Commentary on the economic , geopolitical and simply fascinating things going on. Served occasionally with a side of snark.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Pakistan attempts to open talks with Pakistani Taliban - hard to see this leading anywhere if Drone strikes have killed the Head of the Pakistani Taliban and other key Taliban members !
President of 'Jaamiyah Darul Uloom' Karachi Mufti Mohammad Rafi Usmani. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: Several prominent religious scholars and clerics on Saturday responded to the drone strike against Hakimullah Mehsud, urging cessation of all kinds of cooperation with the United States, Express News reported.
The ulema demanded a shutdown of NATO supplies to Afghanistan as well as the destruction of any US drone that flies into Pakistani airspace hereon.
President of ‘Wafaq-ul-Madaris Al-Arabia’ Maulana Saleemullah Khan; President and Vice President of ‘Jaamiyah Darul Uloom’ Karachi Mufti Mohammad Rafi Usmani and Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani; ‘Jaamiyat-ul-Uloom Al-Islamiya’ Binori Town Maulana Dr Abdul Razzaq Sikandar; Maulana Qari Mohammad Hafeez Jalandhari and other religious scholars agreed that the Pakistani state should quit wasting breath on verbal protests and exclamations and resort to practical measures like shutting down the NATO supplies.
They said drones were the worst enemies of Pakistan and had been violating the nation’s sovereignty for several years now.
The scholars also said that the US wanted Pakistan to stay war-ravaged at all times, and deliberately carried out Friday’s attack to sabotage peace talks.
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan also passed a resolution on Saturday condemning the drone strikes.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan with party leaders at press conference. Source: PTI
A visibly angry Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan insisted on Saturday that Friday’s drone strike that reportedly killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, had damaged peace talks, and that now their party will move to block Nato supplies through Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and introduce resolutions in the National, Sindh and Punjab assemblies to block the supplies.
Imran announced this at a press conference in Lahore after a core committee meeting of the PTI.
“The Taliban held only one condition for the peace talks and that was that drone attacks must end. But just before the talks began we saw this sabotage take place,” said the PTI chief, emphasising that the attack on Mehsud was part of a greater plot to derail the peace process in Pakistan.
Accompanied by K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, and other senior PTI leaders, Imran explained that their decision to block Nato supplies in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was well within legal means available. He said that the recourse of blocking supplies had been approved by the Peshawar High Court in their decision on drone strikes earlier in the year where it had called on the government to do all it can to stop the strikes, including approaching the United Nations on the issue.
“We will forward a resolution in the Sindh Assembly, where we have representation, to stop the flow of Nato supplies and will also raise the issue in the National Assembly,” he stated.
As for the Punjab Assembly, the issue will be raised by PTI’s Mehmood Rashid.
The entire nation – including the political parties – needs to unite to turn things around in the country, emphasised Imran.
“There should be no doubts left about who does not want peace in the country,” he said in the wake of the drone strike, while also sharing his suspicions about the real masterminds behind the recent attack on a church in Peshawar, for which the TTP denied any involvement.
Shortly after meeting with the media, the PTI issued a press release on its website stating: “We call for an immediate All Parties Conference which must support our decision of stopping NATO supplies, given the disruption of the dialogue process.”
An Oct 4, 2009 photo showing former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud (L) with his commander Waliur Rehman (R) in South Waziristan. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban on Saturday condemned the killing of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Hakimullah Mehsud and described him as a “strong and brave” leader of the Pakistani Taliban.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was shocked at the news that Hakimullah Mehsud was martyred in a cowardly US drone attack,” the Afghan Taliban said in a formal reaction to the incident.
“The Emirate strongly condemns the American terrorist attack and consider the martyrdom of Mulla Hakimullah Mehsud as a great loss and convey condolences to his family members, relatives and Taliban friends,” a statement issued by the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.
The Pashto language statement was emailed to The Express Tribune.
The statement said the United States cannot achieve its goals through the “martyrdom of the Mujahideen.”
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls upon the government of Pakistan and the people to double their efforts to stop such brutal American strikes,” the Taliban spokesperson said.
He said the helpless people of Afghanistan and Pakistan are suffering from the American attacks and people of the two neighbouring countries must show the courage to take the right decisions regarding their future.
TTP faction confirms Mehsud’s death
A faction of the Pakistani Taliban on Saturday confirmed the death of their chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack in North Waziristan tribal region on Friday.
Azam Tariq, spokesperson for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in South Waziristan tribal area, said the senior Taliban leaders are involved in consultations to appoint a new chief.
“We will formally make an announcement of the new chief in a couple of days,” Tariq told journalists via phone from an undisclosed location.
He did not confirm reports that the TTP council has appointed Khan Syed alias Sajna as its new chief and insisted that meeting is still in progress somewhere in North Waziristan.
The Taliban leader criticized the government and alleged that on one hand it is talking about peace talks with the Taliban and on the other it has failed to stop the US drone strikes.
“The government will face serious consequences for their double standards,” Tariq warned.
He said talks could not be held with the government when Taliban leaders were being targeted in American drone strikes.
Sajna is the head of the TTP South Waziristan chapter and had served as deputy to the former TTP deputy Waliur Rehman Mehsud, who was also killed in a drone strike on May 29.
( Let's see if I have this right - we're fighting a War on Terror , one alleged enemy is the Taliban. So , we decide to drone to death a Taliban leader that actually wants peace talks with the Pakistan government ? Naturally , the Pakistan who had pushed for talks with the Taliban and especially with the now deceased Taliban leader are publicly embarrassed and are left sputtering ! And of course all that this does is further empower those Taliban elements who had opposed these same peace talks - wonder why those guys aren't droned to death or seized ? And also expect retribution from the Taliban ! With this Charlie Sheenesque " Winning , Duh " style foreign policy , one would almost wonder if what the US really desires is endless War rather than successfully peace talks ? )
US Drones Taliban Leader; His Troops Vow Bloody Revenge; Pakistan Government Furious At America
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/02/2013 20:59 -0400
Having done a bang up job in Syria, where Obama nearly started world war III so Qatar could send its natgas to Europe at a lower price than Gazprom's, while alienating America's legacy allies in the region, Saudi Arabia and Israel, and ensuring its enemies see it even weaker in the international arena following Obama's schooling by Putin, the US president continues to win friends abroad (while spying there, here and everywhere, namely the Pope) with the latest snafu coming from Pakistan, another former ally, where America just droned the leader of the Taliban fighters on Saturday, leaving his body "damaged but recognizable".
In response the Taliban - once upon a time another close ally of the CIA and especially their one time leader, Osama bin Laden - quickly moved to replace him while vowing a wave of revenge suicide bombings: because what the US needed right now is even more potential terrorism. But not before the outraged Pakistani government, insulted that the US continues to take whatever liberties on its territory it chooses, summoned the US ambassador, although not for another instance of NSA spying, but due to America's penchant for delivering not so targeted mass executions around the world by remote control.
The Pakistani government denounced the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud as a U.S. bid to derail planned peace talks and summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest. Some lawmakers demanded the blocking of U.S. supply lines into Afghanistan in retaliation.
"The murder of Hakimullah is the murder of all efforts at peace," said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar. "Americans said they support our efforts at peace. Is this support?"
Not really, although if Pakistan had read the Xinhua oped from Friday it would know that already.
Mehsud, who had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, and three others were killed on Friday in the militant stronghold of Miranshah in northwest Pakistan.
Mehsud's vehicle was hit after he attended a meeting of Taliban leaders, a Pakistani Taliban fighter said, adding that Mehsud's body was "damaged but recognizable". His bodyguard and driver were also killed.
He was secretly buried under cover of darkness in the early hours by a few companions amid fears that his funeral might be attacked by U.S. drones, militants and security sources said.
And here is why the US globocop policy of droning anyone it chooses abroad always backfires.
"Every drop of Hakimullah's blood will turn into a suicide bomber," said Azam Tariq, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman. "America and their friends shouldn't be happy because we will take revenge for our martyr's blood."
Maybe not America, but its leaders who thrive on a culture of constant fear from "terrorism", even when it is openly provoked, should. Especially when the target is Al Qaeda which is a strategic friend in some cases (Syria), and the worst foe when a Bogeyman is needed:
Mehsud took over as leader of the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban in 2009. The group's two previous leaders were killed in attacks by U.S. missile-firing drones. Taliban commanders said they wanted to replace him with the movement's number two, Khan Said, who is also known as Sajna.
Said is believed to have masterminded an attack on a jail in northwest Pakistan that freed nearly 400 prisoners in 2012 and a big attack on a Pakistani naval base.
But some commanders were unhappy with the choice and wanted more talks, several militants said, indicating divisions within the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella group of factions allied with the Afghan Taliban and battling the Pakistani state in the hope of imposing Islamist rule.
The Pakistani Taliban killed an army general in September, has beheaded Pakistani soldiers and killed thousands of civilians in suicide bombings. The group also directed a failed attempt to bomb Times Square in New York.
Hopefully all futures attempts to bomb Times Square will likewise be "failed" courtesy of the NSA's undying vigilance.
And since every US action abroad has an immediate reaction, the Pakistani government has already clarified it will make US strategic intervention in the region that much more difficult:
The Pakistani foreign office said in a statement on Saturday Mehsud's death was "counter-productive to Pakistan's efforts to bring peace and stability to Pakistan and the region".
Shah Farman, a spokesman for the government of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,said provincial lawmakers would pass a resolution on Monday to cut NATO supply lines into landlocked Afghanistan. A major one passes through the nearby Khyber Pass.
The supply lines through U.S. ally Pakistan have been crucial since the latest Afghan war began in 2001 and remain vital as the United States and other Western forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year.
Finally, for those wondering just how big the US drone presence in the region is, the answer is: very.
Residents of Miranshah, the capital of the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, said Pakistani Taliban fighters were converging on the town and firing furiously at drones buzzing high in the sky.
About eight drones were seen overhead as well as a larger aircraft that seemed to be an aeroplane or a type of drone that residents said they had not seen before.
"We thought it was a C-130 aircraft but it was a special spy plane, bigger in size," resident Farhad Khan said by telephone from Miranshah. "The militants fired from their anti-aircraft guns to hit it but couldn't."
The good news: for now the US is focusing its droning powers abroad. Hopefully that, too, doesn't change any time soon.
and....
Pakistan accuses US of 'scuttling' Taliban talks with drone strike, summons ambassador
Published time: November 02, 2013 15:10 Edited time: November 02, 2013 15:54
The Pakistani government has accused the US of "scuttling" efforts towards peace talks with the Taliban after their militant leader was killed in a "counter-productive” drone strike on Friday. The US ambassador has been summoned over the issue.
"Brick by brick in the last seven weeks we tried to evolve a process by which we could bring peace to Pakistan and what have you (the US) done?" Pakistan's Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar, Ali Khan said. "You have scuttled it on the eve, 18 hours before a formal delegation of respected ulema (religious scholars) was to fly to Miranshah and hand over this formal invitation."
He said that following Friday's drone attack "every aspect" of cooperation with Washington would be reviewed.
"The government of Pakistan does not see this drone attack as an attack on an individual but as an attack on the peace process," Khan said.
On Saturday the Taliban has elected Khan Said Sajna aka Khalid as the next chief of the militant group.
Khan Said Sajna aka Khalid has been appointed by the Taliban's Shura Council after 43 out of 60 members voted in favor of the second-in-command to replace Mehsud. 17 others voted against him, militant sources told the Pakistani Dawn News newspaper.
However, the election has not yet been confirmed by several splinter groups of the militant organization.
The council was initially considering four names for the post - Khan Said, Umar Khalid Khurasani, Mullah Fazlullah and Ghalib Mehsud.
Not much is known about the Taliban’s new chief. Sajna, 36, was the South Waziristan Taliban chief and was responsible for TTP operations in the region. He used to be a trusted lieutenant of Mehsud.
Said is believed to have masterminded an attack on a jail in north-west Pakistan that freed nearly 400 prisoners in 2012 and an attack on a Pakistani air force base in the same year.
“Sajna has no basic education, conventional or religious, but he is battle-hardened and has experience of fighting in Afghanistan,” an unnamed official, earlier cited by local Dawn News.
A spokesman for the Taliban in South Waziristan, Azam Tariq, declined to say whether ‘Sajna’ had been chosen to lead the TTP umbrella group, the Dawn reports. A formal announcement will be made in the coming days, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Taliban fighters have vowed a wave of suicide bombs in revenge for the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud. "Every drop of Hakimullah's blood will turn into a suicide bomber," Tariq said. "America and their friends shouldn't be happy because we will take revenge for our martyr's blood."
Mehsud, who had a $5 million US bounty on his head and was believed to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, has been secretly buried along with the four others killed - his bodyguard, driver, uncle and a commander, AFP reports referring to a senior Taliban source.
He had been reported dead several times before. In February 2010, multiple sources said he had died after being hit in a drone strike in Pakistan, and in April that year reports that he was alive surfaced. In May 2010, he appeared in a video, vowing attacks on major US cities.
Mehsud became leader of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009, aged 30, after the group’s leader Baitullah Mehsud died in a US drone strike in South Waziristan.
Seen as a hardliner, Hakimullah Mehsud supervised some of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) most high-profile attacks. He is said to be behind the attempt to kill schoolgirl education activist, Malala Yousafzai, in October last year.
‘Counter-productive killing’
Pakistan’s government has “strongly condemned the US drone strike” and called it “counter-productive”.
The killing of Mehsud has cast doubt over proposed peace talks between the Pakistani government and the militant group.
“It makes the peace dialogue process with the Taliban difficult. Now that Mehsud’s been killed, they won’t be prepared to have a dialogue with us any longer. So how can we carry on with it?” one of the locals has told the media.
However, the country’s Information Minister gave assurances in a statement that the attack will not delay peace talks.
“The US has tried to attack the peace talks with this drone but we will not let them fail," Pervez Rashid told media, referring to the negotiations, which the Taliban said on Friday had yet to start.
In response to the attack local tribesmen opened fire on a US drone over Pakistan's tribal belt, where Hakimullah Mehsud was killed.
"Tribesmen and militants were firing with light and heavy guns for an hour," Tariq Khan, a shopkeeper in Miranshah was cited by AFP. "Local people are scared. The death of Hakimullah Mehsud has created uncertainty. Everyone is talking about Taliban revenge," Khan said.
We have heard his death reported many times before, this time it may be accurate - we shall see....
The CIA drone strike in North Waziristan yesterday killed 25 persons and targeted a high-level meeting of the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan or TTP). It finally killed TTP leader Hakimu’llah Mahsoud of the large and important Mahsoud tribe in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of northern Pakistan. Mahsoud’s death by drone has been repeatedly announced in the past but it was confirmed by the TTP this time. FATA is roughly analogous to US Native American reservations, and is not firmly under the control of the central government.
The deadly attack comes only weeks after Mahsoud said in an interview that he was ready for peace talks with newly elected Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, over the objections of TTP hard liners. It also came after Sharif met in Washington with President Barack Obama, asking for an end to drone strikes and receiving from Obama a pledge to review the policy.
This context for the drone strike has to raise the question of whether John Brennan, head of the CIA, is deliberately attempting to forestall Pakistan-TTP peace talks and is determined to prevent Nawaz Sharif and Obama from cementing a strong relationship. Pakistani officials are talking about a ‘sabotaging’ of the talks. But they are resisting calls in the press for Pakistan to punish the US by halting NATO shipments of military equipment and other supplies from Karachi up to the Khyber Pass and thence into Afghanistan.
The TTP will certainly launch reprisals inside Pakistan and against US troops and the Afghanistan National Army on the Afghanistan side of the border. ThePakistani public is bracing itself for attacks.
GeoTv interviewed veteran reporter Hamid Mir on the significance of the strike (Trans. USG Open Source Center):
“If the report is true and Hakimullah Mehsud has been killed, the dialogue process, which has not formally begun, will get affected //negatively//. The Taliban were already stating that some //drama// was being staged with them in the name of talks, and now their stance will get strengthened. There were three to four groups within TTP that were opposing the talks since day one, and now their stance will become strong. However, it is a matter to ponder upon that earlier Waliur Rehman, who was in favor of talks, was killed, and now Hakimullah Mehsud, who too wanted to hold talks with the government, has been killed. A question arises why the Taliban groups or the commanders who are not in favor of talks have not been targeted so far, and their stance will further get strengthened. Hakimullah Mehsud was already wanted to have talks. As for the //deadlock// for some days, Hakimullah Mehsud had sent a hand written piece of paper to the government representatives through his messenger wherein he had expressed his willingness for talks. The two sides had also agreed on names for talks, but later attempts were made to include some people in the negotiating team about whom Hakimullah Mehsud had objections, and that was why, there was deadlock. The government, however, was continuing its efforts to start the dialogue process. And as now the process was about to begin, Hakimullah Mehsud has been attacked. If the report of his killing is correct, the process will get jolted. The TTP groups that have been continuing their attacks and oppose talks will have justification to continue their activities.
(Memon) Mir, we would like to inform you and the viewers that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has denied to confirm the report. Only a foreign news agency is claiming about the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud. As you have told us that the local people as well as the local reporters have also not yet confirmed that TTP Chief Hakimullah Mehsud has been killed in the attack.
(Anchor Mansoor Ali Khan) Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has paid a visit to the United States, and after that, two drone strikes have been carried out. What is the position of Pakistan now?
(Mir) … Tariq Fatemi, special assistance to the prime minister on foreign affairs, who was also present in the prime ministera’s meeting with President Obama had confidently stated a few days ago that Obama had assured Nawaz Sharif that the United States would //review// its policy of drone strikes. But this has not happened, and two consecutive strikes have taken place. This would certainly increase political worries for Nawaz Sharif. I am telling you that there were three to four strong groups within TTP that were not in favor of talks since day one, and Hakimullah Mehsud had been continuously persuading them for talks. You would have noticed that Hakimullah Mehsud had developed some flexibility in his stance for some days. However, the two sides were not reaching agreement on the names of the negotiating team for talks because some state institutions had tried to include some people of their own liking on whom Mehsud had objections. Despite that, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was striving for beginning of the talks. The process had not yet begun, but efforts had been underway for a //structured dialogue//. Now the person who will have to face embarrassment the most is the prime minister.
(Khan) Thank you very much, Mir. (end live relay)
(Description of Source: Karachi Geo News TV in Urdu — 24-hour satellite news TV channel owned by Pakistan’s Jang publishing group. Known for providing quick and detailed reports of events. Geo’s focus on reports from India is seen as part of its policy of promoting people-to-people contact and friendly relations with India.) ”
Mehsud (left), who had been reported dead several times before, had been the leader of the Pakistani Taliban since 2009.Ishtiaq Mehsud/AP
A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan has killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban, Pakistani sources told Al Jazeera on Friday.
"We can confirm Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in the drone strike," said an unnamed source.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said that Pakistan's Taliban has also confirmed Mehsud's killing.
Four security officials confirmed his death to the Reuters news agency. Mehsud's bodyguard and driver were also among the dead, they said.
"Among the dead, who are in large numbers, are Hakimullah's personal bodyguard Tariq Mehsud and his driver Abdullah Mehsud, two of his closest people," said one intelligence source.
Drones fired four missiles at a compound in Danda Darpa Khel, a village about 3 miles away from the regional capital, Miranshah, killing at least four people, sources said.
The government issued a statement denouncing the drone strike, but did not comment on reports of Mehsud's death.
As leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Mehsud was the most wanted man in Pakistan, and the U.S. had a $5 million bounty on his head. He was believed to be in his mid-30s.
Mehsud, who had been reported dead several times before, became the leader of the Pakistani Taliban in August 2009 after a drone strike killed the previous leader, his mentor.
His death is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Pakistani Taliban.
In May, a drone strike killed his second in command, and one of his most trusted lieutenants was captured in Afghanistan last month.
Mehsud's death follows months of debate over potential peace talks between the Taliban and the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who won a landslide victory in May, promising to quash the insurgency.
Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud has been “confirmed” killed by US drones so many times it’s become a recurring joke. However the tenth (or by some counts eleventh) time may have been the charm, as unnamed Pakistani Taliban sources reportedly confirmed his death in today’s attack, which killed at least 25 people in Dandy Darpa Khel.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan greeted the report with skepticism, saying they had no confirmations, and every Pakistani official who was said to have confirmed it was quoted anonymously in Reuters.
Khan criticized the attack as an apparent US attempt to sabotage the Pakistani government’s plans to hold reconciliation talks with the TTP and other militant factions in the Pakistani tribal areas.
Incredibly, Pakistani spies were quoted as saying Hakimullah’s funeral is scheduled for 3 pm Saturday. Given the Obama Administration’s penchant for attacking major funerals in the tribal areas, that may set the stage for even more deaths tomorrow.
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/02/2013 20:59 -0400
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan greeted the report with skepticism, saying they had no confirmations, and every Pakistani official who was said to have confirmed it was quoted anonymously in Reuters.
No comments:
Post a Comment