We will 'eliminate' Zardari, Gilani: Taliban

[jeypore]

Angered by Pakistan government's decision to launch an all out war against them, the Taliban has vowed to "eliminate" country's top leadership including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and their close family members.

"We thought that being a member of a religious family, Gilani will support our demand of implementing Sharia in the Malakand division but instead he has announced an all-out war against us, which has angered our commanders as well as fighters," an unnamed Taliban commander told The News daily.

The militant commander, who spoke to the newspaper by phone, said after Gilani declared during an address to the nation on Thursday that the Taliban would be wiped out from the Swat Valley and adjoining areas, the militants had started planning to "eliminate the top leaders of the ruling alliance, including President, Prime Minister and their close family members and aides".

The commander said Gilani's hometown of Multan and tomb of former premier Benazir Bhutto might also be targeted by the militants.

"Besides, the personnel and installations of security forces, we have now also included civilian rulers in our hit list. We will definitely need some time to plan our actions but it is not impossible for us and we have all the means to implement our plan of attack anywhere in Pakistan," he claimed.

We will 'eliminate' Zardari, Gilani: Taliban | India.com

 

[jeypore]

SCENARIOS - What next in Pakistan's battle with the Taliban?


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani helicopter gunships blasted Taliban positions in the militants' Swat valley bastion on Saturday, as a curfew blocked residents from joining hundreds of thousands who have already fled the fighting.

The struggle in the scenic northwestern valley 130 km (80 miles) from Islamabad and a former tourism center has become a test of Pakistan's resolve to fight a growing Taliban insurgency that has alarmed the United States.

Here are some possible outcomes:

QUICK SUCCESS

Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has told his top commanders the army was fully aware of the gravity of the internal threat and would "employ requisite resources to ensure a decisive ascendancy over the militants."

A quick defeat of the Taliban in Swat would allow the army to move on to tackle militant strongholds on the Afghan border, such as North and South Waziristan, part of a region from where the Taliban orchestrate their Afghan war and where al Qaeda plots violence. Quick success would reassure a public skeptical about the government's alliance with the United States and bolster support for unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari.

However, the Pakistani army has since its creation in 1947 focused on the threat from old rival India and critics say it is not trained or properly equipped for a counter-insurgency operation. That could make quick success a long-shot scenario.

INCONCLUSIVE CAMPAIGN

The army has in the past relied on artillery and air strikes to fight the militants, which critics say invariably involves civilian casualties and alienates the population when the army should be winning hearts and minds.

When pressed, the Taliban are likely to withdraw up remote side valleys, striking back with bomb attacks on military convoys, checkposts and camps. The Taliban can also be expected to step up attacks outside Swat, including suicide and other strikes in towns and cities, to create diversions and undermine public support for the campaign.

An inconclusive campaign in Swat, heavy civilian casualties and more bomb attacks elsewhere would undercut public support for the action and provide ammunition to critics who decry fighting "America's war." If the campaign fails to stop the militants, a frustrated United States could feel forced to step up strikes on fighters in border strongholds by its pilotless drone aircraft, while the government might try another peace deal like the one that has just fallen apart in Swat.

If history is a guide, this may be the most likely scenario.

REGIONAL SCENARIOS

Neighbors Afghanistan and India will welcome Pakistani action against militants. Both say militants from Pakistan are behind attacks on their countries and a Pakistani offensive can be expected to preoccupy the fighters at home.

But there's a danger militants might try to stage an attack in India to spark a confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours. That would divert the Pakistani military's attention and resources to its eastern border, as happened after November's militant assault on the Indian city of Mumbai. Continued...

ECONOMIC RISKS

Pakistan's financial markets and investors have to some extent become used to violence but a surge of bomb attacks in cities, especially the commercial capital Karachi, could undermine investor confidence just as inflation is easing and interest rates are coming down.

More fighting in Swat will swell a flood of people leaving,

which provincial authorities say could total up to 600,000. Several hundred thousand have already fled fighting in different parts of the northwest since August.

Many stay with friends and relatives or in rented accommodation but if the situation is protracted a large number are likely to join the tens of thousands already in camps, and the exodus still puts an extra burden on an economy propped up by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

SCENARIOS - What next in Pakistan's battle with the Taliban? | Reuters

 

[sob]

First let these cowards save their own skin.

 

[muse]

Interesting that the Saudi financed Sharif brothers feel no pressure, not from the Terrorists, not from the army and now the Americans have come to call as well.

 

[Lockheed F-16]

OMG, what will our country do without such patriotic figures like Zardari?

 

[Jihad]

OMG, what will our country do without such patriotic figures like Zardari?

lol, love your sarcasm.
But still, it would be disastrous if Zardari was killed, I mean, first Benazir, now himself?
I'd expect another huge political turmoil in Pakistan and complete instability in our economical and social network all around Pakistan.
I do hope he stays alive, wouldn't mind if he catched a bullet after his presidency, but we can't afford it right now.

 

[Solomon2]

What is the line of succession?

 

[spsk]

I feel Zardari lags leadership, I think Talibans can better let him lead if they really want to revenge

 

[Jihad]

What is the line of succession?

Hopefully or should I say certainly not the American line achieved in Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

[IceCold]

Somehow the commander told everything but not his name, i kinda wonder what India.com has to say next? Fazalullah the next President of Pakistan and US is going to be bombed by nuclear weapons....an unnamed commander told.