Pakistan - nato's uncertain route to afghanistan

[shock]

PAKISTAN - NATO'S UNCERTAIN ROUTE TO AFGHANISTAN


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ASIA TIMES
July 12, 2012

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Pakistan closed NATO's Afghan route in November in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops. Following months of negotiations, Islamabad finally agreed to reopen the route last week after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized for the deaths.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik had warned banned outfits not to enter Islamabad, saying they would be immediately arrested. However, nobody has been detained by security forces. Critics say Malik's threat merely aimed at proving to the United States and the international community that Pakistan is serious about keeping tabs on banned organizations.

Former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, General Hamid Gul, confirmed a phone interview to Asia Times Online that security forces "wouldn't dare" arrest anyone taking part in the protest, which he said was led by legitimate organizations. Gul was speaking from Gujranwala in Punjab province, where he was leading a section of the long march.


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A large convoy of vehicles is still streaming towards Islamabad, said Gul. More jihadis will join the sit-in front of Parliament House, and they will not leave unless the government restores its suspension of the NATO supply links, he added.

Addressing the rally, religious leaders have said that unless the NATO supply is closed, the protests will turn violent. The DoC has also called for more "long marches" against the NATO supply lines, on July 16-17 from Peshawar to the Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan.

Credible sources have confirmed that militants in Balochistan, the Federally Administrative Tribal Areas and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have vowed to block and burn any trucks carrying NATO supplies. Religious parties are also making plans to block Peshawar and the road to the Khyber Pass.

Officials say that Pakistani intelligence agencies' backing of the banned organizations' protest signals a policy shift away from the US.



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[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - how two-faced dey wanna get here?...

Pakistan Complains About U.S. Drone Strike That Killed Terrorist It Had Itself Wanted to 'Annihilate' in 2009
May 30, 2013 – Pakistan complained about a U.S. drone strike Wednesday near its border with Afghanistan, but the terrorist reportedly targeted and killed in the operation was once the subject of a Pakistani government “wanted dead or alive” reward.

After Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief strategist Wali Ur Rehman was reported to have been killed by a drone-launched missile in North Waziristan early Wednesday morning, the Pakistani government issued a statement saying it “has consistently maintained that the drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives, have human rights and humanitarian implications and violate the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law.” Less than four years ago, however, Islamabad wanted to capture or eliminate Rehman, amid an escalation in bombing attacks after one of several peace deals struck between the authorities and terrorists in the country’s north-west turned sour.

Pakistan had harsh words for the “brutal” Rehman in late 2009, accusing him and other top TTP terrorists of deadly activities that were “earning a bad name for the Muslims in Pakistan and around the world.” “Such people are killers of humanity, and they deserve an exemplary punishment,” the government said in newspaper and television ads. “Help the government of Pakistan to annihilate them.” The biggest rewards – 50 million rupees ($507,000) each – were offered for Rehman, TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud, and suicide bomber trainer Qari Hussain. “Anyone who captures these people dead or alive, or provides concrete information, the government will award them a cash reward,” the ads said. Smaller rewards were offered for several more junior TTP terrorists.

Since its establishment in late 2007, the TTP under Rehman’s operational guidance was held responsible for hundreds of suicide attacks in Pakistan costing thousands of lives, including the September 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed at least 54 people. Rehman was also linked to attacks directed at the United States, including a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees in Khost, Afghanistan in December 2009 – the deadliest single attack targeting the agency in a quarter century – and an April 2010 suicide bombing at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, in which six Pakistanis were killed. He had a $5 million dollar U.S. reward on his head.

Four months after the TTP in May 2010 claimed responsibility for a foiled attempt to detonate a bomb in New York City’s Times Square, the U.S. government designated it a foreign terrorist organization. It subsequently listed Rehman, Mehsud and Hussain as “specially designated global terrorists” under an executive order designed to disrupt funding to terrorists. (Hakimullah Mehsud remains at the helm of the TTP. Qari Hussain was killed in an Oct. 2010 U.S. drone strike, also in North Waziristan.) In a rare video appearance early this year, Rehman said the TTP considers its activities in Pakistan to be part of its war against America, accusing the U.S. of installing a puppet government in Afghanistan and paying the Pakistani army to fight against the Taliban.

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Pakistani Taliban Confirms Killing of Top Commander
May 30, 2013 - The Pakistani Taliban has confirmed that its number two commander was killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike on Wednesday.

A Taliban spokesman, Ihsan Ullah Ihsan, said Wali-ur-Rehman is among six members of the militant group killed by a missile strike in the lawless North Waziristan region of northwestern Pakistan. Ihsan, who spoke to reporters by phone from an unidentified location, held Pakistan's government responsible for the attack.

Waliur Rehman, the Pakistani Taliban's number two commander, talks to the Associated Press in Shawal area of South Waziristan along the border with Afghanistan.

The U.S. government had offered up to $5 million for information leading to Rehman's location, while Pakistan's government had a $500,000 bounty on him. Ihsan threatened revenge for the killing of Rehman and said the Pakistani Taliban is withdrawing its offer of peace talks with the government.

Pakistan has expressed concerns about drone attacks, saying such strikes are counterproductive, kill innocent civilians and violate national sovereignty. Incoming Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called U.S. drone strikes a challenge to his country's sovereignty. U.S. President Barack Obama indicated last week he is scaling back the drone program.

http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistani-taliban-confirms-death-of-top-commander-rehman/1671444.html