Pakistani Role in Global Terrorism

arun · Post by **arun** » 09 Sep 2009 13:50

The UK’s venerable Times Newspaper takes notice of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s terrorist sponsoring ways and accuses the Islamic Republic of Pakistan of playing a “double game”:

September 9, 2009

Double game that let bin Laden slip through net

Anthony Loyd and Zahid Hussain: Behind the Story

The hunt for Osama bin Laden has been at best complicated, and at worst obstructed, by Pakistan’s ambiguous relationship with the Taleban and al-Qaeda. …………….

After 9/11 America made it clear that Pakistan had no choice but to co-operate in the War on Terror — and pressed it to purge the ISI of Taleban and al-Qaeda sympathisers. But it continued to play a double game — most controversially airlifting hundreds, possibly thousands, of Taleban, al-Qaeda and ISI operatives out of the northern Afghan region of Kunduz in November 2001. Later that month more al-Qaeda fighters — probably including bin Laden — escaped from the southeastern Afghan region of Tora Bora by slipping over the border into Pakistan.

In 2002 the ISI created a Counter Terrorism Cell to work with the CIA and MI6 in hunting down al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan. Since then it has helped to capture or kill hundreds of low and middle- ranking al-Qaeda operatives but has yet to find substantial intelligence about bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Pakistani intelligence officials said that it had become difficult to track bin Laden after that because he stopped using satellite phones. In 2006 al-Zawahiri had narrowly escaped death in Bajaur when he was targeted by a US drone.

Western military commanders tend to scoff at Pakistan’s failure to deal with bin Laden. ………………

Times Online

arun · Post by **arun** » 09 Sep 2009 14:03

"Top diplomat" from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

:

Stop blaming Pakistan for UK terrorism - top diplomat

Vikram Dodd and Ian Cobain
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 September 2009 23.31 BST

Senior Pakistani sources have accused Britain of failing to do enough to tackle home-grown terrorists and maintain they are falsely being blamed for harbouring extremists plotting to attack the UK.

A senior Pakistan diplomat told the Guardian that his country was being treated as a "whipping boy" by Britain. The terrorists, including those convicted on Monday for the airlines plot, were "born and brought up" in Britain, not Pakistan, he said. ........................

In a calculated move, a senior Pakistani diplomat in London hit back, saying :

"Sometimes for our British friends the truth is bitter. We have somehow turned out to be a whipping boy, there is a long history to that. The British need to search their own house. Britain has to take responsibility and they have to look into the issues which are driving these youth to extremism, which is the third-generation British – they weren't born and bought up in Pakistan." .........................

Guardian

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 Sep 2009 14:53

arun wrote:"Top diplomat" from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan :

Stop blaming Pakistan for UK terrorism - top diplomat

"Sometimes for our British friends the truth is bitter. We have somehow turned out to be a whipping boy, there is a long history to that. The British need to search their own house. Britain has to take responsibility and they have to look into the issues which are driving these youth to extremism, which is the third-generation British – they weren't born and bought up in Pakistan." .........................

Guardian

No doubt the British need to search their hearts & souls closely as to why the 'frontier state' set up through sleight-of-hand by dividing India to perpetuate British and Western interests has turned its wrath on the masters themselves. Why is the cobra biting the hand that fed it and continues to feed it ?

But, that doesn't take away the fact that it is not the 'whipping boy' syndrome that haunts Pakistan. Pakistan has been involved in almost 170 terror plots in all possible nooks and corners of the world since 9/11. Pakistani men, women, material, funding, training, brainwashing and its state apparatus like the federal and provincial governments, ISI and the Army have been directly responsible for the killing and maiming of people through acts of terrorism all over the world. The 'top diplomat' is refusing to see himself in the mirror on the wall. It will tell him a sordid story.

arun · Post by **arun** » 10 Sep 2009 07:11

This is a problem the British would be very wise to immediately address else given the very high demonstrated propensity of Pakistani origin individuals to indulge in acts of terrorism, Britain will suffer from more and more acts of terrorism:

Failure to vet immigrants from Pakistan 'a threat to security'

Officials interviewed only 29 applicants in nine months

By Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor
Thursday, 10 September 2009

Ministers were last night accused of a major security lapse after it emerged that British immigration officers based in Pakistan had interviewed just 29 of the 66,000 people applying for British visas in nine months. ……………..

The Independent

arun · Post by **arun** » 10 Sep 2009 07:29

The recognition of Pakistan and Pakistani origin individuals as the breeding ground of terrorism in Britain, spreads.

From the Australian newspaper, The Age:

The diligent work to thwart Britain's home-grown terrorists must continue.

Philip Johnston
September 10, 2009

………………. the fact remains that the greatest threat to security both here and in America is based in Britain. Operation Overt, the bombings in London in July 2005, the Operation Crevice conspiracy to target shopping centres, the failed car bombs in London in 2007, the so-called Operation Rhyme conspiracy four years ago to detonate a dirty radiation device in London - all were either masterminded by British citizens or long-term UK residents, usually with Pakistani backgrounds, or their support networks were based here. …………….

Three-quarters of those convicted of involvement in terrorist activity are British with a Pakistani heritage. …………..

arun · Post by **arun** » 13 Sep 2009 13:26

Hardly surprising that the terrorist sponsoring Islamic Republic of Pakistan has turned a blind eye to the setting up of the facility claiming its is a “small farm to keep cattle” :

Al-Qaeda allies build huge Pakistan base

A banned terrorist group which counts British-born al-Qaeda suspect Rashid Rauf as a member is setting up a huge new base in Pakistan's most heavily populated province.

By Saeed Shah in Bahawalpur
Published: 8:30AM BST 13 Sep 2009

Jaish-e-Mohammad ("army of Mohammad"), which is linked to a series of atrocities including an attack on the Indian parliament and the beheading of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, has walled off a 4.5 acre compound just outside the town of Bahawalpur.

Pakistani authorities have turned a blind eye to the new base, in the far south of Punjab province, even though it is believed to have been built to serve as a radical madrassah - Islamic school - or some kind of training camp.

However, The Sunday Telegraph discovered that it has a fully-tiled swimming pool, stabling for over a dozen horses, an ornamental fountain and even swings and a slide for children – all belying claims by the group and Pakistani officials that the facility is simply a small farm to keep cattle. There were signs of construction activity.

The new facility is known to the regional administration and, with a hefty army cantonment in Bahawalpur, the military would also be aware.

On the inside walls, there are painted jihadist inscriptions, including a warning to "Hindus and Jews", with a picture of Delhi's historic Red Fort, suggesting they will conquer the city.

Telegraph,UK

arun · Post by **arun** » 14 Sep 2009 13:15

Talk about the confused flip flops that come out of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

.

Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the Sunday edition of Dawn:

Pakistan ideal place for investment: Gilani

Sunday, 13 Sep, 2009 | 07:17 AM PST |

Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the Monday edition of Daily Times

:

Monday, September 14, 2009

No investment until terrorism ends: PM

Nice to see some small degree of retribution catching up for the years of Pakistani sponsorship of terrorism around the word

.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 14 Sep 2009 13:53

arun wrote:Hardly surprising that the terrorist sponsoring Islamic Republic of Pakistan has turned a blind eye to the setting up of the facility claiming its is a “small farm to keep cattle” :

When Zia-ul-Haq was confronted with a satellite photograph of the Kahuta site where new centrifuge cascades were being erected, he told the CIA chief, that the picture was that of a 'cattle-shed' and the Americans accepted that. No wonder the Bahawalpur facility is also a 'cattle-shed'.

There is a similar cattle-shed near Lahore

. The sprawling Muridke headquarters of the JuD, on the outskirts of Lahore and spanning over 200 acres, is still open for all practical purposes and bustles with activities.The Markaz is considered to be the nerve centre of the JuD, where all of its educational, organisational and militant activities are planned. The building is still being guarded by the JuD activists despite claims by the organisation that the Markaz premises was only being used to impart education (since it houses several schools and colleges) and to provide medical services (as it also houses a huge hospital). The much-trumpeted crackdown on the JuD leadership seems to have been relaxed already in view of the friendly treatment being meted out to Hafiz Saeed, his family members and associates, who had been placed under house arrest after the group was banned. . . . The friendly treatment being meted out to Hafiz Saeed’s family members can be gauged from the fact that there is no restriction on the movements of his son Talha Saeed, who continues to lead the Friday prayers at the Jamia Qadsia Mosque in the Chauburji area of Lahore, which is also used as the second headquarters of the JuD.

archan · Post by **archan** » 15 Sep 2009 04:58

Trans-Atlantic terror plot: 3 Pak-origin men sentenced to life

London: Three Pakistan-origin Muslims were on Monday sentenced to life for plotting to kill thousands of people by blowing up trans-Atlantic flights with liquid bombs in a conspiracy that was "controlled, monitored and funded from Pakistan".

Unique Pakistani way of paying back to the nation that gave them jobs and a better life.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 15 Sep 2009 07:51

Atlanticists are fretting quite a lot at the revenge killings of Taliban by Pak forces:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/world ... 5swat.html

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 15 Sep 2009 09:06

These fcukers need to learn some humane counterinsurgency techniques from Kashmir.
This is not acceptable even for the Taliban at the receiving end.

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 19 Sep 2009 22:43

US terror officials break up 'plot' to bomb New York subway after raids
19 Sep 2009

An Afghan-born American resident, who was questioned by the FBI for a fourth day, has admitted contacts with al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan and may strike a plea deal over allegations that he underwent explosives training, according to several US media reports.

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 20 Sep 2009 10:07

Good work by sify
http://sify.com/news/specials/terrormap/

Some of the quotes. Use these quotes when talking to jholawallas.

...the single greatest challenge facing the incoming American President... Pakistan’s very integrity as a nation is challenged... " Pakistan Policy Working Group, Sep. 2008

" You don`t say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things... " John McCain, Sep. 2008

" Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine. It has nuclear weapons, it has terrorism, extremists... " Madeline Albright, Oct. 2008

" We all know the epicentre of terrorism in the world today is Pakistan. The world community has to come to grips with this harsh reality.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

" Let me be very clear. Today, virtually every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas " Michael Hayden, Director, CIA

" Why is it that all terrorist plots – from the Sept. 11 attacks, to Madrid, to London, to Mumbai – seem to have roots in Islamabad? " Ms. Benazir Bhutto, Washington Post

" Unfortunately, our recognition in the comity of nations today is only as a ´ breeding ground ´ for religious extremism and militancy and as a country afflicted with a culture of violence and sectarianism. " Shamshad Ahmed, ex-Foreign Secretary, Pakistan

" ...the single greatest challenge facing the incoming American President... Pakistan’s very integrity as a nation is challenged... " Pakistan Policy Working Group, Sep. 2008

" ...if Islamabad is ‘unable or unwilling’ to take militants out, then the US should go after the targets into Pakistan. " Barack Obama, Sep. 2008

arun · Post by **arun** » 21 Sep 2009 20:15

More of the usual display of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s duplicitous track record of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds when it comes to terrorism :

Pakistan offensive against Taliban 'failing to target' most dangerous insurgents

Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban has failed to target the insurgent networks posing the greatest danger to Nato forces in Afghanistan, according to America's Ambassador in Islamabad.

By Saeed Shah in Islamabad
Published: 5:00AM BST 21 Sep 2009

Anne Patterson told The Daily Telegraph of Washington's frustration with the "different priorities" of Pakistan's government and how the failure to agree common targets was hampering the struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Mullah Omar, who created the Taliban movement in the 1990s and led its regime in Kabul between 1996 and 2001, is believed to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where he directs the Afghan insurgency through a group of leaders known as the "Quetta Shura". His most effectively ally is a jihadist network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran extremist, and his son Sirajuddin, based in Pakistan's Tribal Area of North Waziristan.

But Pakistan's military offensive has not targeted any of these groups, concentrating instead on the Swat valley in the north-west. Mullah Omar and his allies focus their efforts on Afghanistan and are careful not to make trouble inside Pakistan. This appears to secure their safety.

Ms Patterson said that America and Islamabad agreed on tackling al-Qaeda's core leadership and the Pakistani Taliban. But Pakistan was "certainly reluctant to take action" against leaders of the Afghan insurgency based on its soil.

"Where we differ, of course, is the treatment of the groups who are attacking our troops in Afghanistan. And that comes down to Haqqani and Gul Bahadur and Nazir, to a lesser extent Hekmatyar, and yes of course there are differences there," said Ms. Patterson. "We have a very candid dialogue about this with some frequency."

Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir are Pakistani Taliban commanders who fight only in Afghanistan. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is a veteran Afghan warlord based close to the Pakistani Border. ................................

Telegraph, UK

Malayappan · Post by **Malayappan** » 23 Sep 2009 12:52

Article by Ayesha Siddiqa.

May not be news for BRFites, but a useful reference as a Pakistani Source.

Terror’s Training Ground
http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsSep2009/ ... orysep.htm

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 23 Sep 2009 14:39

Malayappan, thanks for posting the above article, which I missed when I went through Newsline site.

Ayesha Siddiqa, who comes from Bahawalpur and hence carries a lot of credibility with regards to happenings in South Punjab states the following in the above cited article

Thirdly, since all these outfits were created by the ISI to support General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamisation process, in essence to fight a proxy war for Saudi Arabia against Iran by targeting the Shia community, and later the Kashmir war, the officials feel comfortable that they will never spin out of control.

This is exactly what I said in the TSP thread while discussing the Najam Sethi tirade as to why India should ignore the Mumbai-attack and re-start the dialogue process. He made it appear as though these people were non-state actors to start with, who then became state actors and have since then become non-state actors once again. Absolute BS. They have been state actors throughout. This is further confirmed by the following from the above article:

Even now, local people talk of truckloads of weapons arriving at the doorstep of the JeM headquarters and other sites in the middle of the night. While official sources continue to claim that the outfit was banned and does not exist, or that Masood Azhar is on the run from his hometown of Bahawalpur, the facts prove otherwise. For instance, the outfit continues to acquire real estate in the area, such as a new site near Chowk Azam in Bahawalpur, which many believe is being used as a training site. Although the new police chief has put restraints on the JeM and disallowed it from constructing on the site, the outfit continues to appropriate more land around the area. Junior police officials even claim seeing tunnels being dug inside the premises. The new facility is on the bank of the Lahore-Karachi national highway, which means that in the event of a crisis, the JeM could block the road as has happened in Kohat and elsewhere {The Friendship Tunnel at Kohat on the Indus Highway remains closed for more than 18 months now because the Taliban have taken it over and everytime the PA tried to dislodge them, they suffered huge losses and retreated. It is also true that Maulana Fazlullah and his gang briefly took over the Karakoram Highway about a year back}. Furthermore, the outfit’s main headquarters in the city is guarded by AK-47-armed men who harass any journalist trying to take a photograph of the building. In one instance, even a police official was shooed away and later intimidated by spooks of an intelligence agency for spying on the outfit. Despite the claim that the SSP, the LeJ and the JeM have broken ties with intelligence agencies and are now fighting the army in Waziristan, the fact remains that their presence in the towns of South Punjab continues unhindered.

The government claims that Maulana Masood Azhar has not visited his hometown in the last three years. But he held a massive book launch of his new publication Fatah-ul-Jawad: Quranic Verses on Jihad, on April 28, 2008, in Bahawalpur. Moreover, JeM’s armed men manned all entrances and exits to the city that day – and there was no police force in sight.

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 23 Sep 2009 18:03

One Pakistani among six others arrested in anti-terror FBI raids in New York

New York, Sep.23 (ANI): Six persons including one Pakistani were apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during raids against suspects in Queens area here.

Though the investigators have released the other five suspects after initial interrogation, the one Pakistani named Abdul Mannan, who hails from Quetta and has been living in the US for the last 15 years, was still in FBI’s custody, The News reports.

The raids were conducted following the recovery of some questionable materials in a laptop which was found during a raid earlier.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 24 Sep 2009 17:18

The German 'jihad colony' in Waziristan

Families are moving to “mujahideen villages” in the Tribal Areas, which are used as bases for supporting the battle against the US troops and the Afghan army, Speigel claimed.

The travellers, which the paper said apparently met each other in a Bonn prayer room, left Germany in several small groups in March and April. “They travelled through Turkey to the Iranian city of Zahedan. Located close to the border with Pakistan, Zahedan is notorious for its jihad tourism — hotels even set aside entire room allotments for radical foreigners making their way to the city,” Speigel said. “From Zahedan, most take taxis to Pakistan.

arun · Post by **arun** » 24 Sep 2009 20:39

Excerpt and weblink to the referenced Spiegel Online article mentioned in S. Sridhar’s post above:

09/21/2009

A German Jihad Colony

Islamists in Pakistan Recruit Entire Families from Europe

By Yassin Musharbash and Holger Stark

The German government is trying to secure the release of a group of suspected German Islamists who were arrested by Pakistani authorities while making their way to a jihadist colony in the Waziristan region along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Entire families from Germany are moving to the region to join the jihad. .......................

Spiegel

enqyoob · Post by **enqyoob** » 24 Sep 2009 23:07

Ah! The Paki link comes through once again. Global IT market dominance shows up.

U.S. says Najibullah Zazi, 24, received bomb-making instructions in Pakistan

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/24/ter ... index.html

A government detention motion filed in New York and in Colorado said that "Zazi received detailed bomb-making instructions in Pakistan, purchased components of improvised explosive devices, and traveled to New York City on September 10, 2009, in furtherance of his criminal plans."

It said that Zazi traveled overseas to receive bomb-making instructions, conducted Internet research on explosives' components and made purchases of components "necessary to produce TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide) and other explosive devices."

TATP was used in the 2005 London train bombings and part of the 2001 Richard Reid "shoe bomber" plot. Its three components are hydrogen peroxide, acetone and a strong acid, such as hydrochloric acid, the government said.
.....
The memo of law in support of the government's motion provides insights into Zazi's alleged movements and activities, saying that he has extensive ties to Afghanistan and his wife and children apparently live in Pakistan.

Zazi and others traveled to Pakistan in August 2008, leaving from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport on a flight to Peshawar, Pakistan, via Geneva, Switzerland, and Doha, Qatar, the motion said. They traveled on Qatar Airlines Flight 84.

He returned from Peshawar to New York via John F. Kennedy International Airport in January, according to the government. He was aboard Qatar Airlines Flight 83.

Zazi moved to Aurora shortly after returning and lived with family members, the government said. His father moved from New York to Aurora in July, and they moved in together.

His e-mail accounts were used in his plotting, the motion said, and federal agents found nine pages of computer images of handwritten notes containing bomb-making instructions on Zazi's computer. They had been sent to Zazi's e-mail accounts in June and July.

The notes mention that acetone is found in nail polish remover and hydrogen peroxide can be found in "Hair Salon 20-30%," and the "bomb-making notes contemplate heating the components in order to make them highly concentrated," according to the motion.

"The notes discuss formulations for mixing hydrogen peroxide with flour, and list ghee oil as a type of fuel that can be used to help initiate the explosive device," the government said.

In July and August, Zazi and others associated with him bought "unusually large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products from beauty supply stores" in Denver area, the government said.

On August 28, Zazi checked into an Aurora hotel suite, which had a stove. That same day he was seen on surveillance video purchasing 12 large bottles of "Ms K Liquid 40 Volume." {Is that same as FairNLovely, I wonder?} He checked back into the same hotel suite on September 6-7. Testing later revealed the presence of acetone residue in the vent above the stove, the government said.

A search of his laptop showed that on September 8, Zazi looked at the Web site of a home improvement store near the Flushing neighborhood of Queens for muriatic acid, a diluted version of hydrochloric acid, the government said.

Zazi rented a car and the following day -- September 9 -- he started driving from Colorado to New York City with his laptop, the memo said. He had scheduled to return the car on September 14.

He arrived in Flushing on September 10 and then became suspicious that law enforcement was tracking him, according to the government. He purchased an airline ticket and returned to Denver on September 12.

He spent the night of September 10 at a Queens residence that had a scale with his fingerprints on it, the motion said. FBI experts said such a device could be used to weigh the elements needed in a bomb-making plot, according to the government.

... As for Afzali, defense attorney Kuby said the imam has "consistently cooperated" with police in previous investigations and now "feels ill-used."

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Sep 2009 15:17

Continuing with the post above, some more Paki connection

. . . According to US Justice Department, the FBI is also investigating several persons in the US and Pakistan for a plot "to detonate improvised explosive devices in the US".

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 26 Sep 2009 15:40

Zahedan is notorious for its jihad tourism

lol jihad tourism

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 01 Oct 2009 10:14

Posted in the right thread

VijayKumarSinha wrote:Another terrorist traìned in Pakistan caught.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/ ... XX20090926

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 01 Oct 2009 15:14

Man, pakistan has truly arrived in the 21st century.
First the IT (International Terrorism ) exports defying all set targets set by the ISI.
Then a booming Jihadi Tourism industry. IIRC the previous tourism minister of pakistan had inaugrated the Khybar pass, and had said on the occasion that he was very upbeat on tourism in this area, where upon the writeup in a paki paper was that the only tourists expected here would be the gun toting taliban variety.

arun · Post by **arun** » 06 Oct 2009 22:12

X Posted.

The same old same same. US complaints of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan running with the hare and hunting with the hounds

:

…………….. Washington wishes to see Islamabad take on militants responsible for cross-border attacks on US and Nato troops and prevent Pakistan from being a safe haven for such fighters.

For a long time, the US has complained that while Pakistan – which has received billions of dollars in military aid since 11 September 2001 – was prepared to target militants responsible for attacks inside the country, it was less willing to pursue those whose primary battlefields were inside Afghanistan. Indeed, it is an open secret that elements within Pakistan still consider such militants to be strategic assets.

Such concerns will not have been eased by the news that the Pakistan army has renewed a non-aggression pact with Maulvi Nazir, a Taliban leader who earlier this year said he was joining forces with Baitullah Mehsud and Hafiz Gul Bahadur to target Western forces across the border and support the Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Omar.

"You have a lot of guys in South Waziristan that Pakistan treats as assets," said Christine Fair, an analyst with the Washington-based Rand Corporation. "Maulvi Nazir is an enemy of the US but he is most certainly an asset of Pakistan." ……………..

The Independent, UK

arun · Post by **arun** » 08 Oct 2009 11:34

X Posted with a hat tip to Rangudu.

Excerpts from transcripts of PBS interview of David Ignatius of the Washington Post and Christine Fair {formerly? Rand}of Georgetown University and likely next US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia :

I'm rather dismayed by is that we're all captivated by the successes that the Pakistanis have made in dealing with the so-called Pakistan Taliban, but with respect to the effort in Afghanistan, the Afghan Taliban -- we're talking about Mullah Omar, for example -- remains very much safe in the sanctuaries in Pakistan. And the terrorist groups that attacked India -- like Lashkar-e-Taiba -- of course, also remain free to roam around Pakistan.

If you actually list out who the guys are that we think are enemy combatants and who the Pakistanis think are enemy combatants, overall, it's actually very small.

In fact, some of the most vicious supporters of suicide terrorism in Afghanistan are actually allies of the Pakistani state.

ISI officials, when you talk to them, deny that they're in direct contact with these insurgent groups, but they don't deny that they have intelligence links, they have their sources in these groups.

The reality is that these groups were, in many cases, created in part by the Pakistani intelligence service. I mean, that's why we have to take their statements on this a little skeptically. These groups are their creation, and they've used them for their own security purposes now for several decades.

Read it all:

Pakistan's Role in Fighting Terror Under Review

arun · Post by **arun** » 09 Oct 2009 16:24

X Posted.

Afghan officials claim Pakistani link for the bomb attack outside the Indian Embassy at Kabul yesterday. Once again the Pakistan based Haqqani faction of the Taliban which has close links to the ISI is implicated:

Posted on Thu, Oct. 08, 2009 06:46 PM

Pakistan-based group suspected in Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul

By SARAH DAVISON AND JONATHAN S. LANDAY
McClatchy Newspapers

Afghan officials suspect that the same Pakistan-based group that's blamed for a suicide attack on the Indian Embassy 16 months ago staged a car-bombing there Thursday that killed at least 17 people and wounded 76. ………..

Suspicions in Thursday's bombing focused on the Islamic extremist network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Haqqani is a former anti-Soviet guerrilla commander who served as a minister in the Taliban regime, whose forces are fighting U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan. He's thought to have ties to elements within Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

U.S. intelligence officials accused the Haqqani network, based in Pakistan's tribal region, of launching the 2008 attack on the Indian mission - which killed more than 60 people - in collusion with ISI officers, a charge that Islamabad denied. Pakistan also denied involvement in Thursday's attack. …………………..

The Afghan Interior Ministry said the Taliban had claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, with Haqqani's network considered the most likely culprit. The Foreign Ministry contended that the bombing was "planned and implemented from outside Afghan borders," a charge that in the past has implied Pakistani involvement.

Blast walls erected after last year's attack contained the explosion, and no one died inside the mission or across the street at the Ministry of Interior. The 8:40 a.m. attack killed and wounded dozens of people on their way to work, however. ……………….

(Davison is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent. Landay reported from Washington.)

Mc Clatchy

RayC · Post by **RayC** » 09 Oct 2009 22:25

And we will have the same reaction?

sum · Post by **sum** » 09 Oct 2009 22:31

RayC wrote:And we will have the same reaction?

That would be optimistic...

At least last time, we went to town about the Paki role (SS Menon had bluntly said so a day after the blast). This time there has been grim silence with a obvious reluctance to even name the backers of the bombers.

arun · Post by **arun** » 10 Oct 2009 12:04

arun wrote:X Posted.

Afghan officials claim Pakistani link for the bomb attack outside the Indian Embassy at Kabul yesterday. Once again the Pakistan based Haqqani faction of the Taliban which has close links to the ISI is implicated:

Posted on Thu, Oct. 08, 2009 06:46 PM

Pakistan-based group suspected in Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul

By SARAH DAVISON AND JONATHAN S. LANDAY
McClatchy Newspapers

Afghan officials suspect that the same Pakistan-based group that's blamed for a suicide attack on the Indian Embassy 16 months ago staged a car-bombing there Thursday that killed at least 17 people and wounded 76. .................

Suspicions in Thursday's bombing focused on the Islamic extremist network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani. {Snipped} .......................

Mc Clatchy

X Posted.

More confirmation of the Islamic republic of Pakistan’s complicity in the terrorist act of bombing the Indian Embassy in Kabul for the second time on Oct. 8th from Afghan sources.

Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the US, T. Jawad talking to US TV Channel PBS :

ISI behind attack on Indian embassy: Afghan envoy to US

"We are pointing the finger at the Pakistan intelligence agency, based on the evidence on the ground and similar attack taking place in Afghanistan,"

PTI

arun · Post by **arun** » 13 Oct 2009 12:43

X Posted with a hat tip to Philip

Having sown the wind by fomenting Jihadi terrorism elsewhere, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reaps the whirlwind of Jihadi Iterrorism at home:

Pakistan: Frankenstein military at war with its own monster - the Taliban

Declan Walsh
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 October 2009 20.12 BST

Pakistan seems to be tumbling back down the slope of chaos. After the heady successes of summer, when the Taliban were routed from Swat and the militant warlord Baitullah Mehsud killed, autumn is becoming a season of bloodshed.

Four militant spectaculars in eight days have killed more than 120 people. On Monday a suicide bomber disguised as a soldier killed five officials in a United Nations office in Islamabad. Friday saw a giant bomb in central Peshawar that killed 53 shoppers, traders and commuters.

A day later 10 militants stormed army headquarters, sparking a 22-hour standoff that left 23 people including two senior officers dead. Today a suicide bomber exploded himself as an army convoy passed through a sleepy mountain bazaar, adding another 41 to the death toll.

Not for the first time, Pakistan seems to be teetering on the brink of a greater disaster. Yet breathless predictions that the country is being destabilised to the point of collapse, or that its nuclear weapons risk falling into Islamist hands, are wide of the mark. While Pakistan has a democratically elected government, power is anchored in the military, whose generals have ruled the country for over half its 62-year history. Certainly, they have not been good for stability.

Over the past three decades the military nurtured the jihadist monster that has now, like Frankenstein's monster, turned on the state. .................................

The Guardian

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 13 Oct 2009 15:57

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archiv ... an_milita/

Pakistan Military and ISI Must Purge Ranks

A few years ago, I was invited to an extraordinary set of meetings in Beijing organized by Marika Vicziany of Monash University. The meeting featured participants like then Labor Party leader (and next Australia Ambassador to the U.S.) Kim Beazley and former Ministers of Defense of India and China - and leading policy personalities from the Asia Pacific region. And Generals from Pakistan.

I was the token American in what was a fascinating exercise of China, India and Pakistan former officials floating trial balloons about their respective nations' security needs and assessments among a ring of people very close to incumbent power.

My flight was late, but when I arrived I rushed in to the conference opening luncheon and sat at the first table I found a seat. I usually say hello to every person at tables I'm seated at and did so this time.

And as I worked around the group, I met a tough-edged but obviously seriously intelligent general from Pakistan, Asad Durrani. I didn't know much about him then but could tell that my table companions had been discussing Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) - so I jumped in with a question:

General Durrani, does President Musharraf really not control the ISI? Or is this a big put-on?
I had hit a nerve of the table as every jaw dropped -- except Durrani's.

He sat there, quite nonplussed by the question which I had just pitched to the person everyone but I knew had actually been the head of ISI in the early 1990s.

Durrani seemed to like my candor, and he candidly responded:

President Musharraf may have much to gain by seeming that he does not control ISI.
I became quite taken with the level-headed candor and smart strategic sense General Durrani displayed over the next two days -- and his comments about ISI and Pakistan's political leadership were deeply imprinted on my thinking about the shell game of trusting Pakistan's intelligence and national security services.

Now after news that nine armed terrorists linked to al Qaeda and Pakistan's Taliban infiltrated the command headquarters of Pakistan's military, it seems to me that whatever certainty of control Pakistan's political and military leaders had over their ranks is now broken.

The Rawalpindi incident could not have occurred without inside help, and fortunately, one of the ringleaders in the attack, a former soldier named Muhammad Aqeel, was captured.

Pakistan's responsible national intelligence authorities must now begin to track all of the contacts and intelligence relations of this terrorist operation and purge their ranks of those connected. When Aldrich Ames was hiding behind mole hunts in the CIA, it finally took an investigation by the FBI to finally bring him down.

Painful as internal hunts can be for those who are collaborating with enemies of a state, they must be pursued because confidence can't be established without purging those who are helping to empower the most virulent wings of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as al Qaeda and other groups.

This is Pakistan's fight but it has bearing on all of its allies and partners -- but tolerating a Pakistan security structure that is unwilling to exploit every lead to shut down internal spies and allies of those trying to bring down the Pakistani government and secure its nuclear weapons is not an option.

Pakistan should establish a Commission headed by General Asad Durrani with other former ISI director generals to run this search and hunt among their ranks.

The military and national security bureaucracy may protect some of their own in such a purge -- but in the end, all of those who are embedded and collaborating with the likes of those who led the military attack at Command Headquarters need to be neutralized.

-- Steve Clemons

Rangudu · Post by **Rangudu** » 13 Oct 2009 21:02

Today is October 13th.

People in the US do not miss tonight's Frontline episode on your local PBS TV station

Review

The true enemy of the U.S. is lurking not in Afghanistan but in Pakistan, "Obama's War" suggests. "In Afghanistan, we know what to do; we just don't know if we have the resources or the time available to do it," says David Kilcullen, counter-insurgency expert and advisor to the U.S. military. "The problem in Pakistan is we're not really sure what to do."

Historically, the Pakistan military and intelligence service have shown an affinity for the Taliban and Al Qaeda as allies in the Pakistanis' struggle with their arch-enemy: India. The U.S. has sent billions of dollars to Pakistan in hopes of changing that mind-set.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. officer in Afghanistan, thinks the Pakistanis have found the resolve to attack the Al Qaeda strongholds. But one of McChrystal's top advisors, Andrew Exum, adds a discouraging nuance. The Pakistanis, he said, are ready to attack Al Qaeda when it threatens the stability of their government but "they do not share our interests as of yet in taking an aggressive stance against the groups that are seeking to destabilize Afghanistan."

The normally talky Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, goes mum when Smith asks him for proof of his assertion that the Pakistanis are serious about attacking a powerful Al Qaeda stronghold in north Waziristan.

John Nagl, retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who wrote the foreword to the military's latest counter-insurgency manual, is unrestrained when asked about the Pakistanis and their truthfulness or lack of it . "I absolutely have to hold my nose when I work with the Pakistani government," he said.

New Yorker writer Steve Coll summarizes: "This could not be a more complicated war. If you think about it, the United States is essentially waging a war against its own ally. The Taliban are a proxy of the government of Pakistan. We are an ally of the government of Pakistan. We are fighting the Taliban."

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 14 Oct 2009 03:25

Lashkar chief’s release cause of global concern

Praveen Swami

Feared terror group’s infrastructure increasingly used by al-Qaeda

Even as Lashkar expanded its Afghan operations, it widened its reach in Australia, Europe and U.S.

Jihadists across the world have increasingly been using internet to access Lashkar’s infrastructure

NEW DELHI: Early in 2003, Lashkar chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed called on his followers to “fight against the evil trio: America, Israel and India.”

“We are being invaded, humiliated, manipulated and looted,” Saeed told his audience at the Defence of the Ummah Conference in Islamabad. “How else can we respond but through jihad?”

On Monday, the Lahore High Court quashed First Information Reports filed against the Lashkar chief for inflammatory speeches. Saeed’s lawyers successfully argued that the Lashkar’s parent organisation, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, was not proscribed — although Pakistan’s National Assembly had been told in August that it was.

Pakistan’s failure to initiate credible criminal action against Saeed is causing increasing concern across the world, as evidence mounts that the Lashkar is acting on his 2003 speech.

Ever since 2001, a growing number of Lashkar-linked cells have been found to be active across the world, often acting in coordination with al-Qaeda. In a March 2009 testimony to the United States House Homeland Security Committee, scholar C. Christine Fair noted that the two organisations “enjoy tight linkages.”

And in Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force has repeatedly clashed with Lashkar units in Kunnar and Nuristan — an area now considered under de-facto jihadist control.

Lashkar leaders became increasingly enmeshed in the global jihadist project after the cataclysmic events of September 11, 2001 — no surprise, perhaps, since its co-founder Abdullah Azzam was al-Qaeda chief Osama bin-Laden’s ideological mentor.

The organisation’s networks played a key role in facilitating the escape of dozens of al-Qaeda operatives from Afghanistan in the wake of the 2001 attack, providing them with travel documents, funds and safe houses.

Key al-Qaeda operative Zein al-Abideen Mohamed Hussein — a Saudi national who operated using the code-name Abu Zubeida — was perhaps the best known of these figures. Hussein was captured from a Lashkar safe house in Faisalabad; Pakistan later released his hosts.

In addition, Lashkar financier Arif Qasmani — recently sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department for organising the firebombing of the India-Pakistan Samjhauta Express in 2007 — was charged with pumping in funds and weapons to Taliban insurgents fighting in Afghanistan.

Following its proscription in 2002, the Lashkar opened new camps in Pakistan’s Waziristan and Mohmand Agencies, often co-located with al-Qaeda facilities. By some accounts, al-Qaeda volunteers often trained at Lashkar camps in the region.

Even as it expanded its Afghan operations, the Lashkar expanded its reach in Australia, Europe and the U.S.

Days after al-Qaeda’s 2001 attacks on the U.S., Virginia cleric Ali al-Timimi set up a network to fight with Taliban forces against the imminent invasion of Afghanistan. Investigators discovered that several members of the cell had trained at Lashkar camps in Pakistan.

Lashkar leaders also committed personnel to the Islamist campaign in Iraq. In 2004, British troops in Basra arrested Dilshad Ahmad, who had served from 1997 to 2001 as the Lashkar’s operational commander for cross-Line of Control operations.

French national Willie Virgile Brigitte, arrested in October 2003 for planning terrorist attacks in Australia, was found to have trained at the camps from where Ahmad drew his cadre.

The investigators also found linkages between Richard Reid, the al-Qaeda linked terrorist who attempted to blow up a Paris-Miami flight in December 2001, and the Lashkar. Ghulam Mustafa Rama, a close confidant of Saeed, was found to be funnelling France-based jihadists to the terror group’s camps in Pakistan. Rama also admitted to having had contacts with Reid.

Washington DC-based taxi driver Mahmud Faruq Brent al-Mutazzim, held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s agents on terrorism charges in 2005, had also trained with the Lashkar. Investigators found a web-page on al-Mutazzim’s computer which contained contact details for the Lashkar’s headquarters at Muridke, inviting would-be jihadists to “please e-mail us and we will make arrangements for you at a training camp, insha-allah [if God wills it].”

Jihadists across the world have increasingly been using the Internet to access the Lashkar’s infrastructure. In June 2006, police in the United Kingdom arrested a ring of jihadists who were planning attacks in Canada and the U.S. Members of the cell, led by Abid Khan, were recruited online, and then routed to Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar camps.

British intelligence believes that Shahzad Tanweer, a member of the cell which bombed the London underground train system in July 2005, spent several nights at Muridke. Tanweer is also believed to have visited the Jaish-e-Mohammad-linked Jamia Manzoor-ul-Islam seminary.

Earlier, jihadists linked to the U.K., notably Dhiren Bharot and Omar Khayam, also graduated from the Lashkar’s camps into the al-Qaeda fold.

Late last month, the U.S. Senate made financial support contingent on Islamabad’s willingness to dismantle “terrorist bases of operations” including Muridke, the Lashkar’s headquarters near Lahore.

arun · Post by **arun** » 15 Oct 2009 19:49

Davood Moradian also says that the US and UK full well know the malign role of the ISI in fomenting terrorism in Afghanistan but lack the “courage” to confront the Islamic Republic of Pakistan :

INTERVIEW - Pakistan spies stoke violence - Afghan advisor

Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:50pm IST

By William Maclean

LONDON (Reuters) - A Pakistani spy agency is helping anti-Western militants mount attacks including suicide bombings in Afghanistan, a reality the West lacks the resolve to confront, an advisor to the Afghan government said on Thursday.

Davood Moradian, senior policy advisor to Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, told Reuters the motive of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency was to arouse Western concern for stability in neighbouring nuclear-armed Pakistan and use it to obtain financial support for Islamabad. ...............................

"We produced such proof in respect of the Indian embassy bombing in Kabul last year. There were telephone records of the ISI officers directing, and we shared that information with the intelligence community," Moradian said.

"The intelligence community in Washington and London agree (with the allegations) but they are not in a position to make policy," said Moradian, speaking on the sidelines of a seminar at Britain's International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"They have passed that (information) to their political masters to make decisions, but their political masters do not have that courage. When it comes to the ISI we do not see that bravery on the part of the international community." ...............................

Reuters

arun · Post by **arun** » 16 Oct 2009 08:11

Canada frets about the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s duplicitous conduct on terrorism particularly the Islamic Republic’s inaction against the Quetta Shura:

October 15, 2009

The Taliban faction Pakistan won't target concerns Canada most

By Campbell Clark
From Friday's Globe and Mail

While Ottawa views recent military offensives as a major advance, it continues to push for Islamabad to take action in Balochistan

Pakistan is taking the fight to the Taliban, but not the Taliban that matters most to Canada.

........................... there is still concern that as Pakistan moves to battle those Taliban elements that threaten targets inside the country - it regained control of Swat in the spring and now is reportedly planning an offensive in Waziristan - its efforts might distract from pressure to deal with the "big brother" Taliban around Quetta in Balochistan.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, visiting Pakistan in May after the battles in Swat, concluded that Pakistan had finally steeled itself for the fight against the Taliban. But inside the Canadian government, some harbour suspicions that Pakistan's army is willing to fight elements of the Taliban in the northwest, but will leave the Taliban of Mullah Omar in Balochistan unmolested, and free to campaign in Afghanistan. ............................

In May, Mr. Mackay enthusiastically welcomed a change in Pakistan's approach to the Taliban, even musing that a Canadian ban on arms sales to Pakistan might be lifted, stating: "Clearly, disengagement hasn't worked." At the political level, the government still views Pakistan's recent military offensives as a major advance, while they continue to push for Islamabad to also take action in Balochistan.

But many of those inside the Canadian government who deal with Pakistan and Afghanistan issues still harbour suspicions that Pakistan's army, the country's dominant institution, is allowing the Taliban safe haven in Balochistan, even while it fights them elsewhere.

They believe that Pakistan's army and intelligence service, far more concerned with countering India, long aided the Taliban, trying to channel them into Afghanistan to counter Indian influence there. And some suspect that the Pakistani army, seeing Hamid Karzai's Afghan government as closely tied to India, still hopes to use the Taliban as a proxy in a struggle to limit India's power: The army will fight Taliban in the northwest, but leave those in Balochistan free to mount operations in Afghanistan. ..............................

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said concerns that Pakistan's army has aided the Taliban, and might still be aiding those Taliban whose target is Afghanistan - in the belief it serves their strategic contest with India - must be taken seriously. ...............................

Globe And Mail

alok_m · Post by **alok_m** » 17 Oct 2009 18:39

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0690006054#

watch the interesting bits from 52:00 to 57:00

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 18 Oct 2009 10:00

Reuters tries to hide the country which trained the terrrorists.

Five men found guilty in Australia of terror plot
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSSP465220

SYDNEY, Oct 16 (Reuters) - An Australian court on Friday found five men guilty of conspiring to commit a terror attack, by stockpiling weapons and chemicals to make bombs, in retaliation at Australia's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But VOA clearly mentions the real masterminds behind the planned attacks in Australia.

Australian Muslims Found Guilty of Terror Plot
By Phil Mercer
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-17-voa13.cfm
...
The jury viewed more than 3,000 exhibits and heard from more than 300 witnesses. It was told one man participated in a terrorist-run paramilitary camp in Pakistan, while three others received similar training in remote parts of Australia in preparation for an attack.
...

arun · Post by **arun** » 19 Oct 2009 08:36

The Islamic Republic of Iran accuses the Islamic Republic of Pakistan of involvement in the Pishin sucide bombing which killed senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards:

Page last updated at 01:13 GMT, Monday, 19 October 2009 02:13 UK

Iran accuses Pakistan over attack

Iran's president has accused Pakistani agents of involvement in a suicide bombing in south-east Iran targeting a group of elite Revolutionary Guards.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Pakistan to apprehend the attackers, whom Iranian officials suggested had arrived from Pakistan.

At least 35 people died in the attack, in south-eastern Sistan-Baluchistan. .........................

Mr Ahmadinejad pointed towards Pakistan.

"We were informed that some security agents in Pakistan are co-operating with the main elements of this terrorist incident," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

"We regard it as our right to demand these criminals from them," he said, without elaborating.

"We ask the Pakistani government not to delay any longer in the apprehension of the main elements in this terrorist attack."

Iranian authorities summoned a senior Pakistani diplomat in Tehran, claiming that the assailants had arrived in Iran from Pakistan, Iranian state media reported.

The Iranian foreign ministry also "protested against the use of Pakistani territory by the terrorists and rebels against the Islamic Republic of Iran," the Isna news agency reported. .........................

BBC

arun · Post by **arun** » 19 Oct 2009 08:47

More on Pakistan's involvment in the Pishin sucide bombing that killed many senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The Nation:

Attack plotted in Pakistan: Ahmadinejad

Bloomberg:

Iran Tells Pakistan to Control Terrorists After Suicide Bombing