Pakistan denies militants attacked nuclear sites

source -dawn.com
ISLAMABAD: A military spokesman denied a recent report that militants have attacked Pakistan's nuclear facilities three times in two years, saying Wednesday there is ‘absolutely no chance’ the country's atomic weapons could fall into terrorist hands.

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said an article written by a UK-based security expert was false because none of the bases named actually had any nuclear facilities.

‘It is factually incorrect,’ he said.

Taliban militants' brief takeover of areas some 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad, raised new fears about the security of Pakistan's atomic weapons being seized by extremists linked to al-Qaeda, although the country insists its arsenal is secure.

Shaun Gregory, a professor at Bradford University's Pakistan Security Research Unit, wrote that several militant attacks have already hit military bases where nuclear components are secretly stored. The article appeared in the July newsletter of the Combating Terrorism Center of the US Military Academy at West Point.

The most recent assault, he wrote, was the August 2008 coordinated suicide bombings of the Wah Cantonment ordnance factory, which he said is considered one of Pakistan's main nuclear weapons assembly sites.

The other two attacks were in late 2007 on the Sargodha air base, which Gregory identified as a nuclear missile storage facility and the nuclear air base at Kamra, the article said.

While all three suicide attacks appeared aimed at causing maximum carnage and not seizing weapons, Gregory said they highlighted the vulnerability of the nuclear storage facilities to assault.

‘The risk of the transfer of nuclear weapons, weapons components or nuclear expertise to terrorists in Pakistan is genuine.’

Abbas said Wednesday that none of the military bases named were used to store atomic weapons. He said the Wah ordnance factory makes small arms ammunition, Kamra is an air force facility and Sargodha is an air force ammunition dump for conventional weapons.

‘These are nowhere close to any nuclear facility,’ he said.

He added that the Pentagon has recently expressed faith in Pakistan's security measures, which among other things keep weapons components and triggering devices separate.

Khalid Kidwai, head of the Strategic Plans Division which handles Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, told journalists last year that Pakistan uses 10,000 soldiers to keep the weapons safe and has received up to $10 million in US assistance to enhance security.

‘We are very confident that the security standards that we are following are world-standard,’ Abbas said. ‘There is absolutely no chance of them falling into the hands of any extremists or terrorists.’

STORY OF A PAKISTANI REPORTER WHO ESCAPED TALIBAN DEATH SENTENCE.

SOURCE-CNN
Zarghon Shah is a man who knows just how lucky he is to be aliveHe came face-to-face with the feared Taliban fighters of Pakistan's Swat Valley, was ordered to be executed and gained a chilling insight into the mind of a fearsome militant who has waged a campaign of terror.

"I saw two Taliban standing there then I realized the danger, that we were in a wrong place," Zarghon said.

It was May this year when the TV reporter and his crew, reporting on the Taliban's uprising, strayed too far.

Zarghon, his cameraman and driver were captured in Buner, taken to an empty room and put on trial by a Taliban commander.

"He said you are telling lies; you are spies. It is because of you hell has been unleashed on us ... and it is you, the media, who is responsible for this war. I'm not going to spare you, I will slit your throat."
Then with a death sentence on his head, Zarghon and his crew were left alone for five hours -- an agonizing wait.

"We were just counting our moments to death." Zarghon told me.

And he knew it would be a most gruesome, horrible death
He pictured his body, beheaded and hanging from Swat Valley's notorious "slaughter square" -- the town center of Mingora city, where the Taliban would display the bodies of their victims.

Zarghon said he just paced the floor unable to even look at his colleagues.

He wondered who would be first to be killed and he thought of the most precious thing in his life -- his daughter Noor.

It is now that Zarghon broke down in tears, remembering how he thought he would never see her again.

Zarghon's fate rested in the hands of a man known for his campaign of terror, Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah. Fazlullah had captured the Swat Valley and moved his fighters into territory ever closer to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Zarghon was handed a walkie-talkie. On the other end the very man who held Zarghon's life in his hand -- Fazlullah.

Zarghon's cameraman filmed the conversation all the while under the watch of a heavily armed Taliban fighter.
Fazlullah's voice was clearly heard: agitated and with a message of defiance to Pakistan's army.

"Our women and children have been displaced." He said. "There has been bloodshed. It is an insult to our nation. If they want to fight us then come to our mountains and see our strength and power."

The footage shows Zarghon clearly under pressure, gulping heavily, but with the presence of mind to question the Taliban leader. "What will end the fighting?" he asked.

Fazlullah demanded nothing less than the implementation of strict shariah or Islamic law. If not, the Taliban would fight to the death, he said.

"If the army has the ability to fight us: come to the mountains. The Taliban is in the mountains, we are committed to our cause. Nobody can defeat us," he said.

Yet the hardline Fazlullah did something that still puzzles Zarghon. He freed the TV crew, effectively commuting the execution order -- but there was a catch.

The Taliban instructed them to film destruction they say was caused by the Pakistan army.

On the footage you can hear gunfire and mortar rounds. Taliban fighters are clearly visible. Zarghon reports to camera, taking shelter behind a building.

The footage was meant to be propaganda for the Taliban. Not long after it was shot, Pakistan's army launched an offensive driving the Taliban from their stronghold.

Fazlullah escaped. Despite rumors he was wounded he continues to command his troops from the mountains.
For Zarghon, doing the Taliban's bidding was the price of freedom. It saved his life and gave him back to his wife, son and daughter.

"The most beautiful gift of my life was this, when I returned home and I saw my family, my wife and children again," he said before retreating into a silence and remembering the moment when he faced death and survived
VIDEO

INTERVIEW SHOWS SPLIT IN PAKISTANI TALIBAN-TALIBAN INTERVIEW

SOURCE-CNN
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The car in front of me is carrying a man at the heart of the Taliban uprising in Pakistan
This has been a carefully orchestrated rendezvous: Secrecy is everything.We arranged for our cars to pass at a designated spot at a turnoff on the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.We slow down, and the other car positions in front of us.We are led down a narrow alleyway and into a non-descript house for a face-to-face interview.This has all been patiently organized by our intermediary, a man known to the militant and trusted by us.But there are always nagging concerns. Some in our car are a little nervous, and that is perfectly understandable, but I am comfortable we have taken every safeguard.The man I finally meet is tall, probably in his mid-to-late 30’s with a heavy black beard. He is wearing a white shawal kameez (traditional Pakistani dress), and he ties a white turban around his head.He is wanted by Pakistani police for terrorism.This is a man who has fought on the front lines both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was a leader of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, the scene of a siege by Pakistan military in 2007 which left more than 100 people dead.We can’t film his face, and we can’t identify him. He tells us we can refer to him only as “Mullah Wajid.”As we begin the interview, at first he won’t meet my eye. When we shake hands he looks slightly away.My cameraman can only film him from behind, and he won’t allow us even to film his hands.Two men stand behind our camera watching every shot. When the interview is over they command us to stop filming immediately.But the interview itself is a surprise. Interviews with Taliban are rare. To have the chance to put questions directly to a man so heavily involved in the insurgency shines a light into a world often closed from us.I expect the usual anti-America diatribe, and there is. He says the U.S and coalition forces must leave Afghanistan, and he wants a return to Taliban rule there.He also criticizes some in Pakistan for being pro-U.S and implementing U.S. foreign policy.

What I wasn’t expecting was his denunciation of other Taliban.He says some in Pakistan have gone too far and are inflicting suffering on ordinary civilians. He says the supreme Taliban leader, Mohammed_Omar" rel=wikipedia>Mullah Omar, has rejected these militants and says they are not “real Taliban.”This is a twist, and it comes after the release of a new Taliban code of conduct. The code says civilian suffering and casualties are to be avoided, urging Taliban to go after “high value” targets like coalition troops and government officials.The Taliban is bogged down in heavy fighting both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Like any insurgency, if it loses the people, it loses the war.

And now the U.S. and others are seeking out what they call “good Taliban:” moderate militants they can negotiate with.

The Taliban leadership wants to cleanse itself of the rogue elements. It wants to present a disciplined, cohesive force that can’t easily be divided and conquered.

“Mullah Wajid” may be rejecting some hard-liners, but he hasn’t gone soft. He wants nothing less than the U.S. out of all Muslim land.

I ask him if he is prepared to kill and die for his beliefs.“Yes. Inshallah (God willing).”In that he is not so different from other Taliban after all.

Posted by: CNN Correspondent, Stan Grant

US 'biggest' threat say Pakistanis

SOURCE - ALJAZERA
A survey commissioned by Al Jazeera in Pakistan has revealed a widespread disenchantment with the United States for interfering with what most people consider internal Pakistani affairs.

The polling was conducted by Gallup Pakistan - a separate organisation affiliated with the US-based Gallup Inc - and more than 2,600 people took part.

Interviews were conducted across the political spectrum in all four of the country's provinces, and represented men and women of every economic and ethnic background.

When respondents were asked what they consider to be the biggest threat to the nation of Pakistan, 11 per cent of the population identified the Taliban fighters, who have been blamed for scores of deadly bomb attacks across the country in recent years.

Another 18 per cent said that they believe that the greatest threat came from neighbouring India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan since partition in 1947.

But an overwhelming number, 59 per cent of respondents, said the greatest threat to Pakistan right now is, in fact, the US, a donor of considerable amounts of military and development aid.

Tackling the Taliban

The resentment was made clearer when residents were asked about the Pakistan's military efforts to tackle the Taliban.

Keeping with recent trends a growing number of people, now 41 per cent, supported the campaign.

About 24 per cent of people remained opposed, while another 22 per cent of Pakistanis remained neutral on the question.

A recent offensive against Taliban fighters in the Swat, Lower Dir and Buner districts of North West Frontier Province killed at least 1,400 fighters, according to the military, but also devastated the area and forced two million to leave their homes.

The military has declared the operation a success, however, some analysts have suggested that many Taliban fighters simply slipped away to other areas, surviving to fight another day.

When people were asked if they would support government-sanctioned dialogue with Taliban fighters if it were a viable option the numbers change significantly.

Although the same 41 per cent said they would still support the military offensive, the number of those supporting dialogue leaps up to 43 per cent.

So clearly, Pakistanis are, right now, fairly evenly split on how to deal with the Taliban threat.

Drone anger

However, when asked if they support or oppose the US military's drone attacks against what Washington claims are Taliban and al-Qaeda targets, only nine per cent of respondents reacted favourably.

A massive 67 per cent say they oppose US military operations on Pakistani soil.



Forty-one per cent of Pakistanis say they support the offensive against the Taliban


"This is a fact that the hatred against the US is growing very quickly, mainly because of these drone attacks," Makhdoom Babar, the editor-in-chief of Pakistan's The Daily Mail newspaper, said.

"Maybe the intelligence channels, the military channels consider it productive, but for the general public it is controversial ... the drone attacks are causing collateral damage," he told Al Jazeera.

Nearly 500 people, mostly suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, are believed to have been killed in about 50 US drone attacks since August last year, according to intelligence agents, local government officials and witnesses.

Washington refuses to confirm the raids, but the US military in neighbouring Afghanistan and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are the only forces operating in the area that are known to have the technology.

The government in Islamabad formally opposes the attacks saying that they violate Pakistani sovereignty and cause civilian casualties which turn public opinion against efforts to battle the Taliban.

The consensus of opinion in opposition to US military involvement in Pakistan is notable given the fact that on a raft of internal issues there is a clear level of disagreement, something which would be expected in a country of this size.

Pakistani leadership

When asked for their opinions on Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, 42 per cent of respondents said they believed he was doing a bad job. Around 11 per cent approved of his leadership, and another 34 per cent had no strong opinion either way.

That pattern was reflected in a question about Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Respondents were asked if they thought the PPP was good or bad for the country.

About 38 per cent said the PPP was bad for the country, 20 per cent believed it was good for the country and another 30 per cent said they had no strong opinion.

Respondents were even more fractured when asked for their views on how the country should be led.

By far, the largest percentage would opt for Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, as leader. At least 38 per cent backed him to run Pakistan.

Last month, the Pakistani supreme court quashed Sharif's conviction on charges of hijacking, opening the way for him to run for political office again.

Zardari 'unpopular'

Zardari, the widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, received only nine per cent support, while Reza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister, had the backing of 13 per cent.



The survey suggests Sharif is Pakistan's most popular politician by some distance [AFP]
But from there, opinions vary greatly. Eight per cent of the population would support a military government, 11 per cent back a political coalition of the PPP and the PML-N party.

Another six per cent throw their support behind religious parties and the remaining 15 per cent would either back smaller groups or simply do not have an opinion.

Babar told Al Jazeera that Zardari's unpopularity was understandable given the challenges that the country had faced since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

"Any president in Pakistan would be having the same popularity that President Zardari is having, because under this situation the president of Pakistan has to take a lot of unpopular decisions," he said.

"He is in no position to not take unpopular decisions that are actually in the wider interests of the country, but for common people these are very unpopular decisions."

FOR COMPLETE POLL RESULTS http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/08/2009888238994769.html

BAITULLAHS MEN UNITED NO MORE- ONE OF THE PROBABLE SUCESSOR DEAD.

SOURCE-DAWN.COM
The Pakistani government has received reports that shooting broke out between two rivals for the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, and one of them may have been killed, the interior minister said on Saturday.
Pakistani news channels were carrying unconfirmed reports that Hakimullah Mehsud, one of the movement's most powerful commanders, had been killed at a shura, or council meeting, held to decide who would succeed slain leader Baitullah Mehsud.

'The infighting was between Wali-ur-Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud,' Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters.

'We have information that one of them has been killed. Who was killed we will be able to say later after confirming.'

A Taliban official in South Waziristan, where the meeting took place, told Reuters the government had fabricated reports of fighting between the different factions.

Noor Said, who had been a deputy spokesman under Baitullah, said: 'There was no fighting in the shura. Both Wali-ur-Rehman and Hakimullah are safe and sound.'

Western governments with troops in Afghanistan are watching to see if any new Pakistani Taliban leader would shift focus from fighting the Pakistani government and put the movement's weight behind the Afghan insurgency led by Mullah Mohammad Omar.

An intelligence officer in South Waziristan said he had reports that Hakimullah Mehsud died in the shooting after heated exchanges between the rivals at the meeting held around 1030 GMT.

'According to reports Wali-ur-Rehman fired and killed Hakimullah Mehsud,' the official said.

State-run Pakistan Television (PTV) said there were reports that both leaders might have been killed in a shoot-out.

The shura was called in Taliban-controlled territory in Waziristan, a northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

DRONE ATTACK

Earlier in the day Hakimullah Mehsud had telephoned journalists to deny that Baitullah Mehsud had been killed in a missile strike by US drone aircraft on Wednesday.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday the government was 'pretty certain' that Mehsud perished in the missile blitz on Wednesday that also killed his second wife, a brother, seven bodyguards and destroyed his car.

Some analysts had anticipated the Pakistani Taliban's leadership would be split over who should become the next chief and the denial aimed to buy time until a new leader was chosen.

Hakimullah, who controls fighters in the Orakzai, Kurram and Khyber tribal regions, is regarded as one of the leading contenders to replace Baitullah Mehsud, who had a $5 million US bounty on his head.

Wali-ur-Rehman is another shura member and a former spokesman for Baitullah.

Qureshi had anticipated the death of Mehsud would leave a void in the Taliban movement that could lead to divisions.

'With him gone, I think there is going to be an internal struggle and disarray in their ranks, I think it will set in demobilisation. It is a great success for the forces that are fighting extremism and terrorism in Pakistan,' Qureshi told BBC radio late on Friday

HOW A SON OF PESH-IMAM BECAME PAKISTANS MOST WANTED MAN-STORY OF BAITULLAH

SOURCE-DAWN.COM
Born in 1972, Baitullah Mehsud had to suffer an early childhood dislocation when he moved, along with his father, from his Nargosha village to Landi Dhok in Bannu, close to the South Waziristan tribal region.

His father served as a Pesh-Imam (prayer leader) in a mosque in Landi Dhok before moving to Miramshah in North Waziristan and there also he led prayers in a mosque. Baitullah got a little religious education in Miramshah’s Pepal Madressah.

And it was in Miramshah where Baitullah is believed to have come into contact with Taliban militants who persuaded him to join them in the fight against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.He fought well in Afghanistan and established himself as a fighter, a senior security officer, who himself belongs to the Mehsud tribe, recalled.

Baitullah returned to his native South Waziristan after the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban regime in November 2001.

He shot to prominence after the notorious Taliban commander in South Waziristan, Nek Mohammad, was killed in a missile attack in Wana in June 2004. But he keep a low profile when the one-legged former Guantanamo detainee, Abdullah Mehsud, reined supreme in the Mehsud territory.

His real chance to claim leadership came soon after Abdullah kidnapped two Chinese engineers in October 2004. Miffed that the fiery militant commander had picked up an unnecessary fight with Pakistan’s security forces, a shura of the local Taliban removed Abdullah Mehsud and handed over the command of the Taliban in South Waziristan to Baitullah.

Known for his cool-headedness, the military hailed Baitullah’s ascension, called him a soldier of peace and signed the Sara Rogha agreement with him in February 2005.

The peace agreement collapsed in a matter of months, with both sides accusing each other of violating its terms, leading to the beginning of hostilities that took a huge toll.

Baitullah proved himself a tough warrior, taking due advantage of a territory that was native and treacherous, by defeating two successive military operations.

He catapulted to the limelight when he took hundreds of Pakistani soldiers hostage in August 2007. It was perhaps because of this singular feat that militants in the length and breadth of Fata at a 20-member shura meeting chose him as leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in December 2007.

Baitullah unleashed a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan. Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani once told journalists that the TTP leader was behind almost all attacks inside Pakistan.

According to a UN report, Baitullah was behind 80 per cent of the suicide bombings in Afghanistan.

He gained in stature to the extent that The Time magazine rated him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Not to be left behind, The Newsweek described him as more dangerous than Osama bin Laden.

Accounts vary about the actual strength of his force, but intelligence agencies put the number of his fighting force at 20,000 to 30,000, including 2,000 to 3,000 foreign militants, mostly of Central Asian origin – Uzbeks and Chechens.

He ran a number of training camps, including those indoctrinating suicide bombers – a weapon – he once called his own atom bombs.

A short-stocky man, Baitullah suffered from diabetes that once prompted reports of serious illness and then death in late 2008. Much to the disappointment of many, the man bounced back to host a big feast of lamb and rice to celebrate his second marriage to a daughter of the local influential tribal leader, Malik Ikramuddin. He, however, remained issueless.

According to one account, he was also the ghost writer of a book in Urdu, Carvan-i-Baitullah Mehsud, using the pen-name of Abu Munib. In the book, he described his ideology, war strategy and details pertaining to his movement.

The United States had announced a $5 million bounty on Baitullah’s head in March this year. But it took Pakistan several months before making up its mind to declare him as Pakistan’s enemy number one and announce a reward of Rs50 million for his capture, dead or alive, in June.

Trouble began to emerge for the TTP leader when the government announced the launching of a military operation against him in June. No ground offensive was launched and the government changed its tactics to use air strikes and artillery, besides imposing an effective economic blockade to stop fuel and food supply to the area. Thousands of Mehsuds fled the area.

He was under pressure both from within his own Mehsud clan, which wanted him to ease it off with the government, and his commanders who egged him on to fight off the military. For the first time, his decision and thought-making process was shaky, an official familiar with the situation in the area said.

He wouldn’t stay in one place for two months and would constantly change places. His nerves were on edge, he remarked.

It is useless to run away. I know some day, one day they will come and get me, one senior official quoted Baitullah as telling a fellow Mehsud tribesman.

Little did the man, described by a senior security official as someone with fox-like instincts to sense danger, suspect that he was exposing himself to a missile target by relaxing with his younger wife on a roof in Zanghara, South Waziristan

Where now for Pakistan's Taliban?

SOURCE: BBC NEWS
Baitullah Mehsud, the feared militant commander in Pakistan, appears to have ended his career in much the same way as he had started - by keeping a low profile.

Speculation about whether he is dead or alive is rife across Pakistan - from the mountainous tribal territory of South Waziristan to the capital Islamabad. But the ambiguity surrounding his reported death may well persist. Nobody has as yet been willing or able to confirm his demise. We do know that the missile which struck the remote corner of South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud's tribal stronghold, killed one of his wives. But only days later did news trickle out that the Taliban commander may have perished in the attack too.

Rapid response

The Taliban have a strategy of blocking traffic to any area where missiles hit, so that the number of casualties and the identities of the dead remain unknown. They often bury the dead immediately to remove evidence. As to whether he is dead or alive, there are three possible ways of getting some clarity.


•Communication intercepts may well pick up some news from key sources
•Ground intelligence might yield clues, although the government denies it has sources on the ground
•The Taliban may announce his death and could even announce his successor
If he is gone, it will lead to a dramatic re-orientation of his Pakistani Taliban movement, Tehrik Taliban.



Security forces have targeted Baitullah Mehsud's supporters
For a year after his 2004 appointment as the chief commander of the Mehsud tribe by the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, Mr Mehsud stayed away from the limelight, allowing other local commanders to hog the headlines. In the past few months, he withdrew into the hole again, severing all contact with the press and reducing his mobility to avoid missile strikes from suspected US drones. The most immediate impact would be felt by his Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is now open to all kinds of possibilities. It may be headed by one of his trusted commanders and carry on as before, or it may transform into a more mainstream Taliban organisation with a wider focus.

TTP was formed in December 2007, and marked a watershed in the recent history of militancy in the region. It decisively turned against Pakistan, a move over which both Afghani and Pakistani Taliban had reservations because they believed this would distract the TTP from fighting foreign forces in Afghanistan. But Baitullah Mehsud displayed a remarkable talent for alliance making and was able to extend the TTP's influence to distant areas like Swat, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai and Kurram. This north-eastward extension of jihad into Pakistan - and away from Afghanistan - can be explained in terms of what some analysts call Mr Mehsud's own "locational disadvantage".

The Mehsud tribe, to which he belonged, inhabits the eastern two-thirds of South Waziristan, which means that they do not share the border with Afghanistan and therefore have no direct access to the Taliban movement there. he remote Pakistani region of Waziristan borders Afghanistan
The western parts of South Waziristan, and the entire North Waziristan region are dominated by the Wazir tribe, which controls the border and with which the Mehsuds often have running tribal feuds. Apart from geography, many analysts also credit Mr Mehsud's talent for forging extra-territorial alliances in a land where ideological considerations rarely cut across tribal affinities.

Not only did he manage to become the head of several Taliban groups across the north-west, last year he also forged an out-of-TTP alliance with his rival cousins, the Wazirs, in both South and North Waziristan, led respectively by Commander Mullah Nazir and Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. Analysts believe it will be difficult for these groups to treat another Mehsud tribesman with equal respect.

There is already speculation about intra-Mehsud differences over succession, and analysts say commanders from other TTP groups may jump into the fray. Most analysts close to the Pakistani army say these differences are likely to weaken the TTP substantially, and give the army an upper hand in Waziristan region.


Tribal considerations

But there are others who believe the struggle for succession is not likely to undermine the TTP completely. They point out that the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan still remains the major arbiter in settling questions of succession among the Pakistani militant groups.
*MAN IN PITURE HERE IS HAKIMULLAH MEHSOOD THE MOST PROBABLE SUCESSOR OF BAITULLAH.

Recent history suggests that this leadership has often been swift in replacing commanders, and has invariably overcome clan and tribal divisions while doing so, they say. Furthermore, the infrastructure for recruiting, training and handling of suicide bombers, for example, is intact, and it is likely that the group managing this infrastructure may rise to any leadership role that is open.

But it is equally likely that elements sympathetic to the broader Taliban agenda of focusing on Afghanistan come to the fore, giving the Pakistanis a breather.

1,000 US Marine to be deployed at American Embassy in Islamabad

US Marines numbering 1,000 will be deployed at American Embassy in Islamabad under massive expansion work which is nearing completion.Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit Khan has said that 1,000 US Marines will be coming to Pakistan to be deployed at US Mission.He said that there was no restriction on the number of personnel that a foreign mission could station at its mission but it is done through mutual understanding.
The FO Spokesman stated on Wednesday while replying to a query relating to increase in the strength of the US personnel at Islamabad’s mission, The Nation reported.
A former Pakistan diplomat had objected to the US plans to have a bigger presence in Pakistan in the pursuit of its strategic interests in the region.
Former Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan said that it is evident that America wants to remote control the region from Islamabad. According to an estimate, Washington is planning to spend a whopping one billion dollars for revamping its main embassy building in Islamabad and increase the strength of its staff.
The Obama Administration is about to spend 405 million dollars for the reconstruction and refurbishment of the main embassy building and 111 million dollars for constructing a new complex for 330 personnel. A further 197 million dollars would be spent for construction of a housing unit for about 250 personnel.

Not only this, the United States is also planning to give its consular buildings in Lahore and Peshawar a new look.Experts believe that this is a clear cut strategy of the US to augment its presence and establish control over the region

Anti-Taliban militia raised in Swat to fight Taliban

The militancy-hit people of the Kalagai area of Swat have raised a private militia and eliminated three suspected militants.

The militia was raised after the people of Kalagai, situated some 30kms northwest of here, decided to use force to counter the threat posed by the Taliban.

The leaders of the militia have called upon the government and the security forces to provide them with arms and ammunition so that they may ward off the threat effectively.

A group of journalists, who were taken to the area in Kabal tehsil on Thursday by the security forces, attended a jirga of the militia.

Members of the militia told journalists that they had seized six militants and handed them over to security personnel. The journalists were also shown three bodies, apparently that of militants.

Militiamen claimed that an encounter had taken place early on in the morning in which three militants had died.The militia, having between 250 and 300 volunteers, is headed by Syed Bacha, an elder of Kalagai.

Syed Bacha said the Taliban had misguided the people of Swat in the name of Islam. Initially the people believed, he said, that the Taliban were serious in propagating Islam. That’s why many people supported the militants.However, later on when they realised that the Taliban had made their lives miserable, the people turned against them, he said.

Syed Bacha was of the view that the militants committed atrocities against the people of Swat and also humiliated them. Ultimately the residents were compelled to raise a volunteer force against the militants.He expressed the hope that members of his militia would not have to face the kind of situation faced by Pir Samiullah, who had raised a voice against the Taliban and was killed.

Pir Samiullah was killed in December in a clash with militants, after which his body was dug out from his grave and desecrated.Some of Samiullah’s followers had claimed then that they waited for help from security personnel which never arrived.‘We need arms and ammunition from the government. Once we receive these, we will fight with the militants alongside the security forces,’ said Syed Bacha.

AFP adds: ‘This is the first Lashkar that people have formed in Swat on a self-help basis,’ said Major Suleman Akbar, army commander in Kabal, vowing full cooperation with the militia.

‘We will provide them arms, ammunition, rations and other logistic support,’ he said. ‘Taliban know only the language of guns. We will speak to them in their language now,’ 19-year-old Salman Ahmed, a member of the militia, said.

Commanders say more than 1,800 militants and 166 security personnel have died in the military operation but there is no independent confirmation of the death tolls, and skirmishes in and around Swat have continued

Pakistani Taliban commander to give up violence

TIMERGARA: Maulana Shahid alias Qari Shahid, a key commander of Miadan Taliban, announced on Tuesday that his group would lay down arms, leave the area and start a new life.
Talking to local journalists by phone from an undisclosed location, Qari Shahid, tehsil amir of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, said that he was leaving the violence-hit area of Maidan along with his comrades. He didn’t disclose the number of Taliban under his command.
He said that Taliban leadership had promised the former Malakand commissioner Syed Mohammad Javid that they would not fight against government.
‘Security forces violated the peace deal and started sending troops to Maidan in April this year. The targeted local Taliban and in response they (Taliban) decided to fight only a defensive war,’ Qari Shahid alleged.
He said that Maidan Taliban didn’t want to fight against the state army. ‘I have tried my best to save Maidan from becoming a battlefield but I failed,’ he added.
To a query, he refused to tell about his destination and said he would continue jihad only against the infidels not the countrymen. To another question, he said that he was responsible only for himself and could do nothing about the rest of Taliban fighters in Maidan.
‘I have decided in my own capacity and some of my comrades accompany me,’ he added.
Qari Shahid, who led Taliban in Maidan for more than two years, was believed to have offered surrender to the government during the present military operation however the authorities concerned had turned down his offer

US strike kills Baitullah wife and father-in-law

The wife and father-in-law of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban have reportedly been killed in an air raid in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region.

A missile, suspected to have been fired from a US drone, reportedly hit the home of Akramud Din, the father-in-law of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban, early on Wednesday.


“I confirm that the female that was killed in the strike was the wife of Baitullah Mehsud,” a relative told the reposters.

Two missiles were fired, according to a senior government official in South Waziristan. Mehsud’s whereabouts were not known at the time of the attack.
Pakistan’s military has repeatedly targeted Mehsud in recent months, saying it is preparing to launch an offensive against his fighters in the tribal region close to the border with Afghanistan
The US has also apparently carried out a number of missile attacks in North and South Waziristan, which officials say have killed a number of Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives
Washington does not confirm such attacks, but the US military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are the only people operating the unmanned aircraft in the region.

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• Taliban leader's wife killed in missile attack (ctv.ca)

Pakistan bigger threat for uk then helmand-report

A House of Commons report published on Sunday concluded that the UK faced more threat from inside Pakistan than from Afghanistan’s Helmand province where, the report asserted, British soldiers were sent on ‘an ill-defined mission undermined by unrealistic planning and lack of manpower’.
The Labour-chaired Commons foreign affairs select committee report raises the alarming spectre of Al Qaeda, ‘which has shifted its focus into Pakistan’.
Professor Shaun Gregory, an expert on Pakistan at Bradford University, told the committee that a direct attack on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons infrastructure could not be ruled out.
According to the Observer, MPs concluded that there was now a ‘strong argument to be made’ that the Afghan insurgency was no longer an immediate threat to Britain, adding: ‘That threat in the form of Al Qaeda and international terrorism can be said more properly to emanate from Pakistan’.
The report concluded that, while the military campaign in Helmand might be gaining traction, Afghan support for the troops had been damaged by civilian casualties and ‘cultural insensitivity’, and there was no evidence the war on drugs had reduced poppy cultivation.
A weak, corrupt police force was driving Afghans back to the Taliban to seek justice, it argued, while cultural assumptions about women were barely changed.
The Observer said Whitehall was braced for the publication this month of a review of the Afghanistan campaign by General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US forces there, which was expected to trigger a fresh debate over troop numbers. Some MPs believed parliament might even be recalled from recess to debate Afghanistan.
The Foreign Office admitted on Saturday night that the insurgent threat in Helmand was ‘greater than anticipated’, but said the aim of denying Al Qaeda a safe haven remained unchanged.
The committee suggested that Whitehall was distracted by Iraq during its planning, made wrong assumptions about Afghan expectations and gave unclear direction to the armed forces. It noted that ‘most analysts believe the initial UK strategy failed primarily because of a lack of manpower and a poor understanding of the local situation’.
Meanwhile, a memo from Major Brian Dupree leaked to the newspaper showed that Britain’s war effort in Afghanistan was being hindered by a number of frontline troops ‘too fat to fight’.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that it had directed military chiefs to ensure units were following army fitness policy after concerns were raised over a ‘worrying trend of obesity’.

DIALOGUE WITH MODERATE TALIBAN POSSIBLE- NATO CHIEF

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the new head of Nato, said in an interview published Saturday he would support dialogue with 'moderate groups on the outer reaches of the Taliban. There is certainly a hard core that is impossible to reach any deals with. They have only respect for military powers,' he told the Danish newspaper Politiken.
But there are groups that you can talk with to try and bring about some kind of reconciliation with the Afghan community,' he said.





Rasmussen's comments echoed British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander who last week struck a more conciliatory tone on engaging with Taliban willing to renounce violence
I certainly don't know why one should strike any agreements with those who are killing our soldiers. We are talking about other groups located on the outer fringes of the Taliban,' said the new Nato secretary general, who takes up his new role on Monday.
'We obviously want to co-operate with those who want to contribute to a safer situation in Afghanistan and to create a framework for reconstruction and economic and social development,' he added.
His comments followed one of the deadliest months for foreign forces since they arrived in late 2001 to remove the Taliban regime and root out Al-Qaeda operatives.
Insurgent attacks have stepped up across Afghanistan in recent years, with the violence peaking just weeks ahead of the August elections, a milestone on the country's rocky road to democracy.
There are around 90,000 international troops under the Nato military alliance and US-led coalition command in Afghanistan, fighting alongside Afghan forces against the Taliban and other radical groups.
Last year, then Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said Britain would support efforts to reach out to Taliban elements prepared to turn their backs on violence and embrace politics.
At end of 2007, two British diplomats were expelled from Afghanistan, accused of contacting the Taliban.