US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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It’s an eye opener for people who support US drone attacks in North Waziristan. May Allah save Karachi and Lahore from drone attacks now!

US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

WASHINGTON: Fearing that Taliban supremo Mullah Omar might be targeted by US drones, Pakistan’s ISI has helped him to flee from the border town of Quetta to the mega port city of Karachi, where he has established a new Shura council.

One-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban recently found refuge from potential US attacks in Karachi with Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) assistance, the Washington Times claimed quoting US intelligence officials.

“Mullah Omar travelled to Karachi last month after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He inaugurated a new senior leadership council in Karachi, a city that so far has escaped US and Pakistani counter-terrorism campaigns,” the officials said.

The paper said the ISI helped Mullah Omar move from Quetta, where they felt he was exposed to attacks by unmanned US drones.

“The development reinforces suspicions that the ISI, which helped create the Taliban in the 1990s to expand Pakistani influence in Afghanistan, is working against US interests in Afghanistan as the Obama administration prepares to send more US troops to fight there,” the daily said.

Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran and analyst on al Qaeda and the Taliban, confirmed that Mullah Omar had been spotted in Karachi recently, the daily said.

“Some sources claim the ISI decided to move him further from the battlefield to keep him safe” from US drone attacks, Riedel was quoted as saying.

“There are huge madrassas in Karachi where Mullah Omar could easily be kept,” he said.

Riedel noted that there had been few suicide bombings in Karachi, which he attributed to the Taliban and al Qaeda not wanting to “foul their own nest”.

At the same time, the daily said so far there has been no indication that the top Al Qaeda leadership too had moved to Karachi.

Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are still thought to be in the tribal region of Pakistan on Afghanistan’s border, he said.

However, the newspaper said according to intelligence officials, other mid-level al Qaeda operatives who facilitate the travel and training of foreign fighters have moved to the Karachi metropolitan area, which with 18 million people is Pakistan’s most populous city.

“One reason, al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are relocating to Karachi is because they believe US drones do not strike there,” a official was quoted as saying adding that it is a densely populated urban area.

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Re: US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

If Pakistani Foreign Office did not gave a sound reply to this Rant , then i don't think so they deserve to be sitting in there

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with a $25,000,000.00 reward on his head..................

No way............:)

Pak V NZ - 1st one day
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Re: US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

Yazdi if you believe this article doesnt it mean that the drone attacks have been pretty effective?

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Re: US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

hhmm

cant hide from MIB :D: Mohteda Intelgence Burue

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Re: US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

I bet you he's in New York selling kebabs.

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Re: US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

So where is the MQM to defend Karachi from these kinds of people?

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In Karachi.. I thought he was sitting on the N. pole... LMAO.... US and its intel...

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Re: US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi

MQM defense only comes out when you are talking about that goon named Altaf Hussain.

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Ravage, I have been saying from the beginning if we want to win this war it can only be done from a high moral ground. To begin with we have to stop lying…

Our establishment and government has to stop acting like paid slaves of USA. I am not arguing the effectiveness or non effetctiveness of these drone attacks. If they are needed they have to be done by our armed forces. Whatever operation has to be done in Pakistan it must be done by our own security forces keeping in mind our own interest. No doubt this is our war because our countrymen are suffereing the most but we should not give such leverages to any foreign country. These drones fly from our own soil without any information to our government or military and most of the time they kill innocent Pakistani citizens. Officially our government condemns these attacks, but unofficially they assist them in carrying out these attacks. With this kind of hypocricy and lying I am afraid this war cannot be won.

Now if they accuse that taliban and Alqaida leadership is present in Pakistani cities, and they start these drone attacks in Karachi and Lahore, who can stop fresh recruitment of our youth turning into terrorist to destroy our own country. Are we fighting this war for America or for ourselves???

On the other hand our governments both provincial and federal do not want to act against the wide spread partners of these terrorists within our country. Maulana Ghazi is a free man, Hafiz Saeed is a free man, Maulana Masood Azhar was never caught. Army/establishment leadership doen’t want to act in North Waziristan where Alqaida leadership is believed to be holed up. Whom are we fooling?

We have to declare a complete non tolerance policy against any sort of terrorism/militiancy on what-so-ever-basis. We have to consider these people as criminals, go after them without any ifs and buts. There should be no good taliban bad taliban, no strategic depth policy, no Islamic brotherhood policy, infact there should be zero tolerance against these criminals…

A decisive moment
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Arif Nizami

The Pakistan military can rightfully claim that its operation in South Waziristan has been a success in the sense that it has cleared the area of Taliban militants. Admittedly, there has been heavy collateral damage both for the army in terms of lives lost as well as for the Pakistani nation, which is reeling under consistent and incremental suicide attacks since the operations started.

Despite successes in Swat and South Waziristan duly acknowledged and appreciated by the US, it wants the Pakistan military to go for the kill in North Waziristan where it perceives the Al Qaeda leadership is holed up, presenting clear and present danger to vital interests. However, the military establishment is reluctant to fight this decisive battle for the simple reason that not only it will be bloody but because it will mitigate Pakistan’s long-term strategic interests …

…In order to succeed in its scaled down goals in Afghanistan, Islamabad’s cooperation to go full steam against Al Qaeda in North Waziristan and against the so called Quetta Shura is critical to the US. However, the Pakistan military is reluctant to shift its strategic paradigm.

It still perceives India as a major threat to its interests and, for this reason, would be hard pressed to fight a battle of attrition with the Afghan Taliban, thus creating a two-front situation for the future. It seems unwilling to go for Al Qaeda leaders Jalauddin Haqqani and Mullah Omar operating from Pakistan’s so-called badlands…

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Yeah right, both Mullah Omar and UBL are in Las Vegas. Viva Las Vegas!