10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

So negotiations are the way forward. Right? This is what Imran suggests all the time. Negotiations with extremists.

Well then when I mentioned that** Imran should be sent to start those negotiations** with killers of those tourists then you seemed to dislike it.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

Gunmen kill nine foreign tourists and their guide in Nanga Parbat - DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD: Gunmen dressed as paramilitary police killed nine foreign tourists in an unprecedented attack in the Himalayas of Nanga Parbat on Sunday, in a security failure bound to embarrass the new government just weeks after it took office.

Spokesperson for the proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Ehsanullah Ehsan, talking to Dawn.com from an undisclosed location claimed that the Janud-e-Hafsa faction of the militant organisation had carried out the attack.

Ehsan said that the attack was carried out to “avenge the killing of their front-rank leader, Waliur Rehman, and to express anger at the international community for its continued support to drone strikes.”

Earlier Reuters had reported that another banned militant group Jundullah as claiming responsibility for the attack and had quoted the group’s spokesman, Ahmed Marwat, as saying "These foreigners are our enemies and we proudly claim responsibility for killing them and will continue such attacks in the future as well.”

The gunmen stormed into a base camp, killing Chinese and Ukrainian climbers in an area of the far-flung north not previously associated with violence or Islamist militancy.

Officials said five Ukrainians and a number of Chinese were killed. One Pakistani also died and one Chinese survivor has been recovered, the government said.

The climbers were staying at a first camp, around 4,200 feet, for Nanga Parbat, one of the highest mountains in the world, in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan.

“There were nine foreigners and one Pakistani. The incident took place around 10:00 pm (1700 GMT Saturday). They were mountaineers,” Diamer police official Mohammed Naveed told AFP.

“Gunmen came and opened fire on them. It is confirmed that they have been killed,” he said. Five Ukrainians were among the dead, Ukraine’s ambassador to Pakistan Vladimir Lakomov told AFP.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar told parliament that one Chinese survivor had been rescued.

The Himalayas in northern Pakistan offer some of the most spectacular climbing in the world. Its peaks are a magnet for experienced mountaineers, often from Europe.

While Gilgit-Baltistan has seen deadly sectarian violence targeting Pakistan’s Shia Muslim minority, foreigners have never before been targeted in such a remote part of the region, which officials said was inaccessible by road.

Helicopters were dispatched to recover the bodies, and that police and paramilitary had been ordered into the area, officials said.

Nisar told parliament that the attackers were dressed as Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary police unit, and accessed the camp with the help of two guides whom they kidnapped.

“They abducted two guides and through them reached the area. One guide was killed in the shoot-out. One is alive. He is now detained and being questioned,” he said.

The interior minister conceded there was no police or security escort for foreigners up in that area of the mountains.

The top bureaucrat and top police official in Gilgit-Baltistan were on Sunday suspended, state TV said.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned these inhuman and cruel acts, ordered to conduct thorough investigation, and apprehend the culprits to bring them to justice,” the government said.

Nawaz extended his sympathies to the bereaved families, saying that “the people and government of Pakistan stand by you in this hour of huge distress”.

Officials also spoke to the Chinese and Ukrainian ambassadors on Sunday to express their condolences, the foreign ministry added.

“Those who have committed this heinous crime seem to be attempting to disrupt the growing relations of Pakistan with China and other friendly countries,” it said.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

@ Khoji

negotiations only with those militants who are prepared to give up their arms; some sort of political dialogue has to be sought with these people to bring the tribal areas into mainstream Pakistan

I am not against military action against militants who are not prepared to give up their arms. However this is not a long-term solution (emphasis is on long-term).

De-radicalisation is as important as dismantling the TTP terrorist network.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

Please tell me what exactly do terrorists want? If you were to negotiate with them, what would you negotiate about? They are undermining writ of the government, and negotiating with them you're gives them legitimacy. Likes of IK and PTI want to coexist with terrorists, but rational people want to destroy them.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

Military action is just a stopgap arrangement.

The British Government also had to sit down with IRA terrorists (who killed innocents over almost 3 decades from 1969-1997) and peace was eventually achieved through dialogue not by military means

I actually believe that the very presence of Americans in Afghanistan and drones are perpetuating the problem. I am not saying it w'd stop completely but once they get the hell out of Afghanistan, you will see a gradual decline in violence and extremism

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

And how will you address that issue? jab log jaali note chaap saktey hein tau uniform kyon nahin?

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

oh no :( how horrible.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

so that means let them do whatever are they doing? just declare that it cannot be addressed?

its their job to stop it, no question about how easy or difficult it is to fix.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

Anyone who thinks talking to them is a solution is just fooling themselves. What do you think, you talk to them and they will drop the arms and become a good tax paying citizens? At best they will stop attacking targets of your interest but will still carry arms and would want their writ in their area.

Also, as always it has happened, while the lull comes in counterattacks during talks they regroup and reorganize.

Only solution is two step. First remove their sympathy in public or remove their space in society. And then second step is to find them and kill them.
Until that happens, innocent people will keep on losing their lives.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

talking to them does not = inviting them over for a cup of tea!

isolate and kill and not just kill & kill should be the strategy

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

Sick.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

Did this happen at the top of Fairy Meadows or in Gilgit?

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

it happened close to base camp 1, after beyal camp. I've been to to camp 0 (between these two)

awesome place, great people, peaceful environment, can't believe these criminals can kill our guests now. local people can never do this, tourism is their only source of income

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

I read it happened at the other face of Nanga Parbat not the fairy meadows one

Locals cant do that man but why would TTP kills tourists on mountains while they can easily do it on roads too

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

other face of nanga parbat is "rakhiyot wall" which is rupal side, very close to rattu cantt, very difficult to believe it can happen there. to reach that side, one has to pass army cantonment, unless these people come via babusar side, take a very long route, which is not likely to have opened yet

and why would TTP kill tourists? of course to harm pakistan, is there any doubt that after this there will be no more foreign tourism in that area? at least for couple of years to come. and does this leave any doubt about who is behind TTP? who is the rival of pakistan in this mountain tourism?

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

but the buck stops at PMLN...PERIOD

i maintain my stand

Pakistan is a ZOO-ISTAN where different type of animals wander around and that

if today the world comes to know that somehow 6th largest country called pakistan and everyone living there has disappeared from this planet, tell me one single reason why rest of the world will feel any loss....economically, movies, arts, social spectrum, history, tourism, sports, international investment, scientific invention, literature, oil & gas reserves....tell me one area where we have any meaningful contribution that this world will miss us....actually no one comes to pakistan anymore and no one wants us to come to their countries anymore...rest of the world will be kind of happy that global terrorists and Talibans have no place to hide anymore..

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

chalo g phele cricket band hui bc of terrorism ab tourist bhi gai :smack2:

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

tourism will end in GB now...sad for the locals, but what can be done when there's no writ of the government.

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

More than PMLN, I consider the security forces and intelligence responsible for these failures. What use of ISI when they cant counter these kind of acts?

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Re: 10 tourists assassinated in Fairy Meadows (Gilgit)

^ ISI is not about this kind of security by the way, its mostly civil intelligence agencies (IB, CIA - pakistani version) which look after internal security and issue warnings/ thwart threats

providing security particularly in that area is not very tough of a task, there are only 1-2 entry exist points in that area. anyone using any other route would automatically come on radar. 1 or max 2 police check-post with communication would be more than enough. specially when locals are supportive and do not give any kind of cover to these criminals its even easier to secure the area. News say that they had to kidnap two guides (locals) to reach there, and they also killed one of the guide and the other survived