CNN.COM
KABUL, Afghanistan-- Afghanistan's president is downplaying accusations of widespread fraud in his country's recent elections, but he's emphasizing the importance of a runoff for the sake of ensuring peace and stability in his nascent and war-torn democracy.
"We must have a second round," Hamid Karzai said in a taped and exclusive interview for the Fareed Zakaria GPS show that airs Sunday on CNN. "If we don't do that, we would be insulting democracy. And I pledge to respect the vote of the people."
In the first interview since a runoff was announced, Karzai said there were so many claims of widespread corruption in the election two months ago that he started to believe that the voting was fraud-laden. In fact, he said, he too began to doubt the results.
"But three days before I made the decision to call for a runoff, I got convinced that all that was said was mostly wrong," said Karzai, who ran for presidential re-election against several candidates.
"There were some mistakes. There were some instances of fraud, but the nation as a whole was clean, and the result was clear. I decided for peace, for stability and for the future of democracy in Afghanistan and for the future of institutional order in Afghanistan to call for a runoff, and I find that in the interest of the Afghan people."
Last month, final uncertified results showed Karzai with 54 percent of the vote, but a report by a U.N.-backed panel of election monitors said there was widespread fraud in the August 20 presidential election.
The U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission invalidated nearly one-third of Karzai's votes because of "clear and convincing evidence of fraud." Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission then certified the voting results, which gave him less than the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.
The fraud claims reverberated politically in the United States, where criticism of the Afghan war gained even more traction when citizens and lawmakers began questioning whether it was worth sacrificing troops to support what they viewed as a corrupt government.
In light of the fraud claims and in the face of Western pressure, Karzai agreed to a November 7 runoff with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.
"Whatever happens, this election must present a clear result, and that result must be respected," Karzai said. "But of course the international community and us, the Afghans, must do everything that we can to make it better, to make it much more legitimate and to make it worthwhile of the effort of the Afghan people."
Asked whether he was pressured into accepting another round of voting, Karzai said that many world leaders called and asked him to accept the ultimate results, but he said those requests weren't the reason he accepted the runoff.
"It was recognizing that Afghanistan had gone through so many years of difficulty, so many years of internal strife backed by foreign players, and I felt as if Afghanistan was entering that period again. I felt as if Afghans were pitching one against the other, and for that reason, and for the reason of safety and security of the Afghan people and as I mentioned earlier, cementing democratic traditions in Afghanistan, I went to agree to a second round, which I believe is good for Afghanistan, which will eventually be good for all of us," he said.
At the same time, Karzai said, the "last election was not as bad as it was claimed; it was a lot better."
"Afghanistan is a poor country, in Western terminology -- a Third World country," he said, observing that it "has gone through years of war."
"The institutions are just young toddlers in this democracy that resembles a toddler. It walks and falls. We have to understand that, and we have to accept the Afghan elections in the context of the Afghan situation and the poverty and lack of means in this country," Karzai said.
Karzai said in the interview that "Afghanistan always had a national unity government" and that "I will have an inclusive government as always."
"Dr. Abdullah did not vote for me in 2004, but I continued to keep him as the minister of foreign affairs for another year and a half," he said, saying he's "known for consensus."
He was asked to respond to widespread concerns in the United States about his government and a comment from Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that "the key question we face is, is the government in Afghanistan, is Hamid Karzai's government a reliable partner for the United States?"
"Well, we have the same question, too," Karzai said, noting that the partnership "is not a one-way street."
"Is the United States a reliable partner with Afghanistan? Is the West a reliable partner with Afghanistan? Have we received the commitments that we were given? Have we been treated like a partner? How do we define a partnership?"
Karzai noted that his countrymen have been incensed over civilian deaths caused by international airstrikes.
And, he said, the Pashtun people, among whom the Taliban has much support, can't be "weaned away" from the insurgency if they are under attack, feeling insecure and have no hope for the future.
"The trouble between my government and myself and our allies has been these blind bombardments of our villages, the attacks on our people at night, raiding their homes, arresting them and putting them in prison," he said.
He added he supports Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recent report on Afghanistan that calls for protecting the civilian population. McChrystal is the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
McChrystal reportedly is asking for an additional 40,000 additional troops, and Karzai said future numbers would have to be discussed after the election.
"The arrival of forces must enhance the sense of protection of the Afghan people and must give protection to the Afghan people. It must not be a capture and kill pursuit of the Taliban; it must be one that provides protection to the country and must also lead to the enhancement of the abilities of the Afghan military and security forces. Therefore they have to come as liberators as they did in 2002 and not otherwise," he said.
Asked about American skepticism over whether the Afghan government is a "legitimate" partner, Karzai said World Bank and U.N. reports show that the "Afghan government is found more capable of delivering the resources to the Afghan people, that the money spend by the Afghan government is spent much better and more efficiently, and on the right projects."
He said there's a "strong institutional structure" in the banks, the Finance Ministry and the accounting system.
He also cited improvement in the judicial realm.
"We're a lot better, a lot more capable, a lot more able to deliver justice then we were seven years ago. It will take a lot more in many more years, sir, to get to where we desire to, and for that we must have patience."
Asked about Pakistan's massive ground offensive in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, a sanctuary for insurgents bordering Afghanistan, Karzai said Afghanistan is "fully behind any efforts to remove extremists and terrorists" and said Afghanistan and Pakistan have a "very constructive relationship at present." But he cautioned that the war on terrorism shouldn't be a war on the indigenous people in the region.
"We must make sure that no civilians are hurt, that no Pashtun families, because they happen to be Pashtun and happen to be affected by terrorists who have taken place in their midst, they must not be hurt or affected," he said.
"As soon as the election is over, if I win in that election, I will make sure to enhance that relationship with Pakistan," he said.
Karzai was asked whether the Pakistani military will target another region, North Waziristan, and attack the groups that have been striking Afghanistan.
"I can't predict that. I hope we will be able to conduct an effective campaign against terrorism, making sure that every Taliban are not hurt, because every Talib is not a terrorist, the Taliban are thousands of people in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"We must differentiate between the Taliban and the terrorists, attack al Qaeda and the terrorists and leave the civilians and the Taliban who are not part of that structure out and respect their life and their property.
He also disputed charges that many insurgents are inspired by opposition to his government, not global Jihad.
"Well, that sort of story has been going around for some time. I think it's not going to serve anybody in America or NATO to try and make scapegoats out of the Afghan government, or out of the Afghan people. I think we must recognize that we have all made mistakes. Some in Afghanistan, some in the international community. So let's correct those mistakes and lets move forward if we are interested in fighting terrorism effectively," he said.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Restaurants, hotels closed down in Peshawar
PESHAWAR: Adding more to the gloom of the provincial capital, all the main restaurants of the city were closed on Saturday, for the first time in the contemporary history of the area.
The Frontier Hotels and Restaurants Association announced closing down their 21 outlets for three days to express solidarity with the owners of Swan Restaurant, attacked with a car bomb on Friday where at least 15 people were injured. The association president, Khalid Ayub, complained of inadequate security for hotels and restaurants, saying they would extend their protest if not provided security.
The general public was of the view this was because of the worsening law and order situation as well as certain visible and invisible threats to the crowded places that forced the owners of restaurants to suspend their business for at least three days.
Many were stunned Saturday evening to see the restaurants on main University Road, where over three dozens food outlets are located, shut.
“This is so disturbing. I was shocked to see all the top restaurants on the University Road shut. This is what I am seeing for the first time in my life,” a senior doctor of the city, Dr Gohar Amin, told The News. He said not only the adults are going through a painful time but even his eight-year-old son asked to shift to safer place in search of peace.
Manager of one of the closed restaurants told this scribe that they were going to shut their outlets to express solidarity with the management of Swan Restaurant.
“We also want to close our restaurants for three days to protest against the inadequate security measures around the food outlets,” stated the manager, wishing not to mention his or his restaurant’s name.
Some of the food outlets, mostly local branches of international chains, had already received threats from different groups to stop their business.
A branch of an international food chain has restricted activities in its Peshawar outlet after several threats. Security was also beefed up in and around the fast food restaurant to protect the visitors. Security was at its best in and around another branch of an international chain on Khyber Road. An Italian restaurant on Ring Road has also been closed owing to the deteriorating law and order and for not being visited by enough number of customers due to insecurity.
Even ahead of closure of the food outlets, the prevailing situation had scared the food lovers who had stopped visiting restaurants to secure their lives and loved ones.
Online adds: Commissioner Peshawar division Azam Khan has directed law enforcement agencies to arrest the insurgents involved in rocket attacks in different areas of the city and to investigate about the specifications and range of fired missiles.
Presiding a high level meeting here Saturday that was attended by senior police officials and political agents, the commissioner directed law enforcement agencies to investigate in details the rocket firing incidents by specifying the designs and range of the fired missiles.
The Frontier Hotels and Restaurants Association announced closing down their 21 outlets for three days to express solidarity with the owners of Swan Restaurant, attacked with a car bomb on Friday where at least 15 people were injured. The association president, Khalid Ayub, complained of inadequate security for hotels and restaurants, saying they would extend their protest if not provided security.
The general public was of the view this was because of the worsening law and order situation as well as certain visible and invisible threats to the crowded places that forced the owners of restaurants to suspend their business for at least three days.
Many were stunned Saturday evening to see the restaurants on main University Road, where over three dozens food outlets are located, shut.
“This is so disturbing. I was shocked to see all the top restaurants on the University Road shut. This is what I am seeing for the first time in my life,” a senior doctor of the city, Dr Gohar Amin, told The News. He said not only the adults are going through a painful time but even his eight-year-old son asked to shift to safer place in search of peace.
Manager of one of the closed restaurants told this scribe that they were going to shut their outlets to express solidarity with the management of Swan Restaurant.
“We also want to close our restaurants for three days to protest against the inadequate security measures around the food outlets,” stated the manager, wishing not to mention his or his restaurant’s name.
Some of the food outlets, mostly local branches of international chains, had already received threats from different groups to stop their business.
A branch of an international food chain has restricted activities in its Peshawar outlet after several threats. Security was also beefed up in and around the fast food restaurant to protect the visitors. Security was at its best in and around another branch of an international chain on Khyber Road. An Italian restaurant on Ring Road has also been closed owing to the deteriorating law and order and for not being visited by enough number of customers due to insecurity.
Even ahead of closure of the food outlets, the prevailing situation had scared the food lovers who had stopped visiting restaurants to secure their lives and loved ones.
Online adds: Commissioner Peshawar division Azam Khan has directed law enforcement agencies to arrest the insurgents involved in rocket attacks in different areas of the city and to investigate about the specifications and range of fired missiles.
Presiding a high level meeting here Saturday that was attended by senior police officials and political agents, the commissioner directed law enforcement agencies to investigate in details the rocket firing incidents by specifying the designs and range of the fired missiles.
Government not to bow to terrorists: CM
PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti Saturday said the nation was united against terrorists and the menace of terrorism would be wiped out from the country at all costs.
“We will not bow to the terrorists. Operation against the militants in South Waziristan has been launched and no one would be allowed to challenge the writ of the government elsewhere,” the chief minister told a cabinet meeting at the Civil Secretariat.
The meeting was convened in the wake of Waziristan operation and subsequent terrorist activities in the province.
Besides cabinet members, the meeting was also attended by the chief secretary and heads of all concerned departments and district coordination officers.
The meeting was briefed in detail about the operation in Waziristan and security arrangements in the province.
The chief minister lauded the sacrifices of the police and said all possible steps were being taken to strengthen the force in the province. He said the government had already decided to increase the strength of police in the districts. “The relatives of the slain cops would be proffered in new appointment,” the chief minister said and directed the concerned authorities to implement the ‘Shuhada Package’ as early as possible.
Hoti also said the police in Peshawar range and southern districts would also get special package soon.
He said a force comprising former soldiers would also be formed for Peshawar on which work was in progress.
“We will not bow to the terrorists. Operation against the militants in South Waziristan has been launched and no one would be allowed to challenge the writ of the government elsewhere,” the chief minister told a cabinet meeting at the Civil Secretariat.
The meeting was convened in the wake of Waziristan operation and subsequent terrorist activities in the province.
Besides cabinet members, the meeting was also attended by the chief secretary and heads of all concerned departments and district coordination officers.
The meeting was briefed in detail about the operation in Waziristan and security arrangements in the province.
The chief minister lauded the sacrifices of the police and said all possible steps were being taken to strengthen the force in the province. He said the government had already decided to increase the strength of police in the districts. “The relatives of the slain cops would be proffered in new appointment,” the chief minister said and directed the concerned authorities to implement the ‘Shuhada Package’ as early as possible.
Hoti also said the police in Peshawar range and southern districts would also get special package soon.
He said a force comprising former soldiers would also be formed for Peshawar on which work was in progress.
'Afghanistan Has Changed'
news.sky.com
The man up against Hamid Karzai for the presidency of Afghanistan tells Sky News that his country has changed from a tribal to a democratic land.
The man up against Hamid Karzai for the presidency of Afghanistan tells Sky News that his country has changed from a tribal to a democratic land.
Rs2.5bn released to meet urgent needs of IDPs
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira Saturday said the government has released Rs2.5 billion to meet the urgent needs of the dislocated persons from South Waziristan.
Addressing a joint press conference with Director General ISPR, Major General Athar Abbas here to brief media persons about the updates on the on-going operation in South Waziristan Agency, he said the government would leave no stone unturned to facilitate around 20,872 families from the area.
‘This is our responsibility to meet all needs of the displaced people as the process of registration of around 9,297 new IDP families is going on smoothly, and there is no problem in this regard,’ he added.
He said 11,000 families from South Waziristan Agency have already been registered and each displaced family is being provided with Rs5,000 as food-aid through cash cards, while they would also be provided money for purchase of non-food items.
Kaira said the rehabilitation process of IDPs from Swat and Malakand is in progress and besides taking various steps for their welfare, the government was also planning to initiate financial empowerment programmes there
Addressing a joint press conference with Director General ISPR, Major General Athar Abbas here to brief media persons about the updates on the on-going operation in South Waziristan Agency, he said the government would leave no stone unturned to facilitate around 20,872 families from the area.
‘This is our responsibility to meet all needs of the displaced people as the process of registration of around 9,297 new IDP families is going on smoothly, and there is no problem in this regard,’ he added.
He said 11,000 families from South Waziristan Agency have already been registered and each displaced family is being provided with Rs5,000 as food-aid through cash cards, while they would also be provided money for purchase of non-food items.
Kaira said the rehabilitation process of IDPs from Swat and Malakand is in progress and besides taking various steps for their welfare, the government was also planning to initiate financial empowerment programmes there
Security forces capture Taliban chief’s hometown
PESHAWAR: Pakistan said Saturday it had captured Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud’s hometown as the US demonstrated its support for the war on the militants with an air strike that killed more than 14 people.
Security officials said the army overran Mehsud’s town of Kotkai overnight after three days of aerial bombardments which had underlined the huge challenge facing the military in taking on the Taliban in their tribal heartland.
And in another part of the northwest tribal belt, a missile fired by an unmanned US drone spy plane killed more than 14 people including three foreign militants, local officials said.
Although figures are impossible to verify, the army says more than 160 militants and 23 troops have been killed in the week-long South Waziristan offensive. Twelve militants and three soldiers died in the final stages of the battle for Kotkai, it added.
‘Today, after intense fighting, security forces took complete control of the town of Kotkai,’ the army’s chief spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told a press conference.
The army said many of the houses in Kotkai had been converted into bunkers by militants and it was also the site of a training camp for suicide bombers.
‘Security forces are in the process of clearing the build-up area of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), booby-traps and mines,’ the spokesman added.
Abbas said the Taliban had been hit by a large number of desertions, saying that the militants were now trimming their beards to distance themselves from their erstwhile comrades in arms.
The army launched the drive last Saturday, pitting 30,000 troops against estimated 10,000-12,000 Taliban fighters where Al-Qaeda-linked militants are believed to have plotted attacks against the West as well as in Pakistan.
The army had promised to make the Taliban leadership a particular target of their offensive and sealed off the main road into Kotkai last weekend.
There has been no word on the whereabouts of Mehsud since the operation began.
Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt has become a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardliner Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001.
While US ground troops are not free to operate in Pakistan, it has carried out a series of air strikes by unmanned planes.
The latest killed more than 14 people in the Bajaur district, to the north of Waziristan, and officials said the toll was likely to rise.
One security official said that a house was targeted in Damadola village, saying those killed included three foreign militants.
Another security official said a tunnel linked to a bunker in the house of a relative of local Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Maulvi Faqir Mohammad was targeted.
Some of his relatives were among the dead and there were reports Mohammad himself had been in the house but left 10 minutes before the strike, he added.
Announcing plans for both himself and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit soon, Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the region, said the US is ‘very impressed with the Pakistani resolve’.
Although the government has said it will deal a decisive blow to the militants, the rebels have continued to carry out attacks in Pakistani cities since the start of the operation, with the military a major target.
On Friday, a bomb attack outside a Pakistani Air Force base killed six civilians and two air force personnel. On Thursday in Islamabad gunmen killed a brigadier and his driver.
Nearly 200 people have been killed in attacks this month alone.
‘The wave of militancy has adversely affected every segment of society,’ Gilani told a meeting of his top security officials late Friday.
Security officials said the army overran Mehsud’s town of Kotkai overnight after three days of aerial bombardments which had underlined the huge challenge facing the military in taking on the Taliban in their tribal heartland.
And in another part of the northwest tribal belt, a missile fired by an unmanned US drone spy plane killed more than 14 people including three foreign militants, local officials said.
Although figures are impossible to verify, the army says more than 160 militants and 23 troops have been killed in the week-long South Waziristan offensive. Twelve militants and three soldiers died in the final stages of the battle for Kotkai, it added.
‘Today, after intense fighting, security forces took complete control of the town of Kotkai,’ the army’s chief spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told a press conference.
The army said many of the houses in Kotkai had been converted into bunkers by militants and it was also the site of a training camp for suicide bombers.
‘Security forces are in the process of clearing the build-up area of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), booby-traps and mines,’ the spokesman added.
Abbas said the Taliban had been hit by a large number of desertions, saying that the militants were now trimming their beards to distance themselves from their erstwhile comrades in arms.
The army launched the drive last Saturday, pitting 30,000 troops against estimated 10,000-12,000 Taliban fighters where Al-Qaeda-linked militants are believed to have plotted attacks against the West as well as in Pakistan.
The army had promised to make the Taliban leadership a particular target of their offensive and sealed off the main road into Kotkai last weekend.
There has been no word on the whereabouts of Mehsud since the operation began.
Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt has become a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardliner Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001.
While US ground troops are not free to operate in Pakistan, it has carried out a series of air strikes by unmanned planes.
The latest killed more than 14 people in the Bajaur district, to the north of Waziristan, and officials said the toll was likely to rise.
One security official said that a house was targeted in Damadola village, saying those killed included three foreign militants.
Another security official said a tunnel linked to a bunker in the house of a relative of local Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Maulvi Faqir Mohammad was targeted.
Some of his relatives were among the dead and there were reports Mohammad himself had been in the house but left 10 minutes before the strike, he added.
Announcing plans for both himself and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit soon, Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the region, said the US is ‘very impressed with the Pakistani resolve’.
Although the government has said it will deal a decisive blow to the militants, the rebels have continued to carry out attacks in Pakistani cities since the start of the operation, with the military a major target.
On Friday, a bomb attack outside a Pakistani Air Force base killed six civilians and two air force personnel. On Thursday in Islamabad gunmen killed a brigadier and his driver.
Nearly 200 people have been killed in attacks this month alone.
‘The wave of militancy has adversely affected every segment of society,’ Gilani told a meeting of his top security officials late Friday.
Islamabad on Edge
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Islamabad, once the safest city in the country, feels under siege, as the war has crept across the border from Afghanistan, now slowly into the capital with near daily Taliban bombings and shootings. Constant threats of suicide attacks have spread unaccustomed panic. Schools are closed. Shopping malls are deserted. Traffic has thinned. With winter approaching, evenings are darker and quieter with a foreboding air.
“I’m concerned about my children and their future,” said Saba Sharif, 27, a mother of three children, who range in age from one to five years old. “Yesterday, I was talking to my husband’s sister who is in Canada. She said that we should apply for immigration to Calgary.”
And it’s not just personal safety: Her husband, Usman, 33, leases a coal mine near Islamabad. But the deteriorating security situation is making him feel jittery about his heavy investment.
Though Pakistan is hardly immune to violence, Islamabad, with the grand Hindu Kush to the north and east, once had a serene quality to it.
Now diplomats are drawing contingency plans, fearing bigger attacks and nervous that suicide attackers may enter the city’s heavily guarded diplomatic zone. People have started forwarding short text messages on their cellphones, warning friends and relatives about places that might be possible targets or to ensure that vehicles are locked while idling at traffic signals to deter any hostage-taking attempts by bombers on the loose. Security checkpoints and barriers cause long queues of cars and people fear this might actually attract a terrorist attack.
Madeeha Hazoor, 27, said that while Pakistan has been dangerous for some time, she has only begun to feel it in the capital recently.
“My brother was in a building, which a suicide bomber attacked; a friend’s father was in a target killing and many other people I know were close to an area that was attacked minutes later,” she said.
“ People are avoiding going out, my office has told us to work from home, whenever us friends have to hang out - we try and plan something at someone’s house rather than at a restaurant,” she said. “If I do go to eat out, I visualize which seat would be safest to sit at in case of an attack!”
Beenisch Tahir, a freelance writer for an English-language daily, said: “Being used to a peaceful Islamabad, where safety was the last thing that ever entered our minds, having it ruined because of terrorism in the last two years especially makes me angry.’
“Many of us just refuse to give up our right to normalcy,” she said.
But a new normal is evolving here, which some find as disturbing as the attacks themselves. Grim news, killings and scenes of devastation are now all too frequent and give terrorism a strange, disturbing sense of familiarity.
“Maybe we’re desensitized,” Ms. Tahir said. “Or maybe we’re just sick of living like this for the last few years and just can’t take it anymore. Now I check the news like I check a game for the score.”
“It is sad,” she said.
Look at insurgent groups on Afghan-Pakistan border
Associated Press
A complex network of insurgents is battling U.S. forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The groups include:
_Afghan Taliban: A hard-line Pakistani-sponsored movement that began forming during the 1970s as part of the mujahadeen, or freedom fighters, who battled the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan until the Russians were ousted in 1989. The Taliban emerged as a united entity in 1994 and took control of the country in 1996, instituting a strict and often brutal sharia, or Islamic law.
Led by Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban sheltered Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But the group was toppled shortly after the U.S. and allied invasion a month later. The U.S. government estimates there are roughly 25,000 members of the Afghan Taliban. Mullah Omar remains a fugitive.
Al-Qaida also has strong ties with the network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, Afghans who direct the fight against U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan from the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan.
_Pakistan Taliban: Formed more recently, the group is known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban Movement. It initially was led by Baitullah Mehsud. Largely a loose federation of various tribal and regional faction united by Mehsud, the group is located mainly in strongholds along the northwestern tribal belt, where the militants are also believed to be providing safe havens for senior al-Qaida leaders, including bin laden.
Mehsud was killed in an Aug. 5 CIA missile strike in northwestern Pakistan. He was replaced by his military chief, Hakimullah Mehsud. U.S. officials said it is hard to determine the precise number of Pakistani Taliban along the border, but they say it's in the thousands.
_Al-Qaida: Established by bin Laden in 1988 with the stated goal of uniting Muslims to defeat the West and form an Islamic caliphate. The group is behind a number of high-profile attacks including the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the Sept. 11 attacks that saw 19 al-Qaida members hijack four airlines and slam them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.
While weakened and diminished in Iraq, the group has spawned franchises or affiliates in East Africa, Somalia, Indonesia and other locations around the world. Officials say there are a couple hundred in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, including bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.
A complex network of insurgents is battling U.S. forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The groups include:
_Afghan Taliban: A hard-line Pakistani-sponsored movement that began forming during the 1970s as part of the mujahadeen, or freedom fighters, who battled the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan until the Russians were ousted in 1989. The Taliban emerged as a united entity in 1994 and took control of the country in 1996, instituting a strict and often brutal sharia, or Islamic law.
Led by Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban sheltered Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But the group was toppled shortly after the U.S. and allied invasion a month later. The U.S. government estimates there are roughly 25,000 members of the Afghan Taliban. Mullah Omar remains a fugitive.
Al-Qaida also has strong ties with the network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, Afghans who direct the fight against U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan from the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan.
_Pakistan Taliban: Formed more recently, the group is known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban Movement. It initially was led by Baitullah Mehsud. Largely a loose federation of various tribal and regional faction united by Mehsud, the group is located mainly in strongholds along the northwestern tribal belt, where the militants are also believed to be providing safe havens for senior al-Qaida leaders, including bin laden.
Mehsud was killed in an Aug. 5 CIA missile strike in northwestern Pakistan. He was replaced by his military chief, Hakimullah Mehsud. U.S. officials said it is hard to determine the precise number of Pakistani Taliban along the border, but they say it's in the thousands.
_Al-Qaida: Established by bin Laden in 1988 with the stated goal of uniting Muslims to defeat the West and form an Islamic caliphate. The group is behind a number of high-profile attacks including the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the Sept. 11 attacks that saw 19 al-Qaida members hijack four airlines and slam them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.
While weakened and diminished in Iraq, the group has spawned franchises or affiliates in East Africa, Somalia, Indonesia and other locations around the world. Officials say there are a couple hundred in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, including bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Obama Declares Swine Flu a National Emergency
NewYorkTimes
WASHINGTON — President Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, allowing hospitals and local governments to speedily set up alternate sites and procedures if needed to handle any surge of patients, the White House said on Saturday.
The declaration came when long lines formed around the country for the swine flu vaccine, with distribution that has not met demand.
Flu activity — virtually all of it the swine flu — is now widespread in 46 states, a level that federal officials say equals the peak of a typical winter flu season. Millions of people in the United States have had swine flu, known as H1N1, either in the first wave in the spring or the current wave.
Although no one has an exact count of the flu’s mortality, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it had killed more than 1,000 Americans and hospitalized over 20,000.
The emergency declaration, which Mr. Obama signed Friday night, has to do only with hospital treatment, not with the vaccine.
A spokesman for the C.D.C., David Daigle, said he had not heard of any hospital that has faced a surge of patients so large that it had to set up a triage area or a treatment unit off-site. He knew of hospitals in Texas and Tennessee that had set up triage tents in their parking lots in order to screen patients with fever or other flu symptoms, but those have been on hospital grounds, he said.
Against this backdrop, administration officials emphasized that Mr. Obama’s declaration was largely a bureaucratic move that did not signify any unanticipated worsening of the outbreak of the H1N1 flu nationwide. Nor, they said, does it have anything to do with the recent reports of vaccine shortages.
“This is not a response to any new developments,” said Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman. “It’s an important tool in our kit going forward.”
Public and private health officials were administering swine flu shots at scores of locations around the country this weekend.
In Chicago, health officials began giving free vaccinations at six City College locations on Saturday, and within hours officials were turning away hundreds of people because supplies had been exhausted.
Health officials said that they distributed 1,500 doses at each of the sites and that they began the vaccinations at 9 a.m. But two hours before the centers opened, there were already hundreds of people waiting in line for the numbered cards that were needed to get the vaccination. With the number of patients outrunning the supply, officials said that they would give priority to patients who fell into the higher-risk groups.
The seasonal flu typically hospitalizes 200,000 people in the United States each year and kills 36,000. But over 90 percent of the deaths from seasonal flu are among the elderly, while the swine flu mostly affects the young.
The country is in the midst of a serious shortage of swine flu vaccine; only about 16 million doses are available. There is no overall shortage of seasonal flu vaccine — 85 million doses have already shipped, and the regular flu season has not started. But there are temporary local shortages.
The president’s signature on the declaration fulfills the second of two conditions necessary under federal law to empower Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, to issue waivers expediting health care facilities’ ability to transfer patients to other locations. The first condition was met in April when the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency, which Ms. Sebelius renewed for a second time on Oct. 20.
The declaration allows hospitals to apply to the Department of Health and Human Services for waivers from laws that in normal times are intended to protect patients’ privacy and to ensure that they are not discriminated against based on their source of payment for care, including Medicare, Medicaid and the states’ Children’s Health Insurance Program.
As a practical matter, officials said, the waiver could allow a hospital in danger of being overwhelmed with swine flu patients to remove them, and any emergency room visitors suspected of having the illness, to a location such a local armory to segregate such cases for treatment.
In a few cases, hospitals already have set up tents on their sites. But under federal law, if the patients are sent off-site, the hospital might be refused reimbursement for the care as a sanction.
Since last winter’s more isolated cases of swine flu, the expectation that the virus would return with a vengeance in this flu season had posed a test of the Obama administration’s preparedness. Officials are mindful that the previous administration’s failure to better prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left doubts that dogged President George W. Bush to the end of his term.
WASHINGTON — President Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, allowing hospitals and local governments to speedily set up alternate sites and procedures if needed to handle any surge of patients, the White House said on Saturday.
The declaration came when long lines formed around the country for the swine flu vaccine, with distribution that has not met demand.
Flu activity — virtually all of it the swine flu — is now widespread in 46 states, a level that federal officials say equals the peak of a typical winter flu season. Millions of people in the United States have had swine flu, known as H1N1, either in the first wave in the spring or the current wave.
Although no one has an exact count of the flu’s mortality, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it had killed more than 1,000 Americans and hospitalized over 20,000.
The emergency declaration, which Mr. Obama signed Friday night, has to do only with hospital treatment, not with the vaccine.
A spokesman for the C.D.C., David Daigle, said he had not heard of any hospital that has faced a surge of patients so large that it had to set up a triage area or a treatment unit off-site. He knew of hospitals in Texas and Tennessee that had set up triage tents in their parking lots in order to screen patients with fever or other flu symptoms, but those have been on hospital grounds, he said.
Against this backdrop, administration officials emphasized that Mr. Obama’s declaration was largely a bureaucratic move that did not signify any unanticipated worsening of the outbreak of the H1N1 flu nationwide. Nor, they said, does it have anything to do with the recent reports of vaccine shortages.
“This is not a response to any new developments,” said Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman. “It’s an important tool in our kit going forward.”
Public and private health officials were administering swine flu shots at scores of locations around the country this weekend.
In Chicago, health officials began giving free vaccinations at six City College locations on Saturday, and within hours officials were turning away hundreds of people because supplies had been exhausted.
Health officials said that they distributed 1,500 doses at each of the sites and that they began the vaccinations at 9 a.m. But two hours before the centers opened, there were already hundreds of people waiting in line for the numbered cards that were needed to get the vaccination. With the number of patients outrunning the supply, officials said that they would give priority to patients who fell into the higher-risk groups.
The seasonal flu typically hospitalizes 200,000 people in the United States each year and kills 36,000. But over 90 percent of the deaths from seasonal flu are among the elderly, while the swine flu mostly affects the young.
The country is in the midst of a serious shortage of swine flu vaccine; only about 16 million doses are available. There is no overall shortage of seasonal flu vaccine — 85 million doses have already shipped, and the regular flu season has not started. But there are temporary local shortages.
The president’s signature on the declaration fulfills the second of two conditions necessary under federal law to empower Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, to issue waivers expediting health care facilities’ ability to transfer patients to other locations. The first condition was met in April when the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency, which Ms. Sebelius renewed for a second time on Oct. 20.
The declaration allows hospitals to apply to the Department of Health and Human Services for waivers from laws that in normal times are intended to protect patients’ privacy and to ensure that they are not discriminated against based on their source of payment for care, including Medicare, Medicaid and the states’ Children’s Health Insurance Program.
As a practical matter, officials said, the waiver could allow a hospital in danger of being overwhelmed with swine flu patients to remove them, and any emergency room visitors suspected of having the illness, to a location such a local armory to segregate such cases for treatment.
In a few cases, hospitals already have set up tents on their sites. But under federal law, if the patients are sent off-site, the hospital might be refused reimbursement for the care as a sanction.
Since last winter’s more isolated cases of swine flu, the expectation that the virus would return with a vengeance in this flu season had posed a test of the Obama administration’s preparedness. Officials are mindful that the previous administration’s failure to better prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left doubts that dogged President George W. Bush to the end of his term.
Pakistan troops retake Taliban stronghold in Waziristan
Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery recaptured a strategic town from Taliban militants after fierce fighting, officials said on Saturday.
Kotkai town in South Waziristan has changed hands three times since the army launched a major offensive on Taliban strongholds a week ago, highlighting the difficulty of seizing territorial advantage in the rugged mountains and valleys near Afghanistan.
It is also the birthplace of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and the home town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior commander known as "the mentor of suicide bombers".
The offensive is a test of the government's determination to tackle Islamist fundamentalists, and the campaign is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan's growing conflict.
The militants have responded by stepping up a campaign of suicide bomb attacks and commando raids that have killed more than 150 people and wounded even more in the past three weeks.
Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said security forces entered Kotkai on Friday evening and were now clearing the area. Government troops first took the town on Monday, but the Taliban retook control a day later.
"The place was a stronghold of terrorists, with a majority of households turned into bunkers," he told a news conference, adding that militants were abandoning their weapons and shaving their beards to try to blend in with ordinary civilians and avoid capture.
Abbas said the military was ahead of schedule on the offensive but the terrain meant operations were going to slow down.
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in South Waziristan but aid officials do not expect the exodus to become a humanitarian crisis, as did a similar offensive in the Swat Valley earlier this year.
The rise in urban attacks by militants is taking a toll, however, with the country's stock market .KSE -- which has performed well this year after a slump in line with global markets -- dropping 6 percent in a week.
Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan, with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose their appetite for the offensive.
A suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key airforce facility on Friday. Hours later, a car bomb outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar wounded 15 people.
Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, has become a global hub for militants who flit between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A missile believed fired from a U.S. predator drone aircraft on Saturday killed at least 15 militants at a senior Taliban commander's hideout in the neighbouring tribal area of Bajaur, a government official said.
"All of them are militants, including foreigners," a senior government official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
He said the commander, Maulvi Faqir, narrowly escaped, but two of his relatives were killed.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hardcore Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.
In the last 24 hours, Abbas said 21 militants and three soldiers had been killed in Waziristan.
Foreign journalists are not allowed anywhere near the battle zone and it is dangerous even for Pakistani reporters to visit, so independent confirmation of casualty figures is difficult to obtain.
Kotkai town in South Waziristan has changed hands three times since the army launched a major offensive on Taliban strongholds a week ago, highlighting the difficulty of seizing territorial advantage in the rugged mountains and valleys near Afghanistan.
It is also the birthplace of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and the home town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior commander known as "the mentor of suicide bombers".
The offensive is a test of the government's determination to tackle Islamist fundamentalists, and the campaign is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan's growing conflict.
The militants have responded by stepping up a campaign of suicide bomb attacks and commando raids that have killed more than 150 people and wounded even more in the past three weeks.
Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said security forces entered Kotkai on Friday evening and were now clearing the area. Government troops first took the town on Monday, but the Taliban retook control a day later.
"The place was a stronghold of terrorists, with a majority of households turned into bunkers," he told a news conference, adding that militants were abandoning their weapons and shaving their beards to try to blend in with ordinary civilians and avoid capture.
Abbas said the military was ahead of schedule on the offensive but the terrain meant operations were going to slow down.
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in South Waziristan but aid officials do not expect the exodus to become a humanitarian crisis, as did a similar offensive in the Swat Valley earlier this year.
The rise in urban attacks by militants is taking a toll, however, with the country's stock market .KSE -- which has performed well this year after a slump in line with global markets -- dropping 6 percent in a week.
Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan, with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose their appetite for the offensive.
A suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key airforce facility on Friday. Hours later, a car bomb outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar wounded 15 people.
Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, has become a global hub for militants who flit between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A missile believed fired from a U.S. predator drone aircraft on Saturday killed at least 15 militants at a senior Taliban commander's hideout in the neighbouring tribal area of Bajaur, a government official said.
"All of them are militants, including foreigners," a senior government official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
He said the commander, Maulvi Faqir, narrowly escaped, but two of his relatives were killed.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hardcore Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.
In the last 24 hours, Abbas said 21 militants and three soldiers had been killed in Waziristan.
Foreign journalists are not allowed anywhere near the battle zone and it is dangerous even for Pakistani reporters to visit, so independent confirmation of casualty figures is difficult to obtain.
Students unite against terrorism
Students from various private universities of Karachi gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Saturday to denounce all acts of terrorism and raise their voice against the closure of educational institutions across the country till Monday.
Friday, October 23, 2009
NATO Defense Ministers Endorse Wider Afghan Effort
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Defense ministers from NATO on Friday endorsed the ambitious counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan proposed by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, giving new impetus to his recommendation to pour more troops into the eight-year-old war.
General McChrystal, the senior American and allied commander in Afghanistan, made an unannounced appearance here on Friday to brief the defense ministers on his strategic review of a war in which the American-led campaign has lost momentum to a tenacious Taliban insurgency.
“What we did today was to discuss General McChrystal’s overall assessment, his overall approach, and I have noted a broad support from all ministers of this overall counterinsurgency approach,” said NATO’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The acceptance by NATO defense ministers of General McChrystal’s approach did not include a decision on new troops, and it was not clear that their judgment would translate into increased willingness by their governments, many of which have been seeking to reduce their military presence in Afghanistan, to contribute further forces to the war.
But it was another in a series of judgments that success there could not be achieved by a narrower effort that did not increase troop levels in Afghanistan substantially and focused more on capturing and killing terrorists linked to Al Qaeda — a counterterrorism strategy identified with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The NATO briefing, though held privately, thrusts General McChrystal back into the debate over what President Obama should do about Afghanistan — a role that has raised tensions with the White House in the past, and even drawn a rebuke from the general’s boss, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.
NATO’s support got no official reaction from the White House. But an administration official noted that an endorsement by defense ministers was not the same as an endorsement by the alliance’s political leadership. Other officials were emphatic that Mr. Obama would not be stampeded in his deliberations and suggested that the NATO statement should not be taken as evidence that the White House has made a decision about how to proceed.
“In no way, shape or form are the president’s options constrained,” said Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, speaking to reporters at the State Department.
General McChrystal’s review calls for adopting a full-scale counterinsurgency strategy that would protect population centers and accelerate training of Afghan Army and police units — both of which would require significant numbers of fresh troops. NATO diplomats noted that it was difficult to see how an acceptance of this broad strategy could be viewed as anything but an endorsement of the need to increase both military and civilian contributions.
Mr. Gates, who has kept his views about additional troops close to his vest and has discouraged his commanders from lobbying too publicly for their positions, declined to be drawn out on this assessment.
“For this meeting, I am here mainly in listening mode,” Mr. Gates said in Bratislava after the NATO briefing, although he noted that “many allies spoke positively about General McChrystal’s assessment.”
Mr. Gates said the administration’s decision on Afghanistan was still two or three weeks away, and he cautioned that it was “vastly premature” to draw conclusions now about whether the president would deploy more troops. He said that allied defense ministers had not voiced concerns about the administration’s decision-making process.
Although NATO will not meet until next month to decide whether to commit more resources to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates did reveal that he had received indications that some allies were prepared to increase their contributions of civilian experts or troops, or both.
Britain and other NATO members have had their own fractious political debates over troop levels. A retired top general in Britain recently said that the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown had rebuffed his requests for more troops, a charge Mr. Brown denied.
Separate from his strategic review, General McChrystal has submitted a request for forces, which is now working its way through both the American and NATO chains of command.
The options submitted by General McChrystal range to a maximum of 85,000 more troops, although his leading option calls for increasing forces by about 40,000, according to officials familiar with the proposal.
The pressure for more troops was a theme throughout the day at the NATO meeting, as other senior international representatives told defense ministers of the need to increase their commitments in order to succeed in Afghanistan.
The United Nations special representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, who also flew to the Slovakian capital to meet the ministers, stressed that “additional international troops are required.” He also told the allies, “This cannot be a U.S.-only enterprise.”
Mr. Eide acknowledged that it might be difficult to rally public support for force contributions while allegations of election fraud continued to taint the government of President Hamid Karzai.
Senior American military officers have already endorsed General McChrystal’s overall strategy, including Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander in the Middle East.
Senior NATO officials made clear that additional commitments should go beyond combat forces to include trainers for the Afghan Army and police force, as well as civilians to help rebuild the economy and restore confidence in the government.
“What we need is a much broader strategy, which stabilizes the whole of Afghan society, and this is the essence in the recommendations presented by General McChrystal,” said Mr. Rasmussen, the NATO secretary general. “This won’t happen just because of a good plan. It will also need resources — people and money.”
General McChrystal was not scheduled to make any public comments here. The general’s reticence was not unexpected, as some administration officials have criticized his recent statements as an attempt to press the White House to act.
The general and his aides have denied they were playing politics. General McChrystal said in a recent interview that success required a unified, government-wide strategy.
NATO officials assessing the potential for allied troop contributions said that delicate negotiations were under way, and that NATO capitals were watching the Obama administration for signals even while they sent signals of their own.
General McChrystal, the senior American and allied commander in Afghanistan, made an unannounced appearance here on Friday to brief the defense ministers on his strategic review of a war in which the American-led campaign has lost momentum to a tenacious Taliban insurgency.
“What we did today was to discuss General McChrystal’s overall assessment, his overall approach, and I have noted a broad support from all ministers of this overall counterinsurgency approach,” said NATO’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The acceptance by NATO defense ministers of General McChrystal’s approach did not include a decision on new troops, and it was not clear that their judgment would translate into increased willingness by their governments, many of which have been seeking to reduce their military presence in Afghanistan, to contribute further forces to the war.
But it was another in a series of judgments that success there could not be achieved by a narrower effort that did not increase troop levels in Afghanistan substantially and focused more on capturing and killing terrorists linked to Al Qaeda — a counterterrorism strategy identified with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The NATO briefing, though held privately, thrusts General McChrystal back into the debate over what President Obama should do about Afghanistan — a role that has raised tensions with the White House in the past, and even drawn a rebuke from the general’s boss, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.
NATO’s support got no official reaction from the White House. But an administration official noted that an endorsement by defense ministers was not the same as an endorsement by the alliance’s political leadership. Other officials were emphatic that Mr. Obama would not be stampeded in his deliberations and suggested that the NATO statement should not be taken as evidence that the White House has made a decision about how to proceed.
“In no way, shape or form are the president’s options constrained,” said Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, speaking to reporters at the State Department.
General McChrystal’s review calls for adopting a full-scale counterinsurgency strategy that would protect population centers and accelerate training of Afghan Army and police units — both of which would require significant numbers of fresh troops. NATO diplomats noted that it was difficult to see how an acceptance of this broad strategy could be viewed as anything but an endorsement of the need to increase both military and civilian contributions.
Mr. Gates, who has kept his views about additional troops close to his vest and has discouraged his commanders from lobbying too publicly for their positions, declined to be drawn out on this assessment.
“For this meeting, I am here mainly in listening mode,” Mr. Gates said in Bratislava after the NATO briefing, although he noted that “many allies spoke positively about General McChrystal’s assessment.”
Mr. Gates said the administration’s decision on Afghanistan was still two or three weeks away, and he cautioned that it was “vastly premature” to draw conclusions now about whether the president would deploy more troops. He said that allied defense ministers had not voiced concerns about the administration’s decision-making process.
Although NATO will not meet until next month to decide whether to commit more resources to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates did reveal that he had received indications that some allies were prepared to increase their contributions of civilian experts or troops, or both.
Britain and other NATO members have had their own fractious political debates over troop levels. A retired top general in Britain recently said that the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown had rebuffed his requests for more troops, a charge Mr. Brown denied.
Separate from his strategic review, General McChrystal has submitted a request for forces, which is now working its way through both the American and NATO chains of command.
The options submitted by General McChrystal range to a maximum of 85,000 more troops, although his leading option calls for increasing forces by about 40,000, according to officials familiar with the proposal.
The pressure for more troops was a theme throughout the day at the NATO meeting, as other senior international representatives told defense ministers of the need to increase their commitments in order to succeed in Afghanistan.
The United Nations special representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, who also flew to the Slovakian capital to meet the ministers, stressed that “additional international troops are required.” He also told the allies, “This cannot be a U.S.-only enterprise.”
Mr. Eide acknowledged that it might be difficult to rally public support for force contributions while allegations of election fraud continued to taint the government of President Hamid Karzai.
Senior American military officers have already endorsed General McChrystal’s overall strategy, including Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander in the Middle East.
Senior NATO officials made clear that additional commitments should go beyond combat forces to include trainers for the Afghan Army and police force, as well as civilians to help rebuild the economy and restore confidence in the government.
“What we need is a much broader strategy, which stabilizes the whole of Afghan society, and this is the essence in the recommendations presented by General McChrystal,” said Mr. Rasmussen, the NATO secretary general. “This won’t happen just because of a good plan. It will also need resources — people and money.”
General McChrystal was not scheduled to make any public comments here. The general’s reticence was not unexpected, as some administration officials have criticized his recent statements as an attempt to press the White House to act.
The general and his aides have denied they were playing politics. General McChrystal said in a recent interview that success required a unified, government-wide strategy.
NATO officials assessing the potential for allied troop contributions said that delicate negotiations were under way, and that NATO capitals were watching the Obama administration for signals even while they sent signals of their own.
Hillary to meet top leadership, revive strategic dialogue in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is arriving in Pakistan next Wednesday on her first visit to the country to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the country’s military leadership.
However, the US State Department said on Friday that Clinton will travel to Pakistan "soon", adding that dates could not be announced for security reasons.
“The secretary of state is visiting at a crucial time and the purpose of the visit is to strengthen the strategic partnership with Pakistan and assure long-term relations with Pakistan,” a diplomatic source said.
Strategic dialogue: The visit would help revive the Pak-US strategic dialogue, which was already raised to the ministerial level in August.
Clinton and Foreign Minister Qureshi will co-chair the new round of the upgraded dialogue.
The revival of the strategic dialogue would give a major boost to bilateral relations, which have lately been channelled through the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke.
The inaugural Pakistan-US strategic dialogue was held in Washington in April 2006 and was co-chaired by Pakistan’s then foreign secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan and US under secretary of state Nicholas Burns.
The decision to launch the strategic dialogue under the Pakistan-US strategic partnership was taken during the March 4, 2006 summit talks between then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and his US counterpart George W Bush.
During her meetings with the Pakistani leadership, the US secretary of state will be briefed on the country’s efforts to root out extremism and terrorism.
The government will also inform her about the successful military campaign against the Taliban in Swat, and the ongoing operation in South Waziristan.
The ongoing debate over US aid under the Kerry-Lugar legislation and army’s reservations on the law will also be part of Clinton’s discussions with the Pakistani leadership during her two-day visit.
The diplomatic sources said Clinton would try to assure various stakeholders that the US was not interested in micromanaging Pakistan or enforcing unnecessary restrictions that could harm long-term relations.
Pakistan’s concern over India’s involvement in Afghanistan and Balochistan is also likely to be taken up with Clinton.
However, the US State Department said on Friday that Clinton will travel to Pakistan "soon", adding that dates could not be announced for security reasons.
“The secretary of state is visiting at a crucial time and the purpose of the visit is to strengthen the strategic partnership with Pakistan and assure long-term relations with Pakistan,” a diplomatic source said.
Strategic dialogue: The visit would help revive the Pak-US strategic dialogue, which was already raised to the ministerial level in August.
Clinton and Foreign Minister Qureshi will co-chair the new round of the upgraded dialogue.
The revival of the strategic dialogue would give a major boost to bilateral relations, which have lately been channelled through the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke.
The inaugural Pakistan-US strategic dialogue was held in Washington in April 2006 and was co-chaired by Pakistan’s then foreign secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan and US under secretary of state Nicholas Burns.
The decision to launch the strategic dialogue under the Pakistan-US strategic partnership was taken during the March 4, 2006 summit talks between then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and his US counterpart George W Bush.
During her meetings with the Pakistani leadership, the US secretary of state will be briefed on the country’s efforts to root out extremism and terrorism.
The government will also inform her about the successful military campaign against the Taliban in Swat, and the ongoing operation in South Waziristan.
The ongoing debate over US aid under the Kerry-Lugar legislation and army’s reservations on the law will also be part of Clinton’s discussions with the Pakistani leadership during her two-day visit.
The diplomatic sources said Clinton would try to assure various stakeholders that the US was not interested in micromanaging Pakistan or enforcing unnecessary restrictions that could harm long-term relations.
Pakistan’s concern over India’s involvement in Afghanistan and Balochistan is also likely to be taken up with Clinton.
Another day, another blast
EDITORIAL:
THE NEWS
There is no longer anything unexpected about the terrorist attacks ripping through our country. The suicide attack near Attock and the Peshawar car-bomb blast on Friday cause us pain, anger and grief over the lives lost and misery felt, but not surprise. The military now tops the list of targets. The suicide bomber who struck the check post at the Kamra Aeronautical Complex near Attock was clearly hoping to claim the lives of as many men in uniform as possible. Two PAF personnel were among the seven killed. The Pakistan military have themselves become the hunted; their enemies can, it seems, strike anywhere and at anytime. In response to the operation in South Waziristan the ferocity of the attacks has been stepped up. But perhaps the latest rounds of bombings have a positive dimension. They help lay out in the starkest terms the contours of the war we are fighting. This is a war for survival; it pitches the state of Pakistan and all those who represent it against people who seek its destruction. There no room for ambiguity and no possibility of merely sitting on the fence.
There is reason to believe it is this sense of divide, the doubt over whether or not the Taliban were our real enemies, that allowed them over the past decade to grow in number and strength. We failed to go after them when the task could have been far more easily accomplished than is the case now. We were swayed in our resolve by those who insisted the militants presented no real threat; even that they were essentially good men and that our real fight lay with the US. We are now paying the price for holding such beliefs and for allowing them to shape policy. The elements within the establishment who propounded this point of view have a great deal to answer for. They can now make amends only by doing all that is possible to eliminate a ruthless enemy, before it destroys our nation and all that is good within it.
THE NEWS
There is no longer anything unexpected about the terrorist attacks ripping through our country. The suicide attack near Attock and the Peshawar car-bomb blast on Friday cause us pain, anger and grief over the lives lost and misery felt, but not surprise. The military now tops the list of targets. The suicide bomber who struck the check post at the Kamra Aeronautical Complex near Attock was clearly hoping to claim the lives of as many men in uniform as possible. Two PAF personnel were among the seven killed. The Pakistan military have themselves become the hunted; their enemies can, it seems, strike anywhere and at anytime. In response to the operation in South Waziristan the ferocity of the attacks has been stepped up. But perhaps the latest rounds of bombings have a positive dimension. They help lay out in the starkest terms the contours of the war we are fighting. This is a war for survival; it pitches the state of Pakistan and all those who represent it against people who seek its destruction. There no room for ambiguity and no possibility of merely sitting on the fence.
There is reason to believe it is this sense of divide, the doubt over whether or not the Taliban were our real enemies, that allowed them over the past decade to grow in number and strength. We failed to go after them when the task could have been far more easily accomplished than is the case now. We were swayed in our resolve by those who insisted the militants presented no real threat; even that they were essentially good men and that our real fight lay with the US. We are now paying the price for holding such beliefs and for allowing them to shape policy. The elements within the establishment who propounded this point of view have a great deal to answer for. They can now make amends only by doing all that is possible to eliminate a ruthless enemy, before it destroys our nation and all that is good within it.
Asfandyar confines himself to Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali has apparently restricted his movement, like some other politicians, in view of the persistent security threat he faces for his party’s stance against the militancy, The News learnt here Thursday.
After returning from abroad, the first major event he presided over was the tribal jirga in Peshawar on October 8. The next day he chaired a party meeting and then left for Islamabad and continues to live here.
The other day, he chaired a party consultative session here, which was participated among others, by ANP NWFP President Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Central Information Secretary Senator Zahid Khan and MNA Bushra Gohar.
Senior Vice-President Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel, when contacted on telephone for his comment, told this correspondent that the party president was staying back in the federal capital because of his hectic engagements here.
He pointed out that Asfandyar was to be part of the parliament’s joint sitting on October 26 and then regular session of the National Assembly, which may start from November 02. Moreover some important foreign dignitaries are likely to visit Islamabad. “You should remember, he is Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,” he quipped.
Asked whether or not his prolonged stay was because of security reasons, the ANP legislator counter-questioned whether it was proper that this question should be asked in the given scene. “Many of us face security threats, but life goes on. Maulana Fazlur Rehman moves in a bullet-proof vehicle so do many others like ex-interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao,” he said.
The ANP leader made it clear that his party would push ahead with anti-militancy, which was reflective of the nation’s sentiments and that no threat could deter it from pursuing the agenda.
However, he vehemently rejected the impression that the party head had confined himself to Islamabad because of the ongoing military operation in Waziristan and its possible fall out owing to his party’s position on the matter.
Asfandyar had survived a suicide attack in October last year on the first day of Eidul Azha at his guesthouse (Hujra) in his hometown Charsadda. Speaking on the occasion to media, he had reiterated his resolve not to surrender to extremists.
“Naturally, one has to be cautious. ANP has a categorical position on the menace of terrorism and militancy. Hardly any other party head speaks so openly and truly against this horrible challenge as does Asfandyar Wali,” remarked an ANP member of the National Assembly who did not want to be identified.
ANP’s Spokesman Arbab Muhammad Tahir from the Bacha Khan Markaz in Peshawar, when approached on phone, confirmed that the party leader had left for Islamabad in second week of October and was staying there.
After presiding over a party meeting at the Bacha Markaz, the party head had gone to Islamabad and had not returned since, he explained. He mainly attributed the party chief’s engagements for his prolonged stay and also pointed out that ANP was the main target of militants for its policy on Malakand and now on Waziristan.
“We have been calling for an early military action against militants in Waziristan,” he said. Arbab Tahir noted ANP had lost well over 200 party office-bearers and workers during the two years or so in bomb blasts and suicide attacks.
After returning from abroad, the first major event he presided over was the tribal jirga in Peshawar on October 8. The next day he chaired a party meeting and then left for Islamabad and continues to live here.
The other day, he chaired a party consultative session here, which was participated among others, by ANP NWFP President Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Central Information Secretary Senator Zahid Khan and MNA Bushra Gohar.
Senior Vice-President Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel, when contacted on telephone for his comment, told this correspondent that the party president was staying back in the federal capital because of his hectic engagements here.
He pointed out that Asfandyar was to be part of the parliament’s joint sitting on October 26 and then regular session of the National Assembly, which may start from November 02. Moreover some important foreign dignitaries are likely to visit Islamabad. “You should remember, he is Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,” he quipped.
Asked whether or not his prolonged stay was because of security reasons, the ANP legislator counter-questioned whether it was proper that this question should be asked in the given scene. “Many of us face security threats, but life goes on. Maulana Fazlur Rehman moves in a bullet-proof vehicle so do many others like ex-interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao,” he said.
The ANP leader made it clear that his party would push ahead with anti-militancy, which was reflective of the nation’s sentiments and that no threat could deter it from pursuing the agenda.
However, he vehemently rejected the impression that the party head had confined himself to Islamabad because of the ongoing military operation in Waziristan and its possible fall out owing to his party’s position on the matter.
Asfandyar had survived a suicide attack in October last year on the first day of Eidul Azha at his guesthouse (Hujra) in his hometown Charsadda. Speaking on the occasion to media, he had reiterated his resolve not to surrender to extremists.
“Naturally, one has to be cautious. ANP has a categorical position on the menace of terrorism and militancy. Hardly any other party head speaks so openly and truly against this horrible challenge as does Asfandyar Wali,” remarked an ANP member of the National Assembly who did not want to be identified.
ANP’s Spokesman Arbab Muhammad Tahir from the Bacha Khan Markaz in Peshawar, when approached on phone, confirmed that the party leader had left for Islamabad in second week of October and was staying there.
After presiding over a party meeting at the Bacha Markaz, the party head had gone to Islamabad and had not returned since, he explained. He mainly attributed the party chief’s engagements for his prolonged stay and also pointed out that ANP was the main target of militants for its policy on Malakand and now on Waziristan.
“We have been calling for an early military action against militants in Waziristan,” he said. Arbab Tahir noted ANP had lost well over 200 party office-bearers and workers during the two years or so in bomb blasts and suicide attacks.
Peshawarites witness another fateful Friday
PESHAWAR: Once again Friday brought grief and misery to the residents of the city as the terrorists chose the holy day to spread terror and fear through a car bombing in the posh Hayatabad town.
Muslims consider Friday a holy and blessed day, which is evident from sayings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). On the other hand, terrorists might be using it as a psychological tactic to persuade young suicide bombers to lay down their lives for a “noble” cause on a holy day.
The blast at the Swan Restaurant in Hayatabad was the third consecutive terrorist attack carried out on Friday. No death was reported in the incident but 15 people sustained injuries. On the previous Friday on October 16, a suicide bomber attacked the office of Special Investigation Unit of police near Swati Phatak in Peshawar Cantonment killing 15 people, including three policemen and a minor.
October 9 was another fateful Friday for Peshawarites when an explosives-laden car was blown up at the busy Soekarno Chowk killing 55 people and injuring more than 150. The Friday factor has added to public fears as on Thursday people in the streets were talking about another possible attack the next day. Thin presence in mosques for Friday prayers was witnessed as most of the people remained confined to their homes and offered their prayers at home.
A sense of fear, uncertainty and insecurity could be observed among the residents of the city. Their normal life has changed, compelling people to change their routine. Movement of people has become limited, bazaars are often deserted and people avoid leaving homes unless they have an unavoidable engagement.
The launch of the military operation ‘Rah-e-Nijat’ in South Waziristan Agency against the militants affiliated to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) a week ago has prompted the terrorists to launch suicide bombings and other attacks across the country, particularly in the NWFP and Punjab.
In the recent past, the government had claimed that it had broken the back of the terrorists who were on the run. The militants have, however, started striking back and showed that they are still capable of hitting back wherever they want despite all the security measures taken by the government agencies.
The terror acts have increased manifold across the country in general and in the province in particular in one month. Very thin presence of people is witnessed in the main shopping hubs of the city, including Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Khyber Bazaar, Namak Mandi, Chowk Yadgar, Hashtnagri, Saddar and University Road for the last few days.
Besides, because of barricades erected at entry points of the city as well as at all important places in the city and cantonment area, Peshawar gives a look of a besieged town.
Though the strict security measures are necessary to avert any terror act, the barricades have added to the miseries of the people as long queues of vehicles could be seen at almost every checkpoint, which could also prove an attractive target for the terrorists. The security personnel should avoid possibility of rush at entry points to avert any sabotage activity.
Dull days and disturbing nights have affected the life of the people and security threats keep them on their toes. No gatherings, partying or other enjoyment could be seen in the city. “People have lost the spirit to enjoy and laugh and even work. Stress and anxiety is visible from people’s faces,” said Ahmad Zeb, a doctor working at a government-run hospital.
Muslims consider Friday a holy and blessed day, which is evident from sayings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). On the other hand, terrorists might be using it as a psychological tactic to persuade young suicide bombers to lay down their lives for a “noble” cause on a holy day.
The blast at the Swan Restaurant in Hayatabad was the third consecutive terrorist attack carried out on Friday. No death was reported in the incident but 15 people sustained injuries. On the previous Friday on October 16, a suicide bomber attacked the office of Special Investigation Unit of police near Swati Phatak in Peshawar Cantonment killing 15 people, including three policemen and a minor.
October 9 was another fateful Friday for Peshawarites when an explosives-laden car was blown up at the busy Soekarno Chowk killing 55 people and injuring more than 150. The Friday factor has added to public fears as on Thursday people in the streets were talking about another possible attack the next day. Thin presence in mosques for Friday prayers was witnessed as most of the people remained confined to their homes and offered their prayers at home.
A sense of fear, uncertainty and insecurity could be observed among the residents of the city. Their normal life has changed, compelling people to change their routine. Movement of people has become limited, bazaars are often deserted and people avoid leaving homes unless they have an unavoidable engagement.
The launch of the military operation ‘Rah-e-Nijat’ in South Waziristan Agency against the militants affiliated to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) a week ago has prompted the terrorists to launch suicide bombings and other attacks across the country, particularly in the NWFP and Punjab.
In the recent past, the government had claimed that it had broken the back of the terrorists who were on the run. The militants have, however, started striking back and showed that they are still capable of hitting back wherever they want despite all the security measures taken by the government agencies.
The terror acts have increased manifold across the country in general and in the province in particular in one month. Very thin presence of people is witnessed in the main shopping hubs of the city, including Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Khyber Bazaar, Namak Mandi, Chowk Yadgar, Hashtnagri, Saddar and University Road for the last few days.
Besides, because of barricades erected at entry points of the city as well as at all important places in the city and cantonment area, Peshawar gives a look of a besieged town.
Though the strict security measures are necessary to avert any terror act, the barricades have added to the miseries of the people as long queues of vehicles could be seen at almost every checkpoint, which could also prove an attractive target for the terrorists. The security personnel should avoid possibility of rush at entry points to avert any sabotage activity.
Dull days and disturbing nights have affected the life of the people and security threats keep them on their toes. No gatherings, partying or other enjoyment could be seen in the city. “People have lost the spirit to enjoy and laugh and even work. Stress and anxiety is visible from people’s faces,” said Ahmad Zeb, a doctor working at a government-run hospital.
Refugees flee heavy fighting in South Waziristan
Pakistani military continues its offensive against Taliban fighters in South Waziristan
Nineteen days of bloodshed in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: A wave of suicide bombings, coordinated grenade, bomb and gun assaults, and drive-by shootings blamed on militants has left more than 190 people dead in Pakistan so far this month.
Here is a timeline of attacks in the past 19 days:
October 23: A suicide attack kills six people near a Pakistan air force base in Kamra, about 60 kilometres west of Islamabad.
October 22: Gunmen kill a Pakistani brigadier on leave from a UN peacekeeping mission and his driver in Islamabad.
October 20: Twin suicide blasts tear through Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five people as well as the bombers.
October 16: A suicide car bomb rips through a police investigation bureau killing 11 people and wounding 13 others in the northwest city of Peshawar.
October 15: Gunmen armed with suicide vests and grenades attack three police buildings in the eastern city of Lahore and bomb a northwest station, killing 39 people. A car bomb at a government residence in Peshawar kills a child.
October 12: A suicide bomber rips through a market as a paramilitary convoy passes in Shangla, a district neighbouring the northwest Swat valley and the target of a recent anti-Taliban offensive. About 45 people, mainly civilians, are killed. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims responsibility.
October 10/11: Ten militants besiege army headquarters in the garrison town Rawalpindi, with 23 people killed and 39 hostages freed. The dead included 11 troops, three hostages and nine attackers. TTP claims responsibility.
October 9: A suicide car bomber kills 52 civilians and wounds more than 100 in a crowded market in northwest city Peshawar. It is the sixth attack in four months in the city, near the tribal belt on the Afghan border where tens of thousands have fled a feared offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
October 5: Five UN World Food Programme workers are killed when a suicide bomber walks into their office in Islamabad and blows himself up, dressed in military uniform. The TTP claims responsibility for the attack.
Here is a timeline of attacks in the past 19 days:
October 23: A suicide attack kills six people near a Pakistan air force base in Kamra, about 60 kilometres west of Islamabad.
October 22: Gunmen kill a Pakistani brigadier on leave from a UN peacekeeping mission and his driver in Islamabad.
October 20: Twin suicide blasts tear through Islamabad's International Islamic University, killing five people as well as the bombers.
October 16: A suicide car bomb rips through a police investigation bureau killing 11 people and wounding 13 others in the northwest city of Peshawar.
October 15: Gunmen armed with suicide vests and grenades attack three police buildings in the eastern city of Lahore and bomb a northwest station, killing 39 people. A car bomb at a government residence in Peshawar kills a child.
October 12: A suicide bomber rips through a market as a paramilitary convoy passes in Shangla, a district neighbouring the northwest Swat valley and the target of a recent anti-Taliban offensive. About 45 people, mainly civilians, are killed. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims responsibility.
October 10/11: Ten militants besiege army headquarters in the garrison town Rawalpindi, with 23 people killed and 39 hostages freed. The dead included 11 troops, three hostages and nine attackers. TTP claims responsibility.
October 9: A suicide car bomber kills 52 civilians and wounds more than 100 in a crowded market in northwest city Peshawar. It is the sixth attack in four months in the city, near the tribal belt on the Afghan border where tens of thousands have fled a feared offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
October 5: Five UN World Food Programme workers are killed when a suicide bomber walks into their office in Islamabad and blows himself up, dressed in military uniform. The TTP claims responsibility for the attack.
Strong earthquake strikes Afghanistan and Pakistan
KABUL: A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit the border area between northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday, shaking buildings in both countries, officials said.
The quake struck at 12:21 am (1951 GMT Thursday) at a depth of 196 kilometres (122 miles) in the Hindu Kush area, the US Geological Survey said.
It said the epicentre was 77 kilometres south-southeast of Feyzabad in Afghanistan, near the Tajikistan border, and 115 kilometres northwest of Chitral in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
‘It was a severe earthquake. People woke up and came out of their houses, fortunately there was no damage,’ Chitral resident Momin Khan told AFP.
‘It was a major earthquake. The intensity was 6.3 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountains,’ said Riaz Khan, a senior official at Pakistan's meteorological department.
‘It was felt in most parts of Pakistan, including Kashmir, and also in Afghanistan,’ he told AFP.
‘So far we have no reports of human losses but there may be some slight damage in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan,’ he added.
The tremors woke Pakistanis up in the middle of the night in some areas where panicked residents ran out of their homes, witnesses said.
‘There are reports of five people slightly injured in Dir and Swat owing to cracks in walls,’ said Javed Khan, an official in the main police control room for Pakistan's NWFP.
‘But as a whole, there are no major losses or damage,’ he added.
Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are frequently hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million.
The quake struck at 12:21 am (1951 GMT Thursday) at a depth of 196 kilometres (122 miles) in the Hindu Kush area, the US Geological Survey said.
It said the epicentre was 77 kilometres south-southeast of Feyzabad in Afghanistan, near the Tajikistan border, and 115 kilometres northwest of Chitral in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
‘It was a severe earthquake. People woke up and came out of their houses, fortunately there was no damage,’ Chitral resident Momin Khan told AFP.
‘It was a major earthquake. The intensity was 6.3 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountains,’ said Riaz Khan, a senior official at Pakistan's meteorological department.
‘It was felt in most parts of Pakistan, including Kashmir, and also in Afghanistan,’ he told AFP.
‘So far we have no reports of human losses but there may be some slight damage in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan,’ he added.
The tremors woke Pakistanis up in the middle of the night in some areas where panicked residents ran out of their homes, witnesses said.
‘There are reports of five people slightly injured in Dir and Swat owing to cracks in walls,’ said Javed Khan, an official in the main police control room for Pakistan's NWFP.
‘But as a whole, there are no major losses or damage,’ he added.
Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are frequently hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Pukhtunkhwa govt demands military operation in Waziristan, Punjab
PESHAWAR: Following the suicide blast in Peshawar on Friday and Saturday’s attack on the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the NWFP government has demanded the federal government launch a decisive military operation in Waziristan and southern Punjab.
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain conveyed the provincial government’s demand during a press briefing on Saturday. “The NWFP government-supported military operation in Malakand has succeeded. The people of Malakand are free from the Taliban. Now, the time has come for the federal government to start a decisive military operation in Waziristan and put a halt to the terrorism spreading from these tribal agencies to the rest of the country,” he said.
“The NWFP will continue to be plagued by suicide attacks until the training centres are destroyed,” he said. The minister said there were reports of training camps in the Muridke region of Punjab too, adding the government should launch a military operation in that area as well.
Committed: The information minister said Friday’s suicide attack was the worst yet, as most of the deceased had been burnt beyond recognition. He said the Taliban, through such attacks, wanted to pressure the government to stop military operations. However, he added, the government would not stop until every last militant had been eliminated.
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain conveyed the provincial government’s demand during a press briefing on Saturday. “The NWFP government-supported military operation in Malakand has succeeded. The people of Malakand are free from the Taliban. Now, the time has come for the federal government to start a decisive military operation in Waziristan and put a halt to the terrorism spreading from these tribal agencies to the rest of the country,” he said.
“The NWFP will continue to be plagued by suicide attacks until the training centres are destroyed,” he said. The minister said there were reports of training camps in the Muridke region of Punjab too, adding the government should launch a military operation in that area as well.
Committed: The information minister said Friday’s suicide attack was the worst yet, as most of the deceased had been burnt beyond recognition. He said the Taliban, through such attacks, wanted to pressure the government to stop military operations. However, he added, the government would not stop until every last militant had been eliminated.
Pakistan vows revenge after devastating blast
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Eight-year-old Amna Bibi was dressed in festive orange and headed to a wedding with her family when the car bomb exploded yesterday near a crowded market in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
A man scooped up the girl and dashed from the scene. It was too late.
"Our sister is dead," her older sister said as tears rolled down her cheeks at the hospital. "We are wrecked."
The bomb tore through a busy road in the heart of Peshawar, a city of more than 3 million. The force of the blast flipped a bus on its side, ripped apart a motorbike and flung charred debris down the street.
Pakistan has been rocked by almost weekly attacks by Islamic militants, but the sheer horror of yesterday's bombing -- which killed 49 people and wounded more than 100 -- spurred the government to declare it would launch a new offensive against militant strongholds along the Afghan border.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the militants had left the government "no other option" but to hit back into the rugged mountains of South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal belt where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding.
"We will have to proceed," he told a local television station. "All roads are leading to South Waziristan."
The United States has been pressuring Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents who are using its soil as a base for attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan. A push into South Waziristan could be risky for the army, which was beaten back on three previous offensives there.
But the army may have been emboldened this year by a reasonably successful military campaign in the Swat Valley and adjoining Buner district and by the death in a U.S. missile strike of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
A man scooped up the girl and dashed from the scene. It was too late.
"Our sister is dead," her older sister said as tears rolled down her cheeks at the hospital. "We are wrecked."
The bomb tore through a busy road in the heart of Peshawar, a city of more than 3 million. The force of the blast flipped a bus on its side, ripped apart a motorbike and flung charred debris down the street.
Pakistan has been rocked by almost weekly attacks by Islamic militants, but the sheer horror of yesterday's bombing -- which killed 49 people and wounded more than 100 -- spurred the government to declare it would launch a new offensive against militant strongholds along the Afghan border.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the militants had left the government "no other option" but to hit back into the rugged mountains of South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal belt where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding.
"We will have to proceed," he told a local television station. "All roads are leading to South Waziristan."
The United States has been pressuring Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents who are using its soil as a base for attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan. A push into South Waziristan could be risky for the army, which was beaten back on three previous offensives there.
But the army may have been emboldened this year by a reasonably successful military campaign in the Swat Valley and adjoining Buner district and by the death in a U.S. missile strike of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
Security personnel taken hostage at GHQ: army
ISLAMABAD: Several gunmen who escaped after the attack Saturday morning on the Pakistan army HQ near Islamabad had taken some security personnel hostage and were encircled by troops, a military spokesman said.Army Spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said 4-5 militants were holed up in the security agency’s building and they had taken 10-15 hostages. ‘Efforts are under way for their safe recovery,’ said the spokesman.‘Security forces have surrounded the terrorists. We are trying to recover the hostages safely,’ he added.
NASA’s search of water on moon fails
WASHINGTON: The recent attempt from NASA to bomb moon surface in search of water has failed to achieve success as the dust appeared with the blow of rocket did not carry possible water vapors.
After gearing up for the space agency's much-hyped mission to hurl two spacecraft into the moon, the public turned away from the sky Friday anything but dazzled. Photos and video of the impact showed little more than a fuzzy white flash.
In social media and live television coverage, many people were disappointed at the lack of spectacle. One person even joked that someone hit the pause button in mission control.
Yet scientists involved in the project were downright gleeful. Sure, there were no immediate pictures of spewing plumes of lunar dust that could contain water, but, they say, there was something more important: chemical signatures in light waves.
That's the real bonanza, not pictures of geyser-like eruptions of debris, the scientists said.
The mission was executed for “a scientific purpose, not to put on a fireworks display for the public,'' said space consultant Alan Stern, a former NASA associate administrator for science.
Scientists said the public expected too much. The public groused as if NASA delivered too little. The divide was as big as a crater.
“We've been brainwashed by Hollywood to expect the money shot, like 'Deep Impact' or when Bruce Willis saves us from a comet,’ said physicist and television host Michio Kaku, who was not part of the mission. “Science is not done that way.'
After gearing up for the space agency's much-hyped mission to hurl two spacecraft into the moon, the public turned away from the sky Friday anything but dazzled. Photos and video of the impact showed little more than a fuzzy white flash.
In social media and live television coverage, many people were disappointed at the lack of spectacle. One person even joked that someone hit the pause button in mission control.
Yet scientists involved in the project were downright gleeful. Sure, there were no immediate pictures of spewing plumes of lunar dust that could contain water, but, they say, there was something more important: chemical signatures in light waves.
That's the real bonanza, not pictures of geyser-like eruptions of debris, the scientists said.
The mission was executed for “a scientific purpose, not to put on a fireworks display for the public,'' said space consultant Alan Stern, a former NASA associate administrator for science.
Scientists said the public expected too much. The public groused as if NASA delivered too little. The divide was as big as a crater.
“We've been brainwashed by Hollywood to expect the money shot, like 'Deep Impact' or when Bruce Willis saves us from a comet,’ said physicist and television host Michio Kaku, who was not part of the mission. “Science is not done that way.'
GHQ attacked; Brig, Lieut. Colonel among 10 killed
RAWALPINDI : Gunmen wearing military uniforms and wielding assault rifles and grenades attacked Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday, sparking a ferocious gunbattle outside the capital that killed four of the assailants and at least six soldiers, including one brigadier and a lieutenant colonel, media reported.
Two of the attackers managed to infiltrate the heavily fortified compound, and troops were trying to flush them out hours after the initial assault, the military said. An Associated Press reporter at the scene heard four gunshots from inside the compound - long after an army spokesman said the situation was under control.
The audacious assault was the third major militant attack in Pakistan in a week and came as the government said it was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.
It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan's security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August.
Pakistani media said that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the ongoing assaults strengthened the government's resolve to launch the offensive.
"We have been left no with other option except to go ahead to face them," he told a private television.
The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms, drove in a white van up to the army compound and tried to force their way inside, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.
The assailants shot at the guards at one checkpoint, killing some of them, and then jumped out of the van and ran toward a second checkpoint, he said. Abbas said the guards were likely confused by the attackers' uniforms.
The heavily armed attackers then took up positions throughout the area, hurling at least one grenade and firing sporadically at security forces, said a senior military official inside the compound. The official, who said top army officials were trapped in the compound during the assault, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Abbas, who told a private television channel that the assault was over and the situation "under full control."
But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the compound, and Abbas confirmed that two more gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi. The city, adjacent to the capital of Islamabad, is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.
Troops were closing in on the men, he said.
Abbas said six troops were killed and five wounded, one critically. An intelligence official said eight soldiers were killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver, was standing outside the gate of the compound when the white van pulled up, and the shooting erupted.
"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast. Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."
The gunbattle was the latest in a string of attacks on Pakistani cities, following a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a UN aid agency, Monday, that killed five in Islamabad. The man who attacked the UN was also wearing a security forces' uniform and was granted entry to the compound after asking to use the bathroom.
Two of the attackers managed to infiltrate the heavily fortified compound, and troops were trying to flush them out hours after the initial assault, the military said. An Associated Press reporter at the scene heard four gunshots from inside the compound - long after an army spokesman said the situation was under control.
The audacious assault was the third major militant attack in Pakistan in a week and came as the government said it was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.
It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan's security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August.
Pakistani media said that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the ongoing assaults strengthened the government's resolve to launch the offensive.
"We have been left no with other option except to go ahead to face them," he told a private television.
The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms, drove in a white van up to the army compound and tried to force their way inside, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.
The assailants shot at the guards at one checkpoint, killing some of them, and then jumped out of the van and ran toward a second checkpoint, he said. Abbas said the guards were likely confused by the attackers' uniforms.
The heavily armed attackers then took up positions throughout the area, hurling at least one grenade and firing sporadically at security forces, said a senior military official inside the compound. The official, who said top army officials were trapped in the compound during the assault, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Abbas, who told a private television channel that the assault was over and the situation "under full control."
But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the compound, and Abbas confirmed that two more gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi. The city, adjacent to the capital of Islamabad, is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.
Troops were closing in on the men, he said.
Abbas said six troops were killed and five wounded, one critically. An intelligence official said eight soldiers were killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver, was standing outside the gate of the compound when the white van pulled up, and the shooting erupted.
"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast. Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."
The gunbattle was the latest in a string of attacks on Pakistani cities, following a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a UN aid agency, Monday, that killed five in Islamabad. The man who attacked the UN was also wearing a security forces' uniform and was granted entry to the compound after asking to use the bathroom.
Death toll from Peshawar suicide car blast rises to 52
PESHAWAR: The death toll from the suicide car bombing in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar has risen to 52 after three more people died in hospital overnight, police and health officials said Saturday.
The massive blast ripped through a packed market at midday on Friday killing at least 49 people and injuring over 100.
Charred corpses were strewn in a shopping area of the city's main Khyber Bazaar, with cars reduced to burning wrecks and a city bus destroyed and flung on its side.
‘Three seriously injured died in the hospital and 15 more are in serious condition,’ said doctor Hameed Afridi, the chief executive of Peshawar's main Lady Reading Hospital.
‘We are trying our best to save their lives,’ Afridi said, adding that 47 dead bodies have been identified and handed over to relatives.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed the Taliban for the attack and said it could force the army to bring forward a planned operation to wipe out militant strongholds in the northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Peshawar is the main city in the northwest and has been a frequent target of extremists linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
‘They are compelling us to launch the operation in South Waziristan early. We will take a decision on the operation against terrorists over the next few days,’ Malik told reporters in Islamabad on Friday.
It was the sixth bombing in Peshawar in four months in which 77 people have been killed. It comes as the Pakistani Taliban have vowed to increase attacks to avenge the killing of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in August.
‘Senior police experts are investigating the blast, we have got some clues which can not be disclosed at this juncture,’ Liaqat Ali, police chief of Peshawar told AFP.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ‘strongly condemned’ the bombing, expressing his government's resolve to continue action against extremists, his office said in a statement.
The military is wrapping up a fierce offensive against Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat valley launched in April.
Friday's blast is the deadliest in Pakistan since March this year, when a suicide bomber attacked a packed mosque in the northwestern town of Jamrud at prayer time, killing around 50 people.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Monday on a UN office in Islamabad, which killed five aid workers.
The massive blast ripped through a packed market at midday on Friday killing at least 49 people and injuring over 100.
Charred corpses were strewn in a shopping area of the city's main Khyber Bazaar, with cars reduced to burning wrecks and a city bus destroyed and flung on its side.
‘Three seriously injured died in the hospital and 15 more are in serious condition,’ said doctor Hameed Afridi, the chief executive of Peshawar's main Lady Reading Hospital.
‘We are trying our best to save their lives,’ Afridi said, adding that 47 dead bodies have been identified and handed over to relatives.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed the Taliban for the attack and said it could force the army to bring forward a planned operation to wipe out militant strongholds in the northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Peshawar is the main city in the northwest and has been a frequent target of extremists linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
‘They are compelling us to launch the operation in South Waziristan early. We will take a decision on the operation against terrorists over the next few days,’ Malik told reporters in Islamabad on Friday.
It was the sixth bombing in Peshawar in four months in which 77 people have been killed. It comes as the Pakistani Taliban have vowed to increase attacks to avenge the killing of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in August.
‘Senior police experts are investigating the blast, we have got some clues which can not be disclosed at this juncture,’ Liaqat Ali, police chief of Peshawar told AFP.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ‘strongly condemned’ the bombing, expressing his government's resolve to continue action against extremists, his office said in a statement.
The military is wrapping up a fierce offensive against Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat valley launched in April.
Friday's blast is the deadliest in Pakistan since March this year, when a suicide bomber attacked a packed mosque in the northwestern town of Jamrud at prayer time, killing around 50 people.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Monday on a UN office in Islamabad, which killed five aid workers.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Peshawar bleeds
TheNews
There was a depressing, appalling, familiarity about the news that a car bomb had exploded in the busy Khyber bazaar area of Peshawar around noon on Friday. Friday; a time of prayer and peaceful reflection and celebration of the Muslim faith across the country, but seems to be the favourite day for those whose deadly business is to terrorise us. At the time of writing there are at least 42 dead and 54 injured with an estimated twenty of those injured being in critical condition. The numbers of dead and injured will inevitably rise. Rescue services are calling it the 'worst blast we have ever seen'. Interior Minister Rehman Malik was swift to condemn the atrocity and said that the long-promised operation in Waziristan was 'imminent'. Local business men speaking on private TV channels spoke of their frustration and anger at the way in which their lives and livelihoods were being destroyed and of their desire to leave the city as attempting to carry on business was pointless – and carried with it an unacceptable level of risk. There is understandable confusion about the type of device that caused this carnage, but the opinion seems to be that it was a suicide bomb, probably carried in a car which may have been moving at the time of the blast and the Khyber bazaar may not have been the intended target.
There will be entirely predictable statements that there has been a security lapse or failure and this that or the other agency has failed in its duty to protect the public. The bombers should have been spotted at any one of the numerous checkpoints that ring the city. Intelligence should have been better. CCTV cameras should have recorded them…all will be cited as a failure of the systems set up to protect the citizenry. All will miss the point that NWFP is a war-zone, not merely the site of what may euphemistically be termed an 'insurgency' – but an area where a fully-fledged war is being fought. It is a war fought by combatants who in one case may have signed the Geneva Convention on the conduct of warfare but have little care for it; and in the other the Geneva Convention is something they have never heard of. Civilian casualties are as much a part of the war in NWFP as were the thousands of refugees who died when the Allies firebombed Dresden in the Second World War or the civilians who were fried to a crisp in Hiroshima.
This is a war being fought with a ferocity that is increasing by the day and short of putting the entire city on lock-down there is probably little the civil or military authorities can do to stop the carnage. Realistically, there will be intelligence successes that we may not hear about, and operations that net the bombers and terrorists, but there will always be one that gets through. Such is the nature of warfare. This is a war that we cannot afford to lose no matter the attrition. It is our war, no matter how it gets 'dressed up' for political purposes. Ours to win and ours to lose. Now is the time for us to stand against the bombers and the gunmen, to expose them, reveal their dark plots and evil designs. More of us will die doing so, but stand we must.
40th terror attack in Peshawar since Malakand operation
PESHAWAR: The provincial capital has suffered almost 40 terrorist attacks since the launch of military operation in troubled Malakand Division last June.
The Friday blast in Soekarno Square was the deadliest so far, followed by explosion at the Pearl Continental (PC) hotel on June 9 that killed 17 people and injured over 50 others. Only a day after the PC blast, a police party on Ring Road near Charsadda Road was first attacked with a hand grenade and later hit by a suicide bomber to kill one person and injure eight policemen.
Intelligence reports about tasking terrorists to hit any target in Peshawar are being received on a daily basis. An alleged suicide bomber was caught along with two accomplices only a day before the Soekarno Square blast.
The city was attacked with almost 40 rockets in around a dozen barrages during the last less than one month. These rockets have landed in almost all parts of the provincial capital. Also, attacks on Nato terminals seem to have started once again as four vehicles were torched early Friday, exactly in the area where two oil tankers were attacked last month.
The situation has resulted in erecting barricades on almost all the main entry points to the city and cantonment, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of Peshawarites everyday. Apart from the inconvenience, the dwellers of the city are scared of almost daily terrorism incidents. This has forced many to change their planning, as they fear a bleak future of the city ahead due to wrong policies of tackling terrorists.
The holy month of Ramazan proved to be the most peaceful when only two terrorist attacks were reported, both in the first two days. One of the attacks occurred in Hayatabad where two people were killed while a suicide bomber blew himself up on the next day in Momin Town, killing five.
Peshawar has proved to be a soft target for terrorists since 2004. However, the ongoing wave of terror intensified first with the launch of military operation in Swat and then in the tribal agencies.
Peshawarites started to bear the brunt of the army action on May 8 when three rockets were fired at its international airport. A police van was attacked by the terrorists in Chamkani on May 12 when the cops were transporting some infamous militants. Police not only foiled the attack but also managed to gun down five attackers including a top leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Nato container terminals on the Ring Road were attacked twice in mid May, torching several trailers and containers. A suicide attack on FC camp near Matani killed 11 persons, including security personnel on May 11 while a huge blast ripped through the crowded Barrisco Bazaar near Aasya Gate on May 14, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others. The same day another explosion occurred in congested Gora Bazaar of the Peshawar cantonment that killed a minor girl and wounded four others when people were busy in shopping.
A high-intensity blast outside the Tasveer Mahal Cinema in Kabuli Chowk on May 21 killed another 12 people. Over 65 people, mostly labourers, were injured in the explosion that destroyed the cinema building and nearby establishments.
Terror struck the city again on May 28 with twin blasts in Qissa Khwani and a suicide attack on a police post in Sra Khawra on Kohat Road in quick succession. A total of nine people were killed in these terrorist attacks.
On June 3, a school was targeted with bombing in Sulemankhel village while a police van was blown up and its driver killed in another attack on police party in Hazarkhwani on June 8. Another school was blown up in Tirayee Payan on second day of Eidul Fitr.
Peshawar seems to be literally under siege where dwellers fear happening anything untoward to their lives and families. Police say that strict security measures have been taken in and around the town to protect its almost 3 million residents, but the fact is that the terrorist continue to hit targets right under the nose of several security agencies.
The Friday blast in Soekarno Square was the deadliest so far, followed by explosion at the Pearl Continental (PC) hotel on June 9 that killed 17 people and injured over 50 others. Only a day after the PC blast, a police party on Ring Road near Charsadda Road was first attacked with a hand grenade and later hit by a suicide bomber to kill one person and injure eight policemen.
Intelligence reports about tasking terrorists to hit any target in Peshawar are being received on a daily basis. An alleged suicide bomber was caught along with two accomplices only a day before the Soekarno Square blast.
The city was attacked with almost 40 rockets in around a dozen barrages during the last less than one month. These rockets have landed in almost all parts of the provincial capital. Also, attacks on Nato terminals seem to have started once again as four vehicles were torched early Friday, exactly in the area where two oil tankers were attacked last month.
The situation has resulted in erecting barricades on almost all the main entry points to the city and cantonment, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of Peshawarites everyday. Apart from the inconvenience, the dwellers of the city are scared of almost daily terrorism incidents. This has forced many to change their planning, as they fear a bleak future of the city ahead due to wrong policies of tackling terrorists.
The holy month of Ramazan proved to be the most peaceful when only two terrorist attacks were reported, both in the first two days. One of the attacks occurred in Hayatabad where two people were killed while a suicide bomber blew himself up on the next day in Momin Town, killing five.
Peshawar has proved to be a soft target for terrorists since 2004. However, the ongoing wave of terror intensified first with the launch of military operation in Swat and then in the tribal agencies.
Peshawarites started to bear the brunt of the army action on May 8 when three rockets were fired at its international airport. A police van was attacked by the terrorists in Chamkani on May 12 when the cops were transporting some infamous militants. Police not only foiled the attack but also managed to gun down five attackers including a top leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Nato container terminals on the Ring Road were attacked twice in mid May, torching several trailers and containers. A suicide attack on FC camp near Matani killed 11 persons, including security personnel on May 11 while a huge blast ripped through the crowded Barrisco Bazaar near Aasya Gate on May 14, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others. The same day another explosion occurred in congested Gora Bazaar of the Peshawar cantonment that killed a minor girl and wounded four others when people were busy in shopping.
A high-intensity blast outside the Tasveer Mahal Cinema in Kabuli Chowk on May 21 killed another 12 people. Over 65 people, mostly labourers, were injured in the explosion that destroyed the cinema building and nearby establishments.
Terror struck the city again on May 28 with twin blasts in Qissa Khwani and a suicide attack on a police post in Sra Khawra on Kohat Road in quick succession. A total of nine people were killed in these terrorist attacks.
On June 3, a school was targeted with bombing in Sulemankhel village while a police van was blown up and its driver killed in another attack on police party in Hazarkhwani on June 8. Another school was blown up in Tirayee Payan on second day of Eidul Fitr.
Peshawar seems to be literally under siege where dwellers fear happening anything untoward to their lives and families. Police say that strict security measures have been taken in and around the town to protect its almost 3 million residents, but the fact is that the terrorist continue to hit targets right under the nose of several security agencies.
Traumatic scenes witnessed at LRH
PESHAWAR: The emergency ward of the Lady Reading Hospital was the scene of human tragedy on Friday as people mourned the death of their near and dear ones in the suicide blast and were searching for their kin amid screams of the injured writhing in agony.
As many as 49 people were killed and over 100 injured when a suicide car bomb ripped through Soekarno Chowk. It was the second suicide attack in provincial metropolis in the fortnight, in which civilians were targeted.
A large number of people gathered at the emergency ward of the busiest tertiary care hospital of the province. Sobbing women and men could be seen moving in chaos as many did not know the fate of their loved ones. Several wounded brought to the hospital in critical condition succumbed to injuries.
Though the number of the injured was huge, the doctors and paramedical staff were devotedly treating the injured and worked hard. They have been very busy for the last two years due to frequent bomb blasts in Peshawar and other cities of the province.
Wearing no shoes and chaddar, a middle-aged woman was desperately searching for her son in various wards of the hospital. She was crying and repeatedly saying “wai zama Tariq sa sho” (oh! where is my Tariq). Her son, who belonged to Michni area of Peshawar, was a vendor who used to sell beans at the Soekarno Chowk.
Another person was mourning the death of his brother, who was the driver of the ill-fated mini-bus that was reduced to twisted irons in the incident. “I used to drive the bus but today my brother replaced me,” he said. Cursing the perpetrators of the blast, he said in choked voice that may these terrorists face the same fate. The conductor of the bus also died in the blast, he cried.
Raheem Zada, an elderly man, weeping on the death of his son and two nephews, said most of his family boys were daily wagers and used to come in search of work to Soekarno Chowk. He said all the three were having little kids. “What kind of Islam is this? Can any Muslim kill people in such a brutal manner?” he questioned.
The most heartrending scene was that of a five-year old Amna, killed in the blast and lying in the arms of her injured father at a hospital bed. The unfortunate Afghan family of Badaber was going by the bus to attend a marriage ceremony of a relative in Haripur. Instead of celebrating the marriage, the couple was mourning the death of the minor.
People in the emergency ward could not stop crying when they saw body of the innocent girl wearing bangles, with her hands adorned with Henna. With tears rolling down her face, the unlucky mother, Zarin Bibi who was standing beside the bed, said, “May God destroy their (terrorists’) own homes as they have unleashed barbarity on us.” She lost her daughter while two of her sons and husband were injured in the blast.
Naseebullah, 30, hailing from Timergara in Lower Dir, was hit by shrapnel on his right cheek. Talking to The News, Naseeb said that after collecting his passport, he went to Khyber Bazaar for shopping. He said there was rush at the time of the blast, adding that soon after the incident the entire area was covered with a cloud of dust, rendering people unable to see anything. He said as the dust settled, he saw bodies lying scattered at the scene, while the injured were crying for help. After the incident, the city was gripped by a wave of fear, grief and despondency. The traders association of Khyber Bazaar announced a three-day mourning.
As many as 49 people were killed and over 100 injured when a suicide car bomb ripped through Soekarno Chowk. It was the second suicide attack in provincial metropolis in the fortnight, in which civilians were targeted.
A large number of people gathered at the emergency ward of the busiest tertiary care hospital of the province. Sobbing women and men could be seen moving in chaos as many did not know the fate of their loved ones. Several wounded brought to the hospital in critical condition succumbed to injuries.
Though the number of the injured was huge, the doctors and paramedical staff were devotedly treating the injured and worked hard. They have been very busy for the last two years due to frequent bomb blasts in Peshawar and other cities of the province.
Wearing no shoes and chaddar, a middle-aged woman was desperately searching for her son in various wards of the hospital. She was crying and repeatedly saying “wai zama Tariq sa sho” (oh! where is my Tariq). Her son, who belonged to Michni area of Peshawar, was a vendor who used to sell beans at the Soekarno Chowk.
Another person was mourning the death of his brother, who was the driver of the ill-fated mini-bus that was reduced to twisted irons in the incident. “I used to drive the bus but today my brother replaced me,” he said. Cursing the perpetrators of the blast, he said in choked voice that may these terrorists face the same fate. The conductor of the bus also died in the blast, he cried.
Raheem Zada, an elderly man, weeping on the death of his son and two nephews, said most of his family boys were daily wagers and used to come in search of work to Soekarno Chowk. He said all the three were having little kids. “What kind of Islam is this? Can any Muslim kill people in such a brutal manner?” he questioned.
The most heartrending scene was that of a five-year old Amna, killed in the blast and lying in the arms of her injured father at a hospital bed. The unfortunate Afghan family of Badaber was going by the bus to attend a marriage ceremony of a relative in Haripur. Instead of celebrating the marriage, the couple was mourning the death of the minor.
People in the emergency ward could not stop crying when they saw body of the innocent girl wearing bangles, with her hands adorned with Henna. With tears rolling down her face, the unlucky mother, Zarin Bibi who was standing beside the bed, said, “May God destroy their (terrorists’) own homes as they have unleashed barbarity on us.” She lost her daughter while two of her sons and husband were injured in the blast.
Naseebullah, 30, hailing from Timergara in Lower Dir, was hit by shrapnel on his right cheek. Talking to The News, Naseeb said that after collecting his passport, he went to Khyber Bazaar for shopping. He said there was rush at the time of the blast, adding that soon after the incident the entire area was covered with a cloud of dust, rendering people unable to see anything. He said as the dust settled, he saw bodies lying scattered at the scene, while the injured were crying for help. After the incident, the city was gripped by a wave of fear, grief and despondency. The traders association of Khyber Bazaar announced a three-day mourning.
compensation for blast victims
The Pukhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Friday announced compensation for the deadly blast victims of Khyber Bazaar. This was announced by NWFP Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain in a press statement here. He said that Chief Minister has announced Rs.300,000 for each deceased and Rs. one lakh for each critical injured. He directed the DCO Peshawar to prepare list of the deceased and injured of the Khyber Bazaar's blast victims at earliest in order to provide them quick compensation.
49 killed, 100 hurt in Peshawar suicide blast
PESHAWAR: A massive suicide car bomb Friday ripped through Khyber market in Peshawar, leaving at least 49 people dead, officials said.The blast in a shopping area close to the northwestern city's main Khyber Bazaar also wounded more than 100 people, provincial health minister Zahir Ali Shah told reporters."At least 49 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the blast," Shah told reporters in the main Lady Reading Hospital,doctor Mehboob Ali at the hospital confirmed the toll and put the number of wounded at 103. The injured included women and children, he said.
More than 50 people were in serious condition, he said.
Police official Mohammad Karim estimated the size of the bomb at around 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds), while Shafqat Malik, chief of the bomb disposal squad, confirmed that a suicide attacker had detonated the bomb.
The device was planted in the door panels of the vehicle and included machinegun ammunition, designed to cause maximum casualties, Malik said.
"The suicide attacker was sitting in the vehicle," he added.Another police official, Nisar Marwat, said the death toll could rise, given that some of the wounded were in critical condition."We have declared an emergency in the hospitals," Local administration chief Sahibzada Mohammad Anis told reporters.
‘Doomsday’ blast kills 41 near Pakistan bazaar
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle along a road near a well-known market in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar on Friday, killing 41 people and underscoring militants' ability to strike in major cities despite U.S.-backed military offensives pressuring their networks.
The attack in the Khyber Bazaar area came as Pakistan's army prepares for another major operation in the al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan tribal region. The militants have threatened bombings if the army doesn't back off, but the U.S. has continued to prod Pakistan to take action against insurgents using its soil to fuel the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan.
Television footage showed the charred skeleton of a bus flipped on its side in the middle of a major road. Twisted remains of a motorbike lay alongside the bus. A nearby vehicle was in flames.
Noor Alam saw the vehicle explode, and suffered wounds on his legs and face.
"I saw a blood soaked leg landing close to me," Alam told The Associated Press at the overwhelmed Lady Reading hospital. "I understood for the first time in my life what a doomsday would look like."
Blast levels passing minibus
Peshawar Police Chief Liaqat Ali Khan said the attacker was in a car packed with "a huge quantity of explosives and artillery rounds." A minibus apparently carrying passengers nearby was also leveled in the blast.
It came days after a suicide attack killed five at a U.N. office in the capital, Islamabad and two weeks after another explosion killed 11 in a Peshawar commercial area.
It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since a suicide bomber demolished a packed mosque near the northwestern town of Jamrud in March, killing about 50.
Provincial Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah said 41 people were killed and more than 100 wounded Friday.
"Death has to come one day, but we will keep chasing these terrorists, and this attack cannot deter our resolve," Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said as he visited the bloody scene.
Arrest in attack on U.N. offices
Also Friday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a suspect had been arrested in Monday's suicide attack at the office of the U.N.'s World Food Program in Islamabad. Malik says the man was alleged to have given the attacker shelter, but gave few details.
Militants in Pakistan also have targeted trucks carrying supplies for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Early Friday, militants ambushed a tanker carrying fuel for the Western troops at a gas station near Peshawar, torching it, said Fazal Rabi, a police official. No injuries or deaths were reported.
U.S.-Pakistan tensions rising
The attacks come amid growing tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan over a multibillion-dollar U.S. aid package that is aimed at helping Pakistan's economy and other nonmilitary sectors.
Pakistan's army has raised concern over strings attached to the aid, bolstering critics who say it will invite U.S. interference.
The debate over the proposal also has exposed rifts between Pakistan's military and its weak civilian government.
The government has hailed the package, which would provide $1.5 billion a year over the next five years. But the measure, which awaits President Barack Obama's signature, makes U.S. aid contingent on whether Pakistan's government maintains effective control over the military, among other conditions.
The army, which has ruled Pakistan for around half its 62-year existence, raised "serious concern" over the conditions, while the government said nothing in it was against Pakistan's interests.
Nobel peace prize awarded to Barack Obama
The US president, Barack Obama, was today awarded the 2009 Nobel peace prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".
The Nobel committee said "only rarely has a person such as Obama captured the world's attention and given his people hope for a better future".
"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population," the citation said.
The committee said Obama, who only took up the presidency in January, had been acknowledged for his calls to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace.
"Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play."
The first African American to hold the country's highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and attempted - so far without success - to restart the stalled Middle East peace process. He is currently considering whether to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan where the US is mired in an eight-year-old conflict.
The choice of Obama for the prize from a field of more than 200 candidates astounded international commentators, in part because he took office less than two weeks before the February nomination deadline.
His name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award it to the president.
Michael Cox, a North America expert at the Chatham House thinktank, said: "It is difficult to see why it would be awarded to him at this stage in his presidency. There are problems in the Middle East and an ongoing war in Afghanistan. You could say it is a little bit premature. It is certainly a very interesting choice."
The committee said that for 108 years it had sought to stimulate precisely the international policy and attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman.
"The committee endorses Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges'."
Former US presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson won the award in 1906 and 1919 respectively. Former president Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002 for his "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflict".
The former US vice-president Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the UN panel on climate change.
The prize, worth 10 million Swedish crowns (£880,000), will be awarded in Oslo next month.
The Nobel committee said "only rarely has a person such as Obama captured the world's attention and given his people hope for a better future".
"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population," the citation said.
The committee said Obama, who only took up the presidency in January, had been acknowledged for his calls to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace.
"Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play."
The first African American to hold the country's highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and attempted - so far without success - to restart the stalled Middle East peace process. He is currently considering whether to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan where the US is mired in an eight-year-old conflict.
The choice of Obama for the prize from a field of more than 200 candidates astounded international commentators, in part because he took office less than two weeks before the February nomination deadline.
His name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award it to the president.
Michael Cox, a North America expert at the Chatham House thinktank, said: "It is difficult to see why it would be awarded to him at this stage in his presidency. There are problems in the Middle East and an ongoing war in Afghanistan. You could say it is a little bit premature. It is certainly a very interesting choice."
The committee said that for 108 years it had sought to stimulate precisely the international policy and attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman.
"The committee endorses Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges'."
Former US presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson won the award in 1906 and 1919 respectively. Former president Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002 for his "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflict".
The former US vice-president Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the UN panel on climate change.
The prize, worth 10 million Swedish crowns (£880,000), will be awarded in Oslo next month.
Peshawar suicide car blast kills 41, wounds 100
PESHAWAR: A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle along a road near a well-known market in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar on Friday, killing 41 people.
The attack in the Khyber Bazaar area came as Pakistan's army prepares for another major operation in the al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan tribal region. The militants have threatened bombings if the army doesn't back off.
Television footage showed the charred skeleton of a bus flipped on its side in the middle of a major road. Twisted remains of a motorbike lay alongside the bus. A nearby vehicle was in flames.
Noor Alam saw the vehicle explode, and suffered wounds on his legs and face.
‘I saw a blood soaked leg landing close to me,’ Alam told The Associated Press at the overwhelmed Lady Reading hospital. ‘I understood for the first time in my life what a doomsday would look like.’
Peshawar Police Chief Liaqat Ali Khan said the attacker was in a car packed with ‘a huge quantity of explosives and artillery rounds.’
A minibus apparently carrying passengers nearby was also levelled in the blast.
It came days after a suicide attack killed five at a UN office in the capital, Islamabad and two weeks after another explosion killed 11 in a Peshawar commercial area.
It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since a suicide bomber demolished a packed mosque near the northwestern town of Jamrud in March, killing about 50.
Provincial Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah said 41 people were killed and more than 100 wounded Friday.
‘Death has to come one day, but we will keep chasing these terrorists, and this attack cannot deter our resolve,’ Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said as he visited the bloody scene.
Also Friday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a suspect had been arrested in Monday's suicide attack at the office of the UN's World Food Program in Islamabad.
Malik says the man was alleged to have given the attacker shelter, but gave few details.
The attack in the Khyber Bazaar area came as Pakistan's army prepares for another major operation in the al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan tribal region. The militants have threatened bombings if the army doesn't back off.
Television footage showed the charred skeleton of a bus flipped on its side in the middle of a major road. Twisted remains of a motorbike lay alongside the bus. A nearby vehicle was in flames.
Noor Alam saw the vehicle explode, and suffered wounds on his legs and face.
‘I saw a blood soaked leg landing close to me,’ Alam told The Associated Press at the overwhelmed Lady Reading hospital. ‘I understood for the first time in my life what a doomsday would look like.’
Peshawar Police Chief Liaqat Ali Khan said the attacker was in a car packed with ‘a huge quantity of explosives and artillery rounds.’
A minibus apparently carrying passengers nearby was also levelled in the blast.
It came days after a suicide attack killed five at a UN office in the capital, Islamabad and two weeks after another explosion killed 11 in a Peshawar commercial area.
It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since a suicide bomber demolished a packed mosque near the northwestern town of Jamrud in March, killing about 50.
Provincial Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah said 41 people were killed and more than 100 wounded Friday.
‘Death has to come one day, but we will keep chasing these terrorists, and this attack cannot deter our resolve,’ Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said as he visited the bloody scene.
Also Friday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a suspect had been arrested in Monday's suicide attack at the office of the UN's World Food Program in Islamabad.
Malik says the man was alleged to have given the attacker shelter, but gave few details.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Peshawar: Water shortage in near future
PESHAWAR: The Peshawarites would face acute water problems in near future as the water table in Peshawar and surrounding areas is gradually falling, according to official sources. The sources added that the water table had fallen from 15 to 20 feet in the Peshawar valley, affecting the performance of tube-wells in many parts of the city. The water table, engineers said, had gone down in other parts of the province as well, particularly its southern belt and the adjacent tribal areas, causing shortage of water. The drought-like situation, which started in 2000, had affected over 2.2 million acres of agricultural lands in the province, according to a report compiled by the planning, environment and development department. The situation had forced a large number of people of southern districts to migrate to other areas. Many tube-wells ran dry in the city following which town municipal administrations had to connect additional pipes to make them operational. The residents of Hayatabad, University Town, Shaheen Town, Canal Town, etc., are facing water shortage. In Town-I alone, they said, 200 tubewells were in operation and added that capacity of each tube-well was around 10,000 gallons per hour. According to a report, by the year 2025, 52 nations comprising half the world's population, will have a severe shortage of potable water. In the next 25 years, some 3 billion people will be facing water shortages. In Pakistan, the vast majority of the country's 135 million inhabitants do not have access to drinkable water. Pakistan's attempt to raise the living standards of its citizens has meant that economic development has largely taken precedence over environmental issues. Unchecked use of hazardous chemicals, vehicle emissions, and industrial activity has contributed to a number of environmental and health hazards, chief among them being water pollution. Much of the country suffers from a lack of potable water due to industrial waste and agricultural runoff that contaminates drinking water supplies. Poverty and high population growth have aggravated, and to a certain extent, caused, these environmental problems. This means that most people are forced to use unclean water not only for all their sanitation needs, farming, and livestock but for drinking as well. For much of the population, often there is only one water source. It may be a nearby river or pond, maybe rain water from a catch basin or a creek. Typically, the water source is used by both humans and animals. People use it for bathing, washing up, doing laundry, collecting for cooking, and drinking. Needless to say, the water is anything but clean. Drinking water that is unsafe can, and usually does, lead to all sorts of health-related problems such as dysentery which is severe, prolonged diarrhea with bloody stools, fever, and weakness; cholera and typhoid; flukes stagnant, polluted water, especially in tropical areas, often contains blood flukes. If you swallow flukes, they will bore into the bloodstream, live as parasites, and cause disease; and leeches. If you swallow a leech, it can hook onto the throat passage or inside the nose. It will suck blood, create a wound, and move to another area. Each bleeding wound may become infected. Pakistan is currently in the midst of what some are saying is the worst water crisis the country has ever seen. The drought affecting the region threatens agricultural output, and levels in the country's reservoirs are dangerously low. While drought and pollution play a significant role in the lack of safe drinking water, some critics maintain that a large part of the problem is a result of poor management. By some estimates, as much as 60% of Pakistan's fresh water is allowed to go wasted, flowing back into the sea. Only 40% of the water is used. It is imperative that Pakistan seeks out new and cheaper ways to provide safe drinking water for its people. Some experts have looked at inexpensive desalination techniques, ones that could be employed on a mass scale. To be sure, this precious commodity, the very lifeblood of humans, is getting scarcer and scarcer everyday.
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