| War on Terror | |
| 13 Aug 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com | |
| Pakistan: Swat, Peshawar, Parachinar, Bajaur, etc. in the grip of terrorist violence, as NATO alleges ISI aiding Taliban | |
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By Khadim Hussain
THE echo of what Faiz Ahmad Faiz said half a century ago is reverberating in Swat today:
Koi masiha na eefai ehd ko puhncha
Buhat talash pas-i-qatl-i-aam hoti rahi
(No messiah arrived to provide relief, but after the carnage much investigation took place).
The people of the Swat valley, once billed as the Switzerland of Asia, feel abandoned, helpless and betrayed today. Since July 2007 this scenic valley of orchards, snow-capped mountains, fast-flowing streams and thick forests has been in the grip of violence.
A second spree of violence began recently. It has reportedly left more than 100 people dead, including a number of security personnel, civilians and Taliban in the troubled areas of Kabal, Matta, Charbagh and Malam Jabba. The local people estimate more than 500 human casualties in the ongoing spree of death and destruction in the valley.
Besides the loss of human lives, an additional dozen or so girls' schools, the remaining part of a PTDC motel in Malam Jabba and police checkposts have been torched and destroyed in upper Swat. Meanwhile, a notorious FM radio station continues to air hatred against the government and exhorts the people to revolt against the state's security apparatus. The current wave seems to be the result of the failed peace deal signed between the NWFP government and Fazlullah's militia in May 2008. The deal was expected to fail and lead to this violent scenario for several reasons.
Firstly, it was signed without consultation with civil society, political parties and the professional classes of the area. Secondly, a huge gap was evident between the interpretation given by the Taliban and the government to some key clauses of the deal. Thirdly, the probability of the deal not taking off in the absence of monitoring systems remained high. With its failure, a new and ferocious current of death and destruction became inevitable and is being witnessed today in the valley. In other parts, the violence is of low intensity.
Fourthly, the militants in Swat previously never enjoyed the space the deal gave them. The chances were that the deal would create a snowball effect on militant organisations throughout the length and breadth of the valley leading to 'warlordism'.
The present scope of insurgent activities is broad-based and all-encompassing with ever-increasing expansion further north and west of upper Swat. The militants and security forces have gun-battles in Qandeel (Madyan) despite the refusal of local residents to give sanctuary to the militants and the residents' constant appeal to the security forces to desist from actions that would cause the scenic mountain resort to be engulfed in the flames of violence. The same seems to be happening in the Lower Dir district just beyond the hills of Peuchar though the local people have adamantly refused the militants sanctuary.
The present round of violence is more deadly and the Taliban and the military seem to be in a more aggressive mood than before. The number of civilian casualties, including men and women, and the destruction wrought are greater. Curfews and unabated firing from both sides have brought all activities to a standstill. According to the in-charge at the Mata Tehsil Hospital, patients in the hospital are stranded as no attendant can reach them and bring food and medicines for them.
Charitable hospitals, such as the one set up by the Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust in Kabal tehsil, are virtually closed and the staff there is afraid that the hospitals might be shifted to other areas. Markets in the upper part of the valley are deserted and amenities are sold at prices that are 10 times higher than the actual rate because of the non-supply of edible items. Public and private properties are being destroyed with impunity. Several brides and grooms, who were en route to their villages in the upper part of the Swat valley, are stranded in different hotels in Mingora.
The common people believe that the present violence is being orchestrated for the procurement of more dollars from the US, despite the fact that there are casualties among the Taliban and the military everyday. Some local people also believe that the military would like the valley to be plunged into turmoil in order to provide sanctuaries and infiltrating points to the Taliban to enter Afghanistan through the border at Chitral.
The present mantra of the NWFP governor at the behest of the presidency and the adviser for interior affairs that India's RAW agents are involved in the insurgency in Fata and other parts of the NWFP has actually given more credence to this perception. The ISI and the military's panic over the order of the prime minister to bring the ISI under the administrative, operational and financial control of the interior ministry also played a crucial role in developing this perception of the people.
The provincial chapters of the JUI-F and PML-Q have been actively demanding the end of the operation in the Swat valley. A large section of the population in Swat believes these two parties have close ties to spy agencies in Pakistan. It was the MMA government in the NWFP which allowed Fazlullah's militia to grow from a small bunch of hardcore militants into a Frankenstein.
While the man in the street wants peace and the dismantling of organisations responsible for the turmoil, professionals, businessmen, students, teachers, political activists and media outlets in the valley appear to be sceptical about the motives of the military in breaking the organisational structures of the non-state religious militant bodies active in the valley.
The people of the valley think that the supply of manpower, weapons and other necessities to Fazlullah's militia could have easily been disrupted if the security forces had been keen about doing so or had been allowed to eliminate militancy in the valley. The federal and provincial governments have failed to launch a substantive dialogue while resorting to the selective use of force and offering a comprehensive economic development plan for the rehabilitation of the displaced population. They have also failed to effectively put into operation the village peace committees. All this has further eroded the confidence of the people in the state apparatus.
The writer is coordinator for the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy.
http://www.dawn.com/2008/08/12/op.htm August 12, 2008 Tuesday Sha'aban 9, 1429
Pak: 14 killed as bomb blows up bus 12 Aug 2008, PTI
ISLAMABAD: At least 14 people, mostly Pakistan Air Force personnel, were killed when a powerful bomb ripped through their bus in Peshawar on Tuesday. Eleven others were injured.
The PAF bus was heading for a base near Peshawar when it was attacked on a bridge in Kohat Road locality, the police said. Many of the dead and injured were PAF personnel.
Pakistani media said at least 14 people, including a young girl, are dead.
Inspector General of Police Muhammad Naveed Malik said that 13 people had been killed and 11 others injured in the attack and added that the death toll could rise as some of the injured were in a serious condition.
The bomb was planted under the bridge and triggered by a remote control. The powerful explosion tore a large hole in the bridge, reducing it to a smouldering wreck.
The explosion also uprooted electricity poles on the bridge and hit other cars and motorcycles.
The PAF said in a statement that about 10 of its personnel, including airmen and civilians, were in the vehicle which was used for carrying ration and utilities. However, it did not give details of the number of PAF personnel who were killed or injured.
The injured were rushed to hospitals in Peshawar by police and passersby in their vehicles. Many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.
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Militants forced to end Khar siege By Anwarullah Khan
KHAR, Aug 11: Militants ended the siege of Khar, the headquarters of the Bajaur Agency, after air force planes and helicopters bombed their positions on Monday.
At least 20 militants and eight tribesmen were killed in clashes and bombardment which forced the Taliban to leave their positions in and around the town.
Witnesses said the militants had escaped from the area after jet fighters and Cobra helicopters attacked their positions in Toheedabad, Tang Khata, Shagu, Damadola, Sewai and Daber. Some residential areas also came under attack.
According to sources, the militants attacked a post and a camp of security forces in Toor Ghundai and Askandaru with heavy weapons.
Officials said 20 militants were killed and 25 others wounded in the clash, and local people reported seeing bodies lying along the road. Local people said four women were among the eight people killed in the air strikes. Some areas outside Khar were also attacked.
Dozens of houses were damaged in Tang Khata, Siddiqabad and Lowi Sam.
In Toheedabad, a man, his wife and mother died when a bomb hit their house. Four houses were damaged in the attack. Three people were killed in Damadola and two who had been injured in the attacks died in a hospital in Khar.
A resident of Lowi Sam told Dawn in Peshawar that the area where militants had kept over 150 soldiers under siege for three days was presenting the look of a battlefield littered with bodies.
"The air is filled with the stench of decaying bodies. There is an atmosphere of fear and nobody is around to collect the bodies," he said.
Meanwhile, exodus continued from the conflict-hit areas and people moved towards Lower Dir, Mardan, Charsadda, Peshawar and Mohmand. Bazaars, educational institutions and offices remained closed in the region.
The Awami National Party and Al Khidmat Foundation of the Jamaat-i-Islami have set up relief camps for displaced families in Monda, Jandol and Timergara in Lower Dir district. An official of the Fata branch of Pakistan Red Crescent Society said in Peshawar that the organisation was yet to make an assessment of the number of displaced people. He said a relief camp would be set up after collecting the data.
He said most of the displaced people had taken shelter with their relatives. Al Khidmat Foundation said food was being provided to over 20,000 people in its relief camps.
There were reports of thousands of people, including women and children, heading towards Lower Dir. The NWFP government has set up a relief camp in Jandol.
Our correspondent in Tank quoted intelligence sources as saying that an Al Qaeda leader had been killed in the operation.
A security official told Reuters that the forces had killed around 50 militants in fresh clashes, taking the death toll to nearly 160 in five days of fighting.
August 12, 2008 Tuesday Sha'aban 9, 1429
11 more killed in Kurram clashes By Our Correspondent
PARACHINAR, Aug 11: Eleven people were killed and 16 others were injured in clashes between rival tribes in the Kurram region on Monday.
Sources said fierce clashes were taking place between the warring factions in Bagzai village of Lower Kurram, after Turi tribesmen besieged several houses.
The area is located near a Frontier Corps base.
The sources said a heavy exchange of fire was going on and residents had shifted women and children to safer places.
Armed men set on fire about 100 houses of the rival tribe near Bilyameen.
Thick smoke was billowing from the burning houses.
Locals said that eight people were killed and 13 others were injured in the gunbattle in Lower Kurram on Monday, raising the death toll to 30 from three days of clashes between Turi and Bangash tribes.
Political authorities sent tribal elders to end hostilities, but they failed to broker a ceasefire.
Paramilitary forces at their bases in Alizai and Arawali, near Bilyameen, did not intervene to prevent clashes.
The sources said that Turi tribesmen had linked a ceasefire with reopening of the Thall-Parachinar road and cessation of hostilities between the residents of Tari Mangal and Piwar, Upper Kurram where three people were killed in fresh clashes.
The road between Thall and Parachinar had been blocked since November last, causing severe shortage of food, medicines and fuel.
The blockade had forced people of Upper Kurram to make a detour to Afghanistan to reach Peshawar from Parachinar.
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ISI aiding Taliban, alleges Nato August 12, 2008 Tuesday Sha'aban 9, 1429
KABUL, Aug 11: Pakistan's intelligence agency is helping the Taliban to pursue an insurgency in Afghanistan that has seen a 50 per cent rise in attacks in some areas this year, the Nato commander said.
The number of foreign fighters, including Europeans, is also increasing here while Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) still lacks the soldiers it needs, US General David D. McKiernan said in a weekend interview.
"There certainly is a level of ISI complicity in the militant areas in Pakistan and organisations such as the Taliban," the four-star general said.
"I can't say to what level of leadership that goes to but there are indications of complicity on the part of ISI... to the extent that they are facilitating these militant groups that come out of the tribal areas in Pakistan."
"Unfortunately we see a higher number of non-Pashtun, non-Afghanistan fighters this year than this time last year," McKiernan said.
"They are really from a variety of ethnic groupings: some are from areas in Pakistan, some are from places like Uzbekistan, or Chechnya, some are from Europe and some are from other Arab countries," he said.—AFP
August 12, 2008 Tuesday Sha'aban 9, 1429 |
8:57 AM
Sultan Shahin
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