NewYorkTimes
WASHINGTON — Even as the Pakistani government plays down the American role in its military operations in Taliban-controlled areas along the border with Afghanistan, the United States has quietly rushed hundreds of millions of dollars in arms, equipment and sophisticated sensors to Pakistani forces in recent months, said senior American and Pakistani officials.
During preparations this spring for the Pakistani campaigns in Swat and South Waziristan, President Obama personally intervened at the request of Pakistan’s top army general to speed the delivery of 10 Mi-17 troop transport helicopters. Senior Pentagon officials have also hurried spare parts for Cobra helicopter gunships, night vision goggles, body armor and eavesdropping equipment to the fight.
American military surveillance drones are feeding video images and target information to Pakistani ground commanders, and the Pentagon has quietly provided the Pakistani Air Force with high-resolution, infrared sensors for F-16 warplanes, which Pakistan is using to guide bomb attacks on militants’ strongholds in South Waziristan.
In addition, the number of American Special Forces soldiers and support personnel who are training and advising Pakistani Army and paramilitary troops has doubled in the past eight months, to as many as 150, an American adviser said. The Americans do not conduct combat operations.
The increasing American role in shoring up the Pakistani military’s counterinsurgency abilities comes as the Obama administration debates how much of a troop commitment to make in neighboring Afghanistan. It also takes place as Taliban attacks are spreading into Pakistani cities. It is unclear whether Pakistani authorities are using any of the sophisticated surveillance equipment to combat the urban terrorism.
Underscoring the complexity of the relationship between the allies, Pakistani officials are loath to publicize the aid because of the deep-seated anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. And they privately express frustration about the pace and types of aid, which totals about $1.5 billion this year.
At a military briefing on Saturday, the Pakistani Army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said the fight in South Waziristan was a purely Pakistani enterprise, unaided by the United States or anyone else. “Let us finish the job on our own,” he told reporters.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a military analyst in Lahore, said that publicly acknowledging the military aid — an open secret in Pakistan — could hand militants fresh ammunition for propaganda attacks. “The Pakistan military would not like to talk about the U.S. assistance,” he said, “so that the Islamists, most of whom are opposed to military operations, do not get additional reason to criticize the military and the government.”
American officials in Pakistan — whom the Pakistani government directed earlier this year not to discuss the United States role in providing humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes by the fighting in Swat — said the same edict applied to war assistance.
“The Pakistanis insist on ‘no American face’ on their war. Period,” said one senior American military officer in Southwest Asia, who would speak only anonymously because he did not want to jeopardize his relationship with his Pakistani counterparts.
Given the reluctance of Pakistani and American officials to speak openly about the assistance, it is difficult to assess how effective the American aid has been in the current combat operations.
Beneath their official silence, many senior Pakistani military officials seethe at the months, or even years, of delay by the Pentagon in delivering promised hardware and troop reimbursements. They also gripe that the United States is denying them the best technology, like Predator drones or Apache helicopter gunships.
“We are grateful for the generosity but believe that we have now learned to fight with what all we possess and not what has been promised,” said one senior Pakistani officer, who was granted anonymity to provide a candid assessment.
Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council, a nonprofit policy and research group, sharply criticized the Obama administration in an essay on the organization’s Web site last week. “Pakistan still does not have all the weapons or assistance that it needs to do the job right,” he wrote.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged the frustrations in an interview this week with Dawn, a Pakistani daily newspaper, before arriving on a trip to Pakistan.
“We both have bureaucracies,” Mrs. Clinton said. “We know how it is sometimes that things get delayed or they’re slower than we want, but we’re really trying to accelerate everything we can to help the Pakistani military.” Mrs. Clinton did not provide any details.
An American adviser in Pakistan, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal United States policy, said, “U.S. current military assistance either demonstrates U.S. resolve and offsets anti-Americanism, or is deliberately underplayed to boost Pakistani military and political credibility, and the latter meets our policy objectives more closely.”
The United States has provided Pakistan with about $12 billion in military assistance and payments since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Pentagon reimburses Pakistan about $1 billion a year to cover its costs of fielding more than 100,000 troops along the Afghan border in counterinsurgency operations.
But in the past year, the Defense Department has significantly increased the shipment of military equipment to Pakistan to combat the increasingly violent insurgency.
Most significant was Mr. Obama’s involvement in speeding the delivery of the 10 Russian-built Mi-17s, at the request of the Pakistani army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Four of the transport helicopters were leased to Pakistan in June, and the rest were provided under different authorities to move Pakistani Army soldiers in the border region near Afghanistan.
“The president was engaged on this issue in the spring,” said a White House official, who spoke anonymously because he was discussing Mr. Obama’s involvement.
Also involved was Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who repeatedly pressed his staff to find the Mi-17s in American inventories and to figure out a way to provide them to Pakistan.
This year alone, the Pentagon is sending more than $500 million in arms, equipment and training assistance to Pakistan, to help train and equip the Pakistani military for counterinsurgency operations.
Included in that package is nearly $13 million in electronic eavesdropping equipment to intercept militants’ cellphone calls. In July, the Pentagon supplied Pakistan with 200 night vision goggles, 100 day/night scopes, more than 600 radios and 9,475 sets of body armor.
The Pentagon has also sharply increased programs to bring Pakistani officers to the United States for training, particularly in counterterrorism.
“We’ve put military assistance to Pakistan on a wartime footing, as up to now it has been in a peacetime process,” said Lt. Col. Mark Wright, a Pentagon spokesman. “We are doing everything within our power to assist Pakistan in improving its counterinsurgency capabilities.”
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
UN, US, UK outraged at Peshawar blast
UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON/LONDON: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said he was outraged by the “appalling” bomb attack in Peshawar. Ban condemned the “appalling bomb attack in Peshawar today” and said, “I want to express my outrage at the loss of so many innocent lives.” Around 100 people died when a huge car bomb ripped through a crowded market in the city, tearing down buildings. The attack occurred shortly after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the country to bolster the two countries’ alliance against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Underscoring the challenge, terrorists also stormed a UN compound in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing at least five employees of the world body. Separately, the White House condemned the terrorist attack in Peshawar and expressed condolences to the victims, Reuters reported. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the bombing showed the extent to which terrorists were willing to go and the type of threat they posed for both Pakistan and the US. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called the attack in Peshawar “despicable”. “We utterly condemn this despicable and indiscriminate attack against the Pakistani people. Our thoughts and condolences go to the victims and their families,” Miliband said in a statement, AFP reported. “The UK will continue to support Pakistan in its efforts to counter the threat it faces from violent extremism,” he added.
Afghan Runoff Stirs Concern of Repeat Fraud
Afghanistan is scheduled to hold its runoff presidential election November 7. But can an electoral process that was so deeply marred by fraud the first time around be fixed in a short time? There is concern the second round of voting will prove to be as flawed as the first.
The runoff election between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah faces multiple challenges: Taliban intimidation, voter apathy and cynicism, increasingly harsh winter weather, and, most of all, a turnaround time of only two weeks.
U.S. Special Envoy on Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke believes the second round of voting will be cleaner than the first.
"It is reasonable to hope that there will be less irregularities this time for several reasons," said Richard Holbrooke. "One, there are only two candidates; two, there is the experience factor; three, the international community, including the forces under General McChrystal's command, are going to go all out to help make this a success."
The United States wants a relatively clean election while it considers whether to send more troops and resources to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban.
But International Crisis Group senior analyst Candace Rondeaux says a hastily planned election will in all likelihood be just as fraud-filled as the initial Aug. 20 vote.
"The question has to be asked, why go forward? Legally speaking, the runoff has to take place," said Candace Rondeaux. "You have to satisfy the legal processes that are in place in the constitution. However, I do not think that you can expect any great new thunderbolts of just and fair elections because we still have the same machinery in place that has not been fixed at all."
In the first round, more than a million ballots, most of them for Mr. Karzai, were declared fraudulent by the U.N.-run Election Complaints Commission, depriving Mr. Karzai of what he claimed was an outright electoral victory. According to media reports, he only reluctantly bowed to international pressure for a runoff between him and Dr. Abdullah.
Former EU Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, tells VOA the widespread fraud only served to feed cynicism among Afghan voters, who he says are already disillusioned about the lack of peace and security.
"Over the last four years, ever since the parliamentary elections - which were not as fair as people thought - I think there has been a decreasing faith on the part of the Afghans in their government, in the kind of quote, unquote, democratic process that we had encouraged and that they would have been very happy to adopt," said Francesc Vendrell. "I think their faith in the current setup has already been very badly shaken. And so this will only come as confirmation."
A just-released nationwide survey of Afghans finds them more optimistic than expected, but still concerned about corruption and insecurity. A just-released International Crisis Group report says the fraudulent first round and continuing political uncertainty have been a boon for the Taliban insurgency.
Analysts say part of the problem of electoral credibility stems from the widespread belief that the Afghan Independent Election Commission is not truly independent and that it is partisan for Mr. Karzai. There is standing tension between the Afghan-run Election Commission, which counted the ballots, and the U.N.-backed Complaints Commission, which invalidated the fraudulent ballots.
Candace Rondeaux says that unless the Election Commission is cleaned up the likelihood of repeated massive fraud is high.
"In order to really correct the flaws in this process you need a major overhaul. Not only do you have to remove, I think, the chairman of the IEC, the Independent Election Commission, you then have to look at reconstituting the entire IEC secretariat," she said. "The leadership of this body has been so abysmal that it does not make sense to think that you would get different results by having the same people review ballots again."
Mr. Karzai has rebuffed a request by Dr. Abdullah for the dismissal of Election Commission chief Azizullah Ludin. U.N. officials have said many of the polling stations that recorded fraudulent votes in the first round would not be open for the second, but Ludin has contended they will be. He is also resisting calls to get rid of some of the electoral officials the United Nations has found to be corrupt.
The runoff election between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah faces multiple challenges: Taliban intimidation, voter apathy and cynicism, increasingly harsh winter weather, and, most of all, a turnaround time of only two weeks.
U.S. Special Envoy on Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke believes the second round of voting will be cleaner than the first.
"It is reasonable to hope that there will be less irregularities this time for several reasons," said Richard Holbrooke. "One, there are only two candidates; two, there is the experience factor; three, the international community, including the forces under General McChrystal's command, are going to go all out to help make this a success."
The United States wants a relatively clean election while it considers whether to send more troops and resources to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban.
But International Crisis Group senior analyst Candace Rondeaux says a hastily planned election will in all likelihood be just as fraud-filled as the initial Aug. 20 vote.
"The question has to be asked, why go forward? Legally speaking, the runoff has to take place," said Candace Rondeaux. "You have to satisfy the legal processes that are in place in the constitution. However, I do not think that you can expect any great new thunderbolts of just and fair elections because we still have the same machinery in place that has not been fixed at all."
In the first round, more than a million ballots, most of them for Mr. Karzai, were declared fraudulent by the U.N.-run Election Complaints Commission, depriving Mr. Karzai of what he claimed was an outright electoral victory. According to media reports, he only reluctantly bowed to international pressure for a runoff between him and Dr. Abdullah.
Former EU Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, tells VOA the widespread fraud only served to feed cynicism among Afghan voters, who he says are already disillusioned about the lack of peace and security.
"Over the last four years, ever since the parliamentary elections - which were not as fair as people thought - I think there has been a decreasing faith on the part of the Afghans in their government, in the kind of quote, unquote, democratic process that we had encouraged and that they would have been very happy to adopt," said Francesc Vendrell. "I think their faith in the current setup has already been very badly shaken. And so this will only come as confirmation."
A just-released nationwide survey of Afghans finds them more optimistic than expected, but still concerned about corruption and insecurity. A just-released International Crisis Group report says the fraudulent first round and continuing political uncertainty have been a boon for the Taliban insurgency.
Analysts say part of the problem of electoral credibility stems from the widespread belief that the Afghan Independent Election Commission is not truly independent and that it is partisan for Mr. Karzai. There is standing tension between the Afghan-run Election Commission, which counted the ballots, and the U.N.-backed Complaints Commission, which invalidated the fraudulent ballots.
Candace Rondeaux says that unless the Election Commission is cleaned up the likelihood of repeated massive fraud is high.
"In order to really correct the flaws in this process you need a major overhaul. Not only do you have to remove, I think, the chairman of the IEC, the Independent Election Commission, you then have to look at reconstituting the entire IEC secretariat," she said. "The leadership of this body has been so abysmal that it does not make sense to think that you would get different results by having the same people review ballots again."
Mr. Karzai has rebuffed a request by Dr. Abdullah for the dismissal of Election Commission chief Azizullah Ludin. U.N. officials have said many of the polling stations that recorded fraudulent votes in the first round would not be open for the second, but Ludin has contended they will be. He is also resisting calls to get rid of some of the electoral officials the United Nations has found to be corrupt.
Bloodbath in Peshawar: at least 105 killed, 200 injured in Meena Bazaar car bombing
Cowards target women and children
* 19 women, 11 children among dead, 25 in critical condition
* 150 kgs of explosives used in attack
* Mosque, several other buildings collapse
PESHAWAR: A remote-controlled car bomb killed at least 105 people – including women and children – and injured around 200 others at the provincial capital’s Meena Bazaar on Wednesday, said officials, hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan to bolster the two countries’ alliance against Taliban and Al Qaeda.
“We have received 92 bodies and some parts of bodies and 200 injured people – including 70 women and children,” said Haider Afridi, chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital. He said around 25 people – mostly women – were in critical condition, while only 25 bodies had so far been identified.
“Nineteen of the dead are women and 11 are children. All the dead are civilians,” Dr Zafar Iqbal told the AFP news agency as staff declared an emergency and called for blood donations.
NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain, however, said, “More than 80 people were killed ... around 200, mostly women and children, were injured in the car bomb blast.”
Bomb disposal squad chief Shafqat Malik told reporters that 150 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the remote-controlled blast. He said that some people were still trapped under the rubble.
Addressing reporters at the Lady Reading Hospital, Iftikhar linked the Meena Bazaar blast with the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan against the Taliban, saying, “foreign terrorists – including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks – stationed in Waziristan are carrying out attacks in Pashtun areas”.
In a message to foreign and local Taliban, the minister said, “We (civilians and the army) have won the war in Malakand division ... the fight against terrorism will continue and we will eliminate terrorists even if we have to pay with our lives.”
Although nobody claimed responsibility, suspicion immediately fell on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Sunia – a 14-year-old girl who was badly injured in her right leg – told Daily Times she had come to Meena Bazaar for shopping, as her sister was getting married next week. “It was a powerful blast... I saw smoke and dust everywhere. I saw body parts and people dying or screaming on the road,” another witness told Daily Times.
According to the AFP news agency, the explosion brought down buildings. Flames reached out of burning wreckage and smoke billowed over the collapsed rubble of a mosque and three buildings, where rescue workers picked charred bodies out of smouldering debris and gathered human flesh in plastic bags.
Crying for help, men tried to pull survivors from beneath wreckage. One man carried away a baby with a bloody face and a group of men rescued a young boy covered in dust, but others found only bodies of the dead.
In a bid to disperse the crowd that gathered after the blast, police fired in the air and baton charged people standing near the blast site.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Liaqat Ali told reporters that terrorists were “confused” because of the security in the city, and were – therefore – targeting public places. He said, “There was information that an explosives-laden car had entered the city.”
Mohammad Faqir, a shopkeeper at Meena Bazaar, said although people – mostly women – from the entire province and FATA visited the bazaar for shopping, there were no proper security arrangements.
According to the APP news agency, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the attack, and said the government would not rest until all terrorists had been eliminated. The prime minister said the government had launched a full-scale operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, and “we will not be cowed down by such attacks”. He said the government was fully aware of its responsibility of protecting the lives and property of civilians, and was taking necessary measures in this context. He directed provincial authorities to investigate the matter and submit a report.
APP also reported that Senior NWFP Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour had ruled out a security lapse as the cause of the blast at the market.
Three bomb attacks have been launched in Peshawar this month, including one that killed more than 50 people. They are part of at least 10 major attacks in Pakistan.
PESHAWAR BOMBING.... Blitzed
THE NEWS
Once again Peshawar has been wracked by a terrorist bomb, this time detonated in the crowded Meena bazaar, a maze of narrow streets and alleys and multi-storey buildings. The explosion gutted dozens of houses and shops, started a large fire and led to the later collapse of several buildings. Rescue services found it difficult to access the site because of the level of destruction and the congestion caused by debris and the narrowness of the approaches. The blast was in all likelihood a car bomb containing up to 150kgs of explosives though there is no definitive report as to whether it was a suicide or a remote-controlled explosion. At the time of writing there are around 89 dead, most of them reportedly women and children, as well as 150 injured and medical services in Peshawar are buckling under the sheer volume of casualties. Live reporting from the scene of the massacre captured the sense of chaos and confusion that always accompanies the immediate aftermath of such events, as well the later determined – and brave – attempts by fire and rescue services to bring the situation under control. The live visuals were eerily reminiscent of pictures of the bombed cities of Dresden and London in World War Two, and evoked that dreadful word that has come to embody lightning-fast and devastating attacks on civilian populations – blitz. As the Meena bazaar was bombed there were reports of another incident, this time in Kabul, which had come to an end. In an early morning raid on the UN hostel in the city six UN workers were killed, their three attackers shot by security forces and two other unidentified persons died. There is no obvious causal linkage between the two events, carried out by separate groups hundreds of miles apart in two different countries. No causal linkage perhaps, but a linkage in terms of the perpetrators of both being willing to sacrifice the lives of women and children as well as humanitarians, and a linkage in that both countries are cursed by a malaise that has grown over three decades or more.
Extremism, whatever the historical reasons that are bent around trying to understand it and place it in our national and cultural context, now envelops all of us in a deadly and debilitating cloud. There will be the usual cries that 'those who did this are not Muslims'…but of course they were. This was not some plot hatched and executed by mad Hindus or Sikhs, this is a plot that will have been hatched within a few miles of where the blast occurred, by men who believe that their piety and vision of a Muslim future world, wherein their own paradigm will rule supreme, is best achieved by shredding the bodies of their fellow Muslims. There are groups of extremists in every province, not all coordinated by any means nor sharing the same agenda, which are steadily eroding the national morale. The government is standing fast and firm in Waziristan, but the blowback is there for us all to see every day. The forces of law and order, especially the police, are nowadays stretched beyond reasonable limits, and we should refrain from laying the blame at their door seconds after every blast or atrocity. Simply, the police are a finite resource – in every country – and those that we have here in Pakistan are poorly paid, badly equipped and often indifferently led. (We will leave aside issues relating to corruption for today.) Given that the police forces of every town and city across the land are just beginning to get to grips with the demands of securing the nations schools, their scant resources cannot be spread much thinner to provide security to every bazaar and shopping mall nationwide. There will be other blasts in the future, as there have been today and in the past. Some terrorists we will intercept, but it only needs one to get through. The blitz they inflict on us may be awful but we must show our resolve, our unwillingness to be cowed, and say 'No, you shall not pass, neither shall we give you relief….now get you hence, Beast, because this is our land, not yours.'
Once again Peshawar has been wracked by a terrorist bomb, this time detonated in the crowded Meena bazaar, a maze of narrow streets and alleys and multi-storey buildings. The explosion gutted dozens of houses and shops, started a large fire and led to the later collapse of several buildings. Rescue services found it difficult to access the site because of the level of destruction and the congestion caused by debris and the narrowness of the approaches. The blast was in all likelihood a car bomb containing up to 150kgs of explosives though there is no definitive report as to whether it was a suicide or a remote-controlled explosion. At the time of writing there are around 89 dead, most of them reportedly women and children, as well as 150 injured and medical services in Peshawar are buckling under the sheer volume of casualties. Live reporting from the scene of the massacre captured the sense of chaos and confusion that always accompanies the immediate aftermath of such events, as well the later determined – and brave – attempts by fire and rescue services to bring the situation under control. The live visuals were eerily reminiscent of pictures of the bombed cities of Dresden and London in World War Two, and evoked that dreadful word that has come to embody lightning-fast and devastating attacks on civilian populations – blitz. As the Meena bazaar was bombed there were reports of another incident, this time in Kabul, which had come to an end. In an early morning raid on the UN hostel in the city six UN workers were killed, their three attackers shot by security forces and two other unidentified persons died. There is no obvious causal linkage between the two events, carried out by separate groups hundreds of miles apart in two different countries. No causal linkage perhaps, but a linkage in terms of the perpetrators of both being willing to sacrifice the lives of women and children as well as humanitarians, and a linkage in that both countries are cursed by a malaise that has grown over three decades or more.
Extremism, whatever the historical reasons that are bent around trying to understand it and place it in our national and cultural context, now envelops all of us in a deadly and debilitating cloud. There will be the usual cries that 'those who did this are not Muslims'…but of course they were. This was not some plot hatched and executed by mad Hindus or Sikhs, this is a plot that will have been hatched within a few miles of where the blast occurred, by men who believe that their piety and vision of a Muslim future world, wherein their own paradigm will rule supreme, is best achieved by shredding the bodies of their fellow Muslims. There are groups of extremists in every province, not all coordinated by any means nor sharing the same agenda, which are steadily eroding the national morale. The government is standing fast and firm in Waziristan, but the blowback is there for us all to see every day. The forces of law and order, especially the police, are nowadays stretched beyond reasonable limits, and we should refrain from laying the blame at their door seconds after every blast or atrocity. Simply, the police are a finite resource – in every country – and those that we have here in Pakistan are poorly paid, badly equipped and often indifferently led. (We will leave aside issues relating to corruption for today.) Given that the police forces of every town and city across the land are just beginning to get to grips with the demands of securing the nations schools, their scant resources cannot be spread much thinner to provide security to every bazaar and shopping mall nationwide. There will be other blasts in the future, as there have been today and in the past. Some terrorists we will intercept, but it only needs one to get through. The blitz they inflict on us may be awful but we must show our resolve, our unwillingness to be cowed, and say 'No, you shall not pass, neither shall we give you relief….now get you hence, Beast, because this is our land, not yours.'
Living hell of trapped bodies after blast
PESHAWAR: As the wounded tried to flee, they were engulfed in flames and buried alive by falling masonry. With one deafening boom, a congested Pakistan street full of women and children was transformed into hell.
“It was like a massive earthquake. Everything in my shop fell on me. There was so much smoke. When everything fell on me I passed out,” clothes shop owner Ali Akhbar told AFP from his hospital bed in the city Peshawar.
Rescue workers fished out charred bodies from the debris where a woman was buried in the rubble near a mosque, three buildings and five cars that were destroyed in scenes of armageddon, an AFP reporter said.
Bodies were trapped under huge slabs of concrete and crumbling bricks, the slow rescue heavily constrained by the collapsed buildings, pushing the death toll ever higher as cranes were mobilised to pluck survivors to safety.
The smouldering wreckage was devastating testament to a routine shopping trip or a pleasurable day out turned into bloody carnage for scores of ordinary families in the historic city of Peshawar and the largest northwest.
“I saw a flash of blue and white light and I was thrown to the other side of the street. I’m surprised I’m alive,” said Shahid Khan, 15, who was standing with a popcorn cart on the side of the road when the bomb went off.
“My entire shop fell on me. Smoke filled my face,” said Raza Ali, 30, a grocery store owner whose face was badly burnt.Crowds ran screaming down alleys in the market place, desperate to get away from the congested Meena market, fearing that a second bomb could explode. Others lifted out the casualties, their clothes splattered with blood.
“I was inside my shop. All of a sudden, there was a huge blast. It was dark everywhere. The roof of my shop fell on me, trapping me in the debris. Then I don’t know what happened,” said another survivor in hospital.
Television footage showed harrowing images. A young man was seen biting his fingers in disgust watching his shop and livelihood go up in flames.Another person in the crowd repeatedly shouted out name of a loved one, his panic rising with the passing silence. Some were seen rushing out with bundles of their belongings loaded on their backs.
The agony of loss was overwhelming at the hospital, where survivors wept over dead loved ones, crying into mobile phones, with staff struggling to cope with each new consignment of casualties as a state of emergency was declared.
“It was like a massive earthquake. Everything in my shop fell on me. There was so much smoke. When everything fell on me I passed out,” clothes shop owner Ali Akhbar told AFP from his hospital bed in the city Peshawar.
Rescue workers fished out charred bodies from the debris where a woman was buried in the rubble near a mosque, three buildings and five cars that were destroyed in scenes of armageddon, an AFP reporter said.
Bodies were trapped under huge slabs of concrete and crumbling bricks, the slow rescue heavily constrained by the collapsed buildings, pushing the death toll ever higher as cranes were mobilised to pluck survivors to safety.
The smouldering wreckage was devastating testament to a routine shopping trip or a pleasurable day out turned into bloody carnage for scores of ordinary families in the historic city of Peshawar and the largest northwest.
“I saw a flash of blue and white light and I was thrown to the other side of the street. I’m surprised I’m alive,” said Shahid Khan, 15, who was standing with a popcorn cart on the side of the road when the bomb went off.
“My entire shop fell on me. Smoke filled my face,” said Raza Ali, 30, a grocery store owner whose face was badly burnt.Crowds ran screaming down alleys in the market place, desperate to get away from the congested Meena market, fearing that a second bomb could explode. Others lifted out the casualties, their clothes splattered with blood.
“I was inside my shop. All of a sudden, there was a huge blast. It was dark everywhere. The roof of my shop fell on me, trapping me in the debris. Then I don’t know what happened,” said another survivor in hospital.
Television footage showed harrowing images. A young man was seen biting his fingers in disgust watching his shop and livelihood go up in flames.Another person in the crowd repeatedly shouted out name of a loved one, his panic rising with the passing silence. Some were seen rushing out with bundles of their belongings loaded on their backs.
The agony of loss was overwhelming at the hospital, where survivors wept over dead loved ones, crying into mobile phones, with staff struggling to cope with each new consignment of casualties as a state of emergency was declared.
Pakistan not alone in terror war: Clinton
ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that Pakistan was not alone in fight against terrorism and the United States would extend help to the country to achieve goals to defeat terrorism. “Pakistan is not alone in this fight as this is our struggle as well,” Hillary Clinton said at a press conference along with her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi after their bilateral talks. Ms. Hillary Clinton arrived on a three-day visit, her first to Pakistan since she assumed the office as Secretary of State. “Pakistan and the United States are facing the security issue and Pakistan is currently engaged in the struggle to fight terrorists,” she said. She commended Pakistan military for their courageous fight and said the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Pakistani people in their fight for peace and security. The US Secretary of State said the relationship between the two countries goes far beyond security and in today’s talks both sides agreed to work closely as Pakistan continues its journey towards an effective, responsive and enduring democracy. “The United States wants to provide help to Pakistanwhich its people think best for the country”. The US Secretary of State said the United States seeks to turn the page to a new partnership not only with the Government but people of democratic Pakistan. She said during talks they agreed to resume and intensify US-Pakistan strategic dialogue, as we want comprehensive dialogue which is result-oriented. “The United States wants to help Pakistan in economic arena, create jobs, develop infrastructure, create investment opportunities and more access to education and healthcare”. The Secretary of State said special envoy Richard Holbrooke and the US Ambassador in Islamabad are working closely with Pakistan to find ways and means to help overcome the country’s energy crisis. She announced the first phase of an energy programme for Pakistan, which would help repair power facilities and promote energy efficiency. The projects designed in close collaboration with Pakistan Government will repair and upgrade key power stations across the country, which are currently operating well below the capacity. She said the United States would help install better equipment at Tarbela dam power station and help repair or replace more than 10,000 tubewells across the country, which would save energy and increase agricultural productivity. She said this first phase is only beginning and there would be more intensive cooperation in this sector. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi emphasized the need for building a relationship based on trust, mutual respect and shared objectives. He said in today’s talks the two countries discussed how to re-enforce the trust and how to understand sensitivities of each other’s concerns and identify and align our objectives and strategic interests. The Foreign Minister pointed out that democracies could not be oblivious of public opinion. He said we need to address fears and concerns of both sides. He said we now have a mechanism in place and leadership of the two countries are willing to address these fears and concerns. Shah Mahmood Qureshi said as a new review of Afghan policy is taking place in the United States, Pakistan asked the Secretary of State to share her views on it and take Pakistan’s input for it. “There is a policy shift in the US approach - moving from individuals to people as the United States want to have a people-centric relationship”. He said the United States is a democracy and it has supported transition to democracy in Pakistan. He said democracies have to re-draw terms of engagement and today we sat to analyze the way forward. “We have to build relationship for the future. We have to regain each other’s confidence and Obama administration is taking steps that indicate it understands the importance of confidence in each other,” Qureshi said. He said defeating terrorism is our shared goal but the relationship has to go beyond terrorism. Qureshi said Pakistan is a resource rich country and it needs US support in using its resources. He said Pakistan needs greater market access as the country prefers trade than aid. He said during talks they also talked about the importance of building capacity of institutions that can deliver and improve the quality of life of ordinary citizens, provide better health education, sanitation and pulling people out of poverty. He said they also discussed how we can be sensitive to each other’s core interests. He said Pakistan and United States have agreed to build a strong relationship based on mutual respect and shared responsibilities.
Terrorists getting over $5 billion from ATT: ISPR
ISLAMABAD : Terrorists are getting over $5 billion from Afghan Transit Trade, besides funding from local and foreign organisations who want to fulfil their agendas, said Major General Athar Abbas, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) here on Wednesday.
"We could not get evidence regarding any link of terrorists operating in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) with al Qaeda", Athar Abbas said during a joint briefing held here with Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira. Abbas said that majority of the terrorists operating in SWA is of foreign origin mostly from Uzbeks, while some of them are Arab nationals.
Abbas told media that the security forces have tightened the grip over Maulvi Fazalullah and Qari Hussain and they will be taken to task very soon. Waliur Rehman is present in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) while the whereabouts of Hakimullah Mehsud are not known, time is not far when these hardcore terrorists will be dead or in chains, he added.
He said that terrorists are now using small children for suicide attacks as they have prepared a large number of children for suicide attacks in different parts of the country. Condemning the deadly Peshawar blast resulting in death of over 100 people, the ISPR chief said it was a cowardly act of terrorists who are facing utter frustration due to military assault in Waziristan and Swat. "Forces are in operation and very shortly whole Pakistan will be cleared from terrorists," He added.
Sharing the details of the on-going military assault titled as 'Operation Rah e Nijat' ISPR chief said that during last 24 hours 25 terrorists have been killed and five security forces men were injured. He said that huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives including three 12.7 mm guns, 500 RPG-7 rockets, 100, 82 mm mortar bombs, 20, rockets, 12000 rounds of SMG and medical equipment's were recovered.
The Pakistan Army has successfully achieved substantial success on all three axes in the SWA and important stronghold of Kaniguram has been surrounded from three directions and forces have made good progress on Jandola-Saroragha axis along with securing important heights in Nawazkot area on Razmak-Makeen Axis.
On Jandola- Sararogha Axis security forces are progressing well and securing heights along the main road Kotkai -Sararogha that are overlooking Sararogha, he said.
Security forces secured important road Nullah Junction 2 kms north of Ganrakas along with important height point 1233 west of road Kotkai-Sararogha. During engagements 8 terrorists were killed while 3 soldiers were injured. Sanitization of Inzar Kalay has been completed.During sanitization of Murghabund, 3 x Training Complexes have been discovered and destroyed along with number of 82 mm mortar and Single Barrel Rocket Launchers (SBRL) Rockets. During sanitization of Kotkai, a total of 25 training centres have been destroyed along with 9 caves.
The important feature Karwan Manza located 2 kms east of Kaniguram has been secured. This feature effectively dominates Kaniguram from the east. The feature also over looks the town of Karama towards south east on road Kaniguram-Kotkai. Karama is a stronghold and training centre of foreign terrorists. During engagements 5 terrorists have been killed while 1 soldier was injured. Towards west the important feature of point 2120 has also been successfully secured dominating Kaniguram from the west.
On Razmak-Maheen Axis security forces are consolidating their positions at Shaga, point 6813 Tip-Ghar Top, Lagar Narai and Sharakai Sar and conducting search and cordon operations at Nawazkot area. During clearance operations 15 bunkers and Sanghars have been destroyed along with 37 rockets.
During clearance of Zar e Sar, 1 solider got injured while 12 terrorists have been killed and weapon was recovered. Speaking on the occasion Kaira condemned the Peshawar blast and said that this coward act can not demoralise our Pakistan army fighting in South Waziristan to safe the country from the terrorist and also of our nation.
He said that the security forces with full spirit are moving ahead of their planned schedule. Kaira asked media to stop broadcasting the live coverage of the terrorist activities as it is putting bad impact on the minds of general masses. Kaira said that Rs 133 million has been deposited in the accounts of IDPs and 11, 80 accounts of IDPs have been opened and are operational.
"We could not get evidence regarding any link of terrorists operating in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) with al Qaeda", Athar Abbas said during a joint briefing held here with Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira. Abbas said that majority of the terrorists operating in SWA is of foreign origin mostly from Uzbeks, while some of them are Arab nationals.
Abbas told media that the security forces have tightened the grip over Maulvi Fazalullah and Qari Hussain and they will be taken to task very soon. Waliur Rehman is present in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) while the whereabouts of Hakimullah Mehsud are not known, time is not far when these hardcore terrorists will be dead or in chains, he added.
He said that terrorists are now using small children for suicide attacks as they have prepared a large number of children for suicide attacks in different parts of the country. Condemning the deadly Peshawar blast resulting in death of over 100 people, the ISPR chief said it was a cowardly act of terrorists who are facing utter frustration due to military assault in Waziristan and Swat. "Forces are in operation and very shortly whole Pakistan will be cleared from terrorists," He added.
Sharing the details of the on-going military assault titled as 'Operation Rah e Nijat' ISPR chief said that during last 24 hours 25 terrorists have been killed and five security forces men were injured. He said that huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives including three 12.7 mm guns, 500 RPG-7 rockets, 100, 82 mm mortar bombs, 20, rockets, 12000 rounds of SMG and medical equipment's were recovered.
The Pakistan Army has successfully achieved substantial success on all three axes in the SWA and important stronghold of Kaniguram has been surrounded from three directions and forces have made good progress on Jandola-Saroragha axis along with securing important heights in Nawazkot area on Razmak-Makeen Axis.
On Jandola- Sararogha Axis security forces are progressing well and securing heights along the main road Kotkai -Sararogha that are overlooking Sararogha, he said.
Security forces secured important road Nullah Junction 2 kms north of Ganrakas along with important height point 1233 west of road Kotkai-Sararogha. During engagements 8 terrorists were killed while 3 soldiers were injured. Sanitization of Inzar Kalay has been completed.During sanitization of Murghabund, 3 x Training Complexes have been discovered and destroyed along with number of 82 mm mortar and Single Barrel Rocket Launchers (SBRL) Rockets. During sanitization of Kotkai, a total of 25 training centres have been destroyed along with 9 caves.
The important feature Karwan Manza located 2 kms east of Kaniguram has been secured. This feature effectively dominates Kaniguram from the east. The feature also over looks the town of Karama towards south east on road Kaniguram-Kotkai. Karama is a stronghold and training centre of foreign terrorists. During engagements 5 terrorists have been killed while 1 soldier was injured. Towards west the important feature of point 2120 has also been successfully secured dominating Kaniguram from the west.
On Razmak-Maheen Axis security forces are consolidating their positions at Shaga, point 6813 Tip-Ghar Top, Lagar Narai and Sharakai Sar and conducting search and cordon operations at Nawazkot area. During clearance operations 15 bunkers and Sanghars have been destroyed along with 37 rockets.
During clearance of Zar e Sar, 1 solider got injured while 12 terrorists have been killed and weapon was recovered. Speaking on the occasion Kaira condemned the Peshawar blast and said that this coward act can not demoralise our Pakistan army fighting in South Waziristan to safe the country from the terrorist and also of our nation.
He said that the security forces with full spirit are moving ahead of their planned schedule. Kaira asked media to stop broadcasting the live coverage of the terrorist activities as it is putting bad impact on the minds of general masses. Kaira said that Rs 133 million has been deposited in the accounts of IDPs and 11, 80 accounts of IDPs have been opened and are operational.
Donors throng blood bank after Peshawar blast
PESHAWAR: Unprecedented rush of donors in Lady Reading Hospital’s blood bank after the deadly car bombing showed Peshawarites’ love and respect for the humanity.
People from all walks of life, even women, were seen waiting in front of the blood bank offering themselves for donation of blood.
Volunteers closed their businesses in Saddar bazaar and other parts of the city and rushed to the hospital to give blood to seriously-wounded people.
Tariq Gul, a blood bank technician, said over 90 bags were collected in less than two hours. ‘We are short of space and facing difficulties to create space for donors,’ he said.
Due to lack of facilities and space in the blood bank, two donors had to share one bed.
Technicians confronted hard time in accommodating donors waiting patiently in long queues for their turn. Others also played their roles by offering juices and milk to the donors.
Mohammad Bilal and his brother Mohammad Akbar who reached the hospital for donating blood said: ‘We are here just for the sack of humanity. Soon after the blast we pulled shutter down and reached the hospital.’
It was a rare occasion when a number of women reached the bank and donated blood. In normal circumstances, women stay away from donating blood.
The problem of space has been continuously haunting the people, staff as well as blood donors in the province’s biggest 1200-bed hospital, which has not only been receiving victims of every blast taking place in Peshawar but also in other cities.
‘Donating blood by the local community is not a problem as it used to be in the past. Most of the people earlier hesitated from donating blood but now things have changed for the better,’ said an official, adding after every bomb blast donors immediately thronged the blood bank for donation of blood.
He said blood donation had become a culture and that was why hospitals had no problem in blood collection.
Participation of the common people in rescue work and shifting of the wounded from the blast site to the hospital also showcased the increasing spirit of voluntarism among the masses.
Local people shifted wounded people on motorbikes and in rickshaws to the Lady Reading Hospital as ambulances could not be promptly utilised due to narrowness of the streets and roads at the blast site.
Terrorists this time selected a more congested locality for the fulfilment of their evil plan. Charwi Koban, where the blast occurred, is a confluence of Meena and Kochi bazaars and is one of the most populated areas of the city.
It was the worst man-made disaster in the history of Peshawar that left nearly 90 people, including women and children, dead and over 160 wounded. Most of the shops in these two bazaars deal in female-related items. That is why a majority of the victims were women and children.
Innocent civilians always bear the brunt of terrorist activities. But this time terrorists showed their ugliest faces by targeting women and children in Peshawar. Doctors said around 70 women and children were killed and 25 suffered injuries.
Meena and Kochi are considered most favourite bazaars for women across the region where they can move and shop in a relax mood.
These places were considered shopping paradise for people from urban and rural areas, but they may not be that attractive for shoppers after Wednesday’s blast.
People from all walks of life, even women, were seen waiting in front of the blood bank offering themselves for donation of blood.
Volunteers closed their businesses in Saddar bazaar and other parts of the city and rushed to the hospital to give blood to seriously-wounded people.
Tariq Gul, a blood bank technician, said over 90 bags were collected in less than two hours. ‘We are short of space and facing difficulties to create space for donors,’ he said.
Due to lack of facilities and space in the blood bank, two donors had to share one bed.
Technicians confronted hard time in accommodating donors waiting patiently in long queues for their turn. Others also played their roles by offering juices and milk to the donors.
Mohammad Bilal and his brother Mohammad Akbar who reached the hospital for donating blood said: ‘We are here just for the sack of humanity. Soon after the blast we pulled shutter down and reached the hospital.’
It was a rare occasion when a number of women reached the bank and donated blood. In normal circumstances, women stay away from donating blood.
The problem of space has been continuously haunting the people, staff as well as blood donors in the province’s biggest 1200-bed hospital, which has not only been receiving victims of every blast taking place in Peshawar but also in other cities.
‘Donating blood by the local community is not a problem as it used to be in the past. Most of the people earlier hesitated from donating blood but now things have changed for the better,’ said an official, adding after every bomb blast donors immediately thronged the blood bank for donation of blood.
He said blood donation had become a culture and that was why hospitals had no problem in blood collection.
Participation of the common people in rescue work and shifting of the wounded from the blast site to the hospital also showcased the increasing spirit of voluntarism among the masses.
Local people shifted wounded people on motorbikes and in rickshaws to the Lady Reading Hospital as ambulances could not be promptly utilised due to narrowness of the streets and roads at the blast site.
Terrorists this time selected a more congested locality for the fulfilment of their evil plan. Charwi Koban, where the blast occurred, is a confluence of Meena and Kochi bazaars and is one of the most populated areas of the city.
It was the worst man-made disaster in the history of Peshawar that left nearly 90 people, including women and children, dead and over 160 wounded. Most of the shops in these two bazaars deal in female-related items. That is why a majority of the victims were women and children.
Innocent civilians always bear the brunt of terrorist activities. But this time terrorists showed their ugliest faces by targeting women and children in Peshawar. Doctors said around 70 women and children were killed and 25 suffered injuries.
Meena and Kochi are considered most favourite bazaars for women across the region where they can move and shop in a relax mood.
These places were considered shopping paradise for people from urban and rural areas, but they may not be that attractive for shoppers after Wednesday’s blast.
Peshawar blast tally climbs to 105
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PESHAWAR: The total death toll from Peshawar blast has mounted to 105 while rescue sources say that more people could still be buried under the debris. Over 150 people sustained injuries in the blast.
Hospital sources have confirmed that 160 were brought there, and a list of 136 of these injured has been made visible inside the hospital premises.
According to details, the powerful blast occurred at Peepal Mandi ripped near Meena Bazar, Peshawar. The explosion triggered fire in nearby shops while an old building came to ground with the heavy impact which also caused damage to other surrounding buildings.
Most of the buildings in the area had already been declared to be in poor condition.
AIG Bomb Disposal Unit Shafqatullah Malik said that explosives, weighing 150 kilograms, were planted in a vehicle.
DCO Peshawar Sahibzada Anees has confirmed 95 deaths in the tragic incident while the hospital sources confirmed 89 people dead, majority of them are women and children.
Condition of many injured is said to be serious and the toll is feared to rise further.
Frontier CM must resign
A blazing inferno and a heart-rending holocaust it was, with some 92 people, including 11 innocent children and 22 women lying dead on the spot and many more writhing in pain with wounds in this Wednesday's brutal terrorist car-bombing on ladies' shopping bazaar of Peshawar metropolis. Perhaps the deadliest-ever so far, the strike unmasked evil faces of perpetrators, showing them up for what they really are: mercenary murderers who slaughter their own innocent people for money on their foreign paymasters' bidding, wearing deceptive masks of religiosity and jihad. They are, contemptibly, outright infidels and traitors of the worst kind. But couldn't their thuggery be preempted or prevented? The day earlier, local law-enforcement authorities had been issuing warnings that two explosives-laden vehicles had entered the metropolis for terrorism. Then, why had they left undefended this shopping bazaar, always a bustling place, crowded with women shoppers and their accompanying children. The bazaar was potentially a target, needing to be protected impregnably. Yet it was found left totally unsecured, with not even a single duty cop in sight. Why? Had cops been withdrawn from all over to mount redoubled security on ministers, bureaucrats and other VIPs, while ordinary citizens were simply thrown out to be mowed down and devoured up by terrorist wolves? Chief Minister Amir Haidar Hoti must now admit his incompetence and failure and resign, so conclusively has he demonstrated his ineptness and unfitness for the job. The Frontier's residents give a damn to brave talk he and his ministers ooze out so churlishly after every terrorist strike in the province. They have heard him and them churning out the bunk nauseam that terrorist cannot break their resolve to face up to them unbendingly. But seen him they have not doing anything practical to secure their lives and properties. For months, he has been telling them he would recruit tens of thousands cops to beef up the province's police force. But, appalling, he is still to move beyond talk to concretize that recruitment, even as prowling terrorists are on the rampage increasingly bloodily. Maybe, he is awaiting lists from his ANP flocks to recruit political favourites, not right meritorious candidates, to the force. So incompetent has indeed he been that, leave alone the rest of the province, he has spectacularly failed even securing the provincial metropolis. In these very days, terrorists have come again and again, have struck Peshawar lethally and fatally again and again, and he has shown nothing else to confront them except his puerile talk. Verily, he has shown in every manner not be the man capable of steering a troubled province as is the Frontier presently. He must now spare the province's distressed people the atrocity of his inept and incompetent stewardship to make way for some able hand to handle its critical security situation, sparing himself thereby too all the time for dancing and frolicking at wedding parties and other festivities of his kith and kin in garrison clubs and their mansions. He indeed can save some shame to his disgraced face by emulating the example of chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra, who owned up moral responsibility and stepped down when terrorists struck his state's capital, Mumbai. Certainly, this Wednesday terrorist assault on Peshawar is no lesser horrific. It indeed was more deadly. The Mumbai terrorism also saw Indian home minister quitting. And this Peshawar carnage must set our interior minister Rehman Malik thinking too of following a precedent that comes natural to responsible people with a sense of honour and dignity in such tragic calamitous events. Heads must also roll in the provincial police hierarchy, particularly for its horrendous failure in averting a thuggish strike when it knew before hand that terrorists had entered the city for their wicked act. The provincial top cop, who holds his court in the city, and Peshawar city police chief have to go forthwith, in any case. Their incompetence in the given conditions is obvious and just indefensible. Punitive actions must also come against the rest found derelict in an inquiry into the carnage, which must be quick so as to prevent recurrence of such an intolerable holocaust. And to hell with CoD, 17th Amendment and all such-like forays, keeping the country's top leadership engrossed. The people can do without these adventures. They need security of life at least, first and foremost. The president and the prime minister must take a pause, sit down earnestly and work vigorously into implementing the action plan that the high-level inter-provincial security meeting had worked out in Islamabad. Terrorist thugs are visibly getting viler, bolder and deadlier. They have to be curbed and crushed quickly and at every cost.
Peshawar bomb targets women, children
PESHAWAR: At least 101 people, mostly women and children, were killed and over 150 injured when a huge car bomb ripped through a crowded market here on Wednesday.
The blast triggered a huge fire which engulfed a number of buildings near the Meena Bazaar. A plume of dust and smoke billowed from narrow lanes of the market situated in the old part of the city.
A senior intelligence official blamed terrorists based in Darra Adamkhel for the attack. ‘We intercepted a call last week in which militants were talking about a ‘heart-rending’ attack in Peshawar,’ he said.
A representative of the shopkeepers’ association said threats had been received in recent days with militants demanding that women be forbidden from going to the market.
The blast took place in two narrow lanes between Meena Bazaar and Kochi Bazaar frequented by women.
A cotton warehouse in the market caught fire which spread to several buildings on the Cheri Koban road. A number of shops along the narrow road, vehicles and carts were gutted.
Most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition and till late night only 25 of them had been identified.
Hospital sources said the death toll could rise because scores of badly burnt and injured people were in a critical condition.
‘It was a car bomb blast and over 150 kilograms of explosives were used,’ in-charge of the bomb disposal unit AIG Malik Shafqar Mahmud said.
He said that an initial investigation suggested that explosives had been detonated by remote control. The blast caused massive losses because it had taken place in a narrow and busy market, he added.
‘About 70 of the dead are women and children. Scores of the injured are in a critical condition,’ said Dr Sahib Gul, the in-charge of Trauma Centre at the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.
‘The blast was so huge that it jolted the entire area and within seconds plumes of smoke and dust started emitting out of a building near Al-Falah Mosque,’ Karim Khan, a shopkeeper, said.
Ezat Khan, another shopkeeper, said that parking of vehicles outside shops was not allowed, but it could not be ascertained how the driver of the explosives-laden car had managed to park it there.
Fire-engines, ambulances and other rescue vehicles faced difficulty in reaching the scene because of congestion and narrow lanes. People were seen taking the bodies and the injured to hospitals in cars, rickshaws and even on motorcycles.
A fire-fighter said that many children and women trapped in the debris of several buildings were crying for help, but rescue workers could not reach them because of huge flames.
A group of men trapped under the roof of a nearby mosque were rescued.
Rescue work was in progress till late night and workers were finding it difficult to remove the debris.
It was feared that some people were still trapped in the rubble because rescue personnel had heard them wailing and crying.
All shops in the area were closed after the blast and people started searching for their relatives.
A crowd of people inside the trauma room and emergency hall of the Lady Reading Hospital made it difficult for medical staff to perform their duty.
Distressed people, including women, were seen searching for relatives in the hospital, but recognising them was difficult because most of the bodies were mutilated. Stench of blood and human flesh hung in the air in the hospital.
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftkhar Hussain told reporters that the blast was a reaction to the military operation in South Waziristan which had become a safe haven for terrorists of various countries.
‘Terrorism cannot be described as jihad as our religion does not allow taking lives of innocent people,’ he said, adding that the government would not bow to pressure and continue its fight against saboteurs.
Senior provincial minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said it was difficult to deploy policemen at all places because of shortage of manpower.
The provincial government, he said, had already decided to recruit 1,000 retired personnel of the armed forces to help police.
Mr Bilour urged all political and religious parties to join hands and take a unified stand against terrorists.
The blast triggered a huge fire which engulfed a number of buildings near the Meena Bazaar. A plume of dust and smoke billowed from narrow lanes of the market situated in the old part of the city.
A senior intelligence official blamed terrorists based in Darra Adamkhel for the attack. ‘We intercepted a call last week in which militants were talking about a ‘heart-rending’ attack in Peshawar,’ he said.
A representative of the shopkeepers’ association said threats had been received in recent days with militants demanding that women be forbidden from going to the market.
The blast took place in two narrow lanes between Meena Bazaar and Kochi Bazaar frequented by women.
A cotton warehouse in the market caught fire which spread to several buildings on the Cheri Koban road. A number of shops along the narrow road, vehicles and carts were gutted.
Most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition and till late night only 25 of them had been identified.
Hospital sources said the death toll could rise because scores of badly burnt and injured people were in a critical condition.
‘It was a car bomb blast and over 150 kilograms of explosives were used,’ in-charge of the bomb disposal unit AIG Malik Shafqar Mahmud said.
He said that an initial investigation suggested that explosives had been detonated by remote control. The blast caused massive losses because it had taken place in a narrow and busy market, he added.
‘About 70 of the dead are women and children. Scores of the injured are in a critical condition,’ said Dr Sahib Gul, the in-charge of Trauma Centre at the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.
‘The blast was so huge that it jolted the entire area and within seconds plumes of smoke and dust started emitting out of a building near Al-Falah Mosque,’ Karim Khan, a shopkeeper, said.
Ezat Khan, another shopkeeper, said that parking of vehicles outside shops was not allowed, but it could not be ascertained how the driver of the explosives-laden car had managed to park it there.
Fire-engines, ambulances and other rescue vehicles faced difficulty in reaching the scene because of congestion and narrow lanes. People were seen taking the bodies and the injured to hospitals in cars, rickshaws and even on motorcycles.
A fire-fighter said that many children and women trapped in the debris of several buildings were crying for help, but rescue workers could not reach them because of huge flames.
A group of men trapped under the roof of a nearby mosque were rescued.
Rescue work was in progress till late night and workers were finding it difficult to remove the debris.
It was feared that some people were still trapped in the rubble because rescue personnel had heard them wailing and crying.
All shops in the area were closed after the blast and people started searching for their relatives.
A crowd of people inside the trauma room and emergency hall of the Lady Reading Hospital made it difficult for medical staff to perform their duty.
Distressed people, including women, were seen searching for relatives in the hospital, but recognising them was difficult because most of the bodies were mutilated. Stench of blood and human flesh hung in the air in the hospital.
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftkhar Hussain told reporters that the blast was a reaction to the military operation in South Waziristan which had become a safe haven for terrorists of various countries.
‘Terrorism cannot be described as jihad as our religion does not allow taking lives of innocent people,’ he said, adding that the government would not bow to pressure and continue its fight against saboteurs.
Senior provincial minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said it was difficult to deploy policemen at all places because of shortage of manpower.
The provincial government, he said, had already decided to recruit 1,000 retired personnel of the armed forces to help police.
Mr Bilour urged all political and religious parties to join hands and take a unified stand against terrorists.
87 killed in Peshawar blast: hospital sources
PESHAWAR: The death toll of the blast occurred in Meena Bazar Peshawar has climbed to 87, hospital sources said. More then 200 people injured in the blast.According to reports, three persons have been rescued from the rubbles of the buildings collapsed after the explosion. The injured have been shifted to Lady Reading Hospital and other hospitals where emergency has been announced. The children and women are also among the wounded. Some of the injured reported in a critical condition. The administration of Lady Reading Hospital has appealed for blood donation. The blast shattered windowpanes of nearby buildings and created panic among the people. The charred bodies have been recovered from the blast site as several persons still trapped under the rubbles. A nearby mosque Umme Habiba has been destroyed in the explosion. Police have cordoned off the area as rescue operation is on the blast site. President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed his heartfelt grief over the loss of innocent lives in Peshawar bomb blast, while denouncing the incident, Prime Minister (PM) Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani directed concerned officials to provide the injured with all the possible medical relief. NWFP Chief Minister (CM), Amir Hyder Khan Hoti has ordered inquiry of the blast. Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif, CM Punjab Shehbaz Sharif, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Quaid Altaf Hussain, Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira, NWFP CM Amir Hyder Hoti, Governor NWFP Owais Ahmed Ghani, CM Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad, CM Balochistan Aslam Raisani, Governor Balochistan Zulfiqar Magsi, Federal Ministers Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri, Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Munawar Hassan and Qazi Husain Ahmed have strongly condemned the blas
Car bomb blast kills more than 80 in Peshawar
PESHAWAR: A car bomb blast killed more than 80 people and wounded about 100 on Wednesday in a crowded market in Peshawar, a doctor and officials said, the latest in a series of bloody militant attacks.
The blast, the deadliest in Pakistan this year, came hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan pledging a fresh start in ties with an increasingly embattled and sceptical partner in the struggle against militancy.
The bomb went off in Peshawar’s busy Peepal Mandi market street in the old city, sparking a fire that engulfed several buildings.
‘The figure is rising. We have more than 80 dead including women and children,’ Sahib Gul, a doctor at the city's main hospital, told Reuters.
Pakistan is on high alert amid fears of retaliatory strikes by Taliban militants as the army attacks their strongholds in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
The blast was caused by a car bomb, a senior city official said.
‘The car was parked outside a market frequented mostly by women,’ Azam Khan told Reuters.
The offensive against in South Waziristan came after a series of brazen attacks on the United Nations, army headquarters, police and general public, in which more than 150 people were killed.
There have been several bomb attacks since the offensive began.
Wednesday's blast caused serious damage in the neighbourhood of old wood and brick buildings, busy streets and narrow lanes.
‘Several buildings and a mosque have been badly damaged while a fire has engulfed a building,’ witness Aqueel-ur-Rehman told Reuters from the scene.
‘I can see three bodies lying under the debris,’ he said.
The army launched the offensive on October 17 and says it is making steady progress as soldiers push towards the al Qaeda-linked militants' bases in the region's rocky mountains and patchy forests.
The blast, the deadliest in Pakistan this year, came hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan pledging a fresh start in ties with an increasingly embattled and sceptical partner in the struggle against militancy.
The bomb went off in Peshawar’s busy Peepal Mandi market street in the old city, sparking a fire that engulfed several buildings.
‘The figure is rising. We have more than 80 dead including women and children,’ Sahib Gul, a doctor at the city's main hospital, told Reuters.
Pakistan is on high alert amid fears of retaliatory strikes by Taliban militants as the army attacks their strongholds in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
The blast was caused by a car bomb, a senior city official said.
‘The car was parked outside a market frequented mostly by women,’ Azam Khan told Reuters.
The offensive against in South Waziristan came after a series of brazen attacks on the United Nations, army headquarters, police and general public, in which more than 150 people were killed.
There have been several bomb attacks since the offensive began.
Wednesday's blast caused serious damage in the neighbourhood of old wood and brick buildings, busy streets and narrow lanes.
‘Several buildings and a mosque have been badly damaged while a fire has engulfed a building,’ witness Aqueel-ur-Rehman told Reuters from the scene.
‘I can see three bodies lying under the debris,’ he said.
The army launched the offensive on October 17 and says it is making steady progress as soldiers push towards the al Qaeda-linked militants' bases in the region's rocky mountains and patchy forests.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Obama's Afghan strategy hit by deaths and dissent
www.independent.co.uk
The loss of eight more American soldiers yesterday, the resignation of a highly regarded US Foreign Service officer, and new tensions over next week's Afghan election run-off have combined to intensify pressure on Barack Obama as he edges towards a crucial decision on a major increase in US troop strength in Afghanistan.
On Friday the President is to hold a further meeting with his military chiefs. He will be doing so at the end of the bloodiest single month in the conflict. The latest deaths bring to 55 the number of troops already killed in October, more than the previous high of 51 in August. They came the day after 14 US personnel died in separate helicopter accidents. In all more than 900 US soldiers have so far lost their lives in an eight-year war whose end is not in sight.
For Matthew Hoh, the sacrifice has simply become so pointless that he felt no alternative other than to become the first US diplomat known to have resigned over the war, citing reasons that reflect not just his own doubts over the conflict, but those of an increasingly disillusioned American public.
"I have lost understanding of, and confidence in, the strategic purposes of the United States presence in Afghanistan," says the resignation letter of the former Marine captain and Iraq veteran, who joined the State Department to work as the top American official in Zabul province in eastern Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan.
The US involvement was simply fuelling the insurgency, Mr Hoh wrote, and was causing American servicemen to die "in what is essentially a far-off civil war", or more accurately a number of small local wars in which the sides are united only in their resentment of a foreign intruder. His problem was not how Washington was pursuing the war – the issue Mr Obama is grappling with in round after round of consultations with his top national security and military advisers – "but why and to what end" his country was fighting it in the first place.
The resignation, revealed yesterday in The Washington Post, has sent shockwaves through the administration, which made repeated and strenuous efforts to change Mr Hoh's mind – including a one-on-one meeting with Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for Afghanistan. "We took his letter very seriously," Mr Holbrooke told the newspaper. He described Mr Hoh as a good officer, and admitting that he shared much of the diplomat's analysis, although not his conclusion.
Tellingly, Mr Hoh emphasises he is no "peacenik or pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love". As he made clear to the Post, he is a tough former professional soldier, who believes the Taliban and al-Q'aida have "plenty of dudes who need to be killed", and the evidence of his personal courage makes him a difficult target for pro-war voices. Mr Hoh came home from Iraq with citations for "uncommon bravery".
Nor was he a mere grunt: in his time as a Defence Department civilian working on reconstruction in Tikrit, Iraq, he employed up to 5,000 people and handled millions of dollars in cash. Yet despite that experience, he said the weeks spent considering his decision and drafting the four-page resignation letter left him feeling "physically nauseous".
Later this week the now-resigned diplomat will meet with the chief foreign policy adviser of the Vice-President Joe Biden, the leading advocate in the administration of the approach favoured by Mr Hoh: a greater focus on Pakistan coupled with a scaled-down US combat presence in Afghanistan. "We have to draw the line somewhere, and say this is their problem to solve."
Complicating matters further is the new dispute over the election run-off, after Abdullah Abdullah, the challenger to the incumbent president Hamid Karzai, demanded the dismissal of the country's top election officer. Mr Abdullah, a former foreign minister, maintains that the supposedly neutral official could not guarantee a clean election, after the widespread fraud that marred the initial vote in August.
But yesterday Mr Karzai rejected that demand and others, with little sign of significant change in the practical organisation of the run-off, scheduled for 7 November. In retaliation, Mr Abdullah has threatened to boycott the vote – a move that would all but destroy the chances of Afghanistan gaining a leader with genuine national legitimacy, a declared pre-condition of a boost in US troop strength.
The request submitted by General Stanley McChrystal, the top allied commander in Afghanistan, reportedly seeks an increase of up to 40,000 men from the currently planned ceiling of 68,000. Failing that, the general argues, the war might to all intents be lost within a year.
Mr Obama has said he will not be rushed, and will make up his mind only when the election produces a clear-cut, accepted winner. In the meantime relations are by all accounts highly strained between the Obama team and Mr Karzai. The latter's agreement to accept a run-off was secured not by Mr Holbrooke, who reportedly has clashed with the Afghan President, but by the visiting John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hoh's resignation letter: 'This reminds me horribly of Vietnam'
"In the course of my five months of service in Afghanistan... I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purpose of the United States' presence in Afghanistan
"My resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing the war, but why and to what end... I fail to see the value or worth in continued US casualties... in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year-old civil war
"Like the Soviets we continue to bolster a failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted by its people
"If the history of Afghanistan is one great stage play, the United States is no more than a supporting actor, among several previously, in a tragedy that... has violently and savagely pitted the urban, secular, educated and modern of Afghanistan against the rural, religious, illiterate and traditional.
"The Pashtun insurgency... is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people as a continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on Pashtun land, culture, traditions and religion by internal and external enemies. The US and Nato presence and operations... provide an occupation force against which the insurgency is justified
"The bulk of the insurgency fights not for the white banner of the Taliban, but... against the presence of foreign soldiers and taxes
"[This] reminds me horribly of our involvement with South Vietnam... against an insurgency we arrogantly and ignorantly mistook as a rival to our own Cold War ideology."
Bloodiest month: US losses in October
27 October 2009 Eight American troops die in two separate bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, making October the deadliest month of the war for US forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.
26 October 2009 Eleven American soldiers are killed in separate helicopter crashes. One helicopter goes down in western Afghanistan, killing seven soldiers and three civilians working for the US government. In a separate incident in the south, two other US choppers collide in flight, killing four American troops.
3 October 2009 Eight US soldiers are killed when their outpost in Kamdesh, Nuristan, is attacked by as many as 300 militants. Another soldier dies in Wardak province when a bomb detonates as he attempts to disarm it.
The US military has suffered 905 fatalities since the invasion of October 2001.
Waziristan IDPs
PESHAWAR: Certain inhabitants of South Waziristan have complained that the government and the nation had ignored them despite the fact that they have been suffering due to the so-called ‘war against terror’ since June 2002. “We appreciate the gesture shown by the government and public while hosting the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Swat. But at the same time we question as to why we have been ignored even though we were displaced thrice from our hometowns?” complained Mushtaq Ahmad Wazir, the president of Wana Welfare Association (WaWA), through a letter sent to the top political leaders of the country, civil society organizations and media. It recalled how the South Waziristanis had been suffering since the first military operation in Wana on June 26, 2002. “We were accused of being supporters of terrorists. Our elders who tried to protest against the government were killed. The entire population was tortured by imposing restrictions on us,” the letter recalled. Another military operation was launched in the area, the letter reminded, in 2004 when jets were used for shelling and people were forced to move to safer places. “The people of Wana had never heard about kidnapping for ransom but Uzbeks and Chechens hiding in the area played havoc with the peace of the area since December 2004. They blew up schools, government offices, and kidnapped and killed local elders. The bazaars were looted, orchards of apples destroyed and houses were ruined,” it stated. The one-page letter in Urdu added that military operation was launched against the foreigners and their supporters once again in March 2007, forcing the people to flee for their lives. “Today tribesmen congratulate each other once a military convoy safely passes through their village. Shelling from the cannons and jets as well as drone attacks has become the order of the day,” narrated Mushtaq Wazir. The letter complained of suspension of power supply to the area for the past six months and closure of roads since long. The people have to reach the nearby Dera Ismail Khan via Zhob in Balochistan. The journey not only causes them severe fatigue but also costs Rs 1500 instead of Rs150 if undertaken by the old route from Wana to Dera Ismail Khan. “We appreciate how the government, the political parties, civil society organizations and media supported the IDPs from Swat. But we want to ask whether the people of Waziristan are not Pakistanis and Muslims? Don’t they need the basic requirements in their tents after being dislocated from their homes to secure their lives and loved ones?” it asked. The tribesmen complained that a team of psychiatrists and psychologists was immediately sent to treat the students of a school in Lahore after a blast in the area but on the other hand the government never did anything significant for 16,000 affected students of Wana. “We want the government and all concerned to take practical measures so that our coming generation does not suffer due to war, forced migration and drone attacks. Instead they should be given due rights of education, economic stability and peace,” the letter concluded by stressing upon the government and civil society to concentrate on promotion of education in Waziristan and rest of the country to permanently end their sufferings.
Waziristan offensive is pivotal test for army, residents
Washington Post
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, PAKISTAN -- As Pakistan's army battles with guns and jets to wrest control of the restive South Waziristan region from the Taliban, it remains unclear whether the military will have another kind of ammunition it desperately needs: the support of people who have lived in the militants' grip for years.
Among refugees who were jostling for donated blankets in this dusty frontier town last week, few dared discuss the Taliban fighters controlling their villages. Several whispered that there was no graver offense than speaking against the Taliban, and seemed fearful that breaching that rule would haunt them once the offensive -- which several referred to as an artificial "drama" cooked up to satisfy the U.S. -- was over.
"The operation is a joke just to please the foreign masters," said Saidalam Mehsud, 59, a burly driver. "Whenever the dollars are floating into Pakistan, such operations are carried out."
In the past week, refugees said, their doubts about the offensive intensified because they had seen little evidence of the ground operation Pakistan's military says has killed nearly 200 insurgents. While many said shells and bombs had been raining on the hilly terrain all week, some hitting civilian houses, none said they had seen government soldiers.
Instead, masked and armed militants were roaming with apparent ease and digging trenches, the refugees said. Security analysts say soldiers are moving cautiously, partly to avoid civilian casualties, and the military says it has captured key militant hideouts.
The offensive is a pivotal test for Pakistan. The United States is giving unprecedented aid to Pakistan, but is also pressuring the government here to clamp down on militant Islamist groups that attack both Pakistani targets and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials say South Waziristan is the refuge for one group of Pakistani Taliban, led by Hakimullah Mehsud, that has orchestrated a string of recent attacks on high-profile targets across the country.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have traversed craggy terrain to flee the nearly two-week-old offensive. Researchers and people familiar with the long neglected, semi-autonomous tribal area say many of South Waziristan's fiercely independent Pashtun residents desperately want the Taliban to go. But the Taliban of South Waziristan are a deeply entrenched and organized group that has had years to force locals into submission.
"They will only rise against the Taliban when they are convinced the government means business," said Saifullah Mehsud, director of the FATA Research Center in Islamabad, which studies Pakistan's tribal areas. "But they have never been convinced."
For half a dozen years, a stew of Pakistani and foreign fighters has exerted near complete control in the region. Bearded fighters travel ridges in convoys, while local commanders police villages and the rank-and-file paste up posters pronouncing the latest religious edicts.
The militancy has shattered the economy, and at least half of South Waziristan's 500,000 people had moved from the area by July, according to the International Crisis Group. Those who remain live in forced compliance, with many families offering at least one son to the Taliban to avoid drawing suspicion, researchers said. Other poor young men eagerly sign up, lured by the promise of guns, travel in SUVs and martyrdom. Amid the lines of refugees in Dera Ismail Khan, some delicately described Taliban rule as merely strict.
"The Taliban are bad for criminals and outlaws," farm worker Saidullah Khan, 37, said on a recent evening. "The Taliban cause no problems for me or other common people."
Others bold enough to speak to a journalist said the situation in South Waziristan was dire. During the Taliban's reign, roads have deteriorated and most schools have shut, residents said. Even worse, some residents said, the hard-line version of Islam favored by the Taliban has destroyed a rich Pashtun culture. Traditional drumming is banned, stifling the vibrant weddings and elaborate funerals that were once common.
But the most profound effect, they said, is the quiet, daily task of projecting loyalty to the Taliban.
"There is constant fear in our minds," said Ali Mohammed, a 35-year-old out-of-work teacher, who said he had recently come across a corpse in a field near his militant-riddled town, Makeen, from which he drew a lesson: "If they take you as an opponent or a spy, then they will punish you -- very brutally."
One businessman who fled last week to Peshawar, who did not want his name published out of fear for his life, said he had carefully carved out a narrow space to avoid Taliban wrath. He is one of the few male residents without a beard, but he dutifully attends the funerals of suicide bombers. And when he runs into fighters, he praises Baitullah Mehsud, the former Taliban chief who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in August, as a martyr and the "only big tree under which we were sheltered."
Privately, though, the businessman said he had decided the insurgents were mostly thugs, not religious purists. Worried his two adolescent sons might think otherwise, he regularly exhorts them to reject the Taliban allure.
"I am telling them, 'If you are in favor of jihad, okay, but think about it -- have these mullahs preaching to you also gone for jihad?'" the 35-year-old, boom-voiced man said in an interview in Peshawar. "This I cannot say publicly, or I would be killed."
Khadim Hussain, who researches Pakistan's tribal belt at an Islamabad-based think tank, said that a recent survey he directed in the region revealed widespread dislike for the Taliban's extremist ideology. About 550 informal interviews with residents showed most favor targeted attacks on insurgents, he said.
Even if the military offensive succeeds, some South Waziristan natives said they feared it would simply usher in a new set of outlaw rulers. The military acknowledges that it has struck deals with two other militant factions, both Mehsud rivals who focus their attacks in Afghanistan. Displacing the Taliban might empower those groups, some analysts said.
"We are silent in this whole drama. But that does not mean we are Taliban," said Mohammed, the out-of-work teacher who spoke openly only inside a car, away from a packed refugee registration point here.
If the military offensive flushed out the Taliban, some observers said, the people of South Waziristan would work to hold their ground. For now, they are crammed into rented homes outside the battle lines, waiting with hushed, almost muted hope.
"We are very weak," said Gulzada Khan, 68, a white-bearded elder in a soiled striped turban who fled to Dera Ismail Khan. "It is the worst time in my life. We were proud, respectful people. We never bowed down to anyone. Now I think we have lost that glory."
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, PAKISTAN -- As Pakistan's army battles with guns and jets to wrest control of the restive South Waziristan region from the Taliban, it remains unclear whether the military will have another kind of ammunition it desperately needs: the support of people who have lived in the militants' grip for years.
Among refugees who were jostling for donated blankets in this dusty frontier town last week, few dared discuss the Taliban fighters controlling their villages. Several whispered that there was no graver offense than speaking against the Taliban, and seemed fearful that breaching that rule would haunt them once the offensive -- which several referred to as an artificial "drama" cooked up to satisfy the U.S. -- was over.
"The operation is a joke just to please the foreign masters," said Saidalam Mehsud, 59, a burly driver. "Whenever the dollars are floating into Pakistan, such operations are carried out."
In the past week, refugees said, their doubts about the offensive intensified because they had seen little evidence of the ground operation Pakistan's military says has killed nearly 200 insurgents. While many said shells and bombs had been raining on the hilly terrain all week, some hitting civilian houses, none said they had seen government soldiers.
Instead, masked and armed militants were roaming with apparent ease and digging trenches, the refugees said. Security analysts say soldiers are moving cautiously, partly to avoid civilian casualties, and the military says it has captured key militant hideouts.
The offensive is a pivotal test for Pakistan. The United States is giving unprecedented aid to Pakistan, but is also pressuring the government here to clamp down on militant Islamist groups that attack both Pakistani targets and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials say South Waziristan is the refuge for one group of Pakistani Taliban, led by Hakimullah Mehsud, that has orchestrated a string of recent attacks on high-profile targets across the country.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have traversed craggy terrain to flee the nearly two-week-old offensive. Researchers and people familiar with the long neglected, semi-autonomous tribal area say many of South Waziristan's fiercely independent Pashtun residents desperately want the Taliban to go. But the Taliban of South Waziristan are a deeply entrenched and organized group that has had years to force locals into submission.
"They will only rise against the Taliban when they are convinced the government means business," said Saifullah Mehsud, director of the FATA Research Center in Islamabad, which studies Pakistan's tribal areas. "But they have never been convinced."
For half a dozen years, a stew of Pakistani and foreign fighters has exerted near complete control in the region. Bearded fighters travel ridges in convoys, while local commanders police villages and the rank-and-file paste up posters pronouncing the latest religious edicts.
The militancy has shattered the economy, and at least half of South Waziristan's 500,000 people had moved from the area by July, according to the International Crisis Group. Those who remain live in forced compliance, with many families offering at least one son to the Taliban to avoid drawing suspicion, researchers said. Other poor young men eagerly sign up, lured by the promise of guns, travel in SUVs and martyrdom. Amid the lines of refugees in Dera Ismail Khan, some delicately described Taliban rule as merely strict.
"The Taliban are bad for criminals and outlaws," farm worker Saidullah Khan, 37, said on a recent evening. "The Taliban cause no problems for me or other common people."
Others bold enough to speak to a journalist said the situation in South Waziristan was dire. During the Taliban's reign, roads have deteriorated and most schools have shut, residents said. Even worse, some residents said, the hard-line version of Islam favored by the Taliban has destroyed a rich Pashtun culture. Traditional drumming is banned, stifling the vibrant weddings and elaborate funerals that were once common.
But the most profound effect, they said, is the quiet, daily task of projecting loyalty to the Taliban.
"There is constant fear in our minds," said Ali Mohammed, a 35-year-old out-of-work teacher, who said he had recently come across a corpse in a field near his militant-riddled town, Makeen, from which he drew a lesson: "If they take you as an opponent or a spy, then they will punish you -- very brutally."
One businessman who fled last week to Peshawar, who did not want his name published out of fear for his life, said he had carefully carved out a narrow space to avoid Taliban wrath. He is one of the few male residents without a beard, but he dutifully attends the funerals of suicide bombers. And when he runs into fighters, he praises Baitullah Mehsud, the former Taliban chief who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in August, as a martyr and the "only big tree under which we were sheltered."
Privately, though, the businessman said he had decided the insurgents were mostly thugs, not religious purists. Worried his two adolescent sons might think otherwise, he regularly exhorts them to reject the Taliban allure.
"I am telling them, 'If you are in favor of jihad, okay, but think about it -- have these mullahs preaching to you also gone for jihad?'" the 35-year-old, boom-voiced man said in an interview in Peshawar. "This I cannot say publicly, or I would be killed."
Khadim Hussain, who researches Pakistan's tribal belt at an Islamabad-based think tank, said that a recent survey he directed in the region revealed widespread dislike for the Taliban's extremist ideology. About 550 informal interviews with residents showed most favor targeted attacks on insurgents, he said.
Even if the military offensive succeeds, some South Waziristan natives said they feared it would simply usher in a new set of outlaw rulers. The military acknowledges that it has struck deals with two other militant factions, both Mehsud rivals who focus their attacks in Afghanistan. Displacing the Taliban might empower those groups, some analysts said.
"We are silent in this whole drama. But that does not mean we are Taliban," said Mohammed, the out-of-work teacher who spoke openly only inside a car, away from a packed refugee registration point here.
If the military offensive flushed out the Taliban, some observers said, the people of South Waziristan would work to hold their ground. For now, they are crammed into rented homes outside the battle lines, waiting with hushed, almost muted hope.
"We are very weak," said Gulzada Khan, 68, a white-bearded elder in a soiled striped turban who fled to Dera Ismail Khan. "It is the worst time in my life. We were proud, respectful people. We never bowed down to anyone. Now I think we have lost that glory."
Pressure From U.S. Strains Ties With Pakistan
NewYorkTimes
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Obama administration is putting pressure on Pakistan to eliminate Taliban and Qaeda militants from the country’s tribal areas, but the push is straining the delicate relations between the allies, Pakistani and Western officials say.
The Pakistani military’s recent heavy offensive in South Waziristan has pleased the Americans, but it left large parts of Pakistan under siege, as militants once sequestered in the country’s tribal areas take their war to Pakistan’s cities. Many Pakistanis blame the United States for the country’s rising instability.
When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Pakistan this week, as she is scheduled to do, she will find a nuclear-armed state consumed by doubts about the value of the alliance with the United States and resentful of ever-rising American demands to do more, the officials said.
The United States is also struggling to address Pakistan’s concerns over the conditions imposed on a new American aid package of $7.5 billion over five years that the Pakistani military denounced as designed to interfere in the country’s internal affairs.
The Obama administration has endorsed the Pakistani Army’s recent offensive in South Waziristan, suggesting it showed overdue resolve. But it has also raised concerns about the Pakistani Army’s long-term objectives. How South Waziristan plays out may prove to be a bellwether for an alliance of increasingly divergent interests.
The special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard C. Holbrooke, said Friday that the Obama administration would be trying to find out whether the army was simply “dispersing” the militants or “destroying” them, as the United States would like.
From the number of troops in South Waziristan, it was not clear that the army wanted to “finish the task,” said a Western military attaché, who spoke on the condition of anonymity according to diplomatic protocol.
The army would not take over South Waziristan as it had the Swat Valley, where the military is now an occupying force after conducting a campaign in the spring and summer that pushed the Taliban out, the officials said.
It remains to be seen how the campaign will play out in a region where the army has failed in the past, analysts said. The army has sent about 28,000 soldiers to South Waziristan to take on about 10,000 guerrillas, a relatively low ratio, according to military specialists.
In all, of the roughly 28,000 soldiers, there are probably about 11,000 army infantrymen, said Javed Hussain, a retired Pakistani Army brigadier. Instead of a ratio of one to one, he said, the ratio should be at least five to one.
The army appeared to have no plans to occupy South Waziristan, but rather to cut the militants “to size,” said Tariq Fatemi, who served briefly as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States in 1999.
With the uncertainty of American plans in Afghanistan, and the strong sentiment in Pakistan that India was “up to no good” in the restive province of Baluchistan and the tribal areas, Mr. Fatemi said, the army would not abandon the militant groups that it has relied on to fight as proxies in Afghanistan and in Kashmir against India.
The goal in South Waziristan, Mr. Fatemi said, was to eliminate the leadership that had become “too big of their boots” with the attacks on Pakistan’s cities. The army would like to find more pliant replacements as leaders, he said.
The militants’ war against the cities in the past three weeks had produced a wave of fear that shored up support for the army to fight back in South Waziristan, many Pakistanis said.
But the terror has also amplified complaints that the unpopular civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who is seen as slavishly pro-American, is unable to cope with the onslaught.
Mr. Zardari, whose relations with the Pakistani military appear increasingly strained, has not addressed the nation since the militants unfurled their attacks or since the army launched the offensive in South Waziristan.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik was pelted with stones last week when he visited the International Islamic University after two suicide bomb attacks on the campus killed six students, including women.
After the attack at the university, the government ordered all schools and universities closed in Punjab, the most populous province, a move that affected Pakistani families like never before.
“The impact is being felt in every home, before it was just the North-West Frontier Province,” said Jahangir Tareen, a member of Parliament and a member of the cabinet under President Pervez Musharraf.
When schools were ordered re-opened Monday, parents were still unhappy.
“The mood is as bleak as I remember,” said a well-to-do parent in Lahore who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “The government says the private schools must open, but security is up to the schools. Where is the government?”
The range and different style of attacks in the urban areas, particularly in Islamabad, the capital, and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi, surprised Pakistani security officials, said a Western diplomat who is in frequent contact with them.
The Pakistani security services knew that sleeper cells had been put in place in both cities in the past six months, but their strength was unknown, the diplomat said. “These were not your scared suicide bomber boys from the villages, these were well trained commandos,” the diplomat said.
The assassination of an army brigadier as he drove through Islamabad last week further unnerved people, demonstrating that the militants had a cadre of spotters or observers probably marshaled from the increasing number of students attending radical religious schools in the capital, the diplomat said.
Whatever President Obama decides about troop levels in Afghanistan, Pakistan sees the United States and NATO headed for the exits, an outcome that encourages Pakistan to hang onto the militants that it has used as proxies, the Western diplomat said.
The fact that the United States had so far failed to persuade India to restart talks with Pakistan and that it was doing little to curb what Pakistan sees as the undue influence of India in Afghanistan was unsettling for Pakistan, Mr. Fatemi, the former ambassador, said.
On top of everything else, that feeling was driving a surge of anti-American sentiment, even among the elite, some Pakistanis said, increasing the challenges ahead.
“There is a general perception in the educated class that Pakistan is paying a very heavy price for fighting alongside the United States,” said Ashfaq Khan, a prominent economist and dean of the business school at the National University of Science and Technology in Islamabad.
Health task force for Waziristan IDPs
PESHAWAR: The provincial health department is forming a task force to supervise and give advice regarding gaps in provision of health facilities to South Waziristan displaced people residing in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts.
‘The government has registered 19,548 families with 149,934 individuals from South Waziristan. All of them are residing with host communities because camps couldn’t be established in view of ethnic problems and general law and order situation,’ said officials.
Therefore, they added, health facilities in union councils where the displaced people were living with host communities were being strengthened.
The decision to form the six-member task force, comprising a gynaecologist, a public health expert and a surgeon and one member each from the WHO, Unicef and UNFPA, was taken at a meeting held recently at the WHO office in Islamabad.
The meeting, co-chaired by WHO’s country representative Dr Khalife Mahmud Bile and NWFP health director-general Dr Fazal Mahmood and attended by executive district officers (health) of Tank, D. I. Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu, discussed the health scenario of the displaced people. It decided that the task force would be visiting these districts and would identify gaps in health facilities to the provincial health department and the WHO.
At the meeting, the WHO official handed over 26 emergency health kits to the EDO of D. I. Khan, which can cater to 146,000 persons for two months and 16 kits for 96,000 persons to the EDO of Tank, apart from handing over three inter-agency emergency health kits for 30,000 people. Three cholera kits were also provided to D. I. Khan.
The world health agency also pledged to provide a state-of-the-art mobile clinical laboratory to enable health professionals to provide diagnostic services to displaced families.
Dr Mahmood told Dawn on Tuesday that the decision to form the task force was necessitated by the fact that UN officials could not visit the troubled spots because of security problems.
The WHO, he said, was also starting three-day training of doctors and health professionals of D. I. Khan and Tank districts on disease early warning system (DEWS) from Nov 3. ‘We are implementing DEWS in Tank and D. I. Khan to know about the trend of diseases and take timely measures in case of epidemics,’ he said.
A WHO official said the two districts had a weak referral system due to which the displaced people could face problems in case of serious medical conditions. For this purpose, he said, four ambulances, two each for D. I. Khan and Tank, would soon be given to the executive district officers by the WHO so that the seriously-ill IDPs could be transported to nearest health facilities.
He said the people displaced from Waziristan were being diverted from Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts to D. I. Khan and Tank and health facilities in the latter two districts were being strengthened.
Dr Mahmood said the EDOs concerned had been directed to hold IDPs health cluster meetings on weekly basis and inform the provincial health office.
The WHO had also pledged essential drugs for the displaced people, he said.
‘The government has registered 19,548 families with 149,934 individuals from South Waziristan. All of them are residing with host communities because camps couldn’t be established in view of ethnic problems and general law and order situation,’ said officials.
Therefore, they added, health facilities in union councils where the displaced people were living with host communities were being strengthened.
The decision to form the six-member task force, comprising a gynaecologist, a public health expert and a surgeon and one member each from the WHO, Unicef and UNFPA, was taken at a meeting held recently at the WHO office in Islamabad.
The meeting, co-chaired by WHO’s country representative Dr Khalife Mahmud Bile and NWFP health director-general Dr Fazal Mahmood and attended by executive district officers (health) of Tank, D. I. Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu, discussed the health scenario of the displaced people. It decided that the task force would be visiting these districts and would identify gaps in health facilities to the provincial health department and the WHO.
At the meeting, the WHO official handed over 26 emergency health kits to the EDO of D. I. Khan, which can cater to 146,000 persons for two months and 16 kits for 96,000 persons to the EDO of Tank, apart from handing over three inter-agency emergency health kits for 30,000 people. Three cholera kits were also provided to D. I. Khan.
The world health agency also pledged to provide a state-of-the-art mobile clinical laboratory to enable health professionals to provide diagnostic services to displaced families.
Dr Mahmood told Dawn on Tuesday that the decision to form the task force was necessitated by the fact that UN officials could not visit the troubled spots because of security problems.
The WHO, he said, was also starting three-day training of doctors and health professionals of D. I. Khan and Tank districts on disease early warning system (DEWS) from Nov 3. ‘We are implementing DEWS in Tank and D. I. Khan to know about the trend of diseases and take timely measures in case of epidemics,’ he said.
A WHO official said the two districts had a weak referral system due to which the displaced people could face problems in case of serious medical conditions. For this purpose, he said, four ambulances, two each for D. I. Khan and Tank, would soon be given to the executive district officers by the WHO so that the seriously-ill IDPs could be transported to nearest health facilities.
He said the people displaced from Waziristan were being diverted from Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts to D. I. Khan and Tank and health facilities in the latter two districts were being strengthened.
Dr Mahmood said the EDOs concerned had been directed to hold IDPs health cluster meetings on weekly basis and inform the provincial health office.
The WHO had also pledged essential drugs for the displaced people, he said.
Health task force for Waziristan IDPs
PESHAWAR: The provincial health department is forming a task force to supervise and give advice regarding gaps in provision of health facilities to South Waziristan displaced people residing in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts.
‘The government has registered 19,548 families with 149,934 individuals from South Waziristan. All of them are residing with host communities because camps couldn’t be established in view of ethnic problems and general law and order situation,’ said officials.
Therefore, they added, health facilities in union councils where the displaced people were living with host communities were being strengthened.
The decision to form the six-member task force, comprising a gynaecologist, a public health expert and a surgeon and one member each from the WHO, Unicef and UNFPA, was taken at a meeting held recently at the WHO office in Islamabad.
The meeting, co-chaired by WHO’s country representative Dr Khalife Mahmud Bile and NWFP health director-general Dr Fazal Mahmood and attended by executive district officers (health) of Tank, D. I. Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu, discussed the health scenario of the displaced people. It decided that the task force would be visiting these districts and would identify gaps in health facilities to the provincial health department and the WHO.
At the meeting, the WHO official handed over 26 emergency health kits to the EDO of D. I. Khan, which can cater to 146,000 persons for two months and 16 kits for 96,000 persons to the EDO of Tank, apart from handing over three inter-agency emergency health kits for 30,000 people. Three cholera kits were also provided to D. I. Khan.
The world health agency also pledged to provide a state-of-the-art mobile clinical laboratory to enable health professionals to provide diagnostic services to displaced families.
Dr Mahmood told Dawn on Tuesday that the decision to form the task force was necessitated by the fact that UN officials could not visit the troubled spots because of security problems.
The WHO, he said, was also starting three-day training of doctors and health professionals of D. I. Khan and Tank districts on disease early warning system (DEWS) from Nov 3. ‘We are implementing DEWS in Tank and D. I. Khan to know about the trend of diseases and take timely measures in case of epidemics,’ he said.
A WHO official said the two districts had a weak referral system due to which the displaced people could face problems in case of serious medical conditions. For this purpose, he said, four ambulances, two each for D. I. Khan and Tank, would soon be given to the executive district officers by the WHO so that the seriously-ill IDPs could be transported to nearest health facilities.
He said the people displaced from Waziristan were being diverted from Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts to D. I. Khan and Tank and health facilities in the latter two districts were being strengthened.
Dr Mahmood said the EDOs concerned had been directed to hold IDPs health cluster meetings on weekly basis and inform the provincial health office.
The WHO had also pledged essential drugs for the displaced people, he said.
‘The government has registered 19,548 families with 149,934 individuals from South Waziristan. All of them are residing with host communities because camps couldn’t be established in view of ethnic problems and general law and order situation,’ said officials.
Therefore, they added, health facilities in union councils where the displaced people were living with host communities were being strengthened.
The decision to form the six-member task force, comprising a gynaecologist, a public health expert and a surgeon and one member each from the WHO, Unicef and UNFPA, was taken at a meeting held recently at the WHO office in Islamabad.
The meeting, co-chaired by WHO’s country representative Dr Khalife Mahmud Bile and NWFP health director-general Dr Fazal Mahmood and attended by executive district officers (health) of Tank, D. I. Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu, discussed the health scenario of the displaced people. It decided that the task force would be visiting these districts and would identify gaps in health facilities to the provincial health department and the WHO.
At the meeting, the WHO official handed over 26 emergency health kits to the EDO of D. I. Khan, which can cater to 146,000 persons for two months and 16 kits for 96,000 persons to the EDO of Tank, apart from handing over three inter-agency emergency health kits for 30,000 people. Three cholera kits were also provided to D. I. Khan.
The world health agency also pledged to provide a state-of-the-art mobile clinical laboratory to enable health professionals to provide diagnostic services to displaced families.
Dr Mahmood told Dawn on Tuesday that the decision to form the task force was necessitated by the fact that UN officials could not visit the troubled spots because of security problems.
The WHO, he said, was also starting three-day training of doctors and health professionals of D. I. Khan and Tank districts on disease early warning system (DEWS) from Nov 3. ‘We are implementing DEWS in Tank and D. I. Khan to know about the trend of diseases and take timely measures in case of epidemics,’ he said.
A WHO official said the two districts had a weak referral system due to which the displaced people could face problems in case of serious medical conditions. For this purpose, he said, four ambulances, two each for D. I. Khan and Tank, would soon be given to the executive district officers by the WHO so that the seriously-ill IDPs could be transported to nearest health facilities.
He said the people displaced from Waziristan were being diverted from Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts to D. I. Khan and Tank and health facilities in the latter two districts were being strengthened.
Dr Mahmood said the EDOs concerned had been directed to hold IDPs health cluster meetings on weekly basis and inform the provincial health office.
The WHO had also pledged essential drugs for the displaced people, he said.
US turning a new page in ties, says Hillary
Dawn.com
WASHINGTON: A lot of military equipment is ‘fungible’ and mobile and can be used in different places, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Dawn when asked if it’s fair to demand that a Pakistani military unit using a certain weapon on the Afghan border leave that weapon behind when it’s transferred to another place.
In a wide-ranging interview, Secretary Clinton said that since the beginning of the Waziristan operation, the US had been trying to accelerate its assistance for the Pakistani military.
‘We both have bureaucracies. We know how it is sometimes that things get delayed or they’re slower than we want, but we’re really trying to accelerate everything we can to help the Pakistani military.’
She agreed with the suggestion that the operation in South Waziristan was crucial for Pakistan’s stability and survival.
‘We believe that what the Pakistani military has done is in the best interest of Pakistan. It also is a conflict that we believe Pakistan has to win for Pakistan’s future.’
Asked if failure in Waziristan could also jeopardise Pakistan, the secretary said: ‘Well, it is a risk, but I have a lot of confidence in the Pakistani military. I think that this is a very well thought out and well executed military campaign. We saw the success in Swat, and I think we’re seeing the results of this effort in Waziristan.’
Asked if the US was sharing intelligence it gathered through its unmanned aircraft with the Pakistani military to help it trace the militants hiding in Waziristan, she said: ‘I don’t discuss intelligence, but we are doing all that we can to be helpful to the Pakistani military.’
In the interview, Secretary also addressed some of the issues that irritate people both in the United States and Pakistan but focussed mainly on what she believes was the real substance: a desire to build a long-term partnership between the two nations.
Asked if the uproar over the Kerry-Lugar bill had done a major damage to US relations with the Pakistani military, she said: ‘I hope not. And I will be discussing that directly, as have other representatives of our government, both our administration and Congress, because that was certainly not the intention.’
She pointed out that the US was providing a great deal of support to the Pakistani military in their ‘courageous fight’ against the violent extremists.
‘So we certainly want to have a positive relationship and there’s been a lot of outreach between the leaders of our military and the leaders of the Pakistani military and there seems to be a good base for cooperation between our militaries,’ she said.
‘So we do very much value the partnership and support that we are giving to the Pakistan military, and I hope that that will be the real story that comes out.’
The secretary, who arrives in Islamabad soon with a message of hope and friendship from President Barack Obama, acknowledged that some of the distrust between the two countries was rooted in the recent past.
‘I hope on this trip I will be able to start that ball rolling, so to speak, so that maybe some in your country will say, no, I really didn’t have a good opinion before,’ she said.
‘I thought it was all about are you going to be with us or against us on the war on terrorism, but this is a new day. That’s why we’re turning a new page. And I hope part of what I can convey on my trip is exactly that message.’
She had a personal message too. ‘I love the food, I wear shalwar-kamees. Give me a seekh kabob and daal I’ll be a happy person.’
The secretary also likes the Pakistani music. ‘Some of the music that’s coming out of Pakistan now, some of the cultural facts that I like, some of the dancing that is traditional which I have seen in my prior visits,’ she said.
‘I enjoy, looking at some of the work that I’ve done in the past. I remember when Chelsea and I were there. My daughter had been studying Islamic history in her school here in Washington.’
Indian border
Asked to comment on the US demand that a Pakistani army unit deployed along the Afghan border should leave behind all US-supplied weapons when it is transferred to the Indian border, Secretary Clinton said: ‘Well, that’s really a question that is hard to answer because a lot of military equipment is fungible. I mean, it’s mobile. It can be used in different places. But what we see as the direct threat to Pakistan right now comes from the violent extremism.’
She tackled the Indian factor in this equation rather tactfully. ‘Obviously, we are hopeful that there will be a resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India, because I think the threat that Pakistan faces is a threat that could destabilise the entire region,’ she said.
‘And what we want to do is to help Pakistan really finally eliminate that threat. And what we hope is that on the ongoing challenges between India and Pakistan that that can be handled politically and it would never come to any kind of military action.’
Secretary Clinton had to rush to the White House to attend a Situation Room meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan right when she was going to settle before the camera for the interview and resumed the interview when she returned.
She said President Obama was sending a strong message of support for Pakistan with her.
The message was: ‘Let’s get back to a really strong basis where we can work with one another, we will listen more closely to one another and consult and have this strategic partnership really build more into the future and create benefits for both of our people.’
Kerry-Lugar dispute
Speaking about the Kerry-Lugar bill, Secretary Clinton said the US had made it ‘very clear’ that in Kerry-Lugar it’s not putting conditions on the Pakistani government; it’s putting conditions on its own institutions for evaluating the aid, like it does with the vast majority of its aid programmes.
‘But the Pakistanis have their own ability to make decisions that they believe are obviously in the Pakistani interest. We respect territorial and sovereign capacity of Pakistan. Their sovereignty has to be respected. So we want to be a partner, not to in any way dictate but to assist. And that’s what we’re attempting to do.’
Similarly, she said, there were no conditions on Pakistan in the recently passed amendment to the US defence expenditure bill.
‘I think if one looks carefully at those provisions, they’re mostly about what our Defence Department is expected to do. They’re not really any kind of condition or restriction on the Pakistani military.
‘But I do think it’s fair to point out that when the United States taxpayers provide money to any military, which we do in many places around the world, it is supposed to be for certain missions. I mean, there are many areas where a nation’s military would be proceeding on its own because something was very much in their own self-interest which we do not partner on, but where we partner there is a back and forth about what we can do to be helpful.’
Security on high alert in Peshawar
PESHAWAR: Security is on high alert in Peshawar as the local government has erected additional pickets on all the entrances and exits of the city, in milieu of country’s deteriorating peace situation.Cars are being checked with the help of detective dogs.
Additional security personnel have been deployed at Peshawar’s GT Road, Kohat Road, Chaarsadda, Rang Road, Khyber Road, Saddar and Hayatabad areas.The extra police personnel have been posted at the pickets to entirely search the vehicles before allowing them to enter Peshawar.Strict checking is being carried out on all the roads leading to Cantonment limits and cars are searched with bomb-sniffing dogs to ensure safety.The Police have called upon the citizens to fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies.
Additional security personnel have been deployed at Peshawar’s GT Road, Kohat Road, Chaarsadda, Rang Road, Khyber Road, Saddar and Hayatabad areas.The extra police personnel have been posted at the pickets to entirely search the vehicles before allowing them to enter Peshawar.Strict checking is being carried out on all the roads leading to Cantonment limits and cars are searched with bomb-sniffing dogs to ensure safety.The Police have called upon the citizens to fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies.
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