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Pakistani Forces against Militants.

COIN strategy has had ups and downs, but is largely succeeding now, the militants are getting pummeled and suffering increasing losses when put up resistance in a conventional manner.

What is much needed is a counter terrorist and counter urban terrorist strategy - which I feel is missing, for this we need much improvement in the police and it's detective ability - to be able to arrest and disrupt terrorist plots before they are carried out.
 
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QUETTA: At least 16 security personnel, including an officer, were injured during a search operation in Quetta’s Kali Barat area on Thursday.

The casualties occurred during a security forces’ search operation which turned into a clash. Militants attacked the forces with hand grenades and opened fire on them, resulting in the injuries.

Moreover, militants blew themselves up to avoid arrest during the shootout. The explosion is also said to have killed members of the militants’ families. Subsequently, the bodies were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta.

Personnel from the Frontier Corps (FC), Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF), Balochistan police and intelligence agencies participated in the operation which started at 5 am.

Security forces declared the area ‘clear’ after the operation concluded.

Militants blow themselves up in Quetta; 16 security men injured - DAWN.COM
 
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Yes good what Pak army is doing then again not really Killing own Pakistanis and on the rent of American payment. This will not end and we cant win against our own people btw i am not a Phatan or Pasthun i am Punjabi/Kashmiri. I think killing our own people and not trying to reason in a proper method is wrong, yes we should take military action when they bomb-blast us. The army needs to help develop more schools at Fata region or we can never win this war! and same with Killing Balacoh people there Pakistanis ffs!
 
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Yes good what Pak army is doing then again not really Killing own Pakistanis and on the rent of American payment. This will not end and we cant win against our own people btw i am not a Phatan or Pasthun i am Punjabi/Kashmiri. I think killing our own people and not trying to reason in a proper method is wrong, yes we should take military action when they bomb-blast us. The army needs to help develop more schools at Fata region or we can never win this war! and same with Killing Balacoh people there Pakistanis ffs!

I don't know about you, but when it comes to Pakistani Vs Pakistan I'd eat the heart out of my own brother if he adopted an anti-state stance against this country.

But of course, certain tact needs to be shown, as opposed to an all gung-ho attitude that most of our members here are so fond of. You know, turn the sheep and cut the shepherd....from behind.
 
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National


Pakistan Army’s war on terror

Momin Iftikhar
Thursday, May 30, 2013



No army in the world wants to engage in fratricidal counter-insurgency operations; pitching its firepower against its misdirected countrymen who for whatever misconceived motivations may choose to turn their guns on their compatriots and the armed forces.



Before the Twin Towers in the Manhattan district of New York came crashing down in the early morning hours on September 11, the prospects of Pakistan Army entering the Fata and taking on an insurgent threat were nowhere on the horizon.



The western frontier with Afghanistan was safe and secure and the Frontier Corps, working within the parameters defined by the FCR powers wielded by political agents along with the time-honored code and traditions of Pukhtunwali, managed to keep the lid on to contain the menace of on the run criminals, smugglers, gunrunners and other unsavory characters who found refuge in illaqa-e-ghair’s vast embrace.



Arrival of the elements of al-Qaeda and foreign protégées of the Taliban flushed out by the US onslaught in Afghanistan in Oct 2001, blew away this lackadaisical, time tested milieu.



The TTP with its Pakistan specific terrorist agenda took shape in the early 2000s and ever since the threat scenario has been incrementally getting vicious, radiating pain and bloodshed in the farthest reaches of Pakistan.



An area that once served as the buffer on Pakistan’s western flank is now terrorists’ hornet nest calling upon Pak Army to undertake a challenging and pain intensive counter insurgency campaign to defeat the liberty of action desired by terrorists who want to implement their detestable agenda in Pakistan and elsewhere.



At such junctures of national upheaval, the unequivocal national support is the sheet anchor that lends moral and emotional strength to the soldiers who serve their nation to the peril of their lives.



There is no room for confusion. The resolve that drives the soldiers is the just and clear articulation of the national cause that justifies the ultimate sacrifice. In this context the recent publication of an article “Pakistan Army and its War on Terror” by Musa Khan Jalazai comes across as an uninformed and distorted reflection of facts that tends to underrate the national achievements in the ongoing counter insurgency campaign and takes vicious swipes on the army as an institution. He is entitled to his warped opinions but by propagating his unfounded views on mainstream media, he is only imparting further impetus to the forces of obscurantism which want to engulf Pakistan.



The author has tried to mitigate the Pakistan Army’s sterling achievements in the counter insurgency campaign, which on all accounts are undeniable. Swat once deemed to have been hopelessly lost to forces of terrorism, is now back to normalcy and bustling with normal economic and routine activities associated with an at-peace civil society. This winter the trout from the Swat’s once demolished farms was back on sale in supermarkets and the luscious peaches from its verdant fruit orchards are abundantly available, underscoring the return to normalcy to this once terrorism-ravaged heaven on earth.



A similar success story is reflected in the South Waziristan Agency, where after annihilating the TTP’s strongholds in Kotkai, Srarogha, Kunigram, Makeen, Shrangrawari and Ladha, the army is busy in bringing about a radical change in the lives of the locals who are thronging back to pick up the threads of their interrupted lives by setting up communication infrastructure as well as economic projects, including vocational schools, to generate economic activity and wean away locals from the clutches of terrorists.



Notwithstanding Musa’s jaundiced assertions, the army’s success against militancy couldn’t have been possible until its doctrine, strategy and training were not fine-tuned to resonate in step with the changed threat perception whereby the internal security has risen to the top of priority list. Jalazai’s misperception that Pak Army is ill equipped and untrained for low intensity conflict only shows his detachment from the ground situation. It is insightful to read what Brian Cloughley has written on this aspect in his book, “A History of Pakistan Army”. “The (Pakistan) Army had to retrain almost from scratch to meet the new challenge and it has done remarkably well in completely altering the training priority and emphasis in such a short period,” he says.



Likewise his observation that the US priorities were compelling the Pak Army to take on the TTP is spurious. There are no grounds to suggest that Pakistan’s fight against forces of obscurantism, extremism and terrorism is not our national fight and through no strand of logic can be dubbed as an American war, as the writer wishes it to portray. This aspect was recently emphatically explained by the COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani who articulated that operations against an enemy that defied the Constitution of Pakistan and the democratic process and considered all forms of bloodshed justified, could not be considered someone else’s war but our own. Nowhere else is Musa Khan manifestly more out of his depth, than while making observations on the mindset of the rank of file in the army.



His preposterous reference to the non-existent sectarian and ethnic rifts being visible in the army is only a poor reflection of his ill intent and reeks of malicious bent towards the armed forces. Despite his self-contrived authority on military matters, it is obvious that he has probably never worn the Khakis nor had the honor to lead men or to be in combat situations. He has simply not fathomed the espirit de corps and ethos of the fighting men of the Pakistan Army which is such an effective melting pot of all sectarian and ethnic identities creating deepest of respect for the personal beliefs yet turning these into irrelevant side distractions in execution of the assigned mission. Once the bullets closely whiz by and shrapnel begin to fly, there is no time for reflecting on such obnoxious divisive thoughts. What matters is to fight effectively, prevail and let the other guy across the sights bite the dust.



The Pakistan Army’s fight against terrorism is a campaign in progress. The objectives of this campaign are clear; foreign fighters have to leave, terrorists of all ilks, including the TTP have to forsake terrorism and lay down arms and the writ of the state has to be established. On all accounts we have done well.



Swat and South Waziristan are two major success stories, yet the fight for the soul of Pakistan is far from over. The nation and its armed forces have given a sacrifice of 50,000 casualties and the people of Pakistan are solidly behind the Pak Army.



At such a juncture articles like one written by Musa Khan hardly make no sense. These only serve to create confusion and sow seeds of division and acrimony. Notwithstanding his outlandish assertions, as a soldier would know; no fault lines exist within the Pak Army and there are no prospects for one to emerge and enlarge.



The writer is a retired brigadier of Pakistan Army
 
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June 12, 2013: In an ongoing Operation in Maidan / Bagh area, Lieutenant Colonel Sajid, embraced shahadat in village Gulbai in Khyber Agency today at 1200 hours due to IED explosion. According to details, terrorists had planted an IED in residential area, which exploded during clearance of the village.
 
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QUETTA: Frontier Corps on Friday arrested a suspected militant and recovered two suicide jackets from his possession in Chaman, Balochistan's bordering town with Afghanistan.

FC sources told Dawn.com that the suspected militant was rounded up in Mehmoodabad area of Chaman during a search operation. They said the forces recovered 32 land mines, seven remote-controlled bombs, 20 anti-personnel mines and other arms and ammunition from his possession.

The suspected militant was travelling from Chaman to Quetta when arrested by forces, the FC sources claimed. They said a major bid of terrorism was foiled due to the militant’s arrest.

In another operation, Frontier Corps recovered 15 kilograms of explosives in Sui tehsil of Dera Bugti.

FC sources told Dawn.com that forces conducted a raid at a house and recovered 15 kg explosives, anti-personnel mines, and other weapons. They said no arrests were made during the operation as the inmates fled the house before the arrival of forces.

FC arrest suspected militant in Chaman, recover suicide jackets - DAWN.COM

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Wonder why doesn't this get due coverage? Land mines and AP mines are used by the Baloch terrorists.
 
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Dealing with Pakistan’s extremists

The hawk and the dove

The new prime minister and his army chief profess different approaches to dealing with the Pakistani Taliban

Jun 1st 2013 | LAHORE


WHO knows what Pakistan’s two most powerful men spent three hours talking about when the army chief travelled to Lahore to pay a visit to Nawaz Sharif, the country’s incoming prime minister? But if they discussed schemes for taking on the group known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), they appear not to have agreed on how best to deal with the biggest threat to the country’s domestic security: militant Islamists hellbent on toppling the state.

Mr Sharif has long advocated a soft line. The TTP’s offer of talks with the government should, he said recently, be taken seriously. Why not “talk to the Taliban to make our country peaceful?” he asked. Later Mr Sharif’s officials asked an aged extremist, Sami ul Haq, the head of a madrassa near Peshawar, to act as an envoy.


It is unlikely that Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief, approves of any of this. Last year he declared that the whole country should join in a “war against extremism and terrorism”. After the general election on May 11th, he congratulated Pakistanis for voting in huge numbers, despite threats from an “insignificant and misguided” TTP.

Diplomats who know the general are convinced this is not just rhetoric. Despite decades of support the army has given to militant groups fighting for what it perceives to be the national interest in Afghanistan and Kashmir, Mr Kayani seems convinced that tough action is now required to bring the Pakistani Taliban to heel.

Last year the army began preparations for military operations in North Waziristan, the most troubled of Pakistan’s seven “tribal agencies” near the Afghan frontier, following the attempted murder by a TTP gunman of a girl, Malala Yousafzai, who openly defied a Taliban edict that school is only for boys. Yet the onslaught never came, perhaps because public revulsion over the crime soon faded.

Although some progress has been made in re-establishing the state’s writ in some agencies, North Waziristan remains lawless, a haven for jihadists from all over the world. The only opposition the militants face are overhead drones operated by America’s CIA. On May 28th one such reportedly killed a number of militants, including Wali-ur-Rehman, the TTP’s second-in-command. The Pakistani authorities once offered a bounty for his arrest or death, so it will be hard for them to criticise America’s drone policy now.

For all General Kayani’s tough talk, Mr Sharif is determined not to be bossed around by his army chief. He will handle the defence and foreign portfolios himself, two areas traditionally seen as the army’s preserve. Some observers believe Mr Sharif’s calls for peace talks are a way to buy time in order to concentrate on fixing a decrepit economy and the country’s dire electricity shortages. Just possibly, however, his overture to the Pakistani Taliban could be part of a cunning plan to lay the ground for a military response, once he has conclusively proved that seeking peace with the Pakistani Taliban is a fool’s errand.

More likely, says Hasan Askari Rizvi, a security analyst, Mr Sharif’s call for talks is a reflection of the country’s muddled thinking about the TTP. Despite its murderous campaigns around the country, the movement is widely regarded as an understandable reaction to the American-led war in Afghanistan. Many members of Mr Sharif’s own party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), hold this view.

Ejaz Haider, a commentator, believes that formal negotiations would bestow huge prestige on the TTP, while proving the impossibility of giving the group what it wants, namely, an end to the Pakistani state in its current form. Overwhelming counterforce, sooner or later, may be the state’s only remaining option.

From the print edition: Asia
 
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Two security men killed in North Waziristan check post attack


KOHAT: Terrorists attacked two check posts in North Waziristan and killed two security men early Tuesday morning, Geo News reported.

According to sources, two security check posts came under attack by the terrorists early Tuesday morning in North Waziristan where two security men were killed. The roads leading to the attacked checkpoints were closed for all sorts of traffic soon after the incident.

On the other hand, seven terrorists were killed when two terror groups clashed with each other near Kohat while two others were injured. The area is still gripped with tension.

Two security men killed in North Waziristan check post attack - thenews.com.pk
 
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Key Taliban 'commanders' killed in Peshawar operation: security officials
ZAHIR SHAH SHERAZI
PESHAWAR: Two key militant commanders of the Pakistani Taliban were killed in a successful operation by security forces in Peshawar on Thursday, security officials said.

Security officials told Dawn.Com that security forces were conducting a search operation in the Frontier Region of Peshawar near Mattani when they clashed with the militants, leaving one security personnel and two militants dead in the exchange of gunfire.

Officials identified the two key militant commanders as Rooh ul Amin and Adnan alias Hurera, both belonging to the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The operation follows a late night attack by dozens of suspected Taliban militants on a security check post at Shamshato area near Peshawar Frontier Region (FR), killing six Frontier Constabulary (FC) soldiers and leaving 12 others injured.

Police said the militants had also managed to kidnap two security forces' personnel. A spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Ehsanullah Ehsan, had claimed responsibility for the attack Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, officials said militants had killed the two FC personnel kidnapped from Shamshato area on Tuesday. “The miscreants have thrown their bodies in Mattani area of Peshawar,” said one security official.

Clashes between militants and security forces during the ongoing operation continued at the time of filing of this report.
Key Taliban 'commanders' killed in Peshawar operation: security officials - DAWN.COM
 
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