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Acts of Terrorism in Pakistan

Fairly good assessment!

The terrorism riddle

Editorial
December 09, 2008

PAKISTAN, never far from the news, has been firmly in the international spotlight since the Mumbai attacks. The steady drip of leaks from investigators in India and comments by Indian and American officials suggest that a Pakistani connection to the Mumbai attacks has been irrefutably established, at least in the eyes of the wider world. There is, however, a second, sometimes unspoken line of allegations against Pakistan: that we are a state with weak governance where terrorist groups have long run amok. Enough is enough, now put your house in order, the world led by India and the US is saying to Pakistan. We wish the world, and in particular the US, was not so selective in its memories of what has brought Pakistan to such a pass.

If Lashkar-i-Taiba has grown to a position of such strength that it could execute the Mumbai attacks with consummate ease, it has not done so in a vacuum. The Lashkar’s capabilities grew on the watch of Gen Musharraf, a military strongman supported by American dollars and a White House that believed he was its best bet to take on Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal areas. Even as it became clear that Gen Musharraf was not delivering on American demands and was possibly playing a dangerous double game by covertly supporting some militant groups, the Americans steadfastly stood by their man.

The past year provided a particularly unedifying juxtaposition of a desperate general clinging to power and the resurgence of the two largest political parties, the PPP and the PML-N, both of which unambiguously support closer ties with India. Throughout that tussle the US remained a silent spectator, keen not to upset a fading dictator. So militancy is a problem in the region not only because of Pakistan’s numerous sins of commission but also because of the sins of the US, whose interests in Afghanistan led it to back a ruler who made neither Pakistan nor the region safer.

Making the region a safe place is no easy task now. The torching of 150 trucks laden with Nato supplies and vehicles outside Peshawar on Sunday confirms that a dangerous game of whack-a-mole is under way — hit the militants in one area and they pop up in another. This is possible because the militants are neither a monolith nor neatly divisible into separate groups; they have overlapped and melded in ways that have extended their overall reach. So for Pakistan the priority then must be to push back against all militants, not just the ones that the US or India wants us to stamp out. To do so would require a well-thought-out plan. However, no plan will succeed if foreign countries regard terrorism in Pakistan in a piecemeal way that only narrowly focuses on their own interests.
 
Mahmood Shah is absolutely correct in his assessment of the situation.



Threats from two borders


By Mahmood Shah

THE government’s warning that it would have to withdraw troops from its western border in case of a threat on its eastern frontier with India was not only uncalled for, it was unrealistic as well. The continuous harping on this issue on TV talk shows is creating a negative impact in the NWFP and Fata.

Such tendencies in the past, including an overemphasis on the Kashmir issue, and without any tangible results created negative feelings in the former East Pakistan. Although East Pakistan’s population was larger than that of West Pakistan, not only did the issues discussed concern the interests of the western wing but most of our troops were also deployed in West Pakistan.

Without meaning to sound parochial, the fact is that there are similar feelings in the NWFP and Fata at this point of time. Defending territory and ensuring the security of its people is the foremost responsibility of the state. Unless it is proactive in ensuring that it is fulfilling this responsibility, other countries and non-state actors (an increasing phenomenon presently in Fata and the NWFP) will be encouraged to encroach upon the security foundations of a neglectful state.

Pakistan’s views on the subject of moving troops from one border to the other were meant more for US consumption and discussing these on TV talk shows would be tantamount to encouraging non-state actors and creating negative feelings among the people of the NWFP and Fata.

Meanwhile, the reported views of some security officials that Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah are patriotic Pakistanis are laughable. The kind of demoralising effect this has had on local law-enforcement agencies and elders (who should be in the forefront when it comes to checking the enemy from within) is not difficult to imagine. If Baitullah and Fazlullah are patriots, how should one categorise our law-enforcement agencies and local elders who are pitted against them and are losing their lives to attacks on a daily basis?

The assertion that our tribes will defend the western border is doubtful because they have been overrun by a superior and motivated force. It is no longer 1948 or 1965 when these tribesmen with rustic weapons but superior motivation and fighting techniques in the mountainous area were able to add to our fighting strength. We are living in 2008 and must keep the battlefield of the 21st century in mind. Our tribals are not cannon fodder just to be thrown into these battlefields. If their services are required we must work out a proper plan on how to use these. In any case, they are not available at this point of time and we must not deceive ourselves.

Even after the Mumbai attacks, the threat on our eastern border is not a credible one. Given Pakistan’s nuclear status, India would not want to commit the blunder of attacking the eastern border. Core areas like Sialkot, Lahore and Rahimyar Khan are perilously close to our eastern border. It is no longer possible to have a limited war between India and Pakistan without provoking a nuclear response from Pakistan. Therefore, any threat emanating from our eastern border is largely taken care of by the country’s nuclear status.

In the present day, no country in the world can afford a nuclear war or should even think about it. The real purpose of having nuclear weapons is the deterrent value which these provide and we could exploit this by reducing the deployment of conventional forces along the eastern border.

NWFP and Fata inhabitants ask that if all politicians can unite when faced with a threat from India even when the forces have not been moved, why can’t they sit together to debate the threat emanating from our western border and give it the same degree of importance.

Understandably the Indian government and media overreacted to the unfortunate incident in Mumbai but there is no reason for the same response on our part. The NWFP and Fata are already under attack and the enemy is within our territories. Our complacent attitude towards the enormous threat on our western border is not understandable. Our military and political leadership appears to suffer from some kind of mental fixation and seems equipped to handle only threats from India. We cannot reorient ourselves to respond effectively to a new situation.

US drones are attacking our tribal, even settled, areas and even then we are unable to stop our enemies from whatever it is doing. In case we pull out our forces from the western border they will simply walk into our territories. Therefore the warning that in case of a threat on our eastern border we would have to pull out forces from our western border is not only unrealistic, it is also making the people of the NWFP and Fata feel demoralised. The government must re-evaluate the threats on both borders and carry out a major redeployment of our forces as per this new threat perception.

The writer is a retired brigadier and former secretary, Fata.
 
Suicide bomber arrested in DI Khan



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PESHAWAR ( 2008-12-12 23:09:17 ) Police on Friday arrested a suspected suicide bomber when he was trying to enter in a mosque at Dera Ismail Khan, a senior police officer said.

“The bomber, wearing a suicide jacket, was apprehended by security personnel when he was trying to enter Faqir Shah Mosque where large number of people were coming to offer Juma prayer,” DPO Dera Ismail Khan Nasir Mehmood Satti told APP.

The accused was immediately shifted to City police station for interrogation.

An official of City police station when contacted said the alleged bomber identified as Shakeel Ahmed belonged to Dera Adamkhel of Frontier Region Kohat. Police are interrogating the accused.
 
The latest casualties might finally act as a wake-up to go into FATA and hammer any militant infrastructure.

The peace deals were a noble effort but the time has now come to reel in the frankenstein monster and decapitate it.
 
Zia remnants impeding peace process: ANP

* Party’s information secretary calls General (r) Hameed Gul a leading figure among the remnants of Zia regime

By Irfan Ali
December 22, 2008

KARACHI: The Awami National Party (ANP) stated that remnants of former military dictator General Ziaul Haq are impeding peace efforts being made by ANP, in its capacity as a coalition partner in the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government.

“The basic reason for our vote bank was our promise of ensuring durable peace in the country,” ANP Information Secretary Zahid Khan told Daily Times. He said that ANP had participated in the election on this single-point agenda and started implementation of this agenda soon after the formation of the government at the centre and in NWFP. “We adopted measures that included dialogue and accords. However, at some places, these measures failed due to the efforts of remnants of the Zia regime,” he said.

Khan stated that the problems being faced by Pakistan now are the seeds sown in the Zia regime, adding that remnants of his regime are in existence today and disturbing peace in the nation is top of their agenda. “Former military general Hameed Gul is a leading figure among the remnants of Zia regime and the tenure of former president Pervez Musharraf was also a continuation of it,” he said.

Replying to a question, Khan said that ANP considered Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and the Jamaat-e-Islami too also be following in Zia’s footsteps but at times they changed their course, while on other occasions followed Hameed Gul.

“I agree with you that ANP had joined hands with PML-N in the past but it was because PML-N had been a democratically elected party,” he said, adding that ANP had repeatedly advised them to desist from diverting towards Zia’s ideology. Khan stated that ANP initiated the peace restoration process but its success depends upon a comprehensive course of action that actually targets terrorists rather than civilians.

“On one hand, peace efforts are being impeded and, on the other, civilians are being continuously targeted in areas such as Swat,” he lamented. Khan exhorted the federal government to change its course of action and rectify the flaws in its previous strategy, adding that ANP has submitted its proposals in this regard to the PPP-led government.

Khan said that the colossal losses being suffered by civilians served as great encouragement for terrorists who do not want Pakistan to progress. Khan concluded by stating that the remnants of General Zia had an obscurantist agenda but expressed confidence that the people of Pakistan will reject it altogether.
 
Militants attack three schools in Peshawar


By Ali Hazrat Bacha


PESHAWAR, Dec 22: Militants attacked three English-medium schools in the city on Monday, set their five buses on fire and ransacked the office of the principal of one of the schools and other property.

The three private schools — Peshawar Model School (boys branch), Frontier Model School (boys branch) and Frontier Model School (girls branch) — located on the Warsak Road are considered to be among leading private educational institutions in the city.

Four employees of the Peshawar Model School; physical training instructor Sher Mohammad, watchmen Mohammadullah and Aurangzeb and auto-mechanic Naveed; were injured and two of them were said to be in a serious condition.

Watchman Samiullah told Dawn that about 15 masked men armed with heavy weapons carrying oil canisters entered the school building, snatched the keys of the gates from the watchmen, sprinkled oil on four parked buses and set them on fire.

He said the militants hurled petrol bombs on classrooms on the ground floor, torched a deep freezer in the canteen and damaged the crockery and other items.

They also placed a bomb in the accounts section, ransacked the principal’s office and smashed windowpanes of several classrooms.

According to bomb disposal personnel, the explosive weighing over 2 kg was a remote-controlled device.

Eyewitnesses said that fire tenders were called after the militants had left the place but by the time two of the buses had been destroyed.

The militants also attacked the main gate of the Frontier Model School with a grenade.

Superintendent of the school Anwar Siddiqui told Dawn that the militants were appeared to be in a hurry. They tried to break open the gate but could not do so.

The militants entered the other Frontier Model School and torched its buses. However, the watchman put out the fire.

Security forces recently conducted an operation in areas near the Warsak Road and claimed that the localities had been cleared of militants.

Police said they had arrested three men who possessed arms and explosives.

SSP (coordination) Qazi Jamil told Dawn that the suspects carried two grenades and two Kalashnikovs.

He said that the Peshawar Model School would remain closed for three days for repairs, but other schools would open on Tuesday.


URL : Militants attack three schools in Peshawar -DAWN - Top Stories; December 23, 2008
 
Marriott attack not done by India

Editorial
December 24, 2008

The adviser to the prime minister on interior, Mr Rehman Malik, revealed on Monday in Islamabad that the banned Lashkar-e Jhangvi organisation had carried out the terrorist attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. After the completion of investigations in the case, it was found that the truck used in the attack was loaded with ammunition in Jhang, and it entered Islamabad via Rawat. Two boys from Toba Tek Singh, who had been arrested, had facilitated the terrorist act.

Analysts have named Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) as the culprits in the Marriott case. Since both are on the payroll of Al Qaeda, the hotel tragedy can be attributed to Al Qaeda. Those who have roped in the Marriott as a convenient excuse to put the blame on India should now give up. More revelations about the Marriott are bound to emerge in the coming days and the government, despite its obfuscations, will have to take action against those responsible. The HUJI leader, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, whom Ms Benazir Bhutto had accused as her prospective assassin, goes scot-free. So do many others. *
 
725 killed in 63 terrorist attacks

* Media reports much higher toll
* Security agencies targeted frequently in increased number of suicide attacks

By Tahir Niaz

ISLAMABAD: Some 725 Pakistanis - 149 Law Enforcing Agencies (LEAs) officials and 576 civilians - were killed in 63 terrorist attacks, averaging 61 killings per month, in 2008.

According to official data available with Daily Times, most people were killed in suicide attacks, which Muttaheda Ulema Council has declared forbidden (haram) in Pakistan.

Media have reported much more killings than the government sources. The suicide attack on Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on September 20 was one of the worst, killing over 40 people and grabbing attention of national and international media.

In the year’s first suicide attack on police outside the Lahore High Court (LHC) on January 10, 16 police officials and four civilians were killed. In the year’s last suicide attack on a polling station in Buner on December 28, 34 people, including four children were killed.

Chronology: Jan 10, 16 police officials and four civilians were killed in a suicide attack outside the LHC, Lahore.

Jan 14, a bomb killed 10 people in a crowded market in Karachi.

Feb 9, a suicide bomber killed 25 people in an election rally in Charsadda. On February 16, a suicide car bomber struck at a PPP rally in Parachinar, killing 37 people.

Feb 22, a roadside bomb hit a wedding party in Swat, killing at least 14 people.

Feb 25, a suicide bomber killed Army Surgeon General Mushtaq Baig and seven others in Rawalpindi.

Feb 29, a suicide bomber killed 44 people in Mingora, a valley in Swat, in the funeral of three policemen, killed in a roadside bomb blast earlier in the day.

March 2, a suicide bomber killed 43 people in a meeting of anti-militancy tribal elders in Darra Adam Khel.

March 4, two suicide bombers attacked Pakistan Naval War College in Lahore, killing five people and wounding 19.

March 10, suicide attackers killed 26 people and partly demolished Federal Investigation Agency office in Lahore in two hits.

March 15, a bomb blast at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad killed a Turkish woman and wounded 10 others, including four FBI agents.

May 19, a suicide bomber killed 13 people at an army bakery in Mardan. No terrorist attack was reported in June.

July 2, a suicide car bomb outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad killed eight people.

July 6, a suicide bomber killed 15 people in an attack on police in Islamabad close to Lal Masjid.

Aug 12, a roadside bomb ripped through a Pakistan Air Force bus in Peshawar, killing 13 people.

Aug 19, a suicide bomber killed 23 people at a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan. On August 21, two suicide attacks killed at least 57 people outside Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POFs), Wah.

Aug 28, a bomb attack targeting policemen killed 10 people in Bannu.

Sept 6, a suicide bomber killed 33 people at a security checkpoint near Peshawar.

Sept 11, suspected militants hurled grenades and fired into a mosque in Peshawar killing at least 20 worshippers.

Sept 20, the day when President Asif Ali Zardari addressed a joint session of the Parliament, a suicide attacker rammed a explosive-laden dumper into Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, killing at least 40 people.

Sept 22, at least nine securitymen were killed in a suicide car-bomb attack on a security check post in Swat.

Sept 24, a female student was killed in a suicide blast at a FC convoy in Quetta Cantonment.

Oct 6, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of people in Bakhar at the outhouse of Rashid Akbar Niwani, a Shia MNA from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, killing 25 people.

Oct 10, at least 40 people were killed and around 90 wounded when a suicide bomber targeted an anti-Taliban jirga in Orakzai Agency.

Oct 19, four people were killed when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in the main bazaar of Dera Bugti.

Oct 26, at least 11 people, seven of them Frontier Corps personnel and three Khasadars, were killed and five others injured in a suicide attack in Mohmand Agency.

Nov 4, at least seven people, including three security officials, were killed in a suicide attack on a security force check post in Hangu.

Nov 11, a suicide bomber blew himself up at Qayyum Stadium in Peshawar, killing four people.

Nov 12, five people were killed as a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled bus into the gates of a school in Charsadda district.

Nov 17, at least three troops were killed when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security check post in Swat’s Khawazakhela area.

Nov 20, a suicide bomber killed at least nine people in a mosque in Mamoond tehsil of Bajaur Agency.

Dec 3, three security forces personnel and two civilians were killed after a Mohmand Rifles convoy was bombed near Shabqadar in Charsadda district.

Dec 5, a car bomb explosion outside an Imambargah near Peshawar’s historic Qisakhwani Bazaar killed at least 22 people. The same day, at least six people were killed when an explosives-laden vehicle was blown up in Kalaia area of Lower Orakzai.

Dec 14, at least two people were killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Dera Bugti district.

Dec 28, 34 people were killed in Buner in a suicide attack.
 
JI pocketed millions of dollars from US: ANP

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) NWFP Secretary General Tajuddin Khan on Monday accused the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) of pocketing millions of dollars during the war against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Khan said in a statement that the JI provided support to the United States in Afghanistan and provided volunteers for the war to “earn millions of dollars”. He said the people were facing an insurgency everywhere in the NWFP due to the failed policies of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government in the province. He said the JI had invited ‘foreign terrorists’ to settle in Pashtun lands, who were now wreaking havoc across the country. Khan said military operations in the Tribal Areas and other parts of the NWFP would continue until the ‘JI-supported terrorists’ are completely eliminated. staff report
 
Taliban video claims attacks on FIA building, ISI bus

January 19, 2009

PESHAWAR: The Taliban on Sunday released a video of statements from supposed suicide bombers and footage of deadly attacks, claimed to have been carried out in Pakistan. The 40-minute tape shows men and youths addressing the camera in Pushto about their intention to carry out suicide attacks, with Urdu-language terrorist anthems playing in the background. Taliban commander Qari Hussain, who is based in South Waziristan Agency, handed out the video to reporters in Peshawar. Hussain is also known as ‘Ustad-e-Fidaeen’ : teacher of suicide bombers. The two biggest attacks claimed on the video were a double truck bombing last March on the FIA building in Lahore and bombing of an office of the Inter-Services Intelligence in 2007. “I’m going to do this [suicide bombing] with Islamic sentiments,” said someone who gave his name only as Masood and appeared to be in his teens, to a backdrop of footage from the FIA attack. afp
 
Pakistan arrests London bombings suspect

Story Highlights

Officials say arrested al Qaeda militant has ties to 2005 London subway bombings

52 killed, 900 wounded from bombs on 3 subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005

Zabih al-Taifi arrested in village near Peshawar in ongoing security operations

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan has arrested a suspected al Qaeda militant who intelligence officials say is tied to the London subway bombings in 2005, authorities there said Thursday.


The double-decker bus damaged by a bomb in central London on July 7, 2005.

Zabih al-Taifi was arrested in a village near Peshawar on Wednesday as part of ongoing security operations in the area, police and intelligence officials told CNN. Six others, both Afghans and Pakistanis, were also arrested.

The Metropolitan Police Service in London, also known as Scotland Yard, issued a statement refusing to comment on the arrest.

"Speculation around this reported arrest with alleged links to an ongoing terrorist trial is unhelpful and may be prejudicial to current criminal proceedings," it said.

The London blasts killed 52 people and wounded at least 900 others when bombs went off on three subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005.

Security analysts say the village where al-Taifi was arrested in the North West Frontier Province has been the site of recent clashes between Pakistani security forces and militants.

CNN's Zein Basravi contributed to this report.
 
Editorial: 3Ds: dialogue, development, deterrence?

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said at a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday that he had convinced the world that military operations alone were not the solution to terrorism, and that Pakistan’s “3Ds” strategy was essential to winning hearts and minds of the people involved in it. The 3Ds he explained as dialogue, development and deterrence. He also claimed that he had “convinced several world leaders that employment, development and alleviation of poverty were the key to success in the war on terror”. Mr Gilani spoke out again against the US policy of drone attacks inside Pakistani territory and he appealed to the US to share actionable intelligence with Pakistan. He said the war against terrorism could not be won without the cooperation of the people, and that army operations were not the only solution to it. He thought the possibility of a “foreign hand” could not be ruled out in Swat.

The three concepts are unassailable, divorced as they stand from the reality in Pakistan. Anywhere in the world, before the hostilities actually begin, it is perhaps the only policy to follow, with the exception perhaps that deterrence should always be a factor regardless of whether or not the fighting has begun. In this context, it is possible that Mr Gilani did not sequence his 3Ds in any kind of priority. He has put dialogue first but experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan is that, violence having begun, dialogue continues to be shunned by the militants. Their aim always is to bring the state on the table in order to make it capitulate.

In fact, dialogue in South Waziristan was always a non-starter because Nek Muhammad and Baitullah Mehsud had reached the level of rebellious capacity where they could bend the will of the state. So dialogue with the terrorists should come right at the end, after the government has fully asserted its monopoly of force and brought the terrorists to the negotiating table. It has to make sure that it talks to them from a position of strength. Dialogue after losing the writ of the state, which is Pakistan’s case at the moment, is of no use. The subsequent case of Swat has made it amply clear.

Similarly, experience shows that unless the target areas are sufficiently pacified, development simply cannot begin to take place. It doesn’t deserve the second priority given to it in the 3Ds. We all know that development in Afghanistan — whatever little there was despite the US approach of neglecting “nation-building” — simply could not go on in the areas where the Taliban could intervene and reverse the process. In Pakistan, too, the first thing targeted by the terrorists is the development infrastructure. The Taliban in Swat began their rebellion by destroying schools and other state-owned buildings. This week, North Waziristan has thrown out all the NGOs doing development work there.

Now let us come to deterrence. The state deters lawbreakers and the terrorists all the time. This is its normal function. If it neglects this function of normal deterrence by weakening itself through strategies of covert war and power-sharing with “non-state actors” within the country, the consequences include the slackening of the writ of the state and the proliferation of terrorists, including those who come in from the neighbourhood. Mr Gilani has hinted at a “foreign hand” but the world understands that when Pakistan says this it is not pointing to the foreign terrorists lurking in its territory but to foreign states. So this statement begs the question and is not helpful.

The stage we are at ordains us to fight the war against terrorism as the final war of the state. Dialogue and development will come after we have started winning it. *
 
8 killed, 35 wounded in blast in Pakistan
5 Feb 2009, 2030 hrs IST, PTI
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ISLAMABAD: Up to eight persons were killed and over 30 others injured in a bomb blast near a prayer hall of Pakistan's minority Shia community in
Dera Ghazi Khan town in Punjab province on Thursday.

The blast occurred shortly before 7 pm when a large number of people had joined a religious procession outside the imambargah or prayer hall.

Officials were quoted by TV channels as saying that the powerful explosion killed eight persons and injured about 35.

Police said they believed the attack could be the result of sectarian tensions.

The imambargah is located in a thickly populated area in the centre of Dera Ghazi Khan. Witnesses said they saw bodies and many injured persons lying on the road after the blast.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. A prominent Shia body said it had informed local police that there was a possibility of a terrorist attack on the congregation. It complained the police had taken no security measures despite the warning.

8 killed, 35 wounded in blast in Pakistan-Pakistan-World-The Times of India
 
Attack leaves seven Pakistani police dead: officials

46 minutes ago

MULTAN, Pakistan (AFP) — Unidentified assailants killed seven policemen in a pre-dawn attack Saturday on a checkpoint in central Pakistan, police and officials said.

The attackers first gunned down two police guards and then blew up the checkpoint building with explosives in the town of Mianwali bordering the country's restive North West Frontier Province.

"Seven police were killed in the pre-dawn attack," police chief Shaukat Javed told AFP. Local officials also confirmed the attack.

It was not clear wether the Mianwali raid was linked to the continuing violence in the northwestern region, where the army is battling Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked groups.

On Thursday a suicide bomber killed 33 people near a Shiite Muslim mosque in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan, also in central Punjab province.
AFP: Attack leaves seven Pakistani police dead: officials
 
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