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Mukhtars stand on US raid raises eyebrows
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
9/6/2008
PESHAWAR: Unlike other defence ministers in the world who consider it their duty to defend their frontiers and people, Pakistans Minister of Defence Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar seems to have taken it upon himself to justify the US forces raids in Pakistani territory.
No one carries out shelling without any reason after coming from far away, the defence minister told reporters in Lahore. This is how he was quoted by sections of the Pakistani and foreign media. By arguing that there must be a reason for the cross-border raid in the early hours Wednesday, it was obvious that he was justifying the US attack on a Pakistani border village in South Waziristan that killed 15 civilians and injured another two. Among the dead were five women and three children.
In fact, the countrys defence minister wasnt even aware that US aircraft didnt carry out shelling on the Pakistani village as he made it out to be. Instead, up to four choppers, two Chinooks and two Cobra gunship helicopters, violated Pakistans airspace and landed near Musa Neeka village not far from the Pakistani border town of Angoor Adda. The troops brought by the helicopters then stormed three houses of innocent Pakistani tribesmen in Zololay hamlet and shot dead at least 15 of them. Ahmad Mukhtar, either deliberately or due to ignorance, made no mention of the US ground forces that raided the Pakistani village and committed an aggression that the defence minister and the countrys armed forces should have repelled. Otherwise, how does he qualify to be Pakistans defence minister if he cannot make an effort to defend the countrys borders and citizens?
This is the second time that the Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has given statement that tends to justify cross-border raids by US forces in Pakistans tribal areas. But this one was insensitive to say the least because there was no report of any attempted infiltration of militants from the Pakistan side into Afghanistan that could have provoked the US military to retaliate. Besides, there was no evidence that the US troops had entered Pakistani territory in hot pursuit. All those killed were civilians and among the dead were women and children, who cannot be called al-Qaeda or Taliban militants by any stretch of imagination.
Subsequently, one heard on private TV channels that the defence minister had said he would issue a statement after completion of investigations into the South Waziristan incident. But by then the damage had been done as his initial reaction conveyed by him to reporters in Lahore had been widely reported and quoted.
This is undoubtedly a huge escalation in the hostilities on Pakistans border with Afghanistan. As defence minister, Ahmad Mukhtar should be worrying about the consequences of such acts of aggression and planning measures to reassure Pakistanis unfortunate enough to be living in these tribal borderlands. For five hours Wednesday, the aggrieved tribesmen kept the bodies of the 15 slain Pakistanis on the road linking Musa Neeka with Angoor Adda and Wana but no government official or army officer came there to listen to their grievances, condole with them the deaths of their near and dear ones and give them assurance that such acts of aggression by outside powers would be resisted in future. Pakistan Army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps have their bases in the area but no soldier moved from his entrenched position to come to the assistance of Pakistani villagers under attack from troops who had illegally crossed over from Afghanistan.
As defence minister, Ahmad Mukhtar should visit Musa Neeka and Angoor Adda, offer condolences to the grieving families and check and upgrade Pakistans defences at the border. He probably has never been to these parts and it would be a good opportunity for Pakistans defence minister to check out how life goes in an area that is frequently in the news and under attack from US, Nato and Afghan forces. He should also take along with him Rahman Malik, the prime ministers adviser on interior affairs, who too is increasingly dealing with tribal areas and the war on terror.
The latter, who apparently doesnt know the international repercussions of his recent statement about a missed opportunity of getting al-Qaeda deputy leader Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri in Pakistans Mohmand Agency, needs to know the tribal region better because the problems there arent going to be resolved any time soon. With regard to his statement about sighting of Zawahiri or his wife in Mohmand Agency, it is pertinent to mention that the Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the same day that there was no evidence that Zawahiri or Osama bin Laden were hiding in Pakistan.
Owais Ahmad Ghani, Governor of NWFP, spoke for most Pakistanis when he strongly condemned the act of aggression by the US forces in South Waziristan and termed it outrageous. Obviously, he felt the pain of the families that lost their dear and near ones in the unprovoked nighttime raid and chose to highlight their plight. It is rare to hear such words from our ruling elite, whether civil or military, these days. He may be replaced as Governor in the coming days but Owais Ahmad Ghani would be remembered as someone who didnt mince words and was the first one among government functionaries to forcefully condemn the invasion of a Pakistani border village by the American troops.
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
9/6/2008
PESHAWAR: Unlike other defence ministers in the world who consider it their duty to defend their frontiers and people, Pakistans Minister of Defence Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar seems to have taken it upon himself to justify the US forces raids in Pakistani territory.
No one carries out shelling without any reason after coming from far away, the defence minister told reporters in Lahore. This is how he was quoted by sections of the Pakistani and foreign media. By arguing that there must be a reason for the cross-border raid in the early hours Wednesday, it was obvious that he was justifying the US attack on a Pakistani border village in South Waziristan that killed 15 civilians and injured another two. Among the dead were five women and three children.
In fact, the countrys defence minister wasnt even aware that US aircraft didnt carry out shelling on the Pakistani village as he made it out to be. Instead, up to four choppers, two Chinooks and two Cobra gunship helicopters, violated Pakistans airspace and landed near Musa Neeka village not far from the Pakistani border town of Angoor Adda. The troops brought by the helicopters then stormed three houses of innocent Pakistani tribesmen in Zololay hamlet and shot dead at least 15 of them. Ahmad Mukhtar, either deliberately or due to ignorance, made no mention of the US ground forces that raided the Pakistani village and committed an aggression that the defence minister and the countrys armed forces should have repelled. Otherwise, how does he qualify to be Pakistans defence minister if he cannot make an effort to defend the countrys borders and citizens?
This is the second time that the Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has given statement that tends to justify cross-border raids by US forces in Pakistans tribal areas. But this one was insensitive to say the least because there was no report of any attempted infiltration of militants from the Pakistan side into Afghanistan that could have provoked the US military to retaliate. Besides, there was no evidence that the US troops had entered Pakistani territory in hot pursuit. All those killed were civilians and among the dead were women and children, who cannot be called al-Qaeda or Taliban militants by any stretch of imagination.
Subsequently, one heard on private TV channels that the defence minister had said he would issue a statement after completion of investigations into the South Waziristan incident. But by then the damage had been done as his initial reaction conveyed by him to reporters in Lahore had been widely reported and quoted.
This is undoubtedly a huge escalation in the hostilities on Pakistans border with Afghanistan. As defence minister, Ahmad Mukhtar should be worrying about the consequences of such acts of aggression and planning measures to reassure Pakistanis unfortunate enough to be living in these tribal borderlands. For five hours Wednesday, the aggrieved tribesmen kept the bodies of the 15 slain Pakistanis on the road linking Musa Neeka with Angoor Adda and Wana but no government official or army officer came there to listen to their grievances, condole with them the deaths of their near and dear ones and give them assurance that such acts of aggression by outside powers would be resisted in future. Pakistan Army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps have their bases in the area but no soldier moved from his entrenched position to come to the assistance of Pakistani villagers under attack from troops who had illegally crossed over from Afghanistan.
As defence minister, Ahmad Mukhtar should visit Musa Neeka and Angoor Adda, offer condolences to the grieving families and check and upgrade Pakistans defences at the border. He probably has never been to these parts and it would be a good opportunity for Pakistans defence minister to check out how life goes in an area that is frequently in the news and under attack from US, Nato and Afghan forces. He should also take along with him Rahman Malik, the prime ministers adviser on interior affairs, who too is increasingly dealing with tribal areas and the war on terror.
The latter, who apparently doesnt know the international repercussions of his recent statement about a missed opportunity of getting al-Qaeda deputy leader Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri in Pakistans Mohmand Agency, needs to know the tribal region better because the problems there arent going to be resolved any time soon. With regard to his statement about sighting of Zawahiri or his wife in Mohmand Agency, it is pertinent to mention that the Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the same day that there was no evidence that Zawahiri or Osama bin Laden were hiding in Pakistan.
Owais Ahmad Ghani, Governor of NWFP, spoke for most Pakistanis when he strongly condemned the act of aggression by the US forces in South Waziristan and termed it outrageous. Obviously, he felt the pain of the families that lost their dear and near ones in the unprovoked nighttime raid and chose to highlight their plight. It is rare to hear such words from our ruling elite, whether civil or military, these days. He may be replaced as Governor in the coming days but Owais Ahmad Ghani would be remembered as someone who didnt mince words and was the first one among government functionaries to forcefully condemn the invasion of a Pakistani border village by the American troops.