ms
Bhutto's deputy Makhdoom Amin Fahim, was unable to get a single vote.
This abysmal showing was because, as part of the deal to get Ms Bhutto
off the hook on the corruption charges, the PPP decided to abstain
from voting. At the same time, scores of other opposition MPs resigned
their seats in protest. As a result, in the central parliament in
Islamabad, only 257 votes were cast out of a possible 442.
===
British troops face decades in Afghanistan :
British troops face a 30-year "marathon mission" against the Taliban
in Afghanistan, the commander of UK troops in Helmand has warned.
http://snipurl.com/1rvym
===
One of the things we learned in the wake of 9/11 is that there is no
daylight between the ISI and the CIA: no Pakistani policy of any
importance is undertaken before the CIA signs off, if they haven't
first directed it. After all, who pays their salaries?
After the first assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto on her return
to Pakistan in October 2007, the NYTimes reported that the former
Prime Minister clearly pointed to the ISI as the responsible
party.(See below: The author notes that Bhutto's husband directly
blamed the ISI.) In other words, according to the equation above, if
it was the ISI, it was the CIA. If it was the CIA, it was Bush and
Cheney. Now why would they want to further destabilize an already
tottering, nuclear armed country?
Now that Bhutto is dead, she can't point any fingers and there is no
one of sufficient stature to do the pointing even to the level of
making it to the columns of the NYT. However, BBC TV news reported
that one of the surviving, slightly injured members of Bhutto's party
noticed that at the time of the shooting/bombing there happened to be
very few police in the vicinity.
Ronald
READ MORE AT
http://bleiersblog.blogspot.com
http://desip.igc.org
***
Did Pakistan's ISI Kill Benazir Bhutto?
Jeremy Page
Times Online
December 27, 2007
The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto's assassination are the Pakistani
and foreign Islamist militants who regarded her as a heretic and an
American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her.
But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the
agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and
has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political
opposition.
Ms Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in October, when a
suicide bomber killed about 140 people at a rally in the port city of
Karachi to welcome her back from eight years in exile.
That month, two militant warlords based in the lawless northwestern
areas of Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan, had threatened to
kill her on her return.
One was Baitullah Mehsud, a top commander fighting the Pakistani army
in the tribal region of South Waziristan. He has close ties to
al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.
The other was Haji Omar, the "amir" or leader of the Pakistani
Taleban, who is also from South Waziristan and fought against the
Soviets with the Mujahidin in Afghanistan.
After that attack Ms Bhutto revealed that she had received a letter
signed by a person who claimed to be a friend of al-Qaeda and Osama
bin Laden threatening to slaughter her like a goat.
She accused Pakistani authorities of not providing her with sufficient
security and hinted that they may have been complicit in the bomb
attack. Asif Ali Zardari, her husband, directly accused the ISI of
being involved in that attempt on her life.
Ms Bhutto stopped short of blaming the Government directly, saying
that she had more to fear from unidentified members of a power
structure that she described as allies of the "forces of militancy".
Analysts say that President Musharraf himself is unlikely to have
ordered her assassination, but that elements of the army and
intelligence service would have stood to lose money and power if she
had become Prime Minister.
The ISI, in particular, includes some Islamists who became radicalised
while running the American-funded campaign against the Soviet Union in
Afghanistan and remained fiercely opposed to Ms Bhutto on principle.
Saudi Arabia, which has strong influence in Pakistan, is also thought
to frown on Ms Bhutto as being too secular and Westernised and to
favour Nawaz Sharif, another former Prime Minister.
===
FLASHBACK
Bhutto 'blamed' for Karachi deaths
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2007
13:16 MECCA TIME, 10:16 GMT
An opposition politician says Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani
prime minister, "has only herself to blame" for the attack on her
homecoming parade in Karachi.
Imran Khan, the former Pakistan cricket captain, said in an interview
on Sunday that Bhutto had made herself a target by striking a deal
with Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president.
"The bombing of Benazir Bhutto's cavalcade as she paraded through
Karachi on Thursday night was a tragedy almost waiting to happen. You
could argue it was inevitable," Khan wrote in Britain's Sunday
Telegraph newspaper.
The criticism came as Bhutto visited some of the wounded in Karachi
hospital.
More than 140 people were killed and about 400 wounded in the suicide
attack as hundreds of thousands gathered to cheer Bhutto hours just
hours after she returned to the country.
Democracy 'undermined'
Khan said: "Everyone here knew there was going to be a huge crowd
turning up to see her return after eight years in self-imposed exile.
Everyone also knows that there has been a spate of suicide bombings
in Pakistan lately."
Bhutto has condemned the bombing as an "attack on democracy", but the
former cricketer said that the deal with Musharraf, which gave her
amnesty from corruption charges, had undermined democracy.
"The sad thing is, she didn't need to do it. Musharraf was sinking
and isolated. He was on the point of declaring a state of emergency.
Just when it looked as if he had no lifelines left, Benazir came back
and bailed him out," Khan said.
"Worse, by publicly siding with a dictator, she has deliberately
sabotaged the democratic process."
Bhutto has also been criticised by her niece, Fatima Bhutto, who
accused her of exposing the crowds to danger for her own "personal
theatre".
The newspaper columnist and poet said of her aunt: "She insisted on
this grand show, she bears a responsibility for these deaths and for
these injuries."
Public appearance
But on Sunday about 100 supporters cheered the former prime minister
as she made her first public appearance since the assassination
attempt.
Surrounded by security guards carrying automatic weapons, Bhutto
waved to supporters before getting into a four-wheel-drive vehicle at
the entrance of Karachi's Jinnah hospital, where many of the badly
wounded were taken after the blasts.
Although Bhutto has pledged to contest next January's parliamentary
elections, the attack on her parade has cast doubt on her plans to
tour the country to drum up support in the coming months.
Three men were being questioned by police on Sunday. A senior
investigator told the Associated Press news agency that they were
linked to a vehicle that police believe was used by one of the
attackers, who threw a grenade at the convoy.
Police detained the them in southern Punjab province and brought them
to Karachi for questioning.
===
reader comment
tgmy7 @ hotmail.com
http://members.tripod.com/writer_on_call
Savage Weiner on his Dec. 27th show termed the assassination the long
awaited "new 911" and a reason to follow John Bolton's (Israeli) call
for a moratorium on democracy in Pakistan and martial law with U.S.
forces backing up Musharraf. To his discredit, Pat Buchanan played
the shabbas goi on the show and demonstrated his real loyalties lie
with Israel.
My guess is that the General will follow the course of the Shah of
Iran, who increasingly relied on oppression, Savak and U.S. and
Israeli advisers to stay in power. When the country finally does come
apart, the Israelis will set off a nuke, blame it on the faction(s)
controlling the nukes in Pakistan, and strongarm the U.S. into taking
out Islamabad's nukes (while the IAF strikes Iran).
For failing to take the Israeli position on Pakistan, Savage took off
the kid gloves and called Ron Paul a moron (3 times), idiot,
lightweight, "unfit to run an abortion clinic". and a host of other
invectives.
===
PAKISTANI LEADER MOBILIZING MASSES
for Boycott of Musharraf's Election Program.
Wants Peaceful Overthrow of Musharraf
New Trend Magazine
December 23, 2007
Speaking in Quetta, western Pakistan, Jamaate Islami Pakistan leader
Qazi Hussain Ahmad [ Not a pakistan 'leader as such, but a pakistani
who is a leader of a group in pakistan, he's not been elected by the
pakistanis as a 'leader'. ] called Musharraf's plan to hold elections
bogus and a big fraud being perpetrated on the Pakistani people [
every election that there has been in Pakistan since it's inception
has been ''bogus'']. He urged the people to rise up to re-establish
the rule of law and to reinstate the Chief Justice and other judges of
the Supreme Court [the judges were never elected by the people
democratically, they were appointed by the government which means the
ruling party of the time, the judges are very close to British law and
procedures, which is the most corrupt legal sytsem in europe, also the
most sophisticated, due to it's longevity,
The British system is based on the Torah and is anti Muslim. The
Pakistani Judges, the lawyers, the legal system as a whole, has been
guilty of all the crimes that take place in the courts for years.
People in Pakistan for years have complained about the courts, the
lawyers being corrupt, the judges bent, it's them the people want
dealt with, the government has overall responsibility for the courts,
and on that basis has responsibility.
But if one changes the government and leaves the judges, then the
courts and legal practice will not change, it's when they start to put
lawyers in the dock of the court on charges of corruption and when
they put judges in the dock of the court for corruption, that it will
change.
Many of the judges and lawyers should be behind bars for most of their
lifes for the crimes they have perpetrated for long years. ]
Qazi sahib [as he is known in Pakistan] will launch the Jamaat
Islami's boycott movement from Pishin. On December 31, he, Imran Khan
and Mahmud Achakzai [and others] plan to address a large boycott
gathering in Peshawar [ so what does one gain from boycott, no boycott
has ever worked, try a study of where the term boycott originated in
Catholic Ireland, it's not Islamic that's for sure.
If they boycott, then afterwards they have no basis for complaint,
they had the choice, if they intervened and there are iregularities,
then they have the right to intervene again against such
iregularities, they are just 'extracting' anyone from challenging the
results.
So why would they do that, when such an action will only ''legitimise
the results'' ? Only those who take part have the right to complain,
both legally and morally.].
KARACHI: Earlier in the biggest city in Pakistan, Jamaate Islami held
a series of meetings to condemn the Musharraf regime [ constantly
calling it a ''regime'' is no different from the use of language by
Blair and Bush, it seperates the government from the people, it's the
government, whether one likes it or not, of Pakistan and the Pakistan
people, it's how any should orientate themslves to try to bring change.
Closing ones eyes, or even 'one eye'' does not make the government go
away. ]. A December 19 address by Hussain Mahnati, the new Ameer of
the Karachi JI, in Federal B Area, brought attention to the suffering
of the poor owing to recent increases in the prices of rice, flour and
oil [ the poor will thank them obsequiesly, we will all be sure.
The poor have been poor since the partitions in 47-48, but they will
be estatically happy that these people have noticed them immediatelly
prior to the election. ]. JI is focusing on the needs of the great
majority of Karachi's people [ excellent, the Karachi people, good and
again good, not to worry about the rest of the people of Pakistan, as
long as the people of the ''holy city'' are considered. ] who are
facing economic hardships. In another public gathering,
Syed Munawar Hasan, a top level leader [ Ahhh the poverty of
leadership, is this why they mention the ''poor'' to cover up their
own poverty ?] of the national JI urged the activists of the JI to
prove through their efforts for the poor and the needy that faith and
movement have become one in their search for Allah's acceptance [ Take
no notice of him, he's obviously a fool, ''''search for Allah's
acceptance'''' no one 'searches (is it the internet) Allah chooses,
and it doesn't appear that he's chosen these people any more than he
chose Bhutto, gone now, PPP have to find a 'new god''.
''''search for Allah's acceptance'''' Sounds like going for a job, do
they need references as well ?].
Islamabad: On December 17, Imran Khan's Insaf Movement, lawyers,
students and numerous women and children [ Aaahhh the Petit Bourgeois
forces are on the march, hope there were more than when they arested
Imran Khan. ] marched peacefully from Aab Para to the Marriott Hotel,
demanding the resignation of General Musharraf and the reinstatement
of the Chief Justice. The processionists were teargassed by the police
and then attacked by a large police force [ Well they were all
volunteer, no one forced them to demonstrate, And this is how their
'leaders' let their followers be treated, can any show where the last
prophet did such a thing to his followers.
Maybe people should buy them some copies of the book called the Koran,
they don't seem to have heard of it, and of course the 'Histories'' of
the movement. ] .
Women and children begged for mercy but were ruthlessly beaten up with
sticks and staves. Thirty five men and 9 women were arrested.
===
FLASHBACK
Bhutto house arrest lifted
Reuters and Associated Press
November 9, 2007
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was freed from
house arrest late on Friday, after being stopped from leaving her home
in Islamabad to lead a rally against President Pervez Musharraf's
imposition of emergency rule earlier in the day.
"The detention order has been withdrawn," Aamir Ali Ahmed, Acting
Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad, said.
Earlier Pakistani police used an armoured vehicle to block Ms. Bhutto
as she tried to leave her Islamabad home.
The former prime minister was effectively placed under house arrest
earlier in the day as police uncoiled barbed wire in front of her villa.
Pakistani police guard the site of a planned opposition rally in
Rawalpindi on Friday. Mian Khursheed/Reuters
Enlarge Image
Pakistani police guard the site of a planned opposition rally in
Rawalpindi on Friday. (Mian Khursheed/Reuters)
Bhutto detained
Pakistani police backed by armored vehicles detained opposition leader
Benazir Bhutto at her Islamabad residence Friday
Related Articles
Ms. Bhutto tried twice to leave by car, but was blocked by police amid
scuffles with her supporters who tried to remove barricades. She had
planned to address a rally in nearby Rawalpindi, defying a ban on
public gatherings.
In Rawalpindi, about 200 Bhutto supporters were dispersed by police
using tear and batons. Dozens were arrested, an AP Television News
cameraman reported. There was a second, smaller clash between
protesters and police. Aside from those incidents, the streets of the
garrison city were mostly deserted.
Kamal Shah, a top Interior Ministry official, said a district
magistrate had served a "detention order" on Ms. Bhutto — who last
month escaped an assassination attempt by suicide bombers, an attack
that killed more than 145 people — so she could not leave her home.
However, speaking by phone from the scene, Ms. Bhutto said that no
arrest papers had been served on her.
"If I'm arrested the People's Party of Pakistan workers will continue
to fight for democracy and the rule of law," she told reporters who
heard the call via speakerphone. She said that 5,000 members of her
Pakistan People's Party had already been detained.
Across the normally bustling Rawalpindi, where the headquarters of
Pakistan's army and President Pervez Musharraf's residence is located,
streets stood empty, shops were closed. The road to Islamabad had been
blocked by two tractor trailers and a metal gate. Friday is also a
public holiday in Pakistan.
Ms. Bhutto demanded that Gen. Musharraf step down as army chief by
next week when his presidential term expires. "He should be retired as
the chief of army staff by Nov. 15," she said.
Afzal Khan, an Islamabad police official, confirmed that Ms. Bhutto
had been blocked from leaving her house, saying officers were
following a government order under which she could not hold the rally.
The Rawalpindi mayor said there was a "credible report" that six or
seven suicide bombers were preparing to attack the rally.
The crackdown showed that a week after suspending the constitution and
assuming emergency powers, Gen. Musharraf was not letting up on his
political rivals despite saying Thursday that parliamentary elections
would go ahead by mid-February, just a month later than originally
planned. His announcement came after intense pressure from the United
States, his chief international supporter.
Friday's moves will further sour relations with Ms. Bhutto and hurt
the prospects of the two pro-Western leaders forming a post-election
alliance against religious extremism.
"We condemn this government move. It shows that the government is
scared of Benazir Bhutto's popularity and it does not want her to be
among masses," said Senator Babar Awan, Ms. Bhutto's lawyer.
Ms. Bhutto's decision to join in anti-government protests against Gen.
Musharraf is another blow to the military leader whose popularity has
plummeted this year amid growing resentment of military rule and
failure by his government to curb increasing violence by Islamic
militants.
Critics say that Gen. Musharraf — who seized power in a 1999 coup —
declared the emergency and ousted independent-minded judges to
maintain his own grip on power. The moves came days before the Supreme
Court was expected to rule on whether his recent re-election as
president was legal.
Gen. Musharraf said the declaration of emergency last Saturday was
needed to put an end to political instability and to fight Taliban and
al-Qaeda-linked militants.
But most of the thousands of people rounded up countrywide have been
moderates — lawyers and activists from secular opposition parties.
Police have used batons and tear gas to squash attempts by lawyers to
protest. Hundreds of students have also stage demonstrations on
university campuses.
In the northwestern city of Peshawar, police used batons and tear gas
to disperse about 300 Bhutto supporters as they gathered to depart for
Rawalpindi. About 25 were arrested.
"We were peaceful, and this police action was totally without any
reason," said Arbab Alimgir, a local leader of Bhutto's Pakistan
People's Party.
Outside Ms. Bhutto's home in an upscale Islamabad neighbourhood on
Friday, dozens of police, some in riot gear, had taken up positions,
laying barbed wire and erecting steel and concrete barriers. At least
12 Bhutto supporters were arrested, including a woman who showed up
with flowers.
Information Minister Tariq Azim said Ms. Bhutto was not formally under
house arrest — but would not be allowed to leave home.
Rawalpindi's police chief Saud Aziz told The Associated Press that
"since the government has not given permission for it due to security
reasons, we will not allow any one to gather here for the rally."
Police were also on the lookout for potential suicide bombers, who
Chief Aziz warned Thursday were preparing a repeat of last month's
bombing of Ms. Bhutto's jubilant homecoming procession in the southern
city of Karachi after eight years of exile. She escaped unharmed, but
more than 145 people died in the attack, blamed on Islamic militants.
Rawalpindi has also been hit by a series of suicide attacks, targeting
the military.
Bhutto supporters said they would only be further emboldened if their
protest was blocked.
"We are going to besiege" Islamabad, said Abida Hussain, a former
ambassador to the United States. "We will not go away. Our party
activists have been mobilized to move out and take to the streets."
Authorities appeared determined to stop them. Ms. Bhutto's Pakistan
People's Party, or PPP, claimed Friday that 5,000 of its supporters
had been arrested in the last three days across the eastern province
of Punjab.
"It is a massive crackdown on our party," said Raja Javed Ashraf, a
PPP lawmaker.
The government offered no immediate public comment. But the security
official said only 1,000 Bhutto supporters had been detained.
*********************************************************************
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