Operation Rah-e-Nijat

[pak zindabad]

if these attacks was don by pakistan then i was very much happay why pakistan is not doing these kind of attacks.

 

[fatman17]

ASIA PACIFIC
Date Posted: 09-Oct-2009

Jane's Defence Weekly

Pakistan strikes suspected Taliban positions in Waziristan

Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent - Islamabad

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carried out air strikes on suspected Taliban locations in the country's Waziristan region along the Afghan border in the first week of October.

The attacks came as the army appeared to finalise plans for an all-out attack on suspected militant sites in Waziristan, according to senior Pakistani government officials.

"We are ready to go in for an attack at short notice," a senior Pakistani government official told Jane's . "The decision has been made to attack Waziristan. The question is not 'if' but 'when' an attack takes place."

For Pakistan, an attack on Waziristan - which follows the military's campaign in the northern Swat district occupied by the Taliban earlier this year - marks an important next step in seizing back key Taliban strongholds. The Swat campaign eventually saw the Taliban pushed out of that area.

Over the past five years, Waziristan has become a hotbed of activity by militants loyal to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In 2007 the Taliban in Waziristan were assembled by Baitullah Mehsud, a key militant, under the banner of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP): the main militant umbrella organisation.

Under Mehsud's leadership, the Taliban began conducting suicide attacks in different parts of Pakistan: a tactic imported from Iraq. He was killed in August following a missile strike widely believed to have been carried out by a US-operated drone.

Western defence officials in Pakistan said the military had a window of opportunity until the end of November for a large-scale campaign, after which winter snowfall will close down access to parts of the area. "It is either now or sometime in the spring for the Pakistan military. They apparently want to attack Waziristan now as the Taliban are still in disarray after Baitullah Mehsud's death," according to one Western defence official in Islamabad.

 

[air marshal]

Army determined to undertake South Waziristan operation: DG ISPR

ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: The Pakistan Army is determined to undertake military operation against terrorists in South Waziristan at a suitable time, and the desperate attempts by the terrorists cannot deter its resolve, Director General Inter Services Public Relation (ISPR) Major General Ather Abbass said on Monday.

“The government has taken principal decision to undertake operation in South Waziristan - it now matter of time and the military will decided when to initiate the operation,” he said while addressing a media briefing at ISPR Rawalpindi.

“We are judging the situation there (South Waziristan) and an appropriate action will be taken at a suitable time,” he added.

He said terrorist attack on General Headquarters (GHQ) was a desperate attempt by terrorists which was successfully and affectively foiled by the Army which has complete resolve to safeguard the national interest at any cost.

However, he said the target of the terrorists was to make hostage some senior officers at GHQ with their ultimate aim to demand the release of top terrorists who have been arrested by the government.

“They had given list of over hundred top terrorist leaders, whom they wanted to release from the government,” he added.

The operation was highly successful as the Army managed to get safely release 42 hostages including Army personnel and civilians from the terrorists, he said.

The DG ISPR said that there were information about terrorist attacks and appropriate precautionary measures were already in place which helped to affectively foil the nefarious designs of the terrorists.

He said that the terrorist attackers were well equipped with sophisticated arms and ammunition and managing safe release of 95 per cent hostages was an uphill task which was successfully accomplished by Special Services Group (SSG).

Answering a question, he said, “there are lessons and we are increasing security around GHQ.” Meanwhile, he said a Joint Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the incident to find out the real culprits and their motives.

“The Court of Inquiry will look into all the aspects of the attack and ascertain that if there was any foreign hand involved in the attack,” he replied to a question regarding Indian or any other foreign hand involvement into it.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Army determined to undertake South Waziristan operation: DG ISPR

 

[PakShaheen79]

When this operation in South Waziristan will be launched that is critical. Everybody is aware that there is going to be an operation in SWA.

 

[TaimiKhan]

Jets pound militant hideouts in South Waziristan
Tuesday, 13 Oct, 2009

PESHAWAR: Aircraft bombed militants in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Tuesday as government forces prepare for a ground offensive against the militant hub, security officials said.

The government says most attacks in the country — including four big ones over the past week that killed more than 100 people — are plotted in South Waziristan, the main bastion of al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban and their allies.

‘There's been a heavy bombardment. They targeted some militant hideouts as well as pro-Taliban tribal elders,’ said an intelligence agency official in the region, who declined to be identified.

Two ethnic Pashtun tribal elders were said to have been killed, he said.

Later, militants attacked a nearby military camp in the North Waziristan region, triggering a clash, residents and intelligence officials said.

Militant attacks have intensified as the army prepares to launch a ground offensive, with 41 people killed in a suicide bomb attack on Monday after a brazen weekend raid on the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi.

A ground offensive in South Waziristan could be the army's toughest test since the militants turned on the state.

The army has not said when it would begin but Interior Minister Rehman Malik said at the weekend it was ‘imminent’.

Air, artillery strikes

The military has been conducting air and artillery strikes for months, while deploying troops, blockading the region and trying to win over factions among various groups.

About 28,000 troops have been put in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hardcore Taliban, army officials said earlier.

Pakistani Taliban fighters made advances towards Islamabad early this year, raising fears about the stability of the country.

But government forces have made gains against the militants in recent months, largely driving them out of the Swat valley, northwest of the capital, and their leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a missile fired by a US drone aircraft in August.

But the militants are hitting back.

The army said Pakistani Taliban commander Waliur Rehman was behind Saturday's attack on its headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.

Commandos stormed an office building near the headquarters and rescued 39 people taken hostage by gunmen after an attack at a main gate of the headquarters.

Nine militants, three hostages and 11 soldiers were killed. — Reuters

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Jets pound militant hideouts in South Waziristan

 

[Javed3]

I wish so much enthusiastic planning and resources were invested in Kargil, the outcome would have been different.

The current operations in Swat / FATA are eroding our conventional posture by an equivalent of 8 Divisions and 4 PAF squadrons. This is under conditions that TTP is not aided by India or other nation states. Our conventional posture is pretty much degraded, can we afford it? What will happen if both the US and India decide that our time is up?

 

[Xeric]

I wish so much enthusiastic planning and resources were invested in Kargil, the outcome would have been different.

The current operations in Swat / FATA are eroding our conventional posture by an equivalent of 8 Divisions and 4 PAF squadrons. This is under conditions that TTP is not aided by India or other nation states. Our conventional posture is pretty much degraded, can we afford it? What will happen if both the US and India decide that our time is up?

Who exactly do you presume would answer this for you?

 

[fatman17]

I wish so much enthusiastic planning and resources were invested in Kargil, the outcome would have been different.

The current operations in Swat / FATA are eroding our conventional posture by an equivalent of 8 Divisions and 4 PAF squadrons. This is under conditions that TTP is not aided by India or other nation states. Our conventional posture is pretty much degraded, can we afford it? What will happen if both the US and India decide that our time is up?

where did u get this from? - 1 div = 15,000 troops. only 2 div's have been committed with 1 in reserve = 3 div !!! - as far as the PAF goes we dont know if 64 a/c (4 sqdns) have been committed!!!

 

[Patriot]

Oh he post too many fictional stories without any source!!

 

[fatman17]

Pakistanis say US hoards intel on Taliban in Balochistan

* US newspaper quotes defence official as saying intelligence provided by Karzai’s government insufficient

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Despite the country’s growing success targeting the Taliban in NWFP, the US is refusing to share intelligence with Pakistan about Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders thought to be hiding in Balochistan, The Washington Times claimed three senior Pakistani officials as saying on Monday.

According to the newspaper, the officials, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggested that some of the blame for the failure to capture Osama Bin Laden, Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders lies with the US.

The “CIA has not shared any actionable intelligence with the Pakistan government on Al Qaeda in Balochistan since 2006 and 2007,” the newspaper quoted a Pakistani defence official. Islamabad is pushing for more intelligence sharing after a string of terrorist attacks including a weekend strike on the General Headquarters ended with at least 19 deaths.

A suicide car bomb on Friday killed more than 50 civilians at a crowded market in Peshawar, and an attack on a UN office a week ago killed five aid workers.

Insufficient: The official said that “dated intelligence delivered by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Pakistan months ago” that Al Qaeda leaders and the Taliban leadership led by Mullah Omar were in Quetta, is too “flimsy to act on”.

“Now the US intelligence says that Al Qaeda is holed up in Quetta,” the newspaper quoted the official. “Has any US intelligence agency given us any actionable intelligence with Pakistan? No. This is only talk,” he added. There have been concerns that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) still contains sympathisers with the Afghan Taliban, the newspaper said.

In a recent assessment of the Afghanistan war that was leaked to the press, Gen Stanley McChrystal noted reports that ties remain between the ISI and the Afghan Taliban, something that Islamabad denies.

Asked about the situation in Quetta, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters and editors at The Times last week the US must trust Pakistan for the fight against terrorism to succeed.

“If you are working for a common objective, the more you share real-time intelligence, the more effective your operations will be,” he said.

“We consider the US to be a friend and we want to be friends,” Qureshi said. “But we want to be equal friends. We want to be friends with a common objective. You’ve got to trust us; only then will we trust you,” he added.

Later, he told the US Council on Foreign Relations, “We have no liking for the Quetta Shura and what it stands for. Collectively we can do a better job. We will have to build a relationship of trust and confidence. If you keep doubting our intentions and we keep doubting your intentions, then where is this partnership going?”

The Washington Times quoted a senior US counter-terrorism official as saying the US took “exception to the notion that information on the Quetta Shura hadn’t been shared with the government of Pakistan”.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that “on matters related to terrorism, there is regular information sharing with the Pakistanis at all levels of their government”. The Pakistani defence official said Islamabad had the military and intelligence capabilities in Quetta that could target terrorists with US help.

Although US drone attacks have been increasingly successful, US officials say, Pakistani militants whose groups were supported by the ISI in the past are helping Al Qaeda recruit new operatives.

A US defence official said that the ISI may “have lost enormous control over” these organisations.

 

[SSGPA1]

Do we have JF-17 taking part in the air strikes?

 

[fatman17]

Do we have JF-17 taking part in the air strikes?

no as they have not been officially inducted in PAF front-line sqdns!

 

[fatman17]

Army facing threat from Punjabi, Qaeda terrorists

* Guardian says ‘Punjabi factor’ pressuring army to extend assault beyond Tribal Areas

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The Pakistan Army made a stark admission of the scale of the threat it faces from a nexus of the Taliban, Punjabi and Al Qaeda terrorists and whose attacks are increasingly coordinated, include soldiers in their ranks and span the country, British daily the Guardian said on Tuesday.

The assessment, made after the assault on the military’s headquarters this weekend, came as a Taliban suicide bomber struck an army convoy as it passed through a crowded marketplace in a small mountain town near Swat, killing 41 people.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said five of the attackers who targeted the army headquarters came from Punjab, while the other five were from South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold.

Abbas said the attackers were led by a Punjabi, named Aqeel, also known as Dr Usman, but the operation was ordained by a Taliban commander based in South Waziristan.

The growing importance of the Punjabi factor in local and international militancy has placed the army under pressure to extend its crackdown beyond the tribal belt. The army rejected suggestions that a military operation would solve the problem.

“Yes there are terrorists in southern Punjab, and these groups have links to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” Abbas told Guardian. “But it’s a very different environment. It’s well developed, has a communications infrastructure and a huge security force presence. It’s very different from what was Swat, and what [we see] in South Waziristan.”

In another report, the Guardian said Pakistan’s military, which nurtured the jihadist monster over the past three decades, was facing the wrath of its own protégé, like Frankenstein’s monster turned on its own creator.

 

[fatman17]

EDITORIAL: Blocking South Waziristan offensive?

The suicide-bombing on Monday of Shangla, a district of Malakand Division, has killed 41, including six soldiers, sending multiple messages to the people and the state of Pakistan. The deed was done by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) branch of Al Qaeda after the appointment of Hakimullah as the TTP’s new leader. It is clearly a part of the “revival” of the Pakistan Taliban offensive following an eclipse suffered after the death of the earlier leader, Baitullah Mehsud.

There are two or three other ways of interpreting the spike that includes the massacre in Peshawar earlier, the attack on a UN office in Islamabad and the storming of the security barrier at the GHQ. First, the spike is an act by the Taliban signalling an end to the shock of the Pakistan army’s success in the Malakand-Swat region. This is two-pronged. It is a message to the foot-soldiers of the TTP clearly disheartened by the large-scale casualties suffered by them and the arrests made of TTP’s mid-level leaders; and to the stricken population of the area that the war is far from over.

This version is backed by the fact that the Amjad Farooqi Group that attacked the GHQ had a list of demands that included the setting free of a hundred TTP terrorists now in the custody of the army. A very difficult operation was mounted against the GHQ only for the “psychological recovery” of the Taliban movement. Secondly, the killing of the common citizen tells the “army-liberated” communities that the Taliban aim to return and that their “Taliban order” is not yet at an end. The spike also seeks to bring the opinion in the rest of the country under pressure.

A first reaction came on the morning show of a TV channel on Tuesday where an ex-army and ex-intelligence officer stated that South Waziristan offensive should not be undertaken. His reasons were: (1) that he had always opposed the operation; (2) that the army was overstretched in Malakand and Bajaur where the TTP seemed to revive itself; (3) that the act of going to South Waziristan entailed long supply-lines that would be vulnerable to the TTP suicide-attackers; (4) that Pakistan needed to consolidate the areas it has won back from the TTP instead of over stretching itself and suffering.

Therefore we can be sure that the “revival” of the TTP action is also aimed at deterring Pakistan from going into South Waziristan. The region is where the TTP and Al Qaeda elements have congregated and established their stronghold. This area is not only the headquarters from where all Pakistan from Peshawar to Karachi is targeted through careful planning. It is also the place from where Al Qaeda’s operations around the world are orchestrated. If the Pakistan army attacks it, the entire terror enterprise may be jeopardised.

Inside Pakistan, the view over the offensive is developing fissures. The ANP in the NWFP and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) of Balochistan, don’t defend the Kerry-Lugar Bill but advocate the attack on South Waziristan. They also support a move against the terrorist strongholds in Punjab, including, significantly, Muridke in Lahore. Peshawar thinks that without striking at the terrorists in South Waziristan the activities of the TTP elsewhere cannot be stopped effectively. The PPP government says the GHQ operation by the terrorists was planned and rehearsed in South Waziristan.

The army for its own part has made it clear that it intends to cleanse South Waziristan. It had already blockaded the Agency and begun softening up operations as a precursor to the ground offensive. In fact, even as the Pakistan army has shown its concerns over the Kerry-Lugar Bill, calling it intrusive, it has not backed off from its plans to go into SW. But it has to be careful about the timing because the winter could make a ground offensive more difficult to undertake.

Winter is the time when terrorist activity becomes easy in the plains. If Al Qaeda and its terrorists are spared in South Waziristan they will try their best to regain the territory they have lost. It is our experience that the terrorist outreach away from South Waziristan is not effectively countered by the country’s security agencies even when the army has not mobilised itself to attack South Waziristan. A NATO supply convoy was destroyed this week again despite the fact that the army is not “stretched thin”.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[fatman17]

INSIGHT: Forewarned may not be forearmed —Ejaz Haider

The GHQ attack has only firmed the army’s resolve to expedite the ground assault in South Waziristan. But what is important to remember is that the army should go in according to its own assessment of when the timing is right. It mustn’t react

The October 10 terrorist attack on General Headquarters in Rawalpindi was not unexpected. In fact, a report initiated by Punjab’s Crime Investigation Department had warned about an impending attack at least a fortnight ago. The report even had the MO right — the attackers would be wearing army uniforms. This report was published on October 5 in a section of the Pakistani press.

The normal channel through which such reports reach the Interior Ministry takes about three days. One would assume, however, that a report of this nature would have bypassed those channels. Evidence suggests it reached the concerned quarters quickly. The question then is: why was it not acted upon?[/B]

One of the most important lessons in this kind of conflict is the constant realisation that the other side will reinforce its advantage of surprise by being innovative. And innovation is always a simple affair; the best innovative techniques usually are those that create something new from what is obvious and easily available. In this case it was the decision by the attackers to use the simple expedient of army uniforms. Why?

Soldiers for some years, unlike previously, now carry arms. A van travelling on Peshawar Road with an army number-plate with armed “soldiers” inside would not evoke any suspicion. The sentries at the first checkpoint to GHQ’s main gate would not immediately suspect anything. That would reinforce the element of surprise the attackers already enjoy. Result: by the time anyone could react, the attackers had taken out the sentries at the first barrier.

Small arms fire and hand grenades created the expected melee and even as sentries at the second checkpoint took out four of the attackers, it became difficult to figure out the attackers immediately. Visually it would have looked like a fire-fight going on among the soldiers. The brigadier and the lieutenant colonel who got killed fell to the attackers’ fire because reports suggest they thought they were instructing their own men to take positions and respond.

The buildings or complexes that are under attack today were constructed in times when such a threat did not exist. No one could have anticipated it either. Now they need to be secured and the measures often make commuting a nightmare. That’s the paradox of securing oneself in a non-conventional conflict. Beefing up security throws up its own multiple problems.

Worse, social trust is the first casualty and the most problematic issue. Now that the terrorists have used a simple innovation of wearing army uniforms, the response will inevitably throw up the problem of how to determine who is a genuine soldier. Can the procurement of uniforms be regulated? If so, how?

One must never lose sight of the fact that innovation is the most dangerous arrow in the insurgent/ terrorist’s quiver. The idea is to try and stay ahead of him. That is not always possible but one must try.

The attack on GHQ was the attack on the army’s centre of gravity. The army is poised to hit the insurgents/ terrorists’ COG. The leader, Aqeel aka Dr Usman, a deserter from the Army Medical Corps, is a known terrorist and wanted by the intelligence agencies also in relation to the attack on the Sri Lankan team. He belongs to Jaish-e-Muhammad and was close to Ilyas Kashmiri, Al-Qaeda’s commander for operations. Kashmiri was recently killed in a drone attack.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban has claimed responsibility, calling the group that attacked the GHQ the Amjad Farooqi Group. Farooqi was the terrorist that masterminded the two 2003 attacks on former General-President Pervez Musharraf. Farooqi was originally with Sipah-e Sahaba and later joined JeM. Intelligence agencies know that JeM and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are now subsumed in TTP and linked to Al-Qaeda through that connection. Farooqi was killed in a police encounter in Sindh in 2004.

The attack was conducted by two teams. The plan seemed to be for one team to engage the sentries and give cover to the other to get into the GHQ and take hostages. It didn’t really work out entirely that way after four terrorists were taken out at the gates. The other six managed to get into a side building and did take hostages but failed to reach any high-value target. The SSG operation was clean and highly professional and they managed to rescue all the hostages except three, killed four terrorists and managed to capture a wounded Aqeel.

The degree of difficulty for a neat operation was very high since the attackers were carrying IED belts, explosives, mostly anti-personnel mines, and had managed to take into the building enough ammo to last them a protracted gun battle. The SSG had the unenviable task of taking them out while rescuing the hostages. Going in with first light they completed the first phase in an hour and had the leader neutralised by 9 am.

To the extent that the attack created big news; to the extent also that the TTP signalled to everyone its will and capacity to plan and attack the army’s COG, it might be called audacious and, at some level, tactically good. But it hasn’t rebounded to the TTP’s strategic advantage.

South Waziristan has been blockaded by the army for two months now. The operation, technically, is already on. Efforts to isolate TTP fighters have largely succeeded. The organisation’s ground establishments, when identified, have been — and are — targeted from the air. Intelligence assets have been embedded in the area and they are the primary reason for successful drone attacks meant to degrade the TTP leadership. The ground is being prepared for a ground assault. The GHQ attack has only firmed the army’s resolve to expedite the ground assault in South Waziristan. But what is important to remember is that the army should go in according to its own assessment of when the timing is right. It mustn’t react.

That is sensible because even with the pre-ground attack softening and degradation, the ground battles are going to be tough given the terrain and the ferocity of Mehsud and Uzbek fighters in the area. For the Uzbeks it will be a do or die situation. They have already lost their top leader, Tahir Yuldashev, and they know they have nowhere to go.

The army is preparing for an advance along multiple axes and for lateral sectoral battles, SSG operations to secure heights and other nodal points, as well as mopping up as the advance proceeds. It does seem like the tactical audacity of the TTP may prove a strategic minus for it. There is only so long that one can keep mopping the floor. The tap must be closed. That is where South Waziristan comes in.

Ejaz Haider is op-ed editor of Daily Times, consulting editor of The Friday Times and host of Samaa TV’s programme “Siyasiyat”. He can be reached at sapper@dailytimes.com.pk. This article originally appeared in the Indian Express