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Why the FAUJ, ABSOLUTELY, must do a better job at information operations. Perceptions, both domestic abnd international are a vital element of the creation of "victory" for the Fauj - failing in this areas is failure of the entire effort. IN recent history, there are a number of circumstances, in particular the U.S in Vietnam - while the U.S won every engagement, it lost the information, the perception war - The FAuj cannot allow this to be it's fate, it needs help and it should buy such help, sooner rather than later, Pakistanis and the world need to be brought to a more secure, more certain, more optimistic frame of mind, if it takes talib hanging from every branch in the land, then that's what it takes. Fauj believe the Islmaists in the city will not like it - and they won't - but Fauj is our Fauj, the Islamist have their Talib and we NEED to see the talib dead.

The dead do tell tales

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Zafar Hilaly

The army is fast acquiring a credibility problem with its claims of dead, injured and captured Taliban. At first there were mere mutterings, sotto voce suspicions, that not all is as claimed. These doubts are increasing; the chorus of suspicion is more voluble and before they acquire the dimensions of a scream the Army had better attend to it.

The pleasant and able and composed DG, ISPR in fact alluded to these suspicions on June 22 when he said that the army had not wanted to show pictures of the dead lest the public become upset but, presumably, in response to public demand, he showed 54 pictures of dead Taliban. All of whom appeared very much as one would expect those killed in battle. I doubt if anyone was upset by those images. Actually, for Pakistanis fed on a rich diet of Taliban videos showing gory executions of soldiers, with the sound on, they were rather tame. In fact most watching probably relished seeing their tormentors dead.

Noticeably, there were no photos of injured Taliban and only a desultory few of those claimed to have been captured have ever been shown on TV. In contrast the Taliban paraded their victims, allowed interviews and generally made a great show about their capture and their own prowess. Of course, it was done with the aim of terrorising the populace just as for the army to show their captives in all poses would hopefully also terrorise the enemy.

Some Taliban practices may be worth adopting because photos of a mere 54 dead while claiming that the actual number is 2000 do not wash. Especially as not a single one of the first tier leaders has been killed, wounded or captured and rumours are circulating that the Taliban leadership have been evacuated away from the danger zone, along with Al Qaeda leaders to Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan and would return in due course.

Pakistanis are a suspicious lot when it comes to evaluating official claims, perhaps because they tend to deceive even when it is easier to tell the truth; or because they have learnt from experience that "official speak" is invariably wrong or comes with a spin; or because the claims are so fatuous as to defy credulity. For example, after every air strike the number of dead militants ranges from six to 14 militants, seldom more. All of them are supposed to be insurgents, rarely civilians, presumably because, unlike the Americans, we have very discriminating "Taliban seeking" missiles. Considering the difficult terrain and the risk to be incurred by the usually "reliable" sources reaching the site of the bombing it is remarkable how quickly the numbers of dead and injured are counted, processed and reported in the press the next day. Whoever does such an efficient job should be asked to lead our flaying attempts to cope with the IDPs problem.

It was also revealing that the BBC correspondent who was taken on a tour of the battle zone, he termed it "bandit country," said that while he was shown a half dozen or so of "captured Taliban" he saw none of the 2000 dead nor any graves or other signs of death. Instead BBC viewers last night got to see what the Taliban had allowed him to film which was the hanging corpse of a beheaded soldier and another who had been killed, with boastful Taliban standing nearby. Clearly there is something wrong with the optics of this war as far as Pakistan is concerned.

Of much greater concern was a news report carried in Dawn of 23 June entitled "Efforts on for patch- up between Darra Taliban, Adezai lashkar," which states that "Some "invisible" forces( normally a euphemism for we know who) are out to narrow the differences and broker an understanding between the Darra Adam Khel-based Taliban and leaders of the Qaumi Lashkar of Adezai on the outskirts of the provincial capital – the Taliban conditions included that their men would freely move in parts of Peshawar and would take action against those found involved in 'un-Islamic' activities and the Lashkar would not object to their actions. Secondly, the Taliban want the lashkar not to create hurdles while they recruit new members. Another condition of the Taliban is that the lashkar will not support security forces in case of any clash between the Taliban and law enforcing agencies."

Apparently two rounds of negotiations have already been held and members of the "Tableeghii Jamaat were active to broker an understanding between the two sides". When the local police chief was asked about these negotiations he denied all knowledge of them. Both are probably telling the truth. The left hand in Pakistan often does not know what the right hand is doing. Or the left side of the mouth, in the case of the Interior Minister, who claimed that Fazlullah had been "trapped," does not have a clue what the right side, which denied he had made any such statement, is saying.

Such reports, if true, damage the sincerity of the army's efforts and rob its actions and claims of credibility. It is difficult to believe that even while the army is engaged in fighting and dying in Swat another arm of government is negotiating deals with the same blood thirsty foe of murderers, kidnappers and drug peddlars. The report further negates the claim of the Tableeghi Jamaat that it is a purely religious organisation rather than one with a political agenda, as many have long suspected. (I recall being summoned to the Yemeni Foreign Office in 1988 and being asked why the Tableeqi Jamaat chose Yemen to spread the word of Islam. In the words of the Yemeni official: "Excellency, this is our religion, we gave it to you, please don't try and teach us the proper Islam. Ask them to go somewhere else. Or do they have some other agenda."
)

Mr Zardari has written a column in the Washington Post emphasising that democracy and democracy alone is the panacea for Pakistan's problems. Unfortunately many of his countrymen are not so certain. Pakistanis are as sceptical about democracy as they are about dictatorship. Both have failed to deliver. Both speak with forked tongues. Similarly, Mr Zardari has claimed that he will fight terrorism to the bitter end. "Fight" should be the operative word and not "negotiate" deals of the sort being hustled in Peshawar.

The writer is a former ambassador. Email: charles123it@hotmail.com
 
The report further negates the claim of the Tableeghi Jamaat that it is a purely religious organisation rather than one with a political agenda, as many have long suspected. (I recall being summoned to the Yemeni Foreign Office in 1988 and being asked why the Tableeqi Jamaat chose Yemen to spread the word of Islam. In the words of the Yemeni official: "Excellency, this is our religion, we gave it to you, please don't try and teach us the proper Islam. Ask them to go somewhere else. Or do they have some other agenda.")

Tableeqhi Jamat is still most trusted non political organisation in NWFP which can restore peace in SWAT and FATA by dialogue but again who will ensure US that there is no Al Qaida fighters inside Pakistan????
 
Unfortunately reality is that Tableeghi Jamaat is being used as a Political organ of islamist terrorists.

Earlier when discussing insurgency, we said that as the armed wing feels pressure, the political wing will be activated to call for "talks and Jirga" - this was echoed by the Saudi Ambassador and Im the Dim - we had said that this strategy seeks to gain political recognition for the Islamist terrorists by talking to the terrorists the govt would now be in a position of giving them legitimacy, of making the Islmaist terrorists, their political equal - the Jamaat islami through Balouch issued a statement calling for "talks" between the governement and the Islamist terrorists, although the jamaat claimed that they did not support "armed struggle" - clearly the use of the Tableeghi Jamaat is meant to bring more pressure on the govt to confer political legitimacy on the Islamists terrorists.

The Handy work of the tableeghi Jamaat is not just limited to Yemen, in South Thailand, the Muslim are known as "pattani", that's right after "pathan", these misguided are then "schooled" (madressah) to be functional illeterates who know nothing other than hating muslims and non-muslims alike.

It is a reality that Tableeghi Jamaat like so many other institutions in Pakistan have fallen victim to the ideology that animates the islamist terrorists, and we all know what that is.
 
A nice post by someone regarding Tableeghi Jamat.These people are extremists i must admit.I have personally met with some of their activists and they are totally brainwashed.
You don't need to be a Tableeghi to learn those things. When I was in college, I spent many of my summers working in different villages around Pakistan conducting research on poverty. It was a valuable experience that showed me just how much of a bubble we all live in. I'm sure you can have a similarly eye-opening experience by working with different NGOs that help the underprivileged.

The problem with the Tableeghi Jamaat is the same problem you have with all organizations that devote themselves to the propagation of religion; an unthinking adherence to dogma and scripture, and an excessive emphasis on personal, selfish piety at the expense of society. This is a debate for some other time, but part of the problem with contemporary Islamic proselytizing is an emphasis on ritual (pray five times a day, do wudhu in a particular way, raise your shalwar above your ankles) rather than on essence (be kind to people, be tolerant etc.) Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, and if you want to be a tableeghi that's your metaphorical cross to bear, but I think it's important to think hard about what you believe and preach. Is it really very useful to have people adhere to ritual belief?

I'll give you all an example of what I'm trying to say here. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to speak to some tableeghis. I'm not a religious person, but I saw no reason why I shouldn't listen to them, and patiently heard what they had to say about piety, faith, and the state of the world. After they were done, I asked if I could hear their views on a few questions that I thought were important. I told them that I was deeply troubled by the injustice in the world, and that I wanted to work to make things better for people. As such, I asked them what their view was on land reform, given that 'feudalism' in Pakistan was a tremendous source of injustice.

Silence. They had nothing to say in return. They mumbled something about Allah helping people, and left it at that. I then asked what they had to say about the crippling poverty in Lahore's katchi abadis. Once again, they had nothing to say. Not even empty rhetoric about helping the poor. All they kept on repeating was the need to reform oneself (by observing Islamic ritual). Not once did they display any concern for the welfare or wellbeing of their fellow citizens. The entire conversation was extremely cordial, and we were all very polite, but it was clear to me by the end that this was an organization that was not interested in helping anyone. All they were concerned with was their own spiritual well-being, and that too through a focus on ritual.
 
TABLEEGHI JAMAAT is a very big group who are very peaceful & just spend time in preaching. In fact most of its members come from working middle & upper middle class families. Have recently met one member all western educated & used to be very big in CITICORP operations in EU.
 
Yes they don't have the balls to blow themselves but they do donate money for Talibans and other origanizations which spur ethnic problems.I have seen these people saying we should support Talibans and perform a revolution in Pakistan and make Chrisitan and other 2nd class citizens etc.Its just that they dont have the balls or training or weapons to perform these activities.
 
Yes they don't have the balls to blow themselves but they do donate money for Talibans and other origanizations which spur ethnic problems.I have seen these people saying we should support Talibans and perform a revolution in Pakistan and make Chrisitan and other 2nd class citizens etc.Its just that they dont have the balls or training or weapons to perform these activities.

So you admit TALIBAN got 'balls'.
How many have you seen donating to TALIBAN etc.
How many say in there MOSQUE meetings to support TALIBAN?
Find one , give me a PM & we can hook up with them in LAHORE.
 
Zubair


Don't take it all so peronally -- there are no talib, there is no Al-Qaida -it's all a Indian, wait that won't do, Ok, it's a Hindu, Israeli, ok, that won't do either, it's a Hindu, Zionist American plot - Baitullah is Talib enemy and Ally against India -- isn't that better? You are safe, for now:wave:
 

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