This is yet another sign that FATA will soon be an unwelcoming place for the anti-Pakistan and anti-West elements.
JI and JUI-F are making all the noise. But it looks like they are getting plots and selling the GPS coordinates of “wanted militants”.
‘Raid on Rauf sign of sharper US intelligence’
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
- Protesters want government to sever ties with Washington
ISLAMABAD: A US missile strike that killed a British citizen linked to a jetliner bomb plot points to sharper American intelligence in Pakistan’s borderlands, but is unlikely to lessen anger over the raid and others like it, analysts say.
Protesters on Sunday urged Islamabad to sever ties with the United States over the strike – highlighting the risks for Washington as it seeks to eliminate Taliban along the Afghan border, yet also support Pakistan’s democratically-elected government. Pakistani intelligence officials say British citizen Rashid Rauf and a Saudi Taliban named Abu Zubair Al Masri were among five people killed in Saturday’s raid in North Waziristan.
There was no independent confirmation of Rauf’s death from either the US or Britain, which had been seeking his extradition before he escaped from Pakistani custody in December 2007. Pakistani officials discussing the case insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivities of US operations on the country’s soil. Washington has unleashed at least 20 suspected missile attacks on Taliban targets close to the Afghan border since mid-August, a dramatic increase that reflects its frustration with Pakistan’s own efforts.
Islamabad insists it has no knowledge of the raids, which it says undermine the country’s sovereignty, undercut its anti-terror campaign and make it harder to justify its alliance with Washington. But many analysts speculate it has cut a secret deal with the US, though Islamabad continues to publicly criticise the strikes. “It is next to impossible for the government to acknowledge working with the Americans, even if it is in the country’s interests,” said Samina Ahmed, the South Asia project director for the International Crisis Group.
Successful raids: Samina and other analysts said the raids appeared to be getting more successful in targeting foreign, typically Middle Eastern, militants. “There are American informants who are doing a far better job than they once did,” she said. Osama Bin Laden and other top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding in Wazirstan or neighbouring regions, possibly planning more attacks on the West.
Fighters blamed for carrying out and planning attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan also use the rugged region as a staging post, military officials say. Without directly admitting to being behind the raids, US officials have said recently that several high-ranking Al Qaeda operatives had been killed in the border region in recent months. Rauf was perhaps one of the most significant yet. Britain was seeking his return ostensibly as a suspect in the 2002 killing of his uncle there, but Rauf had allegedly been in contact with a group in Britain planning to smuggle liquid explosives onto trans-Atlantic flights and also with a suspected Al Qaeda mastermind of the plot in Afghanistan. The plot’s revelation in August 2006 prompted a major security alert at airports worldwide and increased restrictions on carryon items. A London jury convicted three men in the case in September. The US raids are deeply unpopular among many ordinary Pakistanis, many of whom are already angry with their leader’s support for the US-led war in Afghanistan. About 100 people in Multan demonstrated against the strike, chanting “Down with America” and burning an effigy of US President George W Bush.“The government should take concrete measures to protect the country’s sovereignty instead of just paying lip service,” said one demonstrator, Arif Fasihullah.
Talat Masood, a retired military general and political analyst, said America’s interests would be better served if it shared intelligence with Pakistan and allowed it to act. But US officials have suggested that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence and military – which supported the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan – may be sympathetic to the extremists. “There is a lack of trust here, but the danger is that the government is looking helpless, while anti-American sentiment is growing with each incoming missile,” said Masood. “Ultimately, you need the support of the people in fighting this war.” ap