'US backing terror networks in Pakistan' August 5, 2008 presstv.ir

Pakistan suspects that the US forces on Pak-Afghan border share precious information with Mehsud network to target Pakistani troops in the region Pakistan has accused the US of backing militancy within the country, saying this goes against the spirit of so-called war on terror. Pakistani the News quoted official sources as saying on Tuesday that strong evidence of American acquiescence to terrorism inside Pakistan was outlined by President Pervez Musharraf, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Nadeem Taj in their separate meetings with US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and CIA Deputy Director Stephen R Kappes on July 12 in Rawalpindi. Pakistani officials with direct knowledge of the meetings said the Americans were not interested in disrupting the Kabul-based fountainhead of terrorism in Baluchistan nor do they want to allocate the marvelous predator resource to neutralize the kingpin of suicide bombings against the Pakistani military establishment now hiding near the Pak-Afghan border. The top US military commander were also asked why the CIA-run predator did not swing into action when they were provided the exact location of Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of militants and mastermind of almost every suicide operation against the Army and the ISI since June 2006. One such precise piece of information was made available to the CIA on May 24 when Mehsud drove to a remote South Waziristan mountain post to address the press and returned back to his safe abode. The United States military has the capacity to direct a missile to a precise location at very short notice as it has done close to 20 times in the last few years to hit al-Qaeda targets inside Pakistan. "We wanted to know when our American friends would get interested in tracking down the terrorists responsible for hundreds of suicide bombings in Pakistan and those playing havoc with our natural resources in Baluchistan," an official described the Pakistani mood during the meetings. Pakistani official have long been intrigued by the presence of highly encrypted communications gear with Mehsud. This communication gear enables him to collect real-time information on Pakistani troops' movement from an unidentified foreign source without being intercepted by Pakistani intelligence, sources said. Admiral Mullen and the CIA official were in Pakistan on an unannounced visit to show what the US media claimed was evidence of the ISI's ties to the Taliban militants and the alleged involvement of Pakistani agents in the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul. A former official with Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Khalid Khawaja accused the US in an exclusive interview with the Press TV that the Americans had planted the bomb in the Indian Embassy in Kabul to widen the rift between Indians and Pakistanis. The report comes a day after Musharraf's warning against the US conspiracies toward Pakistan. Pakistani political analysts say that the current "trust deficit" between the Pakistani and US security establishment is serious enough to lead to a collapse. JR/DT

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Ex-official: US has rogue elements in ISI August 5, 2008 presstv.ir

Former ISI official, Khalid Khawaja A former official with Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence has warned against presence of US-backed rogue elements in the spy agency. "Some rogue elements in the ISI are working against the interest of the country. They are being funded by a terror sponsor state, the US," Khalid Khawaja, who is also Chief Coordinator at the Defense of Human Rights, an NGO, in Islamabad, said in an interview with Press TV. He added that there was a confusion over the country's powerful spy agency since nobody really knew who controlled the ISI. "Anytime the Supreme Court called the Interior Ministry or the Defense Ministry, they could not get the ISI into the court," he said, adding the Americans do not want the court to reach the people who have been abducted by the ISI. He made the statement in reference to Amnesty International which accused the US and Britain of helping Pakistani intelligence agency in the "enforced disappearances" of more than 560 people. The group earlier called on Pakistani intelligence agencies to either free them or move them to official jails. Khawaja also asserted that the Americans had planted the bomb in the Indian Embassy in Kabul to widen the rift between Indians and Pakistanis. The debate comes after a New York Times report according to which the US State Department, based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants, concluded that Pakistani intelligence officers are actively undermining coalition efforts to combat militants in the region. Analysts say the developments could be also a sign that the relationship between the CIA and the ISI may be deteriorating. RZS/JR/BGH

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What is America’s real agenda?

August 04, 2008 thenews.com.pk Iqbal Haider After the Feb 18 election, virtually every official of the US administration, American intelligence agencies and the US media have been extremely critical of the performance of the Pakistani government, and particularly of its intelligence agencies, with regard to militancy and the war on terror. Reports have also appeared recently, even in the Pakistani press, which have not been very complimentary of the prime minister’s performance. One cannot deny the right of any state to express its concerns over the rise of religious militancy in Pakistan, but it should be in a manner that relations with Islamabad are not harmed. What is surprising is that there is no consistency in the US administration’s expressions of this concern. Had it done so right from the start – when religious militancy was in its formative stages – Pakistan might not have been in such an anarchic state as it is now, at the mercy of innumerable jihadi outfits. Much to our embarrassment, Pakistan has come to be regarded as a satellite state of America. No policy that goes against the wishes of America can be pursued by our military regimes. It is for this reason that one wishes the US State Department had expressed its serious concerns to its most trusted ally, General Pervez Musharraf, immediately after his unconstitutional takeover in October 1999. He banned all political activities, all the while allowing religious parties, jihadi organisations and militant forces to hold congregations in every nook and corner of Pakistan, collect as much donations, zakat and fitra and recruit young boys, in the name of their brand of Islam. The Americans should have taken him to task when he openly supported the Taliban in Afghanistan on the false pretext that the country provides Pakistan’s “strategic depth.” What did the US tell him when Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar was given a warm reception at Lahore airport in January 2000 by his Kalashnikov-armed colleagues? The man was allowed to hold as many public rallies as he liked in any part of the country. The Americans should have asked Musharraf why the ban on the use of zakat funds for madressahs was lifted in October 2000 and why his government did nothing to stem the massive foreign funding to madressahs. It should have asked him why nothing was done to carry out a survey of madressahs and to register them. In January 2000 a cosmetic ban was imposed on only three well-known jihadi outfits. Their offices were sealed and some of their leaders and activists were arrested. However, a few weeks later, all of them were released, in return for an affidavit that they would not involve themselves in any militant or terrorist activity. The US should have also asked General Musharraf why he allowed sectarian parties and organisations as well as the late Azam Tariq, head of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, to contest the 2002 election in violation of the government’s own laws. Why was nothing done about the 80 or so illegal FM radio stations run by the jihadis and extremists, which spewed their bigoted views and sectarian hatred without any government check? Why didn’t Washington question Musharraf when in the 2002 election the intelligence agencies under his control wholeheartedly supported religious parties and because of which they managed to acquire an unprecedented number of seats in parliament? This happened at the expense of the liberal and moderate political parties. Where was Washington when under its so-called “carrots-and-stick” approach Islamabad entered into peace agreements with the Taliban in Waziristan, which only fuelled the militancy and led to loss of more lives, especially of our own soldiers and of innocent local civilians? Where was America when the general and his agencies allowed Lal Masjid and some other mosques in the federal capital to become centres for propagation of hate, bigotry and the most obscurantist values, and their members were allowed to use brute force against the hapless citizens of Islamabad and who openly defied the laws of the land, going about kidnapping not only ordinary citizens but even police officers? The Lal Masjid operation was carried out only when Chinese citizens were kidnapped – but it was done in such an imprudent, counterproductive and violent manner that it gave rise to sympathy and public support for the extremists. Where was the US when General Musharraf’s government entered into a peace deal with Mullah Fazlullah of Swat, whose supporters had terrorised the local administration and population, killed and kidnapped soldiers and policemen and bombed virtually every school and video shop they could lay their hands on (they didn’t even spare statutes of the Buddha in Swat). Why wasn’t any notice taken of the fact that after imposing his second martial law on Nov 3, 2007, the former government promptly released over two dozen militants associated with Fazalullah, while at the same time more than 5,000 peaceful law-abiding lawyers, professors, labourers, journalists, students, political and human rights activists were arrested. In general, Musharraf’s rule was characterised by what can only be called a policy of patronage and appeasement of militant and jihadi forces, where the norm was that the government would succumb to their outrageous demands, threats and pressures. The list of such deceptive acts and omissions on the part of General Musharaf and his PML-Q is unending. It is strange that neither the US nor any Western country raises the question as to what was the object and purpose of these omissions or of the so-called peace agreements with militants since 2004. The questions that immediately come to mind are: Were the militants disarmed after entering into such deals? Was the commitment given by the militants not to indulge in terrorist activity in future monitored by the government, and if so what was the result? How many foreign terrorist were detained and deported, and what are their names? Also, how many militants and terrorists of Pakistani origin have so far been arrested, and if so, were any prosecuted and convicted? Did the deals result in the release of any militants? If the answer is yes, how many were released and under what rationale? Despite all this, the irony in the Bush administration continuing to express confidence in General Musharraf as a trusted ally in the war against terrorism is too blatant to ignore. In its zeal to support General Musharaf, the US government seems to have no qualm over undermining civil society in the country, particularly as exemplified of late by the lawyers’ movement. The fact is that the policies and priorities of Washington and its ally, General Musharaf, have only resulted contributed to a rise in terrorism and have served to strengthen the extremists and militants. The real objective of the latter has nothing to do with Islam or religion but only to take over and control territory, the state apparatus and the institutions of Pakistan through the naked use of terrorism. That this has now become a potent threat to Pakistan’s very integrity should be clear to everyone. It is in this overall context that one is constrained to ask what is the real agenda of the US administration. If it is sincerely against terrorism than there is no justification to keep on supporting General Musharraf because that, as history tells us, only serves to strengthen the extremists. Or is this the actual policy of the US – i.e., to use Muslims to divide Muslims – since it serves to potentially destroy one of the largest Muslim nations in the world. The writer is co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and a former attorney-general and federal minister for law, justice, parliamentary affairs and human rights. Email: hnhadv@ cyber.net.pk

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Banned outfits resurface in City

By MANSOOR KHAN July 31, 2008
nation.com.pk

KARACHI - Sectarianism eclipsing the City as processions, rallies, gatherings, wall chalking and distribution of threatening leaflets to Shias by sectarian banned outfits raise tensions, The Nation has learnt here on Monday.

Different organisations have started their artivities including Sippah-e-Sahaba (SSP) Pakistan, Lashker-e-Jahngvi (LEJ) and Sippah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) and Tehreek-e-Jaffria (TJ).

Initially the booked activists of the outlawed sectarian organisations freed in growing numbers and later Sippah-e-Sahaba currently known as Millat-e-Islamia held number of processions throughout the City and on the other side sealed offices of Sippah-e-Muhammad and Tehreek-e-Jaffria offices resumed functioning. Both groups had made graffiti on the City walls and shown the re-emergence of the parties.

Interestingly, government had remained silent when processions had been taken around the City. Resultantly, three people were killed separately in a week and the killers are still roaming freely.

On the other hand, Jafferia Alliance Pakistan had started taking out processions and rallies.

The latest move to provoke extremism in the City was the distribution of handbills in which a deadline has been given to the Shias to either convert to Muslim or pay monthly tax (Gazziya) for staying in the Muslim state, Pakistan. Another controversial handbill also based upon the religious reheated matter in which Tehreek-Taliban, Dara-e-Adam Khail had given the timeframe to the Shias leaders for the released of detained Khaista-ur-Rehman son of Muhammad Akber of Musshtti village.

The handbill has been distributed in Shia dominated areas like Jaffer-e-Tayyar Society, number 2, Shah Faisal Colony, Sadat Colony, Orangi Town, and Abbas Town and some other areas. The handbill quoted the Fatwa given by Qari Siraj, chief cleric of seminary Siraj-ul-Uloom, Dera Ismail Khan and the representative of Amir-ul-Mominin, Mullah Umar.

It further intimated that Shia community must have to pay monthly Rs 20,000 to leader of Sippah-e-Sahaba, Hazrat Abdul Raof interim of tax (Gazziya) to live here as a minority.      

It has also been learnt that some Shia clerics believe the handbill as direct threat while some considered conspiracy to sabotage the solidarity among Muslims.

Maulana Hussain Masoodi, the central leader of Jafferia Alliance when contacted said that since the day first when new government formed, terrorists organisations gaining strength because of government’s leniency. “Government should take strict action otherwise it will be the biggest threat to country.”

To a question, he said handbills had been distributed in various areas of the City which also indicated that a conspiracy against the solidarity between the Shia and Sunni sects had been hatched. He said that the involvement of a covert hand could be possible but this was the responsibility of the government to take up the issue and investigate.

Askari Raza, central leader of Pasban-e-Azza pointed out that graffiti had been made by the SMP and SSP on the walls of Karachi Central Jail which shown the involvement of a covert hand.

He said that the said handbills had been distributed in NWFP and DI Khan by the Taliban and pro-Taliban organisations.

Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, the leader of the Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan said that how could it be possible that a cleric of DI Khan distributed handbills in Karachi to get the amount interim of Gazziya. He declared it conspiracy against SSP and called it the provocation of sectarianism. “Our organisation have not done this ever before because such kind of activities are creating tensions.”