Operation Rah-e-Rast (Swat)

[Xeric]

Challenging task ahead | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online

Challenging task ahead
Published: August 12, 2009

WHILE the Prime Minister's reaffirmation to reconstruct the militancy-hit Malakand Division is welcome, it is pertinent to stress that the job should be taken up in all earnestness and without loss of time. The people, who had moved to safer places in other parts of the country when the fighting between the terrorists and the military was raging, are already returning to their homes. Too much delay in rebuilding their homes and businesses is going to disappoint them, and is likely to create space for extremists to exploit. And as Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani promised, the development ought to be in all comprehensiveness as well. That should include an understanding of the actual message of Islam, which stipulates a reorientation of the old-fashioned madrassas. Besides, there is need to lay a wide network of schools and colleges to impart modern knowledge and set up the infrastructure for socio-economic development to bring the local population into the mainstream of Pakistan's life.

It is good that Mr Gilani paid a visit to the valley to get the real feel of the sufferings of the people, gather an idea of the extent of the task involved and addressed the local people at Saidu Sharif. He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, COAS Gen Ashfaq Kayani and Chairman Special Support Group Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmad. Mr Gilani's words that the militants were divided and on the run, and his statement that the Army would stay in Malakand Division to ensure against their regrouping and till the reconstruction work was complete, must have given the local population an added sense of security and lifted its spirits.

 

[Xeric]

DAWN.COM | Provinces | Seventeen militants killed in Bara: FC

Seventeen militants killed in Bara: FC
Wednesday, 12 Aug, 2009 | 05:00 AM PST |

LANDI KOTAL: Security forces used helicopter gunships in an offensive against the banned Lashkar-i-Islam in Bara subdivision on Tuesday, killing 17 militants and destroying six hideouts of militants.

The Frontier Corps Media Cell said a huge ammunition dump was destroyed in Shalobar area. According to sources, arms and ammunition were also seized.

However, independent sources said that the artillery and helicopter attacks on the militants’ positions did not cause any casualty.

They said four people had died on Monday when a shell hit their house.

 

[fatman17]

Reporter escapes Taliban death sentence - CNN.com

Reporter escapes Taliban death sentence

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Zarghon Shah is a man who knows just how lucky he is to be alive.

He came face-to-face with the feared Taliban fighters of Pakistan's Swat Valley, was ordered to be executed and gained a chilling insight into the mind of a fearsome militant who has waged a campaign of terror.

"I saw two Taliban standing there then I realized the danger, that we were in a wrong place," Zarghon said.

It was May this year when the TV reporter and his crew, reporting on the Taliban's uprising, strayed too far.

Zarghon, his cameraman and driver were captured in Buner, taken to an empty room and put on trial by a Taliban commander.

"He said you are telling lies; you are spies. It is because of you hell has been unleashed on us ... and it is you, the media, who is responsible for this war. I'm not going to spare you, I will slit your throat."

Then with a death sentence on his head, Zarghon and his crew were left alone for five hours -- an agonizing wait.

"We were just counting our moments to death." Zarghon told me.

And he knew it would be a most gruesome, horrible death.

He pictured his body, beheaded and hanging from Swat Valley's notorious "slaughter square" -- the town center of Mingora city, where the Taliban would display the bodies of their victims.

Zarghon said he just paced the floor unable to even look at his colleagues.

He wondered who would be first to be killed and he thought of the most precious thing in his life -- his daughter Noor.

It is now that Zarghon broke down in tears, remembering how he thought he would never see her again.

Zarghon's fate rested in the hands of a man known for his campaign of terror, Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah. Fazlullah had captured the Swat Valley and moved his fighters into territory ever closer to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Zarghon was handed a walkie-talkie. On the other end the very man who held Zarghon's life in his hand -- Fazlullah.

Zarghon's cameraman filmed the conversation all the while under the watch of a heavily armed Taliban fighter.

Fazlullah's voice was clearly heard: agitated and with a message of defiance to Pakistan's army.

"Our women and children have been displaced." He said. "There has been bloodshed. It is an insult to our nation. If they want to fight us then come to our mountains and see our strength and power."

The footage shows Zarghon clearly under pressure, gulping heavily, but with the presence of mind to question the Taliban leader. "What will end the fighting?" he asked.

Fazlullah demanded nothing less than the implementation of strict shariah or Islamic law. If not, the Taliban would fight to the death, he said.

"If the army has the ability to fight us: come to the mountains. The Taliban is in the mountains, we are committed to our cause. Nobody can defeat us," he said.

Yet the hardline Fazlullah did something that still puzzles Zarghon. He freed the TV crew, effectively commuting the execution order -- but there was a catch.

The Taliban instructed them to film destruction they say was caused by the Pakistan army.

On the footage you can hear gunfire and mortar rounds. Taliban fighters are clearly visible. Zarghon reports to camera, taking shelter behind a building.

The footage was meant to be propaganda for the Taliban. Not long after it was shot, Pakistan's army launched an offensive driving the Taliban from their stronghold.

Fazlullah escaped. Despite rumors he was wounded he continues to command his troops from the mountains.
advertisement

For Zarghon, doing the Taliban's bidding was the price of freedom. It saved his life and gave him back to his wife, son and daughter.

"The most beautiful gift of my life was this, when I returned home and I saw my family, my wife and children again," he said before retreating into a silence and remembering the moment when he faced death and survived.

if you saw the CNN interview, the motives of this reporter and CNN were malafide - they played into the hands of the militants!

he saved his life but at what cost!

 

[fatman17]

Swat operation added Rs 30bn to defence budget’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s defence expenditure increased by around Rs 30 billion in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009 owing to the military operation in Malakand, Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen said while talking to reporters on Tuesday. “We missed the fiscal deficit target by 0.9 percent of the GDP in 2008-09 mainly because of increased security expenditure and additional Rs 50 billion sought by Punjab by end June 2009,” he said, adding the fiscal deficit surpassed the five-percent mark against the envisaged target of 4.3 percent.

staff report

 

[Xeric]

Setback to terror groups- Editorial-Opinion-The Economic Times

Setback to terror groups

15 Aug 2009, 0307 hrs IST, ET Bureau

While the reported killing of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud — coming on the heels of the relatively successful military operation in Swat — means the TTP has suffered serious setbacks, the larger battle against extremism and terrorism in Pakistan will be a long haul yet. With the US helping out in south Waziristan, Islamabad hopes to maintain a siege of the area, while leveraging the power struggle between tribal sections and factions within the TTP. The problem, however, is that such an approach, determined by seeking a pacifying, military solution to the problem will merely be the continuation of a historical mistake. For long, Islamabad has been content to perpetuate the colonial policy of envisaging the tribal regions as ungovernable, as if the state has no stake in bringing the people of the area into the ambit of governance and development. And an unholy mix of state apathy, tribal customs, the war in Afghanistan and the security establishment’s use of the tribes as ‘strategic assets’, has led to the region becoming a headache for the entire region. The absence of the Pakistani state from these areas is, of course, part of the larger problem of the withdrawal of the state elsewhere as well. To the extent that extremist groups, including the Taliban, almost began to be seen as some form of agency amongst the masses of have-nots in Pakistan. The larger solution to extremism can only lay in a genuinely inclusive democracy and a broader developmental agenda.

That said, there is also a need to press ahead militarily as of now. But then again, it remains a moot point whether the security establishment in Pakistan will stop trying to disentangle the various terror groups based on their ‘acceptability’ and ‘strategic potential’. State patronage of groups on that count, apart from the breeding ground of deep socio-economic inequities, is also part of the problem. A silver lining seems to be the shift in public opinion — from being almost in denial about the Taliban threat to some support for the military operation. But Pakistan’s war with its demons will last a long while yet.

 

[Xeric]

Police seize suicide jacket, explosives in Buner - GEO.tv

Police seize suicide jacket, explosives in Buner

Updated at: 0251 PST, Saturday, August 15, 2009
Police seize suicide jacket, explosives in Buner BUNER: Police on Friday claimed to have recovered suicide jacket and explosive materials from a house following police raid and arrested a suspected person from here, Geo news said.

The District Police Officer (DPO) Buner Rasheed Khan said police got information about a suspected house in Buner on Friday evening. Consequently, the house was raided.

As a result, the house owner has been arrested and recovery of suicide jacket with other explosive materials, he added.

He said bomb-making formulae; explosive-laden suitcase, detonators, documents and other materials were seized during the raid.

 

[Abasin Turi]

sorry for posting my request here. for some weird resons am not allowed to make new posts.. anyway i need some help... is any one of you guys is a 65 or 71 war hero... am talking to pakistani war heros.. i need to conduct an interview for hilal.... please kindly hit me in my inbox... i wod be grateful... anyone please..??

 

[Beskar]

sorry for posting my request here. for some weird resons am not allowed to make new posts.. anyway i need some help... is any one of you guys is a 65 or 71 war hero... am talking to pakistani war heros.. i need to conduct an interview for hilal.... please kindly hit me in my inbox... i wod be grateful... anyone please..??

Sir MuradK.

This'll get you started ...

Pakistan Defence Forum - View Profile: Muradk

 

[Abasin Turi]

Sir MuradK.

This'll get you started ...

Pakistan Defence Forum - View Profile: Muradk

u sure.. will he help me..? am short of time,,, 6th sep is on my head

 

[Beskar]

u sure.. will he help me..? am short of time,,, 6th sep is on my head

I can't speak on his behalf, but I'm sure he'll help you out. I think he's in Pakistan with his family these days. So you might have to wait for a while.

 

[Abasin Turi]

I can't speak on his behalf, but I'm sure he'll help you out. I think he's in Pakistan with his family these days. So you might have to wait for a while.

thanks bezerk agha jaan..!

 

[fatman17]

Soldiers rejoice on I-Day in Lahore

LAHORE: All formations and units of the Lahore Garrison on Friday celebrated Independence Day with simplicity and solemnity. Special prayers were offered for the integrity, solidarity, progress and prosperity of Pakistan at all mosques. The day dawned with a 21-gun salute at the Fortress Stadium. Flag-hoisting ceremonies were held at all formation headquarters and units of the garrison in unison with a national ceremony in the federal capital. A message of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani was read out to troops at special darbars. Lahore Corps Commander Lieutenant General Ijaz Ahmed Bakhshi hosted a function in the honour of serving and retired officers, junior commissioned officers and soldiers of the Lahore Garrison.

ispr

 

[TaimiKhan]

MINGORA: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a security post in the Swat valley on Saturday, killing three soldiers, military officials said.

The military has in recent months killed or driven out many Taliban militants from the Swat valley, northwest of the capital, in what has been widely seen as a successful offensive.

DAWN.COM | Provinces | Three killed in suicide blast in Swat

 

[syeda rehman]

nice.keepi it up.

 

[fatman17]

Troops arrest 44 Taliban in Swat, Dir

Staff Report

RAWALPINDI: Security forces said on Tuesday they had arrested at least 44 Taliban – including 10 who surrendered – from various parts of Swat and Dir.

The ISPR said that 10 Taliban surrendered to a lashkar in Ghake Banda near Derai, while troops arrested 20 from Malukabad during a search operation. Troops also conducted an operation in Khazana and Gamkot, and arrested three suspects, while three Taliban were arrested from Cham near Charbagh. Security forces arrested a Taliban – identified as Mian Syed Ahmed – in Khotkatai near Shadand Banda, and seized cash and stolen jewellery.

Meanwhile, four suspects were arrested during a search operation in various areas of Kanju The forces arrested two suspects in Samar Bagh near Lower Dir, and also took into custody a Taliban commander – identified as Mukharram Khan – from Lal Qilla Maidan. The ISPR said troops “sacrificed their lives” to foil two suicide attempts last week in Swat. Separately, the Online news agency reported that Taliban blew up a girls’ school in Upper Dir on Tuesday.

---------- Post added at 08:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

nice.keepi it up.

keep what up! pls clarify!