Omar Waraich | Sherwangai | Oct 30

The Independent - In the mountains of Waziristan, the army claims to have recovered passports of extremists with links to the September 11 and Madrid attackers. Does this mean they are finally closing in on Osama bin Laden himself?

After a sweep of a militant stronghold in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan, the Pakistani army has recovered passports purportedly belonging to two leading al-Qa'ida figures, including a member of the notorious Hamburg cell that orchestrated September 11.

Among a pile of documents, photographs, weapons and computers seen by The Independent yesterday in Waziristan, is a German passport belonging to Said Bahaji, the logistical expert of the notorious German terror cell that orchestrated the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Paul Richter | Washington DC | October 30

LA Times - On a fence-mending visit, the secretary of State turns blunt, saying she finds it 'hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to.'

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visiting Pakistan on a fence-mending tour, turned unusually blunt Thursday, accusing the government of failing to do all it could to track down Al Qaeda.

Clinton told a group of journalists in Lahore that she found it "hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to." Al Qaeda, she said, "has had a safe haven in Pakistan since 2002."

Clinton's three-day visit is her first to Pakistan since she became secretary of State, and its principal goal is to improve strained relations. On the first day of her visit, in Islamabad, she declared that she wanted to "turn a page" in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.

But on the second day, frustration seemed to surface as Clinton, a former U.S. senator from New York, confronted the long-standing strains between the countries.

Discussing Al Qaeda, she raised the issue of Pakistan's powerful military intelligence arm, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which has been accused of secretly supporting militant groups in Afghanistan.

"There are issues that, not just the U.S., but others have with your government and with your military security establishment," she said.

Steve Hynd writes on the growing violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, here.

Zahid Hussain/ Islamabad & Nico Hines | Oct 28

Times online - More than 95 people were killed by a car bomb in Pakistan today as Hillary Clinton arrived to offer US support for the Government’s crackdown on militants.

A series of terrorist attacks have shaken the country since Pakistani troops launched an assault against Islamist extremists in the tribal borderlands near Afghanistan.

Eyewitness and police in the north-western city of Peshawar said the bomb struck the area of the Meena market, which is generally visited by woman shoppers. Witnesses said many of the victims were women and children.

The blast set many shops on fire and people were trapped inside a multi-storey building, which collapsed after becoming engulfed by flames. As the wounded tried to flee, they were engulfed in flames and buried alive by falling masonry.

“Most of the bodies are charred beyond recognition,” a doctor told The Times.

”My entire shop fell on me. Smoke filled my face,” said Raza Ali, 30, a grocery store owner whose face was badly burnt.

Shakil Ahmed, another shopkeeper, said: “There was a huge explosion and black smoke covered the area.”

The explosives-packed car was apparently parked outside a shop and was denoted by remote control, police said.

Relief workers said the number of casualties could rise as most of the 200 wounded were in a critical state. Others may still be trapped inside buildings.

DAWN.Com | Islamabad | Oct 24

DAWN.Com Dawn Media Group -

The figures given by official quarters are impossible to verify, but the army says more than 160 militants and 23 troops have been killed in the week-long South Waziristan offensive. — Photo by AFP

Security officials said the army overran Mehsud’s town of Kotkai overnight after three days of aerial bombardments which had underlined the huge challenge facing the military in taking on the Taliban in their tribal heartland.

And in another part of the northwest tribal belt, a missile fired by an unmanned US drone spy plane killed more than 14 people including three foreign militants, local officials said.

Although figures are impossible to verify, the army says more than 160 militants and 23 troops have been killed in the week-long South Waziristan offensive. Twelve militants and three soldiers died in the final stages of the battle for Kotkai, it added. Snip

The army launched the drive last Saturday, pitting 30,000 troops against estimated 10,000-12,000 Taliban fighters where Al-Qaeda-linked militants are believed to have plotted attacks against the West as well as in Pakistan.

The army had promised to make the Taliban leadership a particular target of their offensive and sealed off the main road into Kotkai last weekend.

More

While the Pakistani army is fighting the Taliban in Swat the assault on normal life in the larger cities in the country continues:

The provincial governments on Tuesday ordered the closure of government and private educational institutions across the country following an attack on the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in which six people, including three female students, were killed and 29 others injured.

Earlier this year while I was in India trying to get a Pak visa I remember thinking that there was a tremendous amount of violence in the country, an almost daily drumbeat of bad news was reported in India about Pakistan. I chalked part of it up to their mutual animosity. But now?

Lahore | October 21

Daily Times - All schools, colleges closed nationwide

* Three women among six killed in first-ever attack on students as twin suicide bombers hit Islamic University Islamabad
* 25 female students among 29 injured
* Punjab closes educational institutions indefinitely while NWFP, Balochistan and Sindh closed till Sunday

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The provincial governments on Tuesday ordered the closure of government and private educational institutions across the country following an attack on the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in which six people, including three female students, were killed and 29 others injured.

The army has spent weeks cutting off militans’ escape routes and softening up targets in the region, using limited intelligence-led ground and air strikes.
— Photo by AP

Oct 17

BBC -

Fierce fighting has broken out as the Pakistan army battles Taliban militants in their remote strongholds in the South Waziristan province.

Local officials said 30,000 troops, backed by artillery, had moved into the region where Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is based.

Officials said the Taliban were resisting as troops mobilised from the north, east, and west.

** Bloodshed feared as Pakistan moves into Taliban heartland
** Pakistan offensive: troops meet heavy Taliban resistance
** Pakistan targets Taliban in major ground operation
** Pakistan begins offensive against Taliban, al-Qaeda
** Pakistan finally takes on the monster it created

Karin Brulliard | Islamabad | Oct 15

WaPo - Pakistan came under a deadly, staccato series of attacks Thursday that left at least 38 people dead and raised questions about the ability of the nation's security and intelligence agencies to thwart a rising Islamist insurgency.

The attacks began about 9 a.m. in Lahore, the bustling capital of the Punjabi heartland, with what appeared to be coordinated attacks on police installations. The attacks paralyzed the city, Pakistan's cultural hub, and riveted a nation that has been engulfed in deadly attacks over the past 11 days.

The first target was the Federal Investigation Agency, a law enforcement branch. Next, gunmen -- some strapped with explosives -- attacked a police training school. A third group stormed a police commando training center, where some militants fired shots and tossed grenades from a roof and others took trainees' families hostage in a residential area of the vast campus.

The attacks killed 28 people, about half of them security officers, authorities said. Ten were militants involved in staging the attacks. They were followed by a suicide car bombing that killed three police officers and seven civilians at a police station in Kohat, a northwestern city surrounded by insurgent-heavy areas. As dusk fell, a fifth blast rocked government workers' residences in Peshawar, the Northwest's main city.

Two of the Lahore targets, the FIA and the police training school, were previously attacked over the past two years. That fact, combined with last weekend's bold militant siege of the army headquarters in Rawalpindi -- known here as "Pakistan's Pentagon" -- prompted a public flood of doubts about security agencies' preparedness and cooperation with one another.

"One was expecting that there would be better planning and more fortifications," said Faisal Saleh Hayad, a lawmaker with the Pakistan Muslim League-Q. "Unfortunately it has transpired today that none of them are in place."

The top field commander of al-Qaeda, in an exclusive interview with Asia Times Online, proves he is alive and well after repeated drone attacks and delineates in broad strokes al-Qaeda's strategy. The Afghanistan trap, baited on September 11, 2001, has been sprung, says formidable guerrilla leader Ilyas Kashmiri, and events from Gaza to Mumbai should not be seen in isolation but as part of the master plan to bloody the United States and its proxies. - Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Exclusive

Saeed Shah | Islamabad | Oct 11

McClatchy Newspapers - Pakistani commandos staged a dramatic rescue early Sunday of colleagues held hostage after terrorists had stormed the headquarters of Pakistan's vast military establishment some 18 hours earlier in a bold assault.

The maneuver, carried out around 6am local time, ended a crisis that began when the extremists attacked the military central command in the northern city of Rawalpindi, initially killing six army personnel, then taking hostages in a stand-off that lasted through the night.

The rescue operation freed 25 hostages who were being held in a building inside the headquarters by a suicide bomber, who was shot dead.

"They were in a room with a terrorist who was wearing a suicide jacket, but the commandoes acted promptly and gunned him down before he could pull the trigger," said the army's chief spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas.

Three hostages died in the rescue, while two commandoes also died. Four of the five terrorists were killed, said Abbas.

It was the third major terrorist attack to hit Pakistan in six days, and likely was a warning from Pakistani Taliban of the bloodshed that will ensue from the country's planned Washington-backed military offensive in the Waziristan region, the base of country's extremism and an important refuge for insurgents fighting in neighboring Afghanistan.

While other recent attacks resulted in more bloodshed, the target on Saturday was deeply symbolic for a country dominated by its armed forces.

"It's a very, very serious blow to the Pakistani security forces. The symbol of our military might has been attacked," said Imtiaz Gul, chairman of the Center for Research and Security Studies, an independent think tank in Islamabad. "They 1/8the terrorists3/8 wanted to send a strong message that they can strike at will."

Saeed Shah | Islamabad | Oct 8

McClatchy Newspapers - Pakistan's army said Wednesday that it has "serious concern" over conditions attached to a $1.5 billion a year U.S. aid package that Congress approved last month, marking a serious rupture in relations with Washington just before a planned military operation against the Taliban and al Qaida.

The dispute pits Pakistan's powerful army against the fragile civilian government of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which has championed the U.S. assistance deal. Pakistan's political opposition also opposes the aid legislation, which awaits President Barack Obama's signature.

The aid bill, sponsored in the Senate by Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry and Indiana Republican Richard Lugar, was meant to improve the U.S. image in Pakistan. It requires monitoring and certification of Pakistan's action against terrorism and requires the country to work to prevent nuclear proliferation and show that its military isn't interfering in Pakistani politics.

"Everyone wants aid. The problem is the conditions, which are tantamount to holding Pakistan hostage to U.S. designs," said Marvi Memon, an opposition member of parliament. "This is a complete affront to national sovereignty."

I'm betting the Pakistani military would really like control of the money with no conditions ~ tina

Islamabad | Oct 6

DPA - The United Nations temporarily closed its offices across Pakistan on Monday after a suicide bomber struck a UN World Food Programme (WFP) building in Islamabad, killing five people, including an Iraqi national, officials said.

The bomber disguised as a paramilitary soldier blew himself up inside the WFP offices, located in one of the capital city's upmarket neighbourhoods which also contains the private residence of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the attacker wearing the uniform of the Frontier Corps paramilitary force, whose soldiers are also deployed in the street, breached the security cordon when private guards allowed him to use the toilet in the WFP offices.

** CSM Media Round Up

Robert Birsel | Islamabad | Oct 3

Reuters - The Pakistani army is keeping up pressure on the Pakistani Taliban as it prepares for an offensive on their South Waziristan stronghold and awaits the outcome of infighting between factions, an army spokesman said on Saturday.

The government ordered the army to launch an offensive against Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsud and his men in South Waziristan near the Afghan border in June.

Mehsud, accused of numerous bomb attacks across the country, was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August.

The security forces have been launching air strikes, while moving in troops, blockading the region and trying to split off factions.

"The operation is continuing through air targetting, squeezing the area -- all the entry and exit routes have been blocked -- and, of course, waiting for the result of the infighting for the succession," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

Pakistan's President Zardari is in New York this week for the "Friends of a Democratic Pakistan" conference where he outlined the successes and challenges Pakistan has faced over the past year, as well as his strategy for the future. Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the US Senate passed unanimously a $1.5 billion aid package for the struggling nation. The House should pass the bill immediately and send it to Obama to sign.

In New York, Zardari highlighted the importance not only of military support for Pakistan's struggle against religious militants, but the importance of non-military assistance to help build the nation's infrastructure and providing tangible American investment in the nation's future.

Mubasher Bukhari | Lahore, Pakistan | Sept. 21, 2009

Reuters -

Sept. 21, 2009 Reuters

By Mubasher Bukhari

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have curbed the movements of an Islamist militant leader accused by India of masterminding last year's Mumbai attack, police and the militant's aides said on Monday.

India wants Pakistan to prosecute Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, before it resumes a peace process broken off after last November's assault on Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.

LaHore | Sept 20

Daily Times [Pak] - US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson on Saturday said Washington wanted a safe exit and a dignified retirement for former president Pervez Musharraf, a private TV channel reported. She said the demands for Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 of Pakistan’s constitution were the country’s internal matter. “Now he [Musharraf] has become a thing of the past and we have no position on him,” she said. Patterson said the US had wanted a peaceful transition to democracy.

Earlier thread:
** Make Musharraf deal public

There's a post on MyDD about non-military support for Pakistan:

Back in May, Sen. Kerry and Sen. Lugar introduced a bill to triple non-military aid to Pakistan. The bill passed the House and Senate in June (unanimously in the Senate). It's time for Congress to reconcile the bills and send to Obama to sign.

The importance of Kerry-Lugar is clear - Pakistan is a lynchpin for the region, but has been teetering for decades. The current government, now a year old, has taken important steps towards fighting religious extremism, normalizing relations with India, and democratizing the political process after years of dictatorial rule. But if progress is to continue, the US needs to do more than provide military assistance - we need to invest in building a prosperous and sustainable economic infrastructure in the region.

While recent research shows Taliban and al Qaeda militants are despised in Pakistan, the US, and the democratic West in general, continues to suffer a notoriously bad reputation as well. Additionally, Pakistanis, while certainly concerned with extremist violence, are also very concerned about economic issues in their country. Kerry-Lugar will show Pakistanis that the US is an honest partner that is invested in the long-term future of their country.

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to get military spending through the U.S. Congress but any other foreign aid becomes a dragged out struggle. This seems like the kind of money we can either spend now or spend 10x as much later in blood and iron.

Muhammad Bilal | Islamabad | Sept 16

The Daily Times(Pak) -

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will move motions in the Senate and the National Assembly (NA) against President Asif Zardari for making a deal with Pervez Musharraf that helped the latter leave the country, NA Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Tuesday.

“It’s a mind-boggling statement... we demand that Zardari make [the details of] this deal public,” he said. Khan said Zardari should disclose the “international stakeholders” involved in brokering the deal seeking indemnity for General (r) Pervez Musharraf. The nation should be told who agreed to give the former military dictator safe passage, he added.

Talking to reporters at Parliament House, he said the statement was a “serious breach of the country’s sovereignty, independence and self-respect”.

He said that while all this all “political wheeling and dealing” was going on, Zardari had not yet become president, which showed that Zardari became the president with the support of international actors under the same deal, Nisar added.

** Musharraf guaranteed 'safe exit' ~ pic/BBC
** Musharraf exit deal was underwritten by foreign powers: Zardari
** Zardari’s admission unmasks PPP’s true face: JI
** US funds were diverted to strengthen defence against India: Musharraf
** US not bothered what Pak does with its dollars
** The Walkback

Jane Perlez & Pir Zubair Shah | Mingora, Pakistan | September 14

NYT - Two months after the Pakistani Army wrested control of the Swat Valley from Taliban militants, a new campaign of fear has taken hold, with scores, perhaps hundreds, of bodies dumped on the streets in what human rights advocates and local residents say is the work of the military.

In some cases, people may simply have been seeking revenge against the ruthless Taliban, in a society that tends to accept tit-for-tat reprisals, local politicians said.

But the scale of the retaliation, the similarities in the way that many of the victims have been tortured and the systematic nature of the deaths and disappearances in areas that the military firmly controls have led local residents, human rights workers and some Pakistani officials to conclude that the military has had a role in the campaign.

Sept 14

BBC - At least 18 women and children have been killed in a stampede to get free flour in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officials say.

Dozens more were injured in the crush, reports say.

The free flour was being handed out in a poor, congested neighbourhood of the city by a private group as part of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Pakistani TV showed distraught relatives arriving at a hospital where the injured had been taken.

"The deaths were caused by suffocation and the stampede in one of the most congested localities of Khori Garden," said Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad, reports AFP news agency.

He said the man distributing the free flour had been detained because he had not given police prior notice.

As made by Farahnaz Ispahani on the Huffington Post:

The election of Asif Ali Zardari as Pakistan's president one year ago marked the country's return to full democracy after nine years of dictatorship. It was the first time since 1958, when Pakistan experienced its first coup d'état, that the presidency was to be occupied by the leader of a major political party in the country.

The PPP remains committed to undo the arbitrary changes to our country's constitution introduced under authoritarian rule. But until the constitutional balance is restored in accordance with the spirit of the original 1973 Constitution it is important that the presidency should be occupied by someone who has struggled for democracy and suffered at the hands of the forces of dictatorship. With President Zardari in charge, there is no likelihood of presidential powers being used to derail or weaken the democratic process or to overturn a democratically elected government. The Presidency and the Prime Ministers' office and the Senate are unified behind common principles and programs. Unlike the structural divisions of the past, it is a unified government.

Since September 2008, the presidency and the office of prime minister are held by members of the same political party but in an unprecedented configuration. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is the Chief Executive, elected by parliament unanimously, and his party's Co-Chairman holds the office of President ensuring smooth functioning of government. This differs significantly from the equation between 1993 and 1996, when Mr. Farooq Leghari found it tempting as President to stage a coup against his own party's leader, who was prime minister. By nominating and electing CO-Chairman Zardari as President of the Republic, the PPP shut the door on palace intrigue. The election of PPP stalwart and former Law Minister Farooq Naek as President of the Pakistani Senate further solidified the unified structure of Pakistani democracy. These factors make it easier to introduce constitutional amendments in accordance with the Charter of Democracy through consensus.
...
President Zardari's principal achievement, however, is that he has proven wrong the prophets of doom and gloom. Pursuing the spirit of reconciliation articulated by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in her final days, the president has reached out across the political spectrum. Unlike some who prefer to seek approval by doing what is temporarily popular, President Zardari is willing to take difficult decisions and make tough choices. He has been elected for a five-year term and he need not seek applause on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. As a democrat he remains tolerant of criticism and has put up with a constant chorus trying to run him down.
...

As President Zardari finishes his first term and prepares to come to New York later this month, the US Congress is preparing to enact into law a massive $7.5 billion five year program of non-military economic and social aid to Pakistan. The Zardari Doctrine has been endorsed by the Obama administration and the US Congress. Pakistan, in the trenches and the frontlines for the entire world against the terrorist threat, is reinventing itself -- economic independence and viability will further increase political stability. And the political stability of Pakistan is in the interests of not only Pakistan, but the entire world. For that, Asif Ali Zardari deserves much of the credit.

It's been a tumultuous first year in office for President Zardri, though not one without progress. Following decades of economic misrule and appeasement of religious extremism, Zardari faced a significant uphill battle when he took office. At the time, many were ready to write off Pakistan as a "failed state," and conversations often turned to questions of whether Pakistan would be the first Islamist nuclear power.

While the road has been rocky, Zardari has managed to keep the ship upright, and in recent months has made progress towards greater democratization and cooperation with the world community. This has not come without significant political costs as Zardari faces a political opposition and media fueled by rumor and innuendo, as well as a ruthless political climate.

Saeed Shah | Islamabad | Sept 8

McClatchy Newspapers - For weeks now, the Pakistani media have portrayed America, its military and defense contractors in the darkest of lights, all part of an apparent campaign of anti-American vilification that is sweeping the country and, according to some, is putting American lives at risk.

Pakistanis are reacting to what many here see as an "imperial" American presence, echoing Iraq and Afghanistan, with Washington dictating to the Pakistani military and the government. Polls show that Pakistanis regard the U.S., formally a close ally and the country's biggest donor, as a hostile power.

U.S. officials have either denied the allegations or moved to blunt the criticism, but suspicions remain and relations between the two countries are getting more strained.

The lively Pakistani media has been filled with stories of under-cover American agents operating in the country, tales of a huge contingent of U.S. Marines planned to be stationed at the embassy, and reports of Blackwater private security personnel running amuck. Armed Americans have supposedly harassed and terrified residents and police officers in Islamabad and Peshawar, according to local press reports.

Much of the hysteria was based on a near $1 billion plan, revealed by McClatchy in May and confirmed by U.S. officials, to massively increase the size of the American embassy in Islamabad, which brought home to Pakistanis that the United States plans an extensive and long-term presence in the country.