I am only as optimistic about success of talks as success of operation. A national armed institution which cannot save its headqarters, cannot get high marks from me. ISI has been almost non-existent for a long time now, which means that you don't know anything about Taliban's penetration in your civil society. If random or sporadic aerial bombardment is what you call an operation, I don't see anything coming out of it except collateral damage. Since we have been too India-centric, I am sure we can fight with India for months but do not have any appreciable expertise to fight an insurgency, be it FATA or Balochistan. And even Karachi for that matter.
I am worried about that too. The TTP have struck at major targets within the heart of Pakistan and its military establishment and our Generals are playing war games with India.
Our Armed forces are not designed to fight Gureilla Wars. But that does not mean we just give up. I don't have an answer as what to do with the current situation.
Maybe we just deploy blocking forces and completely seal of FATA from the rest of Pakistan.
I am worried about that too. The TTP have struck at major targets within the heart of Pakistan and its military establishment and our Generals are playing war games with India.
Our Armed forces are not designed to fight Gureilla Wars. But that does not mean we just give up. I don't have an answer as what to do with the current situation.
Maybe we just deploy blocking forces and completely seal of FATA from the rest of Pakistan.
I heard a retired armyman saying on TV that "if Army conducts an operation, it would be such that no one would have heard of it in world military history."
He was saying this about those whose headquarters was retrieved from militants through the good offices of a militant leader. He was saying this about those whose main academy had world's most wanted terrorist as a neighbour for several years. He stayed there and was killed without their knowledge.
I am confronted by a long list of disgrace before I begin to believe that the upcoming operation would be an unmatched one in the history of world military.
No operation is possible without public support , They have got some fools and greedy people who support them . If these people stand with Pakistan , we can easily defeat them .
First we need internal reforms .
But surprising if he is serious ,
They just need to be bombed. In the meantime, as the government plays appeasement policy, they just keep killing more and more innocents.
The minorities need not be afraid? WTinsertinitial. They're behind bombing the smithereens out of shia communities and Christians and other minorities. What the heck are they talking about that minorities under their sharia will be protected.
What I don't understand is they are dead set against a constitution of a country that is a muslim country to begin with. It's not like the Pakistani constitution asks muslims in Pakistan to sleep around, drink to a stupor, do drugs, and steal, and cheat, and lie. People are behaving like this because the judiciary and police is corrupt and so there is no justice. You can replace one piece of paper with another - constitution of pakistan with some sharia that someone made up, and it will be the same crap, except the people looting and making rich will be maulvis and the women will be beaten in streets as oppose to the white collar crime running rampant in Pakistan. Which would you chose? I'd rather take white collar crime. At some point there will be an election where someone will get arrested, maybe not this election but later. But to get rid of an extremist government, we already saw the mess they made of Afghanistan and how they were running that country. Sadly once Pakistan becomes like this and people start fleeing --> I fear a day where Pakistanis will be running into the India border for refuge.
The government should negotiate on one point agenda only (and that's cessation of hostilities), under no circumstances the government should give into talebans demand for shariah, releasing their comrades and withdrawal of troops from fata. In case of failure of talks the government should order operations against the militants throughout the country. In the country wither the militants should live or pakistanis.
If government does negotiations on these points then talks will DEFINITELY fail.
This is why everyone says that these talks are futile. But Imran and Nawaz continue to insist on such negotiations. I can understand that Nawaz does it due to his idelogical closeness to Saudi Wahhabi regime. Nawaz wants what Taliban want. But why does Imran do that if h says he is against Taliban shariah?
If government does negotiations on these points then talks will DEFINITELY fail.
This is why everyone says that these talks are futile. But Imran and Nawaz continue to insist on such negotiations. I can understand that Nawaz does it due to his idelogical closeness to Saudi Wahhabi regime. Nawaz wants what Taliban want.** But why does Imran do that if h says he is against Taliban shariah?**
That's what confounds me to no end. Either Imran Khan is a woefully incompetent politician, with no idea as to what his personal beliefs are about the role of religion on politics, or he really is Taliban Khan.
Imran may actually stand out like a sore dumb if his views are in direct conflict with the armed forces. The last Army Chief on record supported the Peace Talks and the new chap hasn't said a word regarding the future policy. The army and Imran both support operation in case of failed negotiations, APC (All Party Conference) agreed to hold Peace Talks, the National Assembly had twice passed unanimous resolution against the drone attacks and yet Imran is Taliban?
I know where Imran's going on all wrong - he needs to seriously stop talking about this topic with so much honesty and dedication. He really needs to play politics and upfront shrug his shoulders and tell journos to chase army or PM for any ultimate answers.
Imran may actually stand out like a sore dumb if his views are in direct conflict with the armed forces. The last Army Chief on record supported the Peace Talks and the new chap hasn't said a word regarding the future policy. The army and Imran both support operation in case of failed negotiations, APC (All Party Conference) agreed to hold Peace Talks, the National Assembly had twice passed unanimous resolution against the drone attacks and yet Imran is Taliban?
I know where Imran's going on all wrong - he needs to seriously stop talking about this topic with so much honesty and dedication. He really needs to play politics and upfront shrug his shoulders and tell journos to chase army or PM for any ultimate answers.
They also supported IK that time , Gen Pasha went to last , even point of no return . Lotay , media , money every thing .
The gone is gone .
Do you think peace talks has brought any peace and will succeed? Explode a nuclear device on these ‘maut ke saudagar’ and supporters of peace talks.
yeh Pakistani baigharat hukmaran aor un ke supporters in ko bardasht kar rahay hain, otherwise other civilized nations had already cleared these criminals a long time ago.
I don’t understand why drones have stopped. One drone right in the midst of peace talkers is very much needed.
KARACHI: The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility Thursday for an explosion targeting a police bus near Razzaqabad police training college in Karachi’s Shah Latif Town in which 13 persons were killed and 47 others, including civilians, were wounded, DawnNews reported.
The attack came early in the morning. “Apparently an explosive-laden car hit the police bus transporting officials for security duty,” Muhammad Iqbal, a senior police official, told AFP.
Rescue teams reached the site of attack whereas the victims were shifted to Jinnah Hospital and a private hospital nearby in the locality.
Doctor Seemin Jamali at Karachi’s Jinnah hospital confirmed that there were at least 11 dead. At least 47 wounded officers were hospitalised, 10 of whom were in critical condition, she said.
Speaking to Dawn.com, Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was a revenge attack for killing militants.
He said TTP workers were victims to targeted killings in Mardan, Swabi and Peshawar, adding that the attack was in response to that.
“Our defensive war will continue until an agreement is reached on a ceasefire” between negotiation teams representing the government and the Taliban, he told AFP.
SSP Farooq Awan, who heads a special investigative unit, said the bus was making a U-turn after leaving a training centre when a small van struck it.
However a CID official refuted the claim that the bombing was carried out by a suicide attacker and said that no body parts were found from the site to support the notion. The official added that blast appeared to have been carried out using a remote-controlled detonator.
According to initial reports, 25 to 30 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack.
Police said that more than 50 officers were boarding the vehicle at the time of attack, which occurred in the eastern district of Karachi close to the national highway.
“Around 50-55 policemen were boarding the bus and going somewhere for duty from their training centre,” Iqbal said adding that police suspect it was a suicide attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The rear portion of the targeted bus was completely destroyed in the explosion.
Moreover, additional contingents of police, Rangers and the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) reached the spot and cordoned off the area as a probe into the incident went underway.
The intensive blast was heard in a radius of two kilometres.
“We are investigating this attack from all angles and who had the most to lose by the forces’ actions and want harm upon them. But the forces will not be demoralised and will work more aggressively,” Sharjeel Memon, minister for information in the southern province of Sindh which includes Karachi, told reporters.
Moreover, President Mamnoon Hussain, Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch, Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain and the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) issued statements in condemnation of the attack .
PESHAWAR: A total of 313 people have died and over 400 suffered injuries in over a dozen acts of terrorism in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since Sept 9, – the day when a government-sponsored ‘all-party conference’ in Islamabad decided to hold talks with militants to bring peace to the country.
Following is a chronology of the incidents:
Sept 15: Maj-Gen Sanaullah Niazi and three others are killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Upper Dir.
Sept 22: A twin suicide attack at a church in Peshawar kills 98 and injures 130.
Sept 27: A time-bomb rips through a bus on Charsadda road, leaving 19 people dead and at least 21 others wounded.
Sept 29: A car bomb attack in Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani bazaar kills 41 and injures 45.
Jan 12, 2014: Mian Mushtaq, a leader of the Awami National Party, and two others are gunned down on the outskirts of the provincial capital.
Jan 12: The motorcade of Amir Muqam, a leader of the ruling PML-N, is hit by two IED blasts in the Shangla district, leaving five people dead.
Jan 16: Ten people are killed and 60 wounded in a bomb blast at a Tablighi Markaz in Peshawar.
Jan 19: An explosion in the Bannu garrison kills 24 and injures 24.
Jan 21: Seven people are killed and nine injured in a blast at Serdheri Bazaar in Charsadda.
Jan 23: Six people die and eight suffer injuries in a blast in an auto workshop at Peshawar.
Jan 25: A toy bomb explosion in Hangu kills six.
Feb 2: Five people lose their lives and 30 are wounded in a grenade attack in Peshawar’s Picture House cinema.
Feb 4: A blast in Kocha Risaldar area of Peshawar claims 10 lives and injures 45.
Feb 9: A leader of the Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Fiqh-i-Jafria is murdered in Peshawar.
Feb 10: A suicide attack at Esa Garhi in Peshawar leaves four people dead and eight wounded.
Feb 11: A triple grenade attack in Peshawar’s Shama Cinema claims 13 lives and injures 23.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taliban have announced an “armed struggle” against an indigenous tribe and Ismaili Muslims in the picturesque northern Chitral valley, calling on Sunnis to support their cause in a video.
The valley was once dominated by moderate Ismailis and is also home to the Kalash, a polytheistic people who claim descent from Alexander the Great and who have maintained separate cultural traditions in the country.
But migration in recent decades has meant that Sunnis are now in majority in the area, while the Kalash way of life has come under threat by the Taliban, who have also carried out a number of attacks against security forces in the area.
The Taliban’s 50-minute video released on February 2 on their media wing’s website opens with a scenic view of the mountainous valley that is popular among domestic tourists and famed for its annual polo festival.
The narrator warns the Kalash, who are thought to number only 3,500, to convert to Islam or face death. “By the grace of Allah, an increasing number of people from the Kalash tribe are embracing Islam and we want to make it clear to the Kalash tribe that they will be eliminated along with their protectors, the Western agents, if they don’t embrace Islam,” he says.
The video also accuses international NGOs of creating an “Israel-like” state in Chitral by attempting to protect the Kalash culture and take people away from Islam, and vows to foil their plans.
A charitable organisation headed by the Aga Khan, the Ismailis’ spiritual leader and a globally renowned philanthropist, is singled out for condemnation. “The Aga Khan Foundation is running 16 schools and 16 colleges and hostels where young men and women are given free education and brainwashed to keep them away from Islam,” the narrator says.
He adds that the foundation’s schools and hospitals, which are free for members of the public, are espionage tools in the hands of foreign powers.
The Kalash are also warned to stop producing wine, which they make from apples, mulberries and grapes.
“Western NGOs are promoting Kalash wine and we warn all those individuals and hotels selling it, they should stop production and selling of wine otherwise they will be sent to hell by the will of God.”—AFP
