At last, Pakistan zeroes in on Baitullah Mehsud

[RescueRanger]

When it comes to this Mehsud fellow the whole game stinks, we have access to GSAT and apparently despite certain media people claiming he uses "pigeons" to communicate i have seen footage of a Thuraya.

Why not do what the russians did with the Chechan Leader "Dudayev": Online NewsHour: Conflict in Chechnya: Timeline of the Modern Conflict: 1995-1996 | PBS

We cannot allow these idiots to hold our nation hostage, let alone the whole world! And just in case certain deluded Pakistani board members think they "Taliban" will be content with SWAT, read the following link:

DAWN.COM | - NWFP | Taliban take over PML-Q minister?s bungalow in Swat

They are also unconfirmed reports coming from sources claiming that the Taliban have captured various shops and businesses to generate revenue, this in addition to the Revenue earned from Religious Tax, Zakat Collection, sale of gems and other avenues of funding.

Look at the situation in Peshawar, all the half decent malik's have been killed to coerced to join hands with the Taliban, hence their strength for every malik has his own little private army.

It is like a macabre Shakespearean play with the Taliban playing the protagonist, on a stage where the audience cannot understand the gravity of the act being unfolded before their eyes. In short, in my opinion and based on the facts emerging, the Taliban will not be content with just SWAT and parts of NWFP.

They have already started flexing their muscles in an attempt to make inroads into Punjab and Karachi, we need as a nation to understand and respect the threat posed by this enemy and mobilise at a community level to educated the masses against their nefarious intentions, especially towards the youth.

This is a problem that will not go away by simply throwing bombs or money at the problem, but adopting a proactive approach balancing the response with education and military action.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

it is the media that give these terrorists the fame they are looking for......dont they realize that even putting a price tag on his head makes them feel victorious.

They are getting the attention they want. And all this, once again ---another 'figurehead' who is destroying perception of Islam.

Pakistan should deal with this so-called TTP. Let the americans deal with Afghan taleban. They tell us to respect Afghanistan sovereignty, but last time i checked --it was Afghan regugees in Pakistan, Afghan drugs coming into Pakistan, and Afghan terrorists attacking our institutions.


We should declare FATA a no-go area for foreigners. There needs to be more accountability and NADRA should get into action, and make sure all residents have ID cards. We also need more intelligence on the ground. I know that Salarzai, Turri, Afridi and many other tribes are providing infos to Army regarding taleban safehouses.



the good outcome (if you could call it that) of the Lahore attack is that only now we will take this threat seriously. The situation is so serious right now.

We are the nationalist youth of Pakistan. Inshallah we will crush these threats, and the local/foreign elements backing them.







p.s. this is the time for Pakistani Army to begin a draft.....some of our youth need a good a$$ kicking and some military obligations.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

and we are on this on our own. It would be really symbollic if all the Arab Sheikhs, ulema, and all other Muslim nations and their religious ulema went on the record 24/7 to condemn taleban and their actions.

Nobody in their right state of mind should remain idle on this issue. Pakistan land by nature and Pakistani by nature are not compatible with taleban actions and ideas. They dont represent us...


too bad the western media is ignoring this fact.

 

[All-Green]

That is true.Most of the Pakistanis thought ISI and Musharraf assassinated Benazir.

Saad, i think it was only politically motivated accusation on part of anti Musharraf parties.
Musharraf made many mistakes but he certainly was quite intelligent/civil enough not to assassinate BB.
He had everything to lose.

Sadly our public has always been emotional and leave their senses at such moments.
After all we killed the man who assassinated Liaqat Ali Khan instead of keeping him alive.

Regarding Mehsud, he needs to be eliminated and his network needs to be dismembered.
No ifs and buts here.
Government should declare a Jihad on TTP based on their terrorism.
It can be done and is completely justified.
That is the kind of brilliance and confidence i want to see from our government.

Not being emotional but our regular troops have always followed orders and made bitter last stands if asked to, it is only the hierarchy who loses its manhood time and again.

Lets hope they know what they are dealing with.

 

[batmannow]

this is the time , that GOP should take action against "BAIT ULLHA MEHSUD"!
i guss , its a perfect time for pakistan army to set up a new command of troops & should go for the terrorism with full force, once & for all!
terrorism faced by pakistan , can t be taken out , with "limited opreations" approch, last time when "BAIT ULLHA MEHSUD" was surronded by PA , i cant really understand why , a cease fire been compromized with him!

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

im sure there are elements in the ISI who are making dialogue with taleban --and probably they are just religious maulvis --not the taleban who are attacking Pakistani targets and people to isolate us.

USA themself saying there should be dialogue with taleban willing to lay down arms...but when we do it, we are given bad name. I really dont understand the american policy makers and their bosses in intelligence agency.

taleban is such a loosely used term. But regardless, we do have an enemy whom we must fight. I have too much dignity to allow my country to be challenged by indian --let alone some bearded whack-jobs (biggest hypocrites in the earth).


we need to wage jihad against the militants........Jihad is fought fi Sabeel Allah. We must fight those who are really damaging Islam. It isnt dutch cartoonist/morons, the real enemy is jahhilat.

 

[fatman17]

Editorial: Show will to fight terrorism

After Baitullah Mehsud’s statement that he executed the attack on a police training academy in Lahore and suicide attacks in Islamabad and Bannu, Pakistan must get ready for more attacks. He says: “Over the next few days, more such attacks will come... two or three suicide attacks will take place... We will exact our revenge inside America... but let us [take] revenge in Pakistan first”.

Needless to say, the attacks on America will come when they will come, but Pakistan is going to be the target in the coming few days. And if they are successful, they will be intensified so that the aim of demoralising the people and defeating the state of Pakistan is achieved. America will be more prepared when the attacks come to it; it will have the will and the wherewithal to protect itself. But is Pakistan ready for what is coming?

What is clearly lacking here is the will to fight. Those who bear the brunt of terrorism are willing to fight back, as proved by the brave police action that defeated Baitullah Mehsud’s plan to take hostages and extract concessions at Manawan. But the will is divided at the level of thinking at various levels in the country. Commentators on TV and in newspapers still prefer to cling to the line that “it’s not our war”, even after Baitullah Mehsud’s declared challenge. Given this state of affairs, the readiness Pakistan needs to confront the challenge is being adversely affected.

Terrorism will be blunted if those who are in charge of protecting the citizens are able to perform across the country in the way they performed at Manawan. The warlord of South Waziristan will be less flamboyant in his statements if his terrorists are battled and captured on a regular basis. But to get to that point we need to equip our security forces adequately, both mentally and physically. We can’t expect them to perform beyond their capacity as they did at Manawan. The IG Police Punjab says he needs Rs 46 billion to make his department ready to fight. We need to provide that money, not only for Lahore but for all of Pakistan. Fortunately, the world is ready to help us do that.

What the world can’t do is supply us with the mental will to fight against terrorism. The government has shown this will but the opposition and media have done the opposite. Now there is a good sign in the statement given to the foreign press by the PMLN leader Mr Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday. Accepting the point of view at the global level, he said: “The concerns of the West are genuine and they need to be addressed in all seriousness. The problems Pakistan faces are very tough and very serious, and in fact are endangering our state in a very serious way. I personally think that no party single-handedly, whether in the government, or outside the government, would be able to deal with these problems. We all will have to fight these problems together”.

That should mean that the two mainstream parties that represent the political will of Pakistan are now set to work together against terrorism. At least in respect of the state of preparedness against the clearly spelled out threat by Baitullah Mehsud there should now be no obstacle. The line earlier taken by the PMLN that “it’s not Pakistan’s war” is probably on its way out and hopefully the unqualified preference for “talks” with the likes of Baitullah Mehsud too will now be subject to qualifications. However, the matter of the will of the army is a different issue. On the one hand, the military has handed over ownership of the war against extremism to the government. On the other hand, it thinks differently from the government on core foreign and domestic issues. And this is a problem.

Meanwhile, it is now more or less decided that the force that will bear the first wave of assault by the terrorists is the police. In a country of 160 million there are only 383,000 policemen, which will be considered a joke in the world outside for a country that is girding up to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The will to fight terrorism must now be followed by a professionally guided effort to beef up the force, provide it excellent infrastructure, raise the salary of a constable above the current miserable Rs 8,000 per month, and then give him the best training against terror available in the world. The motorway police is the best force because of its better salary and training; so is the Rescue 1122 service, as demonstrated at Manawan.

Baitullah Mehsud knows that his war will ultimately be with the police. In 2005 he killed 113 of them; in 2007 he killed 1,820. It was a slaughter of the lambs that should not be allowed to go on. At Manawan, the police proved that it is capable of taking on the terrorists and protect the citizens despite its bad state of preparedness. Let us increase its competence. That will also strengthen our will to fight back.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan


Wake up Pakistanis!!!!!*

 

[Awesome]

I probably use the term irhabi more than anybody here. I do so as I won't dignify the actions of these worthless pukes with such an expression of service to a higher calling.

How much you wanna bet, if the term caught on it would be used as a derogatory racial slur a lot more. Any Muslim that opposes the war would be termed an irhabi, or as TS put it an irhabi sympathizer.

Thanks man, for putting another derogatory racial slur into the mix!

Muse comment is fascinating. To date, the only coherant voice for islam is the irhabi.

You mean they are the only ones you're paying attention to! That figures. Dude we've got a whole society, our parents have taught us well, they taught us religion, morals, ethics.

Their I.O strategies are fully mobilized and they've seized the fore in devising a cause celebre surrounding the caliphate as "protection" against the accumulated grievances and continuing excesses of the west.

People calling for the caliphate are not terrorists. The underlying motive is to end divisiveness and promote unity. Everyone is for that. The means to achieve it, however, is something no one agrees upon.

The violent method is something that almost all Muslims disagree with except the terrorists.

No other voice that I hear or read of note. Sure as hell not here.

Yeah right... Not here? You didn't hear anything against the terrorists around here?

So it IS the islamist message until otherwise defined. Don't count on the rest of mankind to review Islam's message since 800 AD on your behalf. That's your job and we're not the primary target. Your fellow muslims are.

So you admit you're being ignorant and running your mouth without doing any research?

 

[S-2]

"How much you wanna bet, if the term caught on it would be used as a derogatory racial slur a lot more..."

A lot more? Since when has it been used as a derogatory racial slur at all?

"Thanks man, for putting another derogatory racial slur into the mix!"

I'm sorry.

My apologies, also, for suggesting that the Islamic message of peace and understanding isn't being heard far and wide. Must be my racist sensibilities have clouded my eyes and ears from all the outstanding media work that's shaped the message and dominated the narrative.

Sure, Asim. Silly American racist me.

Those irhabis are winning the I.O. war but, that's fine, tell yourself otherwise when you next journey to SWAT. If you don't believe me just tune in the local radio for an earful...

It's all good.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Irhabi aka erhabe --- its just an Arabic term meaning 'terrorist'


i dont see the connection with race. Terrorism has no race.

 

[fatman17]

EDITORIAL: Logic of drone attacks

A US drone attack in Orakzai agency has killed 12 recruits of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) of Baitullah Mehsud, including one local leader. An Arab too has been killed while the family of the man providing them haven, Maulana Gul Nazir, was the only “collateral damage”. The press links the US attack to Baitullah Mehsud’s challenge that he was going to attack Washington again. The drone’s target was Hakimullah Mehsud, Baitullah’s close contact and local commander of the TTP training centre.

Since the media in Pakistan is formally against the drone attacks, efforts were made on several TV channels on Wednesday night to get the anti-drone stance of the public confirmed. But all Pashtun reporters covering Orakzai refused to give the drones a blanket stamp of disapproval. Asked why Orakzai was attacked if it was not geographically linked to Afghanistan, the answer was: it was attacked because it had become a stronghold of the TTP and foreign terrorists since the last one year and was clearly seen as a threat by the Americans as a training resource for those who attacked across the Durand Line.

This meant that since one year Orakzai has been open as a possible stronghold of the terrorists while the media has been concentrating on Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand as the region of TTP challenge where the Pakistan army is supposed to be taking action. It was discovered that the local Orakzai population had given in after the slaughter of their anti-TTP “jirga” last year did not evoke much response from the army or the state of Pakistan. Added to the TTP dominance of Kurram Agency, a whole swath of territory in the tribal areas was now ruled by Baitullah Mehsud. Orakzai, where the terrorists plied special vehicles stolen from NATO supply caravans in Khyber, was the base from where TTP commanded the NWFP city of Hangu where the Shia are made to live like a hunted minority.

When asked if the drone attack in Orakzai will provoke the local population into becoming anti-American, the Pashtun reporters told the TV channels that unless collateral damage became widespread enough to include the local population, there was no chance of an anti-American feeling. They said that the population was completely under the despotic rule of the TTP and would actually want the drone attacks to continue to lessen the severity of TTP control on them. Had Pakistan any sovereignty left to counteract the TTP, the local population would have fought against the terrorists.

This evidence weakens the argument we have heard advanced against the American drone attacks. A Peshawar-based NGO has come under pressure from the authorities and the media for discovering exactly what was revealed by the TV reporters on Wednesday night. The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA) published an article recently (The News, March 5, 2009) which stated that its teams visited Wana (South Waziristan), Ladda (South Waziristan), Miranshah (North Waziristan), Razmak (North Waziristan) and Parachinar (Kurram Agency) and found that the victim population was not opposed to drone attacks.

The AIRRA teams handed out 650 structured questionnaires to people in the above areas. The 550 respondents — 100 declined to answer — were from professions related to business, education, health and transport. The following were some of questions and responses of the people of FATA. 1) Do you see drone attacks bringing about fear and terror in the common people? (Yes 45%, No 55%). 2) Do you think the drones are accurate in their strikes? (Yes 52%, No 48%). 3) Do you think anti-American feelings in the area increased due to drone attacks recently? (Yes 42%, No 58%). 4) Should the Pakistani military carry out targeted strikes at the militant organisations? (Yes 70%, No 30%). 5) Do the militant organisations get damaged due to drone attacks? (Yes 60%, No 40%).

One thing is certain: the local population is against the TTP and doesn’t mind too much if the Americans take it out in the absence of an adequate Pakistani response. The Pakistani stance that its sovereignty is being violated by the drones is weakened by the day by the very clear loss of Pakistan’s sovereign territory to the TTP and the inability of the state of Pakistan to either recapture it or come to the rescue of the local population. The “external” argument that this lost territory brings the world under real threat of terrorist attacks through the local and foreign terrorists also gains strength as Baitullah Mehsud extends his violence-based emirate to Punjab and Sindh in the coming days. *


Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[S-2]

With all due respect, sir, Rabzon's got the above editorial posted here.

This was a good four hours faster than you, slowpoke.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Def.pk. Dept. of Redundancy.

I read these op-eds and damn near cry. They say what I've said since my return in October and I'm glad to read AIRRA's survey defended by somebody in your nat'l media.

Perfect in it's sampling? Of course not. Care to go door-to-door in FATAville with this sample of questions anybody? Indicative of a wider narrative than peddled by your media and cowering nat'l gov't? Absolutely, and a critically important voice to be read at that.

War has come to your lands. The only way to avoid war at this point is to humbly surrender as you have in SWAT. Your enemies dare you to pick up the gun and battle back for your freedom. They, with good cause, don't believe you shall.

These are not lawyers. Legalese now is for fools. You are well passed that stage. Got an AK in the closet? If not you'll need one soon.

JMHO again, sir but move your army west and fight for your nation's survival please? Losing your nation shall be the price paid for seeking "strategic depth" elsewhere if not. In fighting for yourselves, you shall be respecting, finally, the sovereignty of others while re-establishing your own lawful writ over the Islamic Caliphate of Pashtunistan.

I wish you luck.

Thanks.

 

[Patriot]

With all due respect, sir, Rabzon's got the above editorial posted here.

This was a good four hours faster than you, slowpoke.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Def.pk. Dept. of Redundancy.

I read these op-eds and damn near cry. They say what I've said since my return in October and I'm glad to read AIRRA's survey defended by somebody in your nat'l media.

Perfect in it's sampling? Of course not. Care to go door-to-door in FATAville with this sample of questions anybody? Indicative of a wider narrative than peddled by your media and cowering nat'l gov't? Absolutely, and a critically important voice to be read at that.

War has come to your lands. The only way to avoid war at this point is to humbly surrender as you have in SWAT. Your enemies dare you to pick up the gun and battle back for your freedom. They, with good cause, don't believe you shall.

These are not lawyers. Legalese now is for fools. You are well passed that stage. Got an AK in the closet? If not you'll need one soon.

JMHO again, sir but move your army west and fight for your nation's survival please? Losing your nation shall be the price paid for seeking "strategic depth" elsewhere if not. In fighting for yourselves, you shall be respecting, finally, the sovereignty of others while re-establishing your own lawful writ over the Islamic Caliphate of Pashtunistan.

I wish you luck.

Thanks.

Agreed.The East threat is way over rated.Army must station at least 200k troops in Western Side with Full Air Support.Steve, you as well as I know that Pakistan Army can fight these bastards as it's the 7th largest army in the world and have fought 3 wars with India.I just don't know why Generals are not doing it.Let the irhabi friends cry.We must act now or it will be too late.

 

[S-2]

Your regular army infantry are adequate to the task if they are, indeed, well-schooled. It starts there.

Will mistakes be made? Yes. Direct assaults shall occur when it might have been best in retrospect not to do so. Other times, you will bombard when you should have attacked directly.

These are lessons of war and your forces will uncover solutions as they discover dilemmas. You can go to school on COIN forever but at some point you must fight and the battlefield, in the end, is the best classroom. Meanwhile this war isn't waiting.

"Perfect" is the enemy of "good enough".

"The East threat is way over rated"

It is about time, saadahmed, for your brothers here and you to come to grips with this issue. It is my firm belief that your military is intentionally avoiding a fight in the west by posturing the threat in the east as paramount and immediate.

Your army is not emotionally prepared to take on the special challenge presented by your citizens who shall use the clarion of Islamic brotherhood against your men. Your commanders, I believe, fear this.

Your commanders fear the type of battle that will be confronted. It will have many faces. Open warfare in this village, civil pacification in that town, patrols in near-constant contact in the hills and seemingly going into infinity.

Welcome to the "long war".

Your commanders fear the human dimension of the unfolding tragedy. They can't be assured after Loe Sam that your government will backfill with the civil resources to lift the army's burden and mollify the anger of locals at necessary kinetic activity.

Justify the violence by transforming the locale. It's not easy. We struggle daily with the same in Afghanistan. Struggle you must, though, until proficient or simply not engage at all. I don't think that's an option any longer but that's just me.

In for a penny, in for a pound on this one.

There is professional hesitation at the posed dilemmas of COIN in Waziristan.

 

[nwmalik]

finally our nation is making up their mind regards these terrorists and the fact that they have nothing 2 do with our peaceful religion.
Unfortunately because these B*S***DS are using the name of islam and our religious leadership has failed to come out against them.
U hear people talking about the root cause. This only gives the terrorists an excuse and a way of legalizing their actions.
as far as i am concerned there can be no reason or excuse to do what they have done in the mosque in jamrud or in manawan or many other attacks.
nothing can justify these actions