Army operation against Taliban: Who are they kidding?

Army operation against Taliban: Who are they kidding? Who is going to fall for this?

This is nothing but hogwash. Doesn't mean a thing.

It is an exercise in futility until coupled with a robust & meaningful operation against Taliban producing madarsas, the hate & fire spewing mullahs & the mindset behind it.

Talibaniat runs deep in Pakistan. Going after just one of the multitudes of symptoms is not going to make any change. Not even slightly. Things will only get worse.
Talibaniat has its roots in the constitution of Pakistan & the so-called ideology of Pakistan. The growing mazhabi asbiat or religiosity & sectarianism.

It only shows that either the govt & army don't understand the issue or they don't want to go after the real causes.

The malaise is too deep to be cured by cosmetic actions.
 

Who Wants To Live In A Taliban Pakistan?

Photo taken from internet

1. Who Wants To Live In A Taliban Pakistan?

2. Who wants to live under a system in accordance with the lives & the philosophies of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast, Bulhe Shah, Waris Shah, Shah Hussain, Khowaja Ghulam Farid, Baba Farid Shakarganj & other such poet-philosophers?

Friends, these two are very important questions. May be THE questions of our LIFETIME!

One must understand that the Taliban didn't take birth from nowhere. That they did not come to this world by any accident or a chance or just by the planning of one or the other individual or a power. The Taliban sentiment has been here for long. Even before the creation of Pakistan. In different shapes & forms.

Hindu-Muslim riots during, before & after the partition, JI's later day slogans of 'Pakistan kaa matlab kiya? La Ilah Illallah' (Why Pakistan? La Ilah Illallah), JUP's campaigns of Nizam-e-Mustafa during, before & after the infamous PNA movement & the creation of many of 'jihadis', 'jaish' & 'lashkars' (religious warrior groups) have been some of the manifestations or the symptoms of the malaise before the inception of present-day Taliban.

People having an eye on the history would agree that the religious extremism is ON THE RISE. Despite many well-meaning efforts by the left & the moderate people, it has not gone away. Nor it is going to go away. Right now it affects some parts of Pakistan but it certainly is making inroads in the parts where historically extremism has never been a norm of the day. Ultimately, it is going to take over whole Pakistan.

I think it is essential to save the parts of present day Pakistan that don't want to live under a rigid extremist Taliban Pakistan but instead want to live under the philosophies of their highly respected poet-philosophers as mentioned above.

The best possible & the most peaceful way is to hold a referendum in Pakistan on above two questions. Whoever wants to live in Taliban Pakistan may do so happily but whoever doesn't want to live under extremists must be allowed to chart their own way.

This may save the lives of millions of people & avoid an unprecedented bloodshed. The intellectuals, activists & statesmen in Pakistan & world leaders must pay attention to this important issue, which has international implications too.

MQM Protest Over Bhatta Collection (Extortion)! Wow! All Of Them Must Carry Mirrors In Their Hands!

The joke of the day in Karachi: MQM is to observe protest over bhatta collection (extortion)! This should give new meanings to the words hypocrisy, deception and blackmail. The party is generally believed to be the champions in the bhatta collection in the Sindh capital and Pakistan's largest metropolis, Karachi. Their protest is like Taliban protesting the suicide bombing, Jamaat Islami calling for death sentence to Aafia Siddiqui or Advani of BJP and Bal Thakrey of Shiv Sena calling for restoration of Babri Mosque at the controversial 'birthplace' of Rama in Ayodhiya, India! What else could be more unthinkable or absurd?

But it provides a good opportunity to the government, law enforcing departments and the Supreme Court to hold a robust inquiry into the bhatta collection (extortion) in Karachi, Sindh. Although nobody would expect it from Zardari led most opportunist government or highly biased justice system in the country.

So continue to suffer at the hands of the murderers, blackmailers and bhattakhors (extortionists) and look for some more spectacles from the terrorist outfit of MQM and the inept PPP, the two coalition partners in the provincial government of Sindh and the federal government of Pakistan.

APC: civil façade of foreign policy — Farhat Taj

Both Nawaz Sharif and Mahmood Achakzai deserve credit for making their views heard to the APC participants dominated by pro-establishment political parties. Their voices, although not part of the ‘unanimous’ resolution, were echoed by the media

Since the recent attack on the US embassy in Kabul by the Haqqani network Taliban, Pakistan came under immense US pressure, including veiled threats of attack, for its links with the Haqqani Taliban with bases in Pakistan. Pakistan’s military, which runs the country’s foreign policy on Afghanistan, rejected all the statements from the US but still needed the country’s civil political leadership to stand by it to offset US pressure. Hence an All-Parties Conference (APC) was held by the PPP-led government to create a façade of civil ownership of the military-run policy in Afghanistan.

The text of the 13-point ‘unanimously’ approved resolution of all parties’ heads seems hardly anything more than a script from the ISPR. The text is mostly rhetorical without referring to the terror sanctuaries in Pakistan pointed out not only by the US but many people within Pakistan. The text, as expected, rejects US allegations about the ISI’s links with the Haqqani network.

A striking statement in the text is this: “Pakistan must initiate dialogue with a view to negotiating peace with our own people in the tribal areas [FATA] and a proper mechanism for this be put in place.” This is also the oft-repeated position of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan, who always projects the Taliban as synonymous with the Pakhtuns. What is the justification of giving such a prominent mention in the resolution to the position of the unrepresentative PTI while totally ignoring the scepticism of the twice elected prime minster of Pakistan and leader of an elected PML-N, Mr Nawaz Sharif? Mr Sharif asked the military leaders present in the conference that there must be a ‘reason’ why the whole world is holding Pakistan responsible for terrorism, a direct reference to the generals’ links with terrorist organisations.

Moreover, it is immensely surprising that the PTI’s position was recorded in the resolution but there is nothing in the text that reflects the view of Mahmood Khan Achakzai, leader of the Pakhtun nationalist party, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), who reportedly told the ISI chief at the APC that “there will be peace in Afghanistan within a month, provided the ISI stopped exporting terrorism into that country”. PkMAP, unlike PTI, has a representation in the Senate of Pakistan and has a longstanding firmly held position whereby it asserts that the ISI is responsible for terrorism in Afghanistan and FATA. It is remarkable to note that the ‘unanimously’ passed resolution does not accommodate the point of view of this party that has lost several political workers, who were anti-Taliban, in targeted killings in FATA. The party leaders hold the ISI responsible for their killings.

Both Nawaz Sharif and Mahmood Achakzai deserve credit for making their views heard to the APC participants dominated by pro-establishment political parties. Their voices, although not part of the ‘unanimous’ resolution, were echoed by the media, putting a question mark on the ‘unanimous’ status of the resolution.

A strange position not concurring with the longstanding position on Pakistan’s Afghan policy of the other Pakhtun nationalist party, the Awami National Party (ANP), was adopted by its leader, Asfandyar Wali, in the APC. It is pertinent to mention that the ANP issued an official statement on September 23, 2011 in the context of the growing tension between Pakistan and the US. The statement, while expressing concerns over US threats to Pakistan, “calls for an all out effort by the government (of Pakistan) to root out such (terrorist) groups, their supply lines and infrastructure (on Pakistani soil)”. The statement declares such effort as “an inescapable and urgent need of evolving a clear strategy for dealing with terror outfits (in Pakistan)”. The statement was totally ignored by the Pakistan media in line with its track record of suppressing the Pakhtun nationalist standpoint.

A few days later, ANP’s provincial leader, Afrasiab Khattak, expressed a similar view as in the official statement in a TV interview, also referred to in Dr Taqi’s column, ‘US-Pakistan relations: a rocky road ahead’ (Daily Times, September 29, 2011). By taking almost a U-turn a few days later the ANP-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed a unanimous resolution condemning US threats without any reference to the terror sanctuaries, including the Haqqani network, in Pakistan. A couple of days later, Asfandyar Wali Khan participated in the APC without making his party’s longstanding position on the Afghan policy heard and quietly toeing the establishment’s line.

This leaves one to wonder what the real position of the ANP is on the current US-Pakistan tension on the Haqqani Taliban. The ANP, which has sacrificed the blood of hundreds of its workers for the party’s anti-Taliban stance, must show the courage to publicly explain which of the two texts — the APC resolution or the party official statement — really represent the real party position.

In the current political scenario in Pakistan, it looks like the ANP position is oscillating between blackmailing the military establishment of Pakistan with the party’s nationalist position on Afghanistan and collaboration with the establishment provided it accommodated the party in the ruling alliance of Pakistan as a junior partner. Even under the leadership of Begum Nasim Wali Khan — many believe the party organisation suffered under her leadership — the ANP never compromised in publicly asserting its longstanding position on the Afghan policy of Pakistan, the position that asserts that the establishment’s strategic depth policy is responsible for the violence and instability in Afghanistan. The ANP today seem to be suffering from such a compromised leadership that the party has never seen in the past.

Notwithstanding Achakzai’s straightforward comment to the ISI chief, both he and Asfandyar Wali have to explain how they can accept the point in the resolution mentioned earlier in this column. Do the two leaders not know that the militants in FATA are the Punjabi Taliban and international terrorists linked with al Qaeda, who have committed atrocities on the tribal people, including the tribal political workers of the ANP and PkMAP? Do they not know that the ISI, not the tribal people, brought these terrorists to FATA? Do they not know that local communities in FATA view the local Pakhtun Taliban, a fringe element of the tribal society, as murderers and anti-social elements who need to face justice?

The two nationalist leaders should have boycotted the APC for inclusion of such a misguiding statement in the resolution. One must appreciate the Baloch nationalist leaders for boycotting the APC in response to the state crimes against the Baloch people. Alas the Pakhtun leadership is too compromised to take such a courageous stance on their people.

The writer is the author of Taliban and Anti-Taliban
Courtesy: daily Times

Taliban Threatens to Blow Up Osama Residence in Abbotabad

By Aijaz Ahmed

Islamabad: The unusual house that Osama bin Laden used as his hideout just a stone’s throw from Pakistan’s premium Military Academy Kakul is said to be under serious threats, thus the authorities have beefed up security of the building and the adjacent locality, sources in the security forces have revealed.

The huge mansion has gained great interest since May 02, when US Navy SEALs conducted a limited operation killing Osama bin Laden without any significant resistance.

Ever since the operation, his residence became a place that attracts people in general and journalists and intelligence officials in Particular to visit. Intelligence people are visiting with full confidence and protocol and recovering letters and other evidence papers and items from the residence to be used in future, but unlike the spies, journalists were not fortunate enough as only few media men were allowed to enter the concrete building after few hours of the operation, but later the house was sealed.

Nobody even the foreign or the American journalists are being allowed to enter the house and witness the particles and items recovered from the building. Despite the ban on entering the house, the journalists were allowed till last week to approach the sealed gates, but the policy is turned overnight and nobody except the uniformed or plain clothed security officials are being allowed to go beyond 500 meters around the house.

Even renowned journalist and Waiting for Allah fame Christina Lamb was also stopped 500 meters away from the building and was sent back forcefully to Islamabad. Earlier three American journalists were captured and investigated for more than three hours, but it is not yet cleared that they have been released or are still in custody.

The security arrangements and reinforced and even foreign journalists are being interrogated in view of the latest threats by Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan. The TTP has recently threatened that it will blow up Osama’s residence, sources in the security forces revealed and added that the threat was given in view of the fact that the house has attracted wider debate in the global as well national media, thus becoming a source of trouble for the Al-Qaeda followers.

It is also revealed that the debate on the house and the details of ObL’s capture and murder and arrest of his family has had negative impacts on the ranks and files of Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and they also feared that the house may take a role of a tomb like of Hazrat Imam Hussain RA & other religious figures and this could be lethal for the Taliban philosophy as they do not believe in the tomb politics and such rituals, sources revealed.

It is to remind that the Pak army had already announced demolishing the house once the investigations are completed, but according to the sources that the decision may be changed due to certain ground realities. However any final decision may take some time as the investigators are recovering amazing facts and still need the structure to remain intact.

Sources also maintain that the house may not be demolished in near future as it may provide leads towards AL-Qaeda and other terrorist outfits, sources observed.

Contempt for America & love for Taliban: a lose, lose proposition!

A comment:

Why do many people in Pakistan (& of course "Muslim Ummah") hate America? It is not mainly because US supports military dictators or kings & Emirs in the "Muslim Ummah" or for the "American imperialism". It is mostly because of American "policies" towards "Muslim Ummah", its support for Israel vis-a-vis Palestine, its invasion of Iraq & Afghanistan & subversion of Pakistan's sovereignty.

But if Pakistanis really care for their sovereignty, then why don't they object to the blatant interference by Saudi Arabia, Iran & various Emirates in Pakistani affairs & the intrusion by foreign warriors who use Pakistani soil to carry on their Jihad? 

We see so many people killed & maimed in Pakistan so frequently by the Taliban. They use Pakistani soil to plan attacks around the globe & harbor terrorists in Pakistan. Why many people in Pakistan still express love for such barbaric killers? What message Pakistanis send to the world? The two don't just add up nor do they envisage a win win situation for Pakistan.