Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Pakistan may join anti-IS coalition
Pakistan is considering a U.S. request to join a multinational coalition against the Islamic State terror group, which has become the most formidable threat to peace after al-Qaeda, officials said.
The U.S. has requested Pakistan to join the Sahel to South Asia alliance, Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said, adding that Pakistan is waiting for “details”.
IS has seized hundreds of square miles in Iraq and Syria. But both civil and military leadership is in a fix as joining the coalition will bring domestic backlash.
“Joining a new war will be difficult to sell in the country due to opposition from political and religious groups,” a security official said. But remaining out of the new group may increase isolation of the country which already faced international criticism for “not doing enough” against the war on terror.
Pakistan is also wary of possible reaction from Saudi Arabia as Islamabad refused to join a coalition led by Riyadh in Yemen. “Now joining the new group may further anger the Saudis who are already not happy with Pakistan over the issue of Yemen,” the official said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is travelling to New York this week to attend the U.N. General Assembly annual session. He is expected to visit the U.S. again next month on an official trip to meet President Barack Obama.
According to government sources, he is expected to have something to show the Americans that Pakistan is not a reluctant ally as it is generally perceived in Washington. Experts believe that the decision to join anti-IS alliance would need support of Parliament.
The government sources said that by joining the new coalition, Pakistan can expect that monetary assistance from the so-called Coalition Support Funds to continue to flow, which otherwise is likely to be stopped after 2015.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/pakistan-may-join-antiis-coalition/article7674857.ece
Pakistani Mob Sets Christian Family's Home on Fire to Burn Them Alive
A mob of radicals in the capital city of Pakistan torched the home of a Christian family and attempted to burn them alive by locking them inside before setting it on fire, a Christian aid group is reporting.
Earlier this month, a large group of radicals in Islamabad arrived at the home of 38-year-old Christian Boota Masih and began banging on the door, shouting for him to come outside.
Masih told the British Pakistani Christian Association that when he answered the door, the mob's leader demanded that he and his family either give up their home, leaving all of their belongings behind, or suffer the consequences.
Masih believes that the mob went to his house because they wanted to take his family's property. The mob told Masih that he and his family were trespassers in their own home.
Despite the fact that Masih could see that the mob came equipped with weapons, he did not comply and refused to leave his home.
"I was terror stricken, the mob was threatening to kill me and my family. They had weapons in their hands and started to brandish them before me. I thought they would kill all of us," Masih explained. "I refused to leave my home — I had paid for it fairly and they had no right to ask me to leave."
After Masih's refusal, the mob began to beat him with metal rods and sticks. Some of the members of the mob locked Masih and his family inside a room and set the house on fire.
Although the house was destroyed in the fire, Masih was able to rescue his family, which consists of his wife and six children, from the inferno.
"I broke the door down using all my strength, desperate to live and to save my family," Masih explained. "Soon other local Christians came to rescue us. They put out the flames and called the fire brigade."
Masih stated that he paid a million Pakistani rupees (about $9,500) in an oral agreement to purchase the house from a man named Ghulam Ali.
The family had only lived in the home for a couple months when the mob arrived on Sept. 10. Masih believes the leader of the mob was Ali's wife.
The BPCA reports that local police have thus far refused to register a case against mob participants, even though there were eyewitnesses and a written report was submitted to authorities. Additionally, Masih was arrested after Ali filed a FIR against him for allegedly attacking a woman who came to collect rent.
The BPCA noted that a donation campaign has been started to help support the Masih family.
The plight of the Masihs, and the police department's reluctance to hold violent perpetrators accountable, is yet another example of how the rights of Christians are being trampled upon in Pakistan — a country that ranks as the eighth most difficult nation to live in as a Christian, according to the Open Doors USA 2015 World Watch List.
Earlier this year, The Christian Post reported on a 15-year-old Pakistani Christian who died after being beaten and set on fire by two Muslim men because he answered truthfully that he was a Christian when they asked him.
According to prominent Pakistani human rights attorney Sardar Mushtaq Gill, the young boy, Nouman Masih, was walking on his way to a cloth stitching job when he was approached by two Muslim men.
After answering when asked by the men whether he was a Muslim or Christian, the men beat him, chased him down, doused him in kerosene and set him on fire when he told them that he was a Christian. Doctors ruled that Masih's body was 55 percent burned.
CP has also extensively reported on Christian mother of five Asia Bibi who's been held captive in a Pakistani prison and placed on death row on charges of blasphemy after a group of Muslim women accused her of drinking from the same water supply back in 2009.
A U.K. Christian group reports that some attempts are being made to reform sections of the country's controversial blasphemy laws that punish religious minorities. The group also believes that Britain and the U.S. must rethink the way they provide financial aid to Pakistan if they want to see reforms in the country.
"The proposed changes will ostensibly make it more difficult for blasphemy charges to be laid, focusing on proving that any blasphemy was intentional under a legal concept termed Mens Rea translated as 'guilty mind,'" Wilson Chowdhry, president of the British Pakistani Christian Association, told CP back in June.
"However the large number of extra-judicial killings and insouciance from local police to get involved in blasphemy charges or a pattern of local police authorities cowing under pressure from mobs led by local imams, suggest this law change will have little effect."
http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/2015/09/pakistani-mob-sets-christian-familys.html
Earlier this month, a large group of radicals in Islamabad arrived at the home of 38-year-old Christian Boota Masih and began banging on the door, shouting for him to come outside.
Masih told the British Pakistani Christian Association that when he answered the door, the mob's leader demanded that he and his family either give up their home, leaving all of their belongings behind, or suffer the consequences.
Masih believes that the mob went to his house because they wanted to take his family's property. The mob told Masih that he and his family were trespassers in their own home.
Despite the fact that Masih could see that the mob came equipped with weapons, he did not comply and refused to leave his home.
"I was terror stricken, the mob was threatening to kill me and my family. They had weapons in their hands and started to brandish them before me. I thought they would kill all of us," Masih explained. "I refused to leave my home — I had paid for it fairly and they had no right to ask me to leave."
After Masih's refusal, the mob began to beat him with metal rods and sticks. Some of the members of the mob locked Masih and his family inside a room and set the house on fire.
Although the house was destroyed in the fire, Masih was able to rescue his family, which consists of his wife and six children, from the inferno.
"I broke the door down using all my strength, desperate to live and to save my family," Masih explained. "Soon other local Christians came to rescue us. They put out the flames and called the fire brigade."
Masih stated that he paid a million Pakistani rupees (about $9,500) in an oral agreement to purchase the house from a man named Ghulam Ali.
The family had only lived in the home for a couple months when the mob arrived on Sept. 10. Masih believes the leader of the mob was Ali's wife.
The BPCA reports that local police have thus far refused to register a case against mob participants, even though there were eyewitnesses and a written report was submitted to authorities. Additionally, Masih was arrested after Ali filed a FIR against him for allegedly attacking a woman who came to collect rent.
The BPCA noted that a donation campaign has been started to help support the Masih family.
The plight of the Masihs, and the police department's reluctance to hold violent perpetrators accountable, is yet another example of how the rights of Christians are being trampled upon in Pakistan — a country that ranks as the eighth most difficult nation to live in as a Christian, according to the Open Doors USA 2015 World Watch List.
Earlier this year, The Christian Post reported on a 15-year-old Pakistani Christian who died after being beaten and set on fire by two Muslim men because he answered truthfully that he was a Christian when they asked him.
According to prominent Pakistani human rights attorney Sardar Mushtaq Gill, the young boy, Nouman Masih, was walking on his way to a cloth stitching job when he was approached by two Muslim men.
After answering when asked by the men whether he was a Muslim or Christian, the men beat him, chased him down, doused him in kerosene and set him on fire when he told them that he was a Christian. Doctors ruled that Masih's body was 55 percent burned.
CP has also extensively reported on Christian mother of five Asia Bibi who's been held captive in a Pakistani prison and placed on death row on charges of blasphemy after a group of Muslim women accused her of drinking from the same water supply back in 2009.
A U.K. Christian group reports that some attempts are being made to reform sections of the country's controversial blasphemy laws that punish religious minorities. The group also believes that Britain and the U.S. must rethink the way they provide financial aid to Pakistan if they want to see reforms in the country.
"The proposed changes will ostensibly make it more difficult for blasphemy charges to be laid, focusing on proving that any blasphemy was intentional under a legal concept termed Mens Rea translated as 'guilty mind,'" Wilson Chowdhry, president of the British Pakistani Christian Association, told CP back in June.
"However the large number of extra-judicial killings and insouciance from local police to get involved in blasphemy charges or a pattern of local police authorities cowing under pressure from mobs led by local imams, suggest this law change will have little effect."
http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/2015/09/pakistani-mob-sets-christian-familys.html
Pakistan - JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI STARTED USING ‘AYLAN’’S NAME TO COLLECT HIDES ON EID UL ADHA
Jamaat e Islami, the so-called Islamic organization, has started using Syria’s situation for its own benefit, after Kashmir and Afghan Jihad, and has started asking for Eid ul Adha hides from innocent Muslims of Pakistan. In a bid to enhance people’s emotions, the organization chose the devastating image of a three-year-old Syrian refugee named Aylan Kurdi, whose lifeless body recently washed up on a Turkish beach when Aylan and his family were drowned in the sea while trying to reach Europe. The image of Aylan’s body on the beach instantly shocked and arrested the entire world and the whole world sympathized with the family. Jamaat e Islami, taking advantage of the situation, has used Syrian toddler Aylan’s picture to collect hides on Eid ul Adha so that people get emotional and give hides to them.
On the other hand, Rangers have been dealing with hides’ collectors with iron hand and has also taken down the banners and posters from the city but a question on Rangers’ performance has been raised because it allowed Jammat e Islami to publicize their appeal for hides through banners and posters.
Syria, where a war is going on between takfiri terrorists and the country’s forces, has nothing to do with Jamaat e Islami. Why is it collecting hides for Syrian Muslims? Are they going to send the money, collected from hides, to Daesh? If it is so then why no action is being taken against them, under the National action plan, for appealing for hides in order to support international terrorists.
Ignoring Sexual Abuse in Afghanistan
The incidents of sexual assault on children described by American service members who served in Afghanistan are sickening. Boys screaming in the night as Afghan police officers attacked them. Three or four Afghan men found lying on the floor of a room at a military base with children between them, presumably for sex play.
No less offensive is that American soldiers and Marines who wanted to intervene could not. According to an account in The Times by Joseph Goldstein, they were ordered by their superiors to ignore abusive behavior by their Afghan allies and “to look the other way because it’s their culture.”
The Pentagon’s indulgent, even complicit, attitude toward pedophiles among the Afghan militias that it funded and trained is indefensible, at odds with American values and with international laws Washington has taken the lead in promoting.
Pervasive sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan. It is especially pronounced among armed commanders who control rural regions and hold sway over the population there. The practice is known as bacha bazi, or boy play; powerful Afghan men often surround themselves with young teenagers as a mark of social status.
By instructing American soldiers and Marines not to interfere, even if the incidents occurred on American bases, the Pentagon has chosen — reprehensibly — to sacrifice vulnerable children in order to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militias it needs to fight the Taliban.
Some American service members who opposed the policy have been disciplined or seen their careers ruined because they fought it. In one case, Dan Quinn, then a Special Forces captain, beat up an Afghan militia commander in 2011 for keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave. The Army subsequently relieved Captain Quinn of his command, and he has since left the military. Now the Army is trying to retire Sgt. First Class Charles Martland, a Special Forces member who joined Captain Quinn in the beating.The American military’s defense of the policy is laughable. In an email, the spokesman for the American command in Afghanistan, Col. Brian Tribus, argued that allegations of child abuse committed by members of the Afghan military or police “would be a matter of domestic Afghan criminal law.” But the track record for Afghanistan bringing sexual predators to justice isn’t encouraging. In 2010, two Marine officers persuaded the Afghan authorities to arrest a police commander after a litany of abuses, including corruption, support for the Taliban and child abduction. But just two years later, he was back with a different unit in Helmand Province. Colonel Tribus also said there was “no express requirement that U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan” report abuses except when rape is being used as a weapon of war. He’s wrong on several counts, legal experts say. Sexual abuse would appear to violate the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit violence, cruel treatment and “outrages upon personal dignity” against people taken into custody. International human rights law outlaws rape. The Geneva Conventions and federal law also impose an obligation on the United States to investigate and prosecute violations of the laws of war under its jurisdiction, including military bases in Afghanistan. “There are no gray areas here,” said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch. Fourteen long years of war and billions of dollars invested have proved that the United States cannot remake Afghanistan. But there should be no question that the American military cannot allow such practices on its bases or give Afghans at any level the impression that such practices are condoned. Nor should service members like Captain Quinn and Sergeant Martland be penalized for refusing to turn a blind eye when a boy is kept as a sex slave.
Pakistan - #PPP pays rich tribute to Badaber Martyrs
Pakistan people’s Party (PPP) had in order to pay tribute to the martyrs of Badaper organized a prayer ceremony and Quran Khawani at People’s secretariat in Karachi Monday. The ceremony was held under the aegis of PPP Karachi Division and was attended by President Syed Najmi Alam, Waqar Mehdi, Jameel Soomro, Rashid Rabbani, Habibuddin Junaidi, Nadeem Bhutto, Farid Ansari, Izharul Haq Hassanzai, Iqbal kakar, Manzoor Abbas, Abid Satti, Qassam Balouch, Saeed Chawla, Mirza Maqbool, Zafar Siddiqui, Iqbal Sand, Farzana Balouch, Ejaz Balouch, Imtiaz Khan, Shehzad Mazari, Ali Shad, Arshad Naqvi, Taymoor Sayal, Asif Rahi, Ameer Hussain Shah, Asghar Bihari, Mushtaq Matto, Suhail Abidi, Saleem Soomro, Lateef Arain, Salman Memon, Shakeel Arain, Agha Saeed and others.
Speaking on the occasion, PPP Karachi Division President Syed Najmi Alam while paying rich tribute to the Badaper martyrs said there was no antecedent of the gallantry of Jawans and officers of Pakistan Air Force and Pak Army especially Captain Asfandyar.
He said that though it was the day of anniversary of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on September 21 but while keeping in view the importance of the Badaper tragedy, the Chairman had ordered not to celebrate his anniversary but organizes prayers ceremonies to pay rich tribute to our martyrs. Therefore, the PPP Karachi Division had organized this special ceremony to offer prayers and rich tribute to our beloved martyrs.
They said the coward enemy had attacked our brace soldiers while they were busy in their Dawn prayers but as soon as they started their wicked attacked, they were bravely retaliated and in that battle almost 2 dozen of PAF staffs and Pak Army’s brave captain Asfandyar embraced martyrdom.
They also paid rich tribute to brave parents of martyred soldiers and Captain Asfandyar, who established the utmost example of sacrificing their sons over the country.
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/ppp-pays-rich-tribute-to-badaper-martyrs/
Pakistan - Lessons from Badaber
On Friday, September 18 terrorists stormed the PAF Camp in Badaber, near Peshawar. Twenty-nine people, including 16 people who were praying inside a mosque and seven others preparing for prayers in their barracks, were martyred during the attack.
The Quick Reaction Force, however, cleared the camp after killing all 13 militants. Muhammad Khorasani, the spokesman of the defunct Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is stated to have said that the TTP was responsible for the Badaber attack.
The attack was the biggest in the country after the one on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16 last year in which 147 persons including 122 children were martyred.
That incident had brought the entire nation to one point: to wipe out terrorism with a renewed resolve. And the armed forces under a determined chief General Raheel Sharif transformed this national resolve into action by undertaking attacks on militants’ sanctuaries in North Waziristan and elsewhere in the country. The blood shed by the 29 martyrs and an equal number of injured has, however, thrown up some very precious lessons for forestalling similar incidents in the future.
The first lesson is that intelligence reports on impending terrorist attacks should be taken more seriously. Reportedly, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had issued on September 3, and later on September 8, a specific detailed warning of a terrorist attack on the PAF Badaber Camp. The report had even mentioned the number of attackers as 14. The mission of the militants who had planned the Badaber attack was to draw international attention as well as reiterate their claim that they are alive and kicking despite all the measures taken against them by the Pakistani government.
Intelligence warnings in the past too did not receive a serious response from installations, which were then later targeted by the militants. In October 2014, warnings were issued about terrorists’ plan to attack an Army Public School. In 2013, terrorists broke the DI Khan Jail, located in the midst of a populated area, and freed more than 248 prisoners including 30 hardcore militants, although intelligence agencies had conveyed specific and accurate warnings much before the incident. The intelligence report was so specific that it mentioned the militants would launch a three-pronged attack from Sabzi Mandi, Girls Degree College and the Town Hall and would use 14 vehicles.
Weeks before the Lahore Wagah Border attack the country’s intelligence agencies had conveyed a warning to the concerned authorities; yet the attack went through. It appears that prolonged vigilance based on a series of intelligence warnings about impending militant threats peters out.
The second lesson is to concentrate less on the ‘foreign hand’ involvement formula. The mention of involvement of other countries in a terror-related incident may sound good for a public statement to mitigate attention to our own security lapses, but it does not help stop reoccurrence of heinous acts of the militants.
In the Badaber Camp incident Defence Minister Khwaja Asif came out with a statement that the terrorists had originated from Afghanistan, and blamed the Afghan government for not controlling them. This was a naïve statement, giving the impression that the Afghan government had planned the attack. On the other hand DG ISPR Major General Asim Bajwa gave a more sensible statement saying the attack was planned by terrorists holed up in Afghanistan.
The fact is that the Afghan government has no capacity to control militants in that country. On the contrary their own law-enforcement agencies are subjected to lethal attacks frequently – for which the Kabul government blames terrorists intruding from Pakistan.
A tangible solution can be obtained only when officials of Kabul and Islamabad put their heads together and work out a joint strategy to stop cross-border attacks by militants. Even if there is evidence of involvement of foreign players their nefarious plans cannot succeed without assistance from local sympathisers and facilitators. How could the 13 men who attacked the Badaber Camp travel from their base in Afghanistan all the way to Peshawar by passing all the security check posts unless they were assisted and guided by local facilitators?
The third lesson is that at the entrances of important military installations, like the Badaber Camp, there should be one more check post away from the main entrance. The second check post should be established at least 500 yards away from the main entrance. If there is a skirmish at the outer check post the main installation, its stores and personnel will be saved from damage; it will also serve as a warning to personnel at the main entrance to take position.
In the case of the Badaber Camp an outer check post should be established now on the main Inqilab Road. People using that road will face inconvenience but so do residents of Peshawar Cantonment who have to pass through so many security check posts every day. Due to no checks in the past, the mushrooming civilian population has come close to the boundary wall of the Badaber Camp; this poses a security risk. Some of the houses adjacent to the camp’s boundary wall should be vacated after due compensation.
The 20-point National Action Plan to fight terrorism has not been implemented in letter and spirit. One of the major points was action against madressahs that harbour terrorists and facilitate their activities. According to the estimate given by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, only five percent madressahs indulge in terrorist activities. Since we have recorded 60,000 registered madressahs that means 3,000 madressahs are ‘black’ listed. However, the daily news bulletin hardly mentions any action taken against these ‘black’ madressahs. The reality is that terrorists receive unflinching support from their local sympathisers sitting in these (black) madressahs.
The country has received a great respite from the atrocities that were routinely unleashed by the militants in the past; that is due to successful military action in North Waziristan and the Khyber Agency. Sporadic incidents like the one in the Badaber Camp on September 18 have to be accepted as a fate accompli in a war on terror which is normally a prolonged affair.
Pakistan - The woes of children in Balochistan
Only 16 percent of children are fully immunised in the province, while the other 84 percent are at risk of contracting any minor or fatal disease.
In recent months, it was reported by the Office of the National Commissioner for Children in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) that before the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 2010, the federal government had a number of initiatives related to protecting children’s rights and affairs, which were then under way. Unfortunately, these initiatives were not adopted by the provinces after the devolution of the amendment. As a result, the woes of children in the provinces, particularly in the largest province of the country, Balochistan, are increasing. “Astonishingly, in Balochistan’s only Chaghai district, the death ratio of children is 34 percent,” reported Ali Raza Rind, who is a journalist based in Chaghai. Very pathetically, it is the situation of children in a single district of Balochistan, let alone other districts, where there is no independent and investigative journalism.
Undoubtedly, innocent children in Balochistan are plagued by numerous woes that range from education and health to labour, sexual assault and kidnapping etc. There are many children, who can be seen working regularly on the streets of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, as garbage collectors, carpenters, or working in automobile shops. One of the children, who collects garbage, a child as young as 11, said he was sexually abused when went to homes for the collection of garbage. Unfortunately, it seems that children in Balochistan do not have rights, as they, in all of Balochistan’s sectors, have been living in a pitiable condition. Let us discuss three key factors that have put the children of Balochistan in distress.
Firstly, let us look at education. It was reported by Alif Ailaan, a non-profit organisation working on education in the province, that 66 percent of Balochistan’s children do not go to school. Ironically, there are some districts in Balochistan where they do not have schools. Therefore, children are being deprived of their fundamental right of education. They, instead of going to school, go to work in different places, particularly in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. Advisor to the Chief Minister (CM) Balochistan on Education Sardar Raza Mohammad Barech himself also confessed at the Quetta Press Club that there are 7,000 schools across the province with just a single room and a single teacher.
In the rural areas of Balochistan, the children of poor parents reportedly attain positions in matriculation exams. But they, due to poverty, cannot complete their education. As for Quetta, there were some children there whom this scribe met and interviewed who said they could not afford to go to school, as they hardly earn a livelihood for themselves and their family members despite having an extraordinary interest in education. On the other hand, the provincial government of Balochistan, which is led by Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, has been erroneously claiming that they are doing their level best to provide education to every child in the province, which is pragmatically not so. Merely, in the name of education, funds have reportedly been embezzled. That is why children are deprived of their fundamental rights.
Secondly, when it comes to the health sector, the province is showing a bleak picture on all levels. According to the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), only 16 percent of children are fully immunised in the province, while the other 84 percent are at risk of contracting any minor or fatal disease. In the rural areas of Balochistan, it becomes uglier, where they are increasingly sufferers of malnutrition and other fatal diseases, which snatch their lives. “When the children suffer from minor diseases, it also becomes the cause of their death, as they cannot bring them to cities for treatment,” says a Quetta based doctor, further adding, “Due to the target killing of polio workers in the province, polio cases still get reported.” That is why Balochistan is lagging behind other provinces in terms of social indicators. Moreover, government officials say that though doctors are posted in various parts of the province, they do not go to perform their duties. Instead, they are running their private clinics in Quetta. Therefore, in the rural parts of Balochistan, government hospitals bear a deserted look.
Thirdly, we know that Balochistan’s people still live in a tribal society where children are forced to marry early. The practice of child marriages has been affecting them (children) tremendously, and this not only affects their education but also their mental state. Due to lack of awareness and poverty, parents get their children, whether girls or boys, married before the age of 18. Moreover, they also cannot afford to send their children to school. As a result they get them married off early. Though anti-child marriage laws have been adopted in Sindh and Punjab, these are laws are still in pending in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is why children are getting married early in these two provinces. “When I was in school in the eighth class, I got married to a girl unwillingly despite telling my parents that I wanted to compete my education, but they did not listen to me. Therefore, I had to marry early. Nor is my better-half educated now,” said Mohammad Aslam.
Due to the devolution of the 18th Amendment, all powers have been transferred to the provinces. Despite this, the provincial government of Balochistan has not done any remarkable work in order to protect children’s rights in the province, as well as to provide free and compulsory education to them. Therefore, due to the negligence of the government, children’s woes are being compounded everyday instead of dwindling. This time, like in the past, the provincial government of Balochistan ought not to be a complainant about the federal government, as it is being given their share, which the CM of Balochistan has himself acknowledged on many occasions. So, in this context, the government of Balochistan had better come forth to resolve the woes of Balochistan’s children.
Pakistan: ISIS Plans Terrorist Campaign against Christians
The Pakistani government and military have warned the nation's tiny Christian minority that Islamic terrorist groups plan to target Christian religious institutions in the near future. The wave of anti-Christian attacks will allegedly include Pakistan's Christian churches, schools, and hospitals.
The warning issued by Pakistan's leading generals represents an extraordinary, positive development in the military's relationship with minorities in general and with Christians in particular. Their warming relationship appears to be a calculated political move to complement the military leadership's ongoing offensive against the terrorist havens in the northwestern corner of the country.
Emissaries of the most powerful Pakistani generals and the Ministry of Interior have apparently personally warned Christian clerics that the assault will first be launched in the country's northwest region of Khyber Paktunkhwa.[1] This region abuts the Pushtun-dominated provinces of Afghanistan where Pakistan's Tehrik-e-Taliban is a potent force.
According to the warnings, the planned attacks against Christian communities in Pakistan will be carried out by some splinter groups that formerly belonged to the Pakistani Taliban. According to sources in the area, these splinter groups have already forged an alliance with the more extremist and brutal Islamic State (ISIS) cells that have already entered Pakistan.
The former Pakistani Taliban Commander, Hafiz Saeed Khan, is said to have pledged an oath of allegiance in January to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[2] Several other Pakistani Taliban groups have reportedly also agreed to join up.
In addition, Ahmed Marwat, a.k.a. Farhad Marwat, commander of Pakistan's Jundallah terrorist organization, specifically threatened in June that "the Jundallah will attack kafir Shi'ites, Ismailis and Christians."[3]
Marwat met with Islamic State representatives in November 2014. Later the same month, he took responsibility for attacking aid workers in Quetta, Pakistan, and labeled the volunteers "Yahood o Nasara": "Jews and Christians." The Jundallah group, reputedly the Islamic State's most potent ally in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the twin-suicide bombings against All Saints Church in Peshawar on September 22, 2014.[4] It also probably intends to initiate more anti-Christian atrocities.
One Christian cleric explained that the anti-Christian strategy by Islamic terrorists might be a bitter response to the effectiveness of the Pakistani Army's ongoing offensive -- a campaign that targeted Islamist jihadists in their hideouts in the northwest.
Another Christian cleric complimented Pakistan's military leaders for the ongoing drive to subdue the Pakistani Taliban and several smaller jihadi groups in the far northwest, especially in North Waziristan.
The Pakistani generals most responsible for the planning and execution of this anti-terrorist offensive include Army Chief of Staff General Raheel Sharif; Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Rizwan Akhtar, and the commander of Pakistan's Army Rangers, General Bilal Akbar. Sources claim that these three generals have forged an aggressive battle plan with which to roll back extremist Muslim jihadists threatening Islamabad's sovereign control over the country.
This triad has apparently also purged the Pakistani Army officer corps of anyone suspected of sympathizing with Islamic terrorist factions.
Shortly after assuming command of the Pakistani Army, General Sharif vowed that "eradicate the last sanctuary of Islamic militants in the tribal regions" of Pakistan's northwest.[5] These tribal regions include the Federal Administered Tribal Areas, as well as North and South Waziristan. The campaign against terrorist havens in Pakistan's northwest, launched on June 14, 2014, has already killed more than 3000 militants, according to Army headquarters.[6] In August 2014, Pakistani Air Force planes bombed what was said to be the last sanctuary of terrorists in North Waziristan, the thickly forested Shawal.
Some observers speculate that it was the success of this offensive that elicited the attack by terrorists on the Public School Compound in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, which killed 132 boys and 9 members of the staff. Lending credence to this revenge-attack theory was a phone call from Taliban spokesman Mohammad Umar Khorasani to the local media in Peshawar. "We wanted them to feel our pain," he said.[7]
Some of the Pakistani Army soldiers who participated in the bombing offensive in the northwest apparently had children enrolled in the school.
An office at the Public School Compound in Peshawar, Pakistan, after the December 16, 2014 terrorist attack that killed 132 boys and 9 members of the staff. (Image source: BBC video screenshot)
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The methodical nature of the terrorist operation at the school, and the heartless nature of that mass killing of children, may foreshadow future attacks on similar easy targets such as defenseless Christian neighborhoods.
Members of Pakistan's military who asked to remain anonymous said they expected the terrorist factions in Peshawar to stage mass atrocity spectaculars like the school massacre in the near future.
Christian clerics have been warned not to venture far from their churches. One minister was told no longer to take his morning or evening walks. Other Christians have been warned not to agree to any outside meetings unless they know the party well.
General Sharif and his allies in the military's high command have been in large part responsible for shifting the nation's security concerns away from India and to groups such as the Pakistani Taliban. As police guards have proven inadequate and unreliable, Christian groups are hoping that the military will protect them.
There is, as well, another incentive for Islamic terrorists to attack Christians: Few Pakistanis will shed a tear for people who do not, in their eyes, represent Pakistan's Islamic values.