Pakistan’s neo-Taliban

Overseas Pakistani Friends A blog of overseas Pakistani friends Pakistan's neo-Taliban By I.A. Rehman THE militants' tactical retreat from Buner, an armed operation against them in Dir and some formal assurances by the army top brass have given most Pakistanis a sense of respite. It should now be possible to comprehend the neo-Taliban phenomenon without which they cannot be overcome. The armed bands engaged in terrorist activities in the northern parts of Pakistan are called neo-Taliban because it is necessary to distinguish them from the Taliban that overran Afghanistan in the 1990s and about whom conservative Pakistanis entertain some wholesome notions. They condone the Afghan Taliban's excesses against women and their animalistic hostility to arts and culture, because they want to see the same done in Pakistan.. At the same time these elements still praise the Afghan Taliban for unifying their country, for checking violent disorder and for disarming non-state militias. And, latterly, they are hailed for resisting foreign intrusion. While the neo-Taliban operating against Pakistan can outdo the Afghan Taliban in their animus towards women and democratic institutions, they display none of the characteristics attributed to the latter by their Pakistani supporters. Unlike the Afghan Taliban they are dividing Pakistan and not consolidating its unity; they are increasing violent disorder and not suppressing it; and they are raising non-state militias, not disarming the existing ones. Finally, the Afghan Taliban could claim to be fighting for their motherland and resisting 'imperialism'; the neo-Taliban have invaded their patrons' motherland and are fighting for a brand of imperialism Allama Iqbal had denounced in his 1930 address. Thus, the neo-Taliban cannot be favourably compared with their Afghan predecessors. A large number of Pakistanis have been confused by the neo-Taliban's rhetoric that they want to enforce the Islamic Sharia. Nothing can be further from the truth. The neo-Taliban's precursors in Afghanistan too were not driven by their love of the Sharia. For all one knows, Hikmatyar, Rabbani and Masud, targets of the Taliban offensive, also swore by the Sharia. The Afghan Taliban had a definite political objective — to capture Afghanistan for themselves. The neo-Taliban too have a purely political objective — to establish their rule in a part of Pakistan and if possible over the whole of it. True, there are many people in Fata and Malakand Division, as there are in Islamabad and Lahore and Karachi, who sincerely believe an Islamic polity is feasible. The neo-Taliban are exploiting the religious sentiment of these people just as it was exploited by quite a few of Pakistan's rulers, Gen Ziaul Haq in particular. Gen Zia told the people, 'If you believe in Islam, this means you accept me as your sovereign.' The neo-Taliban's logic is indistinguishable from Gen Zia's. The qualifications and the credibility of neither are open to scrutiny. Indeed, the neo-Taliban's religious mask is more transparent than even Zia's. The latter had some use for Pakistan's constitution, its elected representatives and its judiciary; the neo-Taliban want to scrap all of them. Zia accepted the Shias' right to exist; in their campaign to exterminate the Shias (for instance in Kurram Agency and D.I. Khan) the neo-Taliban have added a hideous concept to the vocabulary of criminology — sectarian cleansing. Further, the neo-Taliban can easily be indicted for degrading the Sharia on three main counts. First, they cannot convince even their apologists in Pakistan that suicide bombings, the killing of innocent people, beheading their victims without due sanction, extortion and looting of the homes of the internally displaced, seizure of orchards and burning down of schools are in accordance with any version of the Sharia. Secondly, by denying the evolutionary process in the Sharia and closing the door to ijtihad in what is essentially a man-made code, the neo-Taliban are trying to bind the Muslim people within the clerical thought frozen six centuries ago, a view that has prevented Muslims the world over from keeping abreast of the times and humankind's social growth. Thirdly, more often than not, the standard of the Sharia is raised by tribal elites that are afraid of losing their privileges if their communities progress towards a higher social formation. Nobody should thus be led by the neo-Taliban's invoking the Sharia for their hearts and minds are as unclean as their hands. Another myth about the militants operating in Fata and Malakand Division is that they are the latest avatars of the Pakhtun identity. They are not. Of course, some Pakistani Pakhtuns (as well as some non-Pakhtuns from Punjab and Karachi) have joined the neo-Taliban but there is no evidence that the Pakhtuns are prepared to abandon their Pakhtunwali. Besides, the neo-Taliban's aversion to the Pakhtuns' language, poetry, music, arts, cultural diversions and even their dress code is known. If the neo-Taliban had their way the Pakhtuns' ethno-cultural identity could be as much under threat of extinction as the other ethno-cultural identities within the Pakistan family (Punjabi, Baloch, Sindhi, et al) If despite all that can be argued against the neo-Taliban they are able to challenge the state of Pakistan the reason lies not in their strength but in the faults and failings of the latter. Pakistan has become vulnerable because its democratic institutions are not worthy of being so described, because its rapacious elite offers no quarter to the poor, because its justice system does not enjoy the people's confidence, because it does not offer a fair return to the peasant and the worker, because it guarantees neither dignity to women nor gainful education and employment to the youth. It is these weaknesses of the state that has made the neo-Taliban look more menacing than they are. To say at this point that the government should concentrate only on administrative and judicial reform is like telling West Pakistanis in the summer of 1971 that they could keep Pakistan intact by learning Bengali. The quest for democracy, justice and social rights must of course continue but this will be a long-drawn-out struggle while the threat to the state's integrity demands an immediate response. A proper understanding of the neo-Taliban threat should lead to two steps. First, the government should reduce its trust deficit with the people. Its claims of fulfilling its obligations to the nation must be backed by something more than the hollow perorations and meaningless gyrations of ministers. Secondly, the people must receive evidence that those maintained for and charged with defending the lives, properties and entitlements of the people, which is what national integrity really means, are able and willing to earn their keep. The neo-Taliban have lost all claim to leniency; they must be made to face the full might of the state, except for those who can be trusted with mending their ways. http://www.dawn.com   SOURCE: http://www.opfblog.com/7775/pakistan%E2%80%99s-neo-taliban/ Visit www.parachinar616.blogspot.com   or join Click to join parachinar616

This is indeed our war

This is indeed our war Friday, May 01, 2009 Farhat Taj The Pakhtuns do not need enemies when they have self-proclaimed friends like Imran Khan – this is in response to his article published in this newspapers on April 23. The fact of the matter is that this war on terror is very much Pakistan's own war. It used to be America's war when the jihadis were funded by the US to fight the Red Army in Afghanistan. The Pakistani and international jihadis have now made it Pakistan's war. As a responsible state Pakistan cannot allow terrorists crossing over into Afghanistan to attack Afghan civilians (who are usually Pakhtun), the Afghan National Army and US and NATO forces in the country that came there under a UN mandate. The Musharraf government's decision to send the Pakistan army to Waziristan in 2004 was correct. But the decision came too late, too little and too half-heartedly. Following the US bombing of Al Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan in 2001, the foreign and Pakistani jihadis escaped into Waziristan. They were not welcomed by the people of Waziristan and proof of this also is that they killed more than 200 tribal leaders of Waziristan, after which the region's tribal order collapsed. The state under President Musharraf was guilty of criminal negligence for allowing the jihadis to decimate the tribal order. Imran Khan may not know it or ignore it for political reasons but the fact is that there is a widespread perception among the Pakhtuns that the Musharraf government played a double role: on one hand it allowed the jihadis to take control of the tribal area and on the other hand showed the US that the Pakistan army was fighting the terrorists. It was during his regime that the army entered into agreements with the Taliban in FATA – and all of these failed. The agreements had two versions: oral and written. The written versions were according to the law of Pakistan. The oral versions implied that the Taliban would not attack Pakistan army and the army would let the Taliban do whatever they liked and this would include them crossing over into Afghanistan. The Taliban also happen to be sectarian terrorists in that many of their targets are Shias. And in this regard their primary targets are the Pakhtuns of Kurram, Orakzai and Dera Ismail Khan. I think Imran Khan will be hard-pressed to go to Parachinar and tell the Turi tribe that the Taliban are Pakhtun nationalists. The Turis in Parachinar have been besieged by the Taliban for over two yeas now – all their land links to the rest of Pakistan have been blocked and hundreds have died while fighting the Taliban. If one wants to talk of Pakhtun nationalism then instead of looking at the Taliban one should look at what, for instance, the Ali Khel in Orakzai did where the Sunni section of the Ali Khel tribe stood up to the defence of the Shia when the latter came under threat from the Taliban. In addition to this, the Saralzai in Bajaur, the Khelil and Monand in Badabir and all those who stood up to the Taliban are the true embodiment of Pakhtun nationalism, not the Taliban. The Pakhtun jihadis, together with their non-Pakuthn jihadis, are attacking the very core of Pakhtun nationalism. Almost 90 per cent of those killed, injured and maimed are ordinary Pakhtuns. Moreover, the terrorists' ideology is directly opposed to a nationalist ideology. The Pakhtun Taliban movement has all along been attacking all the symbols of the Pakhtun culture to bring the Pakhtun identity in line with that of the Arab jihadists. To call terrorism a nationalist movement is to create hatred among different nationalities living in the country especially when the people being killed as a result of terrorist activities belong to different nationalities. The Pakhtun are experiencing a genocide-like situation at the hands of Taliban and Al Qaida terrorists . But people like Shireen Mazari, a member of Imran Khan's party, say that anti-Taliban local lashkars are in fact American sell-outs. This is most disrespectful especially since it is more a case of the brave Pakhtuns taking up arms to defend themselves in the face of a complete absence of state protection. Imran Khan often compares the Taliban militancy with the tribal resistance to the British colonial. This is an insult to the Pakhtun history. Unlike the Taliban no tribal resistance leader ever killed fellow Pkahtun in the name of Islam of fight against the British. It is difficult to assess the impact the Taliban had in Swat due to the problems people had with the judicial system. A group of people who have never been elected – and probably will never be unless voters are forced to at gunpoint – blocking roads in protest does not automatically mean that there was a wider public support for them or their actions. Sufi Mohammad's TNSM got strength because the state succumbed to it again and again. Do not forget that Sufi Mohammad is the same person that misled thousands of young men of FATA and NWFP to go to Afghanistan to fight against the US and Northern Alliance in 2001. He managed to return safely but most of those who went to fight were either killed or captured – hundreds are still missing. Their families wait for them and they curse Sufi Mohammad every single day. Now thanks to the ANP government, he has been made a hero. Anyone who has lived in Swat would have experienced that people of Swat are the most liberal people among the Pakhtuns due to their dependence on a tourism-driven economy. The Sufi Mohammad-style sharia has never been their choice. They would never want their primary industry – tourism – to be destroyed by those who rule over them. The argument of JI amir Munawwar Hasan that people of Swat elected the ANP and the PPP because his party boycotted the February 2008 elections is wrong. If religious right-wingers were so darling to the Swatis, they would have elected the JUI-F which was in the field. How come so many tribal leaders were killed all over FATA and no one has ever been arrested for it? How come officials of the state and its institutions socially meet members of the Taliban? I have often met desperate people who say that the Taliban militancy has been engineered to send a message to the US and to extract more and more aid. More ominously, these Pakhtuns feel abandoned by the state. Pakistan has to do the needful – something that it hasn't done so far. This means giving up the idea once and for all that the jihadis are strategic assets to fight proxy wars in Afghanistan and India. The next step would be to conduct targeted operations based on intelligence to destroy jihadi infrastructures all over Pakistan, eliminate their leadership and retake the territory ceded to the jihadis. Third, all those Pakhtuns who have stood up to the Taliban need to be protected. Disturbing as it may sound, the jihadis could well take over all of Pakistan, just like they have taken over Swat and FATA, unless of course the state chooses to crush them with an iron hand. Whether the US offers financial help to Pakistan or not Pakistan has to fight this war to survive as a democratic state in the modern world. The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo, and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy. Email: bergen34@yahoo.com   SOURCE: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=175214 Visit www.parachinar616.blogspot.com   or join Click to join parachinar616

Nine killed in Kurram clashes

Monday, April 27, 2009, Jamadi-ul-Awwal 01, 1430 A.H  briefs....

Nine killed in Kurram clashes

PARACHINAR: Nine people were killed and 17 others sustained injuries in clashes between two rival tribes of the Kurram Agency that continued on Sunday. 

Sources said an exchange of fire continued for the fourth consecutive day in Balishkhel and Khar Killay area in the Lower Kurram.

 

SOURCE: http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21773

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Clashes between 2 rival tribes leaves 3 dead in Lower Kurram

Clashes between 2 rival tribes leaves 3 dead in Lower Kurram

KURRAM AGENCY: At least 3 people were killed while 7 other sustained serious injuries in armed clashes between rival groups in the lower Kurram.

According the sources, the clash between two rival groups erupted on Thursday while the real reason behind it can not be ascertained so far.

Source said, 3 tribesmen were killed while 7 other sustained injuries when their opponents opened indiscriminate fire on them in area of lower Kurram.

Both were using heavy arms against each other. It may be recalled here hundreds people have lost their lives during 8 months long clashes between two groups in Tira valley of Kurram agency some months ago.

 SOURCE:  http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=144448

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3 more kids die as shortage of medicines persists

3 more kids die as shortage of medicines persists

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 By Our correspondent

PARACHINAR: The shortage of life-saving medicines in the markets and hospitals has further aggravated in Kurram Agency as three more kids died here Tuesday taking the number of expired children to 14. Sources reported that the main road linking Parachinar with Peshawar was in the firm grip of militants and kidnappers. One could not risk breaking the siege of the road beyond the area of Tall, as the militants either kidnap or kill those travelling on the route, residents said. Because of the forced closure of the road, besides other essentials the life-saving drugs were non-existent in the hospitals and markets alike. The expired kids were identified as Shahzia, resident of Jalandhar, two-year-old Zainul Abideen of Mihora and a toddler, Habib Ali, belonging to the Bughdai area. Habib Ali died in the way while he was being shifted to Peshawar through the long and rough route via Afghanistan after five hours of arduous journey.

SOURCE: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=173677

 

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11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines

24 Rabi-us-Sani 1430 Hijri   April 21, 2009 Every hour with fresh news

Home | About us | Objectives | Advertisement | Privacy Policy | Copyrights Statement | Feedback | Contact us  •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links     •  11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines     •  US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan     •  Obama asks Congress to back IMF boost     •  Obama calls on CIA to chart new course     •  Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike     •  UN chief deplores Ahmadinejad's remarks at racism meet     •  Would-be suicide bomber held in Islamabad     •  Wheel-jam strike in several cities against killing of Baloch leaders     •  Protests against fees hike, student killing in Swat and Lahore     •  Afghan smugglers forced to flee     •  We don't favour mid-term elections: Munawwar     •  Some elements interpret Holy Qur'an as they want: Altaf     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Militants groups clash in Bajaur; two killed     •  Night curfew imposed in Landi Kotal     •  Pakistan must do more to fight Taliban: US commander     •  12 militants killed in Orakzai Agency     •  Australia, Netherlands join U.N. race meeting boycott     •  Fauzia asks CJ to take suo motu notice of Shabaz remarks     •  US to jam Taliban websites, radio links

11 kids die in Kurram for lack of medicines
21-Apr-2009

PARACHINAR,Apr20: The shortage of medicines in hospitals and markets has so far claimed lives of 11 children in the Kurram Agency. 

Talking to the reporters here Monday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders, including Rana Wiladat, Councillor Syed Sadique Hussain, Councillor Gul Ali and Major (R) Gul Hussain said that 11 children died of pneumonia and diarrhoea in Zerhan and Shalozan areas of the agency because of scarcity of medicines. They said that because of the blockade of roads in Kurram Agency, the residents were facing shortage of foodstuff and medicines in the local market.

Some of the children, who died recently, were identified as Yasir (5), Najiba (3) belonging to Mulabagh area of Zerhan, Didar Ali (3) and Muhammad Ali (six months) hailing from Shalozan area.

The MQM office-bearers said in the far-flung areas of the agency, the patients were dying because of the lack of medicines in the hospitals. They warned that the situation could worsen if steps were not taken to solve the problem forthwith. 

The tribesmen urged the government to take stern action against the anti-social elements involved in disturbing the peace in the area and provide medicines for treatment of children on an emergency basis.

 SOURCE: http://www.worldtribunepakistan.com/news_detail.php?page_id=11618

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Militants attack foiled in Kurram Agency

Tue, April  21, 2009

Pakistan

Militants attack foiled in Kurram Agency

Updated :   Monday  April  20 , 2009  3:33:59 PM

PARACHINAR:  Frontier Corps repelled an attack on a convoy in Thall Toorkamma region of Kurram tribal region.  The militants attacked the convoy when it was travelling to Bathai checkpost from Alizai, a spokesman said.  The security men exchanged intense fire with militants in the clash in which two militants were seriously wounded and an explosives laden vehicle was destroyed.

 

SOURCE: http://www.thearynews.com/english/newsdetail.asp?nid=25451

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Food shortage hits Kurram Agency

 Monday, April 20, 2009, Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1430 A.H  

Food shortage hits Kurram Agency

Updated at: 2002 PST,  Monday, April 20, 2009  PESHAWAR: The markets are out of food items and medicines due to blockage of roads for the past several months in Kurram Agency. Local leaders Rana Wiladat, Syed Sadiq Hussain and othters told that the remaining stock of food and medicines has almost ended due to an unending blockade of roads in the agency. They said patients and children are among the most affected people due to lack of medicines and food items.  They warned that the health-related problems could escalate if urgent measures were not taken by the government in this regard. They also demanded the government of taking actions against the elements responsible for creating such situation in Kurram Agency.

 

SOURCE: http://www.geo.tv/4-20-2009/40278.htm

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Bomber Hits Checkpoint in Pakistan, Killing 20

Bomber Hits Checkpoint in Pakistan, Killing 20

 

By ISMAIL KHAN

Published: April 18, 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Eighteen members of the security forces and two civilians were killed in a suicide bombing on Saturday at a joint military and police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, security officials said.

The police in Doaba, in the Hangu district of North-West Frontier Province, said that three of their men had been wounded in the attack, which hit around the time when the guard was changing at the checkpoint.. Eight soldiers were also wounded and were later shifted to a military hospital for treatment.

The police blamed the Pakistani Taliban for the bombing, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militants.

The military had carried out a major cleanup operation in Doaba in August to flush out Taliban militants who wereinfiltrating from the nearby Kurram and Orakzai tribal regions.

Army helicopter gunships have been attacking suspected militant hide-outs in Orakzai in the last couple of weeks. That region is under the sway of Hakimullah Mehsud, a senior Taliban commander. He warned this month that the Pakistani Taliban would carry out two bombings a week in what he called revenge for missile strikes by American drone aircraft.

One of those missile strikes, on April 2, was apparently aimed at Mr. Mehsud. The strike killed 10 militants at one of his training camps in the Orakzai region, officials said. Mr. Mehsud was reported to have escaped..

He claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing attack two weeks ago against a checkpoint in an upper-class neighborhood of Islamabad. Eight paramilitary soldiers were killed in that attack.

The checkpoint attacked on Saturday sits on the Hangu-Parachinar road, which has been closed to general traffic for over a year because of a Taliban roadblock intended to stop food and fuel supplies to the mainly Shiite population in Kurram's regional headquarters of Parachinar.

The Hangu district has been a frequent flashpoint for violence between Sunnis and Shiites. Forty-eight people were killed during sectarian attacks during the Shiite holy month of Muharram last year.

Also on Saturday, Asfandyar Wali, the leader of the Awami National Party, which negotiated a peace deal with the Taliban in the district of Swat, defended the party's decision to agree to the introduction of Islamic law in that region. The party is a member of the coalition government led by President Asif Ali Zardari, and has been at the forefront of the decisions to concede authority to the Taliban in Swat.

"We preferred diplomacy over war," Mr. Wali told a news conference in Karachi. "I don't say this is the best solution," he said of the setting up of Islamic courts in Swat. 
 

SOURSE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/world/asia/19pstan.html?ref=world

 

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Parachinar: The Valley of Death

Parachinar: The Valley of Death

By Ali Jawad

15 April, 2009
Countercurrents.org

Tucked away between soaring snowy-peaks and deep gorges in the fragile north-western region of Pakistan is the tiny town of Parachinar.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, one of the more charismatic leaders in the history of this troubled nation, is said to have called it Pakistan's own "Switzerland". Humbled by towering snow-tipped mountains and covered by endless fruit orchards, Parachinar's natural charm is breathtaking. Its narrative for the last two years however, has been anything but reflective of the serene beauty of its surroundings.

Strangled by recurring sieges laid on the town, and a plight concealed from the consciences of the outside world by a silent media, the lives of Parachinaris have been a tale of untold suffering. Since early 2007, violence has gripped the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which holds Parachinar, and the surrounding North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) leading to the deaths of hundreds. Even more have been left homeless and without means of sustenance with homes and local businesses regularly torched down just because their owners happen to fall under the wrong "sect". Despite the periodical nature of sectarian violence in these regions, the unrelenting wave of the recent outbreak has been by far the bloodiest in recent memory.

Tensions began in April 2007 when a procession of Shias came under fire from fanatical Wahhabis who view Shia Muslims as heretics. What followed on from that initial attack however, has been a systematic attempt to wipe out Parachinar of its' Shia presence. Shias represent a majority of the population in Parachinar constituting over fifty-percent (50%) of the population. They also have a considerable presence in neighbouring towns in the north-west of the country with a strong and historic Hazara presence further north of the FATA.

During the rule of General Zia-ul-Haq, the Kurram Agency (which hosts the town of Parachinar) came under increased focus for its strategic location as it provided the shortest route from within Pakistan to the Afghan capital, Kabul. Jutting out into Afghanistan almost like an island peninsula, it was famously nicknamed the "Parrot's Beak" by US forces during the Soviet-Afghan War and was regularly used as a launching-pad by American-backed "jihadists" to strike out at the Soviets.. As a result of this strategic importance, towns in the FATA region were flooded by inflows of Wahhabist and Salafist anti-Soviet "jihadists" well-known for their hatred towards Shias.

Following on from the early and comparably minimal killings unleashed in April, armed Wahhabi groups have since caved in on the local Shias of Parachinar from all sides. The Shia residents of Parachinar have repeatedly claimed that Wahhabi elements from Afghanistan have joined in the attacks against the town's Shias, but these cries have been met by deaf ears in Islamabad's Pakistani central government.

An all-out attack against the Shias of Parachinar has been underway for a long time now; even Sunni locals seen to be "friendly" towards Shias have not been spared in this maelstrom of killing. Gruesome images of beheaded and mutilated bodies, with arms and legs chopped off from corpses, have surfaced on the Internet since the outbreak of violence. Such showings of utter barbarity are not altogether unique. The collective massacres of Hazara Shias in next door Afghanistan - more notably in Mazari Sharif in 1998 where during a 48-hour period over 8,000 Hazaras were mercilessly slaughtered - evoke similar images of ruthlessness. By the end of the killing spree then, corpses littered the streets of the city after express orders were given out by the Taliban government for the dead to be left unburied.

Eerily reminiscent of massacres conducted against Afghan Shias in the recent past, Riaz Ali Toori, a villager from Parachinar, protested in a letter to a Pakistani daily:

"Today Parachinar is burning: daily bodies of more than five beheaded persons reach Parachinar. The situation of Parachinar is getting worse day by day and so is the life of all people living there. It's a matter of great sorrow and shock that Pakistan, in spite of bringing Fata into the mainstream of the country, has been pushed into fighting a continuous war and facing terror." (Letters to the Editor, The Dawn, April 08 2008)

Surprisingly, at a time when the "civilized" world is on a so-called offensive against "terror", coverage of the sorrow-filled plight of Parachinaris within western media has been periodical at best. The reasons for this are unclear. May be it is because Parachinar, fatefully, does not sit over barrels of oil; or perhaps our probing of the historical context behind these massacres will lead us to discover that Parachinar is yet another piece of anecdotal evidence of the much disregarded "blowback" stemming from the Soviet era.

In July of 2008, the New York Times ran a piece highlighting the rise of "sectarian conflict" in Parachinar. By then, the town had already been subject to a siege that had spanned for months; food and medical supplies had been in severe shortage after the main Thal-Peshawar highway leading to the town was blocked off by armed groups. The New York Times article carried the story of Asif Hussain, a Sunni driver, in a relief convoy headed for Parachinar; the convoy was ambushed, and its drivers taken captive. Asif Hussain was let off after convincing his captors that he was Sunni, the other eight drivers were not as lucky. (Power Rising Taliban Besiege Pakistani Shiites, New York Times, July 26 2008)

Today, the violence has spread out over a larger radius extending all the way through to the southern tips of the NWFP. Attacks on Shias in Hangu, Chakwal and as far south as Deira Ismail Khan have become a thing of the norm. Late in August of last year, a suicide bomber detonated himself inside the DI Khan hospital killing thirty-two Shia followers who had come to claim the remains of one of their leaders slain earlier in the day.

As recently as last week, another suicide bomber struck a Shia mosque in Chakwal instantly killing thirty and leaving hundreds more injured. The systematic targeting of followers of the Shia sect in various regions of Pakistan, more specifically in the north-west of the country, amounts to nothing other than a project of ethnic cleansing. According to a reputed scholar of the phenomenon of ethnic cleansing, Drazen Petrovic, he defines it as such:

"ethnic cleansing is a well-defined policy of a particular group of persons to systematically eliminate another group from a given territory on the basis of religious, ethnic or national origin. Such a policy involves violence and is very often connected with military operations. It is to be achieved by all means, from discrimination to extermination …"

The above definition provides an almost perfect fit to the present situation on the ground in Parachinar. If international silence continues as it has over the last two years, the same story will have repeated across many towns in the FATA and NWFP.

That the Pakistani government holds principal blame for its failure to restrain the killings is indisputable and goes without mention. Wider global apathy to an ongoing project of ethnic cleansing however, is certainly not comprehensible and deserves a great deal of mention.

Parachinar deserves better. And the people of Parachinar certainly deserve better. The least we can do is speak out and urge our leaders to press the Pakistani government to bring an immediate end to these massacres. Then, and only then perhaps, can it be said that we have extended a hand to the forgotten victims of Parachinar.

 

Ali Jawad is a political activist and a member of the AhlulBayt Islamic Mission (AIM); http://www.aimislam.com/.

SOURCE: http://www.countercurrents.org/jawad150409.htm