2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

More civilians killed…the second alleged attack by US forces on the Pakistan side of the Pak-Afghan border..

18 killed in missile attack in Bajaur Agency

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Eighteen people, mostly women and children, were killed on Friday morning as missiles allegedly fired by US aircraft hit three houses in Bajaur Agency near the Afghan border.
Two wounded women were admitted to a hospital in Khar, the Bajaur Agency headquarters. They were said to be in serious condition.

“The killings occurred in my neighbourhood. Eighteen people, most of whom were women and children, were killed and buried in a mass grave,” Bajaur Agency Member of National Assembly (MNA) Haroon Rashid said.

In Waziristan things are no better:

On January 7, some troops of the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan crossed over into North Waziristan and conducted a search operation on Pakistani territory. They arrested two tribesmen and took them away.** Later, a US helicopter also fired on the house of a religious leader in the area, killing eight tribesmen, including two women and a child.**

Just a day after this incident, a tribal jirga in North Waziristan demanded the withdrawal of security forces from the area.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

Tribal areas are effectively not part of Pakistan. Never have been really.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

y should we blame US when pak army is not stopping them and actually letting them do what they want! unfortunately the US’s technology needs 2 b upgraded! i only blame pak army musharraf and the generals for this, they should wear choorian, and go to herra mandi in lahore!

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

as despicable as these incidents are , all those donations fromusa don't come free of charge.. u got to pay one way or another.....had pak govt be less pbliged it wud have been firm in its dealig with usa army

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

Sending in Drones to bomb civillians is true character of a coward army!

How stupid are these Amreekan intelligence agencies how many blunders and murders will they get away with.

Pakistan government should hang thier heads in shame their response to this cold blooded murder of women and children has been just as cowardly.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

Looks like indian wallah has been put in his place and also has nothing to add to the debate well thats a good thing because you know what they say if you got nothing good to say then shut the hell up!

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

Well said.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

Finally, its good to see the US taking action against Pakistani targets. The unwillingness of Musharaf to flush out the terrorists and the support the terrorists get from the Pakistani military require that the US attack without prior warning to the Pakistanis.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

The incident and then the remarks of John McCain that such attacks that may kill innocent children and women are likely in future, just shows that the US is terrorrist state.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

correct the whole world now realises what a terrorist state the US is and when they hear that they cannot take it one iota!

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

The government is going all out to stop popular anger from spreading..there is a media blackout in the tribal areas..and the only one that has any access is the federal government and the yanks from the sound of it..
The NEWS

A number of politicians, including ANP’s Bashir Bilour, had been turned back earlier at various entry points to Bajaur. Reporters too have been banned from visiting Damadola despite government claims that there were no restrictions on local journalists to visit the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and report on the happenings there.

Sirajul Haq, who is minister of finance and planning & development in the NWFP government, said he didn’t believe the claim that the families living in the three homes hit by US missiles were hosting al-Qaeda figures or other foreign militants. “They are simple and poor village folks. They didn’t have much concern with politics. They didn’t know me and were unable to comprehend the meaning when I was introduced as provincial “Ameer” (head) of the Jamaat-i-Islami,” he argued.

Meanwhile, villagers in Mamond area in Bajaur said US warplanes again violated Pakistan’s airspace at 4 am and 9 am on Wednesday.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

** *Preying on Pakistan
*
Mahjabeen Islam
*I hate to sound histrionic but in the rush of living we are perhaps forgetting that the American air strike in Bajaur may well be a sentinel event. Or did the attack that killed nine civilians the previous week mark the beginning of the end of the chimera called a sovereign Pakistan?
On Friday the 13th, January 2006, a Predator drone fired a salvo of Hellfire missiles (do note the name) on three houses in Bajaur, killing 18 people including six children. The man who was to come to dinner, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's vocal second-in-command, escaped Hellfire though the organisation's bomb-maker, Abu Khabab al-Masri, who had a $5 million bounty on his head, seems to have died in the attack. At least that is what the CIA says, even though two graves of the 18 dug up yielded no bodies (apparently the villagers 'removed' two bodies from the scene) and as such no DNA check can confirm or deny the report. But then the CIA says so and so it is.
On or about September 13, 2001, at 3 a.m. they say, US Secretary of State Colin Powell made a fateful call to Musharraf, demanding to know whose side Pakistan was on. The Pakistani military strategist bounded into waiting American arms, no questions asked. It is said that the tone of a marriage is set on day one and the victor at the time maintains the upper hand till death do them part. Perhaps that premise can be extrapolated to the balance of power on the world stage. And the winner in the America-Pakistan affair clearly needs no introduction.
"We were asleep when the first missile hit another house. We came out but my three children were buried under debris in a second explosion," said Mohammad Khan, aged 35. His children all died. "The US cannot do this without Pakistan's support. We are leaving it to God to give us justice."
As if the shock of the air strike in a sovereign nation was not enough, members of the US Congress are justifying it and promising more. In unabashed imperial hubris, Senators McCain, Bayh and Lott actually said that there were no guarantees that this would not occur again, for America was engaged in a war on terror.
Contrast that arrogant promise with Musharraf's statement: "We have waged the war on terror on the basis of established principles but we cannot jeopardise our own national interests and will keep aloft national solidarity." Condemning the Bajaur tragedy, he said, "Such incidents should not occur in the future." How anaemic can you get?
Musharraf, in the first statement after the Bajaur killings in a speech broadcast on state television, said: "If we keep sheltering foreign terrorists here ... our future will not be good." Is Mohammad Khan right? Could America have slaughtered Pakistani men, women and children without Islamabad's tacit support? If it is suspected that villagers harbour the Terrorist Trio, will Hellfire missiles come and flatten out some more houses, to nail some more dinner guests? Is the Pakistani president going to blame the villagers again for inviting American ire and fire?
Pakistan is so beholden and such a door mat that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is going ahead with his visit to the United States, to improve relations (read, get more charity) after his benefactors murdered 27 of his countrymen in cold blood. Does he have no self-respect? America is thumbing its nose at its 'partner in the war on terror', as well as basic international law that safeguards the sovereignty of nations. A chorus of Congressional representatives is threatening more air strikes, and Musharraf is consorting with George Bush Sr with nary a word of protest. This is beyond comprehension. What is Pakistan's Achilles heel? What is holding Pakistan so totally hostage that it cannot stop this insanity and the murder of the people it is entrusted to protect?
Soon after 9/11 there was repetition ad nauseam of the phrase 'why do they hate us?' America's help after the earthquake of October 2005 had started to soften hearts and do what Karen Hughes, Bush's Ambassador-to-make-Muslims-love-America, could not have done in a few lifetimes. Hellfire missiles did not just destroy life and property in Bajaur, they effectively erased appreciation of America's earthquake philanthropy. And rightly so. The man on the street already questioned Pakistan's alliance with America in the war on terror; now he will protest it.
If educated, middle-path Muslims are livid, the prospect of the reaction of the man who was to come to dinner is terrifying. Actually the bin Laden, Mullah Omar, Zawahiri trio ought to take a break from all things terrorising. America has so ably taken over the difficult task of engendering hate in the hearts of Muslims the world over that the Terrorist Trio is essentially redundant. Talk about cruise control, baby.
That middle of the night phone call to Musharraf has been dissected ad infinitum, and I do grant that it was in Pakistan's national interest to side with America in the war on terror. But there is a method to every madness. They asked for an inch, why did we give a mile? Should not the Pakistani military strategist have known basic geopolitics? Does cooperation in anti-terrorism mean selling the nation out completely? Allowing the slaughter of its civilians? x
If protests are any measure, posters saying "Withdraw the terrorist US army from Afghanistan and Kashmir", "Stop bombing innocent people" and slogans of "Death to America" should be some lead.
The BBC reports that "the US has about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan, but Pakistan does not allow them to operate across the border." How interesting. The troops cannot operate within sovereign Pakistani territory but a ship in the Indian Ocean can send off a Predator drone to wreak havoc. Reminds me of the Urdu saying of eating sugar but avoiding dessert.
Pakistan's commitment to the war on terror is so great that there are 70,000 Pakistani troops in the tribal area bordering Afghanistan, all to contain foreign militancy.
It was the village of Saidgai on January 8 and Bajaur on January 13. Where will the Predators hit next? To the educated, urban elite the remote NWFP may seem the back of beyond. They must try earth.google.com to see how easy it is for an average Joe to zoom in on your house, even get driving directions. A 22-year-old American soldier could be playing ready-aim-fire with his mouse on a ship in the Arabian Sea, entirely reminiscent of a video game. Mosques harbour militants, says America. Will America have gone too far when the Predator drone rains Hellfire on the Badshahi mosque or that little white duplex in Nazimabad?
What will Messrs Musharraf and Aziz say then? "This should not happen again"?
*
The writer is a physician and freelance columnist living in the US
Email: [email protected]

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

and pakistan is equally as much a terrorist state since their say themselves they are a close ally and front line state in this war! so dont spare the terrorist generals of pakistan army!

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

mushy needs to borrow some balls

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

Pakistan is equal to US terrorist state hmmmm :slight_smile: really ok when pakistan nuclear bombs a country twice and uses chemical weapons on a country then i will accept your argument!

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

bush and mushi used these words in war on terror, we consider whoever even “harbours” terrorist to be as equal as them. now draw ur own conclusion, if ur saying that US is a terrorist state then why isnt pakistan since they are harbouring them?

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

What bush and mush say does’nt mean anything to me because the United states is Number 1 terrorist organistaion in the World they even provided logistics and created the al CIAda movement so your argument is falling to bits as soon as it is probed.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

No surprises..it’s ok for US forces to bomb or enter the tribal belt but not for independant groups or the opposition :rolleyes:

Opposition leaders stopped from going to Bajaur

By Zulfiqar Ali

YAKA GHUND (Mohmand Agency), Jan 23: Paramilitary and Khasadar troops on Monday barred opposition leaders and journalists from visiting the Bajaur Agency village where three houses were hit by US missiles on Jan 13 and 18 people were killed.

The politicians leading a procession were trying to go to Damadola to express solidarity with people of the village.

The procession, led by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, was stopped at the Yaka Ghund checkpost.

Heavy vehicles were parked on the main road at the Yaka Ghund gate to stop the procession at the Mohmand Agency entry point.

Senior officials of the agency administration and the Frontier Corps told the politicians that their entry into the tribal areas had been banned. “The federal government has issued directives not to allow politicians to enter the area,” a senior official told Dawn.

Hundreds of supporters of the JUI-F, JI, PPP, PML-N, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf and tribesmen accompanying the politicians protested against the ban. They shouted slogans against the United States and President Musharraf. The marchers later dispersed peacefully.

Addressing the protesters, Maulana Fazl said the government should recall its ambassador from Washington unless the US apologized and paid compensation.

“America has attacked a sovereign country and killed innocent people. Therefore, the government should refer the matter to the UN Security Council,” he said.

Condemning the military operation in the North and South Waziristan agencies, Maulana Fazl said the government should pull out troops from the tribal areas. “Our army had killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people in East Pakistan and has now launched an operation in tribal areas,” he said.

He said that hundreds of families had moved out of Waziristan owing to shellings.

ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim condemned the Damadola incident and urged people to unite against foreign aggression.

He said the government should strongly protest to the US government against the missile attack on Bajaur Agency. Otherwise, he added, President Musharraf should resign.

He also said that foreign troops should leave the country.

MMA president and JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad alleged that the US government had taken President Musharraf into confidence before the attack.

He said the government and political authorities in Bajaur Agency were issuing conflicting reports about deaths to justify the US air attack.

He contradicted political authorities’ statement that foreign militants had taken away bodies after the missile attack.

PML-N parliamentary leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that politicians were visiting Damadola to express solidarity with the bereaved families, but the government barred them from entering the tribal areas.

He accused Gen Musharraf of protecting US and Jewish interests.

He charged that the government had failed to protect the country from foreign aggression and said the government should resign after the US attack.

PTI chief Imran Khan said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz should take up the matter in his meeting with President George W. Bush.

He said that President Musharraf could not gather courage to ask the US government to tender apology for violating Pakistan’s air space and bombing women and children.

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

of course, you know this is the ultimate democracy where foriegn planes can come and visit n e time, but members of parliament cant!

Re: 2nd attack on Pak-Afghan border:More civilians killed!

well that's what u get when u create a country based on religion.. deal with it..dictators never allow opposition