NationStates Jolt Archive

There has been a spate of bombings in Pakistan, almost daily, following the "Operation Silence" against the Lal Masjid.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007/07/14/story_14-7-2007_pg1_5
3 pro-govt tribal leaders killed in Miranshah

PESHAWAR: Assailants in Miranshah killed three pro-government tribal leaders on Friday, while police arrested three suspected suicide bombers and seized a car full of explosives in DI Khan.

The assailants shot dead the leaders after spotting them in a Miranshah market, reports said.

Meanwhile, police seized three suspected suicide bombers and a car filled with explosives, officials said. Police arrested Ehsan, Nasir Din and Jamshid from an under-construction house in Dera Ismail Khan, DPO Gul Afzal Afridi said.

The car contained seven ‘suicide vests’, 100 mortar shells, two rockets and one landmine. SHO Bahwal Khan told APP that two of the alleged bombers are from North Waziristan Agency, while the third belongs to Tank. agencies

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6898680.stm

Deadly attack on Pakistani troops

North Waziristan is often the scene of troop clashes with militants
The number of soldiers killed in a suicide attack on a military convoy in north-western Pakistan has risen to 24, a Pakistan army spokesman has said.

Twenty-nine others were also hurt when the convoy was hit in the remote tribal region of North Waziristan.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/holnus/001200707141908.htm
Islamabad, July 14 (PTI): A suicide bomber today rammed an explosives-packed car into a military convoy in Pakistan's restive tribal region near Afghanistan, killing at least 18 soldiers and injuring 28 others in a possible fallout of the recent Army crackdown on the pro-Taliban Lal Masjid here.

The attack took place near Daz Nerai area in North Waziristan Tribal Agency around 1130 hours local time, Pakistan's defence spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad here said.

A car filled with explosives hit a military convoy, which was moving from Ramzak to Bannu, he said, adding that at least 18 soldiers were killed and 28 injured in the attack.

In a separate incident, at least two soldiers were injured in a landmine blast in Bannu, DawnNews TV reported.

Today's attacks came two days after a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a political agent's office in Miranshah killing four people and injuring three others. On the same day, two suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police patrol killing three policemen at Mingora area.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007/07/15/story_15-7-2007_pg1_1
Bannu DPO Dar Ali Khattak said that three soldiers were wounded when a military convoy heading for Miranshah was hit by an explosive device planted on the roadside. Sources told Daily Times that the security forces arrested a local resident Minhas near the scene of the incident with two hand grenades.

Miranshah residents told Daily Times that the non-local population had begun leaving North Waziristan for their hometowns fearing a military operation in the area.

Abdullah Farhad, a purported spokesman for the Taliban in North Waziristan, said the militants would consider the last year’s peace deal with the government over if the security forces were not withdrawn from the area by July 15 (Sunday).

Meanwhile, paramilitary troops defused a bomb and two rockets near Karamkot and the Miranshah-Ghulam Khan road.

In a separate incident, the Peshawar police discovered two anti-tank mines weighing 4-5 kilogrammes hooked up to a timer in a car abandoned in front of a bank in the East Cantt police precincts. It was safely dismantled. Also, a FC personnel was killed and three others injured in an ambush in the Balida area of Quetta. The troops were busy in relief activities when they were attacked.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070715/ap_on_re_as/pakistan
The government deployed thousands of troops to restive areas of the province in recent days in hopes of stemming a backlash to the storming of the radical Red Mosque.

But they failed to protect themselves Sunday against suicide attacks and a roadside bomb which together killed 44 people and wounded more than 100.

Two suicide bombers and a roadside bomb struck a military convoy in Swat, a mountainous area northeast of Peshawar, killing 18 people and wounding 47, a government official said, citing an official report being sent to Islamabad.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, said two explosive-laden vans driven rammed the convoy near the town of Matta. He said seven civilians also died.

Bodies and the wounded were pulled from the shattered military vehicles. Helmets, an engine, and pieces of twisted metal were strewn over a wide area, some of it stained with blood.

Television footage showed about half a dozen roadside houses also destroyed by the blasts. People dug four corpses out of the rubble, among them a young girl.

In the day's second attack, a suicide bomber targeted scores of people taking medical and written exams for recruitment to the police force in the city of Dera Ismail Khan. The blast killed 26 people and wounded 35, said police officer Habibur Rahman.

More than 150 people were on the grounds of the police headquarters when the bomber struck. Police said the bomber's head and suicide vest were found.

On Saturday, at least 26 soldiers were killed and 54 wounded in a suicide car bombing north of Miran Shah, North Waziristan's main town, the army said

Updated reports from
http://dawn.com/2007/07/15/top1.htm (24 dead, 26 injured)
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=25965 (17 dead , 39 injured)
http://thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=25976 (26 dead, 50 injured)

http://us.rediff.com/news/2007/jul/17pak3.htm
Islamabad: 15 killed, 45 injured in suicide bombing

K J M Varma in Islamabad | July 17, 2007 21:28 IST
Last Updated: July 18, 2007 01:06 IST

At least 15 people were killed and 45 injured on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Islamabad near an enclosure of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party at a meeting of lawyers due to be addressed by suspended Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6904104.stm
At least 17 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in an ambush by militants near the Afghan border, officials say.

Twelve militants also died in the clash about 25km (15 miles) from Miranshah in North Waziristan, the army said.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/18/welcome.htm
34 dead in Pakistan militant battles MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, July 18 (AFP) - Pakistani soldiers Wednesday fought fierce gunbattles with militants after two separate ambushes in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border, leaving 17 troops dead and at least the same number of rebels, the army said. In the first attack, insurgents fired rockets at a military convoy and then opened fire with automatic weapons near the village of Lwara Mundi, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. “Seventeen soldiers were martyred and more than a dozen miscreants were also killed when troops returned fire,” he said. “Initial reports say that the fighting was heavy,” a senior security official based in the area said. The mountainous area where the ambush took place is near where Pakistani forces earlier this year erected the first 35-kilometre fence along the border with Afghanistan. About six hours later another clash erupted after militants attacked troops in Mir Ali, about 50 kilometres away in the same region. Five rebels were killed and there were no military casualties, General Arshad said. In another violence overnight a roadside bomb blast in North Waziristan injured six civilians and a soldier. The civilians were in a car which fell into a ditch by the impact of the bomb blast. Separately a landmine exploded overnight outside the home of politician Mohammad Ajmal Khan, who served as federal sports minister in the 1990s, in Miranshah, the main town in the tribal area. The blast destroyed his front gate but caused no casualties, officials said.(Posted @ 18:45 PST)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6905808.stm
In the latest incident, a bomb was detonated in a mosque used by military personnel in the north-western town of Kohat, killing at least 11 people.

The interior minister said it appeared to be a suicide attack. Most of the dead are feared to be army recruits.

Two earlier bomb attacks in Baluchistan and in North West Frontier Province killed more than 30 people.

Twenty-six died in the southern town of Hub, 35km (23 miles) north of Karachi, in an attack apparently targeting Chinese workers.

Today
http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/20/welcome.htm
Suicide blast kills four in Pakistan tribal area MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, July 20 (AFP) A suicide bomber killed three civilians and a soldier at a checkpost in North Waziristan tribal area on Friday, the latest in a wave of attacks across the country, security officials said. “There was a suicide attack at a paramilitary checkpost in North Waziristan today. Four people were killed -- three civilians and one soldier-- and six injured, including three soldiers,” a senior security official told AFP. The attack came a day after three suicide blasts in several areas of the country killed at least 51 people in apparent revenge for last week's raid on the pro-Taliban Lal Masjid in Islamabad.(Posted @ 14:30 PST)

Not good! The last thing we need is instability in the Muslim country that actually HAS WMDs!

Targetting the army and its affiliates was expected but the targetting of the Chinese in Pakistan is interesting.

Some say that the crackdown on Lal Masjid was done at the behest of the Chinese, because the Lal Masjid'is kidnapped several Chinese "massage parlour" women because they were "prostitutes" and kept them for a few days and released them.

This could be true, because in atleast two incidents, Chinese were specifically targetted. Chinese were targetted before by the Baloch freedom fighters, because they viewed the Chinese building mega projects in their province as a thread to their autonomy.

Pakistan blames India and Afghanistan. :rolleyes:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007/07/20/story_20-7-2007_pg7_5
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad is set to take up with Kabul the issue of “171 RAW-trained Afghan terrorists” who intelligence agencies say sneaked into Pakistan two months ago and are yet to be traced.

Intelligence agencies suspect that these Afghans were involved in the recent spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Sources told Daily Times that intelligence agencies informed a meeting chaired by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Wednesday that 25 of the 171 Afghans had links with RAW agents in Indian consulates at Jalalabad and Kandahar.

The sources said that the Afghans had crossed the border via Torkham and Chaman two months ago and had spread in the settled areas of the NWFP, Sindh and Punjab for suicide bombings.

The sources said that the intelligence agencies ruled out Al Qaeda’s role in the recent terrorist incidents and held the RAW network responsible for the suicide bombings in Islamabad, NWFP and other parts of the country.

Which is funny because Rameshwar Nath Kao, founding chief of RAW (the Indian intelligence wing accused by Pakistan above), when asked why India is not retaliating against Pakistan inside Pakistan, said "Let pakistan stew in its own juice".

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=65063

says that the bombing was a response to "Chinese oppression of Uighur muslims".

‘Hub attack a reaction to China’s curbs on Muslims’
By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: Thursday’s suicidal attack on Chinese nationals in Balochistan is said to be the first reaction to Chinese government’s steps to curb Muslim insurgency in its own territory.

This time the attack is said to have been carried out by some Islamic militants unlike the past when Baloch rebels were blamed for killings of Chinese workers.

A few months back, one Muslim fighter, who had taken refuge in Pakistan after fleeing from a Muslim populated province of China, was hanged by Chinese authorities after he was captured in Islamabad and extradited to Beijing.

It is being widely perceived here in British media that Muslim militants were now trying to take revenge from the Chinese government by attacking its nationals working in Pakistan.

A report has claimed that “Islamic extremists in Pakistan are making common cause with the Muslim insurgency in China; otherwise, there would seem to be no reason for it.”

It said Chinese mineworkers in southern Pakistan were targeted by a suicide bomber on Thursday what is believed to be part of the Islamist backlash, which has killed more than 140 people in the last week.

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a convoy of police vehicles escorting Chinese technicians through a busy street at Hub.

The Chinese were unhurt but the massive explosion killed 29 Pakistanis, including seven police officers travelling in the van that was rammed.

Zahid Hussain, Times correspondent in Islamabad, said Baloch tribes had never previously resorted to suicide bombings and that the attack appeared to carry the hallmarks of Islamic extremism. The choice of target also appeared to point to Islamists, Hussain said.”

Beijing was a close and valued ally of Pakistan, which last year handed back to China one of the leaders of the Muslim insurgency in China who had taken refuge in a Pakistan tribal area.


IIRC, that extradited leader was hung by the Chinese govt.

I could be wrong about the whole thing though. There is enough targets for anti-army jihadis to keep themselves busy without resorting to targetting Chinese nationals. But this could be a way to provoke the army because the army will be under pressure from the Chinese govt to keep its nationals safe.

In other news, the court has reinstated the ousted Chief Justice, showing some spine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6907685.stm
Pakistan's top court has reinstated the country's chief justice in a move being seen as a serious blow to the authority of President Pervez Musharraf.

Iftikhar Chaudhry was suspended by the president four months ago amid claims of corruption, but has since become a focus of opposition to Gen Musharraf.

Gen Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, is facing mounting criticism of his rule and a wave of bombings.

The government says it will respect the court's decision.

Critics of the president say the suspension was an attempt to undermine the judiciary's independence in an election year.

The Supreme Court judges ruled by 10 votes to three to quash all charges against Mr Chaudhry, calling his suspension "illegal".

..

On Tuesday, 15 people were killed at a rally Mr Chaudhry had been due to attend in Islamabad. It remains unclear who carried out the bombing or who the intended target might have been.

In other news, the court has reinstated the ousted Chief Justice, showing some spine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6907685.stm

So now you're saying that Gen Musharraf hired some people to bomb a rally...>_>;

So now you're saying that Gen Musharraf hired some people to bomb a rally...>_>;

You are saying that. Not me.

In other news, the court has reinstated the ousted Chief Justice, showing some spine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6907685.stm
It will be interesting to see how this effects this year's general election, which includes the (indirect) election for President. I'll cross my fingers for the PPP, since they seem the least connected to both Islamists and the Army.

It will be interesting to see how this effects this year's general election, which includes the (indirect) election for President. I'll cross my fingers for the PPP, since they seem the least connected to both Islamists and the Army.

I am thinking along the same way. I hear rumors that army will allow BB to come back and contest and in exchange she will not challenge the army's primacy that it enjoys now.

In which case, it will make little difference, unless BB uses the mandate to de-militarize Pakistan.

I am thinking along the same way. I hear rumors that army will allow BB to come back and contest and in exchange she will not challenge the army's primacy that it enjoys now.

In which case, it will make little difference, unless BB uses the mandate to de-militarize Pakistan.
While I doubt the Red Mosque and the suspension (and reinstatement) of Iftikhar Chaudhry will have crippled the prestige of the Army in Pakistan, I wonder if they will be able to have the same kind of influence they had before: they seem to have embarrassed themselves and upset both the left and the religious right. If there's any time Pakistan can get a fully functioning civilian government (as opposed to a military regime or a military state within a state), I think now may be the best chance, although you can't be too optimistic in a military government.

While I doubt the Red Mosque and the suspension (and reinstatement) of Iftikhar Chaudhry will have crippled the prestige of the Army in Pakistan, I wonder if they will be able to have the same kind of influence they had before: they seem to have embarrassed themselves and upset both the left and the religious right. If there's any time Pakistan can get a fully functioning civilian government (as opposed to a military regime or a military state within a state), I think now may be the best chance, although you can't be too optimistic in a military government.

It is too early to hope for it. Musharraf can very well let this thing grow to a critical mass, then announce emergency and consolidate power by taking out dissidents.

On one side, he has filled the top ranks with his loyalists. He has given a free reign to elites. The populace is too divided and leaderless to rally around with unity.

On the other side, the LM incident may very well have severed the leash that the army had on its jihadi dogs of war. If the spate of bombings continue unabated and the jihadis take the war into the Punjabi heartland, there's no predicting what might happen.

Not good! The last thing we need is instability in the Muslim country that actually HAS WMDs!


Bad for us, but good for the Muslims in Pakistan, in a way, because Musharraf is a dictator and a traitor to the ummah. I know many muslim friends of mine wouldn't shed a tear if he was taken out by an assassin's bullet/bomb/boomerang

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1645479,00.html
Musharraf on the Brink in Pakistan?
By Simon Robinson

Lawyers across Pakistan burst into tears and cries of jubilation today, as Pakistan's Supreme Court restored the country's Chief Justice, Muhamed Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose sacking by embattled Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf last March sparked national protests. "They have given new life to the nation. For the first time in [my] life I have saluted the judges," says Supreme Court lawyer and activist Ali Ahmed Kurd, a Chaudhry supporter. "It proved that Pakistan has not yet gone dry." What it augurs for Pakistan's President may be something else.

The decision is a major blow for Musharraf, who has faced increasing resistance to his rule this year, new pressure from Washington to crack down on militants and a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks around Pakistan in recent days. Many foreign observers believe that Musharraf's days are numbered as leader of Pakistan — raising the attendant issue of who could possibly replace America's primary ally in the war against terror in this critical region.

Perhaps because it could free him from one political battleground, early indications are that Musharraf will accept today's decision rather than fight it. His Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the state media that the government will honor the Supreme Court ruling, a point Musharraf has made several times over the past weeks. Humayun Gohar, editor-in-chief of the Islamabad based business magazine Blue Chip says the ruling will "weaken Musharraf" but believes it could also be a blessing in disguise for the government. They "are fighting on several fronts and now one front is closed. If the government is sensible, it will accept the decision," says Gohar.

Musharraf's decision to sack Chaudhry for alleged abuse of office earlier this year triggered mass protests in cities around the country. Many in Pakistan's moderate middle classes believe the president sidelined the independent-minded judge because he stood in the way of Musharraf's plan to ask the current parliament to hand him another five-year term. With Chaudhry back in office, two questions that will determine Musharraf's future become a lot more complicated. First, should Musharraf be able to stay on as president while remaining as head of the army? And second, should the present parliament re-elect Musharraf or should that vote be left to a new parliament after an upcoming general election? Chaudhry's backers certainly want the courts to get back into the action. Says Munir Malik, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association. "Now the court has to decide whether [Musharraf] can be reelected [while still in military] uniform."

Until the court re-engages Musharraf on that issue, the president can deal with the other, hotter front in his battle to remain in charge of Pakistan. In the two weeks since Musharraf ordered the army into Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, to arrest Islamic extremists — an order that resulted in the deaths of dozens of militants and ten soldiers — Pakistan's Islamist extremists have retaliated with a series of attacks that have killed more than 180 people, most of them soldiers and police. A U.S. intelligence report this week concluded that Pakistan's policy of non-engagement in the lawless tribal areas along its border with Afghanistan has been a complete failure and allowed Al Qaeda to regroup. Washington is already ratcheting up the pressure for Pakistan to do more.

But if Musharraf really does take both gloves off in the tribal areas, that will just increase the likelihood of a split in the army, according to Hamid Gul, former head of the powerful Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). "The officer's cadre are liberal, secular, they come from the elite classes. But the rank and file of the army were never secular, they were always religious," says Gul. "If there is a face off between the army and people, the leadership may lose control of the army. The army does not feel happy. They are from the same streets, the same villages, the same bazaars of the lower and middle classes, and they want the same thing [Islamic law] for their country."

Meantime, in a telling twist, the spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan seems to have cooled the immediate sense of crisis in Afghanistan. Word on the streets of Kabul is that the suicide bombers from Pakistan's tribal areas who until recently headed west into Afghanistan to train Afghan militants or carry out attacks themselves, are now heading east into the cities of Pakistan, where they have new motives and better targets to attack. "Normally the Pakistanis come to Afghanistan, but now they are busier in Pakistan," says Waheed Muzhda, an Afghan political analyst who worked for the foreign ministry during the Taliban regime. "The media is also focusing on Pakistan's violence. That is why everyone thinks the violence has been reduced here." Cold comfort for Musharraf. Reported by Aryn Baker/Islamabad, Ghulam Hasnain/Karachi and Ali Safi/Kabul

It appears that Chinese are indeed being targetted

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/21/nat2.htm
300 Chinese workers return home


GILGIT, July 20: Over 300 Chinese engineers and workers who had been taking part in the upgradation work of the Karakoram Highway have returned to China due to uncertain law and order in the Northern Areas.

Sources told Dawn that the Chinese workers had come to the region in May this year and had been involved in the widening work of the highway from the Khunjerab Pass near the Pakistan-China border down to the Thakote Bridge in Diamer.

The project with the cost of Rs30 billion was scheduled to be completed in four-year time, said the sources, adding that the work might be delayed because there were no reports about the timing of Chinese workers’ return to the region. But, the sources said, the workers had acquired land for camps in Hunza and Nagar regions where the construction work on a 335-km-long project of the Raikot-Khunjerab section of the Karakoram Highway was under way.

The sources said that another group of 137 Chinese experts involved in the monitoring work of the 18MW Naltar Hydel Project was performing their duties. They, however, had been asked to restrict their movements to urban areas, said the sources, adding that security had been beefed up at the project sites.

Meanwhile, foreign tourists in the Northern Areas were fleeing the region and the PIA office in Gilgit was providing tickets to foreigners on priority basis, the sources added.—Correspondent

It is too early to hope for it. Musharraf can very well let this thing grow to a critical mass, then announce emergency and consolidate power by taking out dissidents.
Which is unfortunately said you can't get too hopeful in a military dictatorship. But, if the man has any sense at all, he won't let that happen.

On one side, he has filled the top ranks with his loyalists. He has given a free reign to elites. The populace is too divided and leaderless to rally around with unity.
The only thing that seems to unite the 'anti-Musharraf' movement is that they are 'anti-Musharraf'. I doubt whether the civilian government is strong enough to fill the power vacuum, though.

On the other side, the LM incident may very well have severed the leash that the army had on its jihadi dogs of war. If the spate of bombings continue unabated and the jihadis take the war into the Punjabi heartland, there's no predicting what might happen.
I doubt it would make the Islamists particularly popular, but I think it will be more the Army's response will have to be watched just as carefully. A sharp increase in suicide bombings could well be enough to suspend elections and see a further consolidation in power. Which, in my opinion, would hinder the Army more than help it.

Which is unfortunately said you can't get too hopeful in a military dictatorship. But, if the man has any sense at all, he won't let that happen.

I don't know about that. Sanity is relative. ;)


The only thing that seems to unite the 'anti-Musharraf' movement is that they are 'anti-Musharraf'. I doubt whether the civilian government is strong enough to fill the power vacuum, though.

What civilian govt? The PML(Q) was created by Musharraf, by splitting PML and helping the MMA secure more seats by that.

That's why the MMA is called Military-Mullah Alliance.


A sharp increase in suicide bombings could well be enough to suspend elections and see a further consolidation in power. Which, in my opinion, would hinder the Army more than help it.

It seems to have abated for now.

Except this foiled attack outside a shopping complex in Karachi (http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/jul/21/terror_attack_pakistan_potter_launch_foiled.html) there's nothing reported for the past 2 days...

I don't know about that. Sanity is relative. ;)
Judging by what I just said, anything's sane relative to me. That sentence made no sense at all!


What civilian govt? The PML(Q) was created by Musharraf, by splitting PML and helping the MMA secure more seats by that.

That's why the MMA is called Military-Mullah Alliance.
The one that exists on paper. I used the term civilian government to refer to Pakistan's political parties and institutions as a whole.

It seems to have abated for now.

Except this foiled attack outside a shopping complex in Karachi (http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/jul/21/terror_attack_pakistan_potter_launch_foiled.html) there's nothing reported for the past 2 days...
You really do know your news!

Judging by what I just said, anything's sane relative to me. That sentence made no sense at all!

I meant to say that what makes sense to one may not make sense to another. I should have phrased it better.

The one that exists on paper. I used the term civilian government to refer to Pakistan's political parties and institutions as a whole.

With all the three leaders of the three major political parties in exile....it is hard to envision an easy transition from military rule to civilian rule.

There is only so much pie left in Pakistan and military does not want to share it with political parties. That is the crux of the problem.

I meant to say that what makes sense to one may not make sense to another. I should have phrased it better.
I've rephrased my odd babbling:

Which is why I said you can't get too hopeful in a military dictatorship. But, if the Musharraf has any sense at all, he won't let that happen.

With all the three leaders of the three major political parties in exile....it is hard to envision an easy transition from military rule to civilian rule.

There is only so much pie left in Pakistan and military does not want to share it with political parties. That is the crux of the problem.
It would seem so, unfortunately.