June 4, 2012
M. Zaidi

IN a report titled ‘The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism,’ published in 1999 by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, social scientists had warned that “Al Qaeda’s expected retaliation for the US cruise missile attack against Al Qaeda’s training facilities in Afghanistan on Aug 20, 1998, could take several forms of terrorist attack in the nation’s capital.”

Thus, even before 9/11, social scientists had come to grips with the etiology of terrorism, but 9/11 accelerated the process. The PsycINFO database, the largest psychology database in the world with entries dating back to the 1880s, shows that post-9/11 research on the phenomenon surpassed that of all the past years combined.

Several findings now find currency in social science, which suggest that compared to the ordinary citizen, terrorists do not exhibit unusually high rates of clinical psychopathology, irrationality, or personality disorders. Indeed, as shown by John Horgan in Terrorists, Victims and Society: Psychological Perspectives on Terrorism and Its Consequences, which has been edited by Andrew Silke, the archetypical “terrorist personality” is misconceived on shaky empirical grounds. In fact, sustainable terrorist activity requires a certain amount of ingenuity in evading the law, choosing targets, ensuring supplies of explosives and improvisation, and indeed a supply-chain management capability of a level not incomparable to a successful corporate manager running a successful company which also evades taxes, an analogy to the terrorists also evading the law in their own context.

Nasr Hassan put it succinctly during a 2002 lecture: “What is frightening is not the abnormality of those who carry out the suicide attacks, but their sheer normality.”

Another report, the American National Research Council’s Terrorism: Perspectives from the Behavioural and Social Sciences, says: “There is no single or typical mentality — much less a specific pathology of terrorists. However, terrorists apparently find significant gratification in the expression of generalised rage.”

This rage sometimes relates to events close to the terrorist’s perception horizon. Researcher Ariel Merari, for instance, found higher incidences of terrorist tendencies in Palestinian suicide bombers that had at least one relative or close friend killed or injured.

There is also a demographic profile. It has been shown time and time again that terrorists tend to belong to a male cohort between 15 and 30 years of age, the same that is likely to commit general crime, and the one least likely to be daunted by use of coercive force by the other side. Thus, it is not a coincidence that most commanders and diehard cadres of the Taliban in Pakistan tended to be within the same cohort.

Beyond that, there is no other template into which we can fit terrorists or their behavioural patterns. However, ideology has a definite part to play. The influential thinker Nichole Argo argues that ideological beliefs such as religious extremism do not “go out” to mould individuals, but exist as “sets of ideas that ‘are there’, as if on the shelves of a supermarket waiting for someone to make them their own”. Individuals who are not able to interpret their environment, or in other words do not find solace in the material world without these ideals, adopt this available ideology. It is not just the adoption of extremist ideas which comforts such individuals, but core values such as fighting for life, and giving it up for dignity and equality also bestow an emotional reward which is critical in itself.

“We need to be asking new questions,” she writes. “For what are normal individuals able to kill? A plausible answer is: their community, under threat. When does a person make costly sacrifices to do so? Within a social structure — a terror cell, a military unit, a family, or group of friends — that continually regenerates conviction to a cause, a feeling of obligation to do something about it, and a sense of shame at the idea of letting each other down. Whether one lands in a social group with religious-militant tendencies may be random. But the prerequisite for this path is perceived injustice”.

We live in a connected world no matter where we are, and religious militants are no exception. Argo narrates an interview with a militant who had joined the intifada because of television , reaching a conclusion that the ummah was threatened: “The difference between the first intifada and the second is television. Before, I knew when we were attacked here, or in a nearby camp, but the reality of the attacks everywhere else was not so clear. Now, I cannot get away from Israel — the TV brings them into my living room…And you can’t turn the TV off. How could you live with yourself? At the same time, you can’t ignore the problem — what are you doing to protect your people? …We live with an internal struggle. Whether you choose to fight or not, every day is this internal struggle.”

How many times have we seen programmes on television and inadvertently thought “this has happened to me”. What we see on television will be tinged with more reality if we relate to it to begin with, even if we were watching fiction. Thus affective reactions and cognitive appraisals shape our perception of reality after experiencing media such as television. We tend to interpret characters onscreen compared to how we feel about the topic to begin with. Thus, if you felt an empathy with the images of what you perceive as your group under attack, there are bright chances that you would interpret these images as the truth.

In today’s world, many of the religious militants do not necessarily come from war zones. But like many fighters foreign to the conflict theatres to which they gravitate, they see images of injustice, or have friends or family ‘there’, and feel obligated to help out. Such is the alluring appeal of group solidarity.

The writer is a security analyst.
-Dawn

By: M A Niazi | March 08, 2013

The blast in Abbas Town, Karachi, was not unparalleled, though it was a first for Karachi, already a strife-torn city, a dangerous place to live in.
If, on the one hand, they provided a reminder of the Quetta blasts and the targeting of the Shia community, they also provided a reminder that ghettoisation was no protection against the very danger it was supposed to protect against.

If it was shown most dramatically that the government did not pay enough attention to the plight of ordinary citizens, it also showed that the forces which wanted a postponement of the elections may well be still at work.
Also, by proving Interior Minister Rehman Malik right about Karachi being the next militant target, it seems that the evil hour is upon us. Not just the citizens of Karachi, but of the whole of Pakistan; for Karachi - the country’s sole port - and its industrial and financial capital, is not just home to almost a tenth of the nation, but is connected to almost every citizen.

The MQM, through Dr Farooq Sattar, the first MQM Mayor of this megalopolis, said that the citizenry should not look to any state institution, but should engage in self-help, for protection. In other words, the MQM could be of no help.

That was a normal thing for any political party to say, but since the MQM claimed Karachi as one of its strongholds, that amounted to telling the populace that it was not to depend on the MQM for protection.
The state institutions responsible for the protection of all citizens, the police, had other fish to fry on Sunday night.

The daughter of the President’s Secretary General was getting engaged to the son of a former FIA Director. As the daughter, was herself an Adviser to the President and the son was Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Political Secretary, it was clearly a high-powered engagement.

It was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, not to forget Interior Minister Rehman Malik, himself a former FIA head. These VIPs all needed security and protocol, which was duly provided, allegedly at the cost of the security provided to the Abbas Town blasts.
One of the claims of ghettoisation, that this provides security, was disproved.
Ghettos achieved the most prominence in Nazi-occupied Europe, when the state enforced them for Jews. This was not intended for the Jews’ protection, but to assist the authorities in applying the ‘Final Solution’.

Perhaps because of this, a strand of opinion opposed the creation of Israel, it was argued that collecting so many Jews into one place made for an easier target. This was shown in the Quetta blasts, where the first blast, on Alamdar Road, took place in a snooker club, not the resort of choice for committed followers of any sect of any religion, with a reasonable certainty of killing members of the targeted sect.

The MQM appeal was thus something of a nonstarter, as it had already been tried, and failed. It might not have escaped notice that while the Hazaras of Quetta, apart from being of a minority sect, were also an ethnic minority, which had migrated there and thus would tend to settle in clusters.
This might be considered to apply to Karachi as well, where the Shias are part of the Mohajir community, and had mostly arrived in Karachi by migration, either after 1947, or after 1971, when they arrived from East Pakistan, having migrated there in 1947.

It is noteworthy that an attempt has been made in Karachi on sectarian lines. This leads to the conclusion that those attempting to foment sectarian strife cannot be friends of Pakistan. Interior Minister Rehman Malik, speaking before the attacks, had accused India of fomenting trouble in Balochistan.
It would also make sense for it to target Karachi, which is economically very central to Pakistan (it was disclosed after the Abbas Town blast that the cost to the economy ran into billions). Even if sectarian strife is not set off, the disruption would be immense.

Economic opportunities have ensured that Karachi is home to all ethnicities, but the MQM dominates. The Mohajir people migrated to Sindh from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the rest of India, at partition, but did not obtain an appropriate provincial identity.

As the constitutional scheme made provincial identity important, the MQM was forced to pursue local politics. However, Karachi was never out of the national mainstream, for it had never been merely a provincial capital.
Still, as the country’s largest city, it not only provides the most natural cover for intruders, but also the best opportunities, to the Raymond Davis-type networks that have been implanted. As the USA is intent upon making India dominant in the region, its participation in such operations cannot be ruled out.

Elections would provide a solution. However, the belief has been expressed that if they did, the last election should have produced a government which would have handled the problem.

Of the two major parties, the PPP has the most reason to have the polls postponed, particularly if a postponement was to allow the President to remain in office after his tenure ends in September.

If the PPP was to lose the election, the President would also lose the presidency, and with it the immunity of the office, which he has been using to avoid the corruption cases against him.

The Shia community in the two southern provinces have been attacked, with the result that the trauma is being felt all over the country. But this is not the first time it was under attack in Karachi. Previously, there was a more targeted approach, with the method of attack being the target killing, rather than the blast.

At that time, the targets were professionals, particularly doctors. Blasts are much more indiscriminate. In the previous episode, there was some involvement of real estate speculation, for deaths often meant that property came on the market.

Unscrupulous property dealers bought that property from grieving heirs, often enough fearful of their own fate, at rock-bottom prices. However, with the real estate market having bottomed out, this motive can, probably, be ruled out.

As the USA winds down its occupation of Afghanistan, with its withdrawal of military equipment already started, prior to a complete withdrawal in 2014, it is dangerous that there should be fresh outbreaks of violence in Karachi. This is no time to play politics, as the Interior Minister seems to be doing when he blames the Punjab government for protecting extremists.

Instead of making accusations, at the moment what is needed is to catch the culprits, try them and give them deterrent punishments. That may not stop them, for their motivation is divine reward, so the long-term approach should involve convincing them that these attacks are only going to bring down Divine punishment on the perpetrators.

There must also be trials of the perpetrators, who must be captured, which has not been done so far. So far, there have not been any such trials, and thus the real perpetrators remain undetected. Only trials would reveal not just the culprits, but also those behind them.

The writer is a veteran journalist and founding member as well as executive editor of TheNation. Email: maniazi@nation.com.pk

By:Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi
Wednesday, 6 Mar 2013

Sri Lanka knew it was fighting the Tamil Tigers.We don’t seem to have a clue who the enemy is

I feel that I must make it clear that I am not a FATA expert. Nor am I in any way an informed commentator who can wax poetic about the evils of tacit military support for homegrown extremists. Neither can I trace with expert deftness the etymology of the various terror groups that abound in our fair backwater today and tell you with pin-point precision who-is-in-bed-with-who and who-finances-whose-gun running-operation.

In fact, this article will teach you nothing new. To those of you who were expecting this to become an army-apologist or a Taliban-apologist piece, I extend my sincerest apologies. Today, I must pose a vexing and pertinent-question; one which you are unlikely to be able to answer. If you do have an answer, please tell me before you have me summarily executed for treason; I’d hate to die without knowing.

Over the past half decade, our bastion of Islam has been plagued by insurgency, terrorist activity, sectarian strife, political subterfuge and ethnic genocide. While this is just the top 5, and the charts include hits such as necrophiliacs, “husband-curry” specialists and rapists of an order lower than the molten core of the earth, it is the more political forms of violence that interest me today.

GHQ, Kamra, PNS Mehran, Peshawar airbase, FIA headquarters; these were the attacks orchestrated against some of the country’s most well-protected security and defence installations. Alamdar Road, Hazara Town, Abbas Town; these were three of the deadliest attacks ever carried out against the Shia minority in our country. The attacks on polio workers, explosions at girls’ schools in KPK and FATA, the near-fatal attempt on Malala Yousafzai, the execution of Shia passengers in Mustung and Babusar Top, the assassination of Bashir Bilour; these were all some of the most high profile acts of violence committed in the past year, give or take. While this is not a representative sample by any stretch of the imagination, nor does it meet the rigorous requirements of comparative quantitative analysis, it will serve to illustrate my point.

The question that I pose to you today, dear readers, is this: Who was responsible for these attacks? It’s alright, take your time. There are no right answers to this question. This, in my humble and irrelevant opinion, is the single biggest threat facing our country today. Under Rajapakse, the government of Sri Lanka knew that it was fighting the Tamil Tigers. In Yugoslavia, NATO knew it was fighting Milosevic’s forces. On Omaha Beach, the Allies knew they were fighting the Germans and on the high seas, the Spanish Armada knew they were fighting everyone else. We, however, don’t seem to have a clue.

This is because ours is not a traditional war. It is not even a traditional guerrilla war. When ‘our’ Taliban were paradropped into Afghanistan in the 90s to capture Kabul, the Afghans had a fair idea of who was behind this rising tide of extremism and violence. But today, as the forces of evil overrun our towns and cities, we are no closer to understanding the complexity of the threat facing us. Tehreek-e-Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Islami; these are all simply names. We are yet to establish what their motives are and are reduced to playing amateur Cluedo with each incident, as it happens, in order to piece together whatever rudimentary understanding we have of these groups and their methods.

The media has a bigger part to play in this game that you would think. Day after day, blind murders and senseless killings are slotted into the attic of “terrorist attacks” and “target killings”, simply because it is too risky to dig any deeper. I have spoken to many journalists who, when they cover these incidents, can piece together pretty well the “who, why, what and wherewithal” of the typical hit. However, because the information they have is mostly hearsay or because they cannot afford to take that sort of pressure from unsavoury types, they are forced to report within the given template that characterises reportage of such attacks.

This is crucial, mostly because media coverage of attacks and bombings is admissible in court. It also serves as a historical record for people who want to retrospectively study the violence that plagues our country. When their sample is unnecessarily skewed by the countless “unknowns” and “unidentifieds”, it is difficult to imagine how anyone, let alone those that make and break policy in our state, can have a clear idea of who or what they are up against. Even intelligence briefings handed to senior security personnel consist of newspaper articles and TV reports.

This is not all there is to it. But information, or the lack thereof, is a major failing of our state and society as a whole. That those who have the knowledge are not talking to those who can actually do something with that knowledge is criminal. While I know that I sound like I’m making the case for security agencies picking up more journalists, I am actually calling for the opposite. Rather than taking an adversarial approach, the law enforcement apparatus needs to understand that a symbiotic relationship with the media will benefit it far more than an adversarial one. I know of many journalists who still have faith in the state and are willing to go that extra mile to make sure justice is served. After all, one can only see so much senseless killing in a lifetime before one decides enough is enough. It’s time the state and its various arms did the same.

Follow @mightyobvious on Twitter for more incoherence in 140 characters or less

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk

March 10, 2013 .

The National Assembly passed the National Counter Terrorism Authority Bill 2013 on Friday that provides for setting up a nationwide anti-terrorism cell under the direct command of the Prime Minister. There is hardly any doubt that it augers well for the beleaguered country but this should have been done as the first priority, soon after the PPP government took office five years ago. Did it need all this massacre of innocent human life to persuade the MPs that a special law was inevitable? The concerns of the Supreme Court that kept underscoring the need for lawmaking of the sort only fell on deaf ears, while the innocent Pakistanis were being butchered in streets, towns and even in their homes.

In all conscience, that is procrastination of the highest calibre, which was nowhere to be seen when the political parties’ own stakes came under threat. Instances of Parliament showing bipartisan character where egocentric laws were drafted overnight to be passed in a matter of days are plenty. The slumber of the ruling setup has had a disastrous effect on national security that has allowed the miscreants both foreign and local to grow so strong that the security apparatus – meant to shelter the people from the attacks – finds itself in terrorists’ crosshairs. It is a matter of debate how they would to be rooted out or would they, God forbid! assume more power.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...t-took-so-long

March 19, 2013 . 2

Stating that the army has not carried out a military operation in North Waziristan, Corp Commander Peshawar Lt General Khalid Rabbani said that it was up to the political government to decide whether it wanted to hold talks with Taliban or not.

Meanwhile, reports are coming in that the TTP has withdrawn the offer of talks over what it says is government’s non-serious attitude.

It should be clear that talks and bombs do not go together. To take up the TTP’s offer, the TTP would first have to lay down arms. Plainly enough, if the intention is to work towards a genuine peace agreement, as Gen Rabbani would have us believe -- the need is to quash local strongholds and check the forays of the Afghan Taliban from across the border some of which are already engaged with talks with the NATO forces. Peshawar was yet again attacked on Monday when terrorists stormed the Judicial Complex and suicide bombers caused the deaths of four and injuries to 30. In Karachi, a college principle was shot dead, aimed at further exacerbating the sectarian divide.
These never-ending attacks are emblematic of our failure to prevent the movement of insurgents from Afghanistan into our territory as well as the absence of a thorough policy to neutralise the TTP’s threat. Primarily, it is the indecision to deal with the problem with single-mindedness that has to be coped.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...ban-juggernaut

Raza Khan


Finally after delay of almost a decade the National Assembly of Pakistan on March 8, passed the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) law bill setting up the much-needed framework to formulate counter-terrorism policy and see its implementation.

The bill which has already been passed by the Senate of Pakistan was moved by the Federal Law Minister Farooq H. Naek in the NA and was passed with some minor amendments from a couple of members. The passage of the bill is a milestone as far as the country's war against terrorism is concerned. Although NACTA as a body has existed for years but it could not play any role as it did not have any legal cover. Due to which other organizations have not been cooperating with NACTA due to which it had become a toothless body. This writer can recall a phone call from ex-head of NACTA, Tariq Pervez, after the former wrote a comprehensive article on the counterterrorism policy for Pakistan in a leading newspaper of the country. Pervez appreciated the article and wanted to have contact with Mr. Alex Schmidt, a former head of a UN anti-terrorism body and was interviewed for the article. It suggests the kind of help and resources available to NACTA.

A country which is struck by huge large-scale terrorist attacks for years must have a counterterrorism authority. The rationale for having a counterterrorism authority for the state is that only such a body could coordinate the activities and efforts of different law-enforcement agencies including intelligence agencies, and various relevant government departments. Without coordination among various departments and agencies countering the phenomenon of terrorism is simply impossible. In other words, without a counterterrorism authority efforts by different governmental institutions and bodies remain isolated and thus inconsequential. Pakistan's failure to effectively counter extremism and terrorism perpetrated in the name of Islam has mainly been due to the absence of any counterterrorism policy. It is important to note that a state could have a viable counterterrorism policy if a counterterrorism body is in place. Although a parliament has existed in Pakistan, which reflects the collective wisdom of the people of the country, but keeping in view the complex nature of the phenomenon of terrorism and religious extremism in Pakistan it is really impossible for the parliamentarians to formulate a policy on their own. The track record of the outgoing government is enough to testify this incapacity of the parliament to formulate a counterterrorism policy. During this period no counterterrorism policy existed.

The outgoing government only declared strategy to negotiate the threat was based on the so-called Ps and Ds. Initially, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)-led coalition government declared a strategy of three Ds to effectively quarantine the rampaging militancy and insurgency by religious extremist groups. The three Ds were explained as Dialogue, Development and Deterrence. Afterwards the government came with another strategy of three Ps representing Prevent, Protect and Pursue. A closer look at the three Ds and Ps reveals that they were more or less the same things. However, these strategies to counter religious extremism and terrorism have largely failed and this can be gauged from the ever-increasing number of terrorist attacks as well as the wider area these attacks are covering and the strengthening of the extremist forces in the country.

The element of dialogue with extremist and terrorist groups has been given a lot of chance to have an effect but it proved totally ineffective. Talks with militants by Pakistani authorities over the years instead strengthened the former. As during the last five years there has not been any elaborate counterterrorism strategy in place therefore the government emphasis on dialogue had been under compulsion and threats from religious and conservative political parties as well as the insurgents. However, the government could not pursue a meaningful dialogue because the United States pressurized it not to do so. Although the government engaged in dialogue with insurgents on several occasions, like in Waziristan and Swat, but the aim was to isolate insurgents then to defeat them. Moreover, the government did so to buy time as the insurgents got too strong to be eliminated through police or military action. However, the time thus gained by the government was also utilized by the insurgents to reinforce themselves and replenish their ranks.

The second of the Ds i.e. development could be termed as the most important strand of the counterterrorism strategy. Keeping in view the nature of religious extremism and terrorism in Pakistan which largely has its bases in the extremely remote and underdeveloped FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab, the government should have came up with huge and extensive development projects in these regions particularly FATA. Unfortunately any such project and, through it, the overall development of these regions remains a pipedream.

The element of the third 'D' of deterrence is inherently anticipatory in nature which the government could not employ effectively; otherwise, the terrorist attacks instead of increasing should have come down.

So now when the law to constitute the counterterrorism authority has been passed the would-be counterterrorism authority has to take into considerations the failure of the strategies of Ps and Ds and only then it would be able to come up with an effective counterterrorism policy.

It is really important to note that the proposed NACTA would be under the prime minister instead of the Interior Ministry, which the previous body had been. The placing of the original NACTA under the control of the Interior Ministry has been the great stumbling block in the growth and viability of the body as the bureaucracy of the ministry tried to control the authority. The NACTA bill 2013 envisages that the body would be independent and it makes the body really important; still to be effective the body must be independent literally. The importance of the NACTA Bill can be gauged from the fact that the board of the authority would be chaired by the prime minister whereas federal ministers of interior, finance, defence, law; chief ministers of all provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan and prime minister of AJK along with DG ISI, IB, MI and FIA would be the members of the board. In the context of extremism and terrorism, FATA is the most important territory of the country therefore, Governor KP, who is ex-officio, the administrative head of FATA, should also be on the board.

The passage of the NACTA Bill is quite late, but it is a good beginning and it is hoped that the next government would try its utmost to make the body a really independent and viable institution.

http://www.weeklycuttingedge.com/national01.htm

By:Raoof Hasan


In a welcome move, the top military leadership has reiterated its resolve to continue the fight against terrorism. The announcement came at the conclusion of a meeting presided over by the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and attended by the chiefs of the army, the navy and the air force. The reiteration was unequivocal that a “comprehensive strategy will be followed by the armed forces to combat the terrorist threat being faced by the country”.

The statement comes when the parliament stands dissolved and the country is moving towards the national elections on May 11. Apparently, the ruling coalition and the opposition appear to be struggling for a consensus on the induction of an interim government. But, like so much else that has lapsed into the realm of the impossible, this also appears headed in that direction and the matter, most likely, will be decided in the court of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) – the least of the desirables at the conclusion of a so-called five-year democratic rule!

Among the innumerable failures of the government, the most notable has been its inability to address the menace of terrorism. The whole country remained in the grip of bloody assaults which continued to increase in ferocity throughout the tenure of the government resulting in loss of strategic advantage, human lives and massive damage to infrastructure. This phenomenon has endered the country more vulnerable in facing this daunting challenge. Much against the wishes of the armed forces, and in spite of their repeated exhortations, the government failed in devising a political strategy to deal with this existential threat. Instead, it remained engrossed in making debilitating compromises with its partners and collaborators to stay in power. This inflicted a telling blow on its credibility and writ alike which never quite recovered from the damage. Absolutely mind-boggling is the fact that, for all its five years in power, the government never really got down to chalking out a comprehensive strategy to address the growing menace.

While the gun-and-suicide-bombs-carrying terrorists have been much projected, there is another breed of terrorism that has kept sprouting in our midst. This devious form has been perpetrated by leaders who have clandestinely collaborated with the extremist mindset to win political advantage. Included in such outfits are multiple banned organisations and their offshoots that have routinely sprung up in the country. In addition to the FATA region which is alleged to have traditionally harboured the terrorist forces, its other notable sanctuary has flourished under the patronage of the leaders of Punjab. These nurseries have supplied and nurtured the forces that have routinely unleashed destruction upon the innocent people of the country. Hidden behind these demonic forces are the invisible fundamentalists wearing the garb of deceit and deception. In public, they keep clamouring their irrevocable commitment to root out the menace from the country, but in plush drawing rooms and hidden from the glare of the cameras, they barter the sanctity of the country for a few more seats in the parliament. Their minds are corrupted and their hands tainted with the blood of the people.

They are the people who, not very long ago, nurtured the dream of being proclaimed the “Amir-ul-Momeneen” of the Republic when they were openly challenged by some sane voices in their midst. But, it is a dream they have not surrendered. Put away in the closet, they have nurtured it arduously and painstakingly and are clamouring to bring the demon out once given a chance by the electorate. To further their prospects, they strike electoral alliances with the operatives of banned outfits in exchange for continued governmental and personal patronage. No wonder the ones who have wreaked untold havoc on this country demand their guarantee as a precondition to initiating a dialogue with the government.

In the meanwhile, the country remains plagued with indecision, literally parched for a credible and sustainable policy and programme for initiating the long and difficult battle to banish the demon of fundamentalism from its midst. When the enemy is visible, it is easy to do an appraisal on its strengths and weaknesses and chalk out an effective strategy to overcome it. But, when the enemy is invisible, it makes the task enormously more difficult. It is this invisible threat wearing a deceptive garb that Pakistan needs to confront. It is this venomous demon that must be eliminated without any loss of time. The nurseries of fundamentalism reside in the sick brains of these power-grabbers. Their tricks need to be understood and their strategies confronted. If we keep concentrating only on the visible threat, these nurseries of hate and obscurantism will continue to feed the battalions of marauders that are out to permanently dismantle the liberal edifice and ethos that the founding father had outlined for Pakistan on that eventful day of August 11, 1947.

It is a miracle that, in spite of countless illicit assaults, that dream of a liberal and progressive Pakistan has survived the ravage. It has survived because this dream resides in the hearts of every Pakistani who wants to see his country freed from the tentacles of religious strife and ethnic and sectarian divisions, who wants to expedite the exit of the prophets of doom and who wants to work for the advent of a prosperous Pakistan. This will come about only when the nurseries of hate have been unearthed and their patrons and protectors indicted.

The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013...isible-demons/

Thursday, 21 Mar 2013

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) withdrawal of its earlier peace talks offer two days ago only paid lip service to what was already known. The pretext used was a ““non-serious attitude of the security forces and the government”. However, the recent attack outside a judicial complex in Peshawar which left four people dead had confirmed that the TTP had no intention of backing down and letting a smooth electoral season pass.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee meeting yesterday has come at an apt time. With the national assembly standing dissolved, the army has declared its commitment to both combating the terrorist threat and supporting the Election Commission of Pakistan in the upcoming elections.

A military spokesman declared that “all elements of national power would be utilised to combat and root out terrorism from the country”. The JCSC has declared its firm belief that the TTP and other Islamist militants will continue attacks – and perhaps only use peace offers to buy time to regroup.

On the face of it, the military’s declaration is a welcome policy statement. Terrorist groups must not only be deterred from launching attacks during the forthcoming elections but also defeated in the long term. The army’s task is to defend the country and its people, and not assert a security paradigm separate to the civilian government. It is hoped that the “Good Taliban, Bad Taliban” paradigm has been buried by the military top brass. The priority should be to eliminate foreign militants, who continue to use the tribal areas as a springboard for their activities. The writ of the state needs to be restored and the army has a critical role to play.

With the government having announced May 11 as the date of the election, the task of curbing the activities of terrorist groups has become ever more urgent. A comprehensive strategy is yet to be worked out and despite the loss of over 40,000 civilians and 4,000 military men in the war against the Taliban, doubts have continued to be asserted over the double role of the military. However, the JCSC meeting on the face of it shows that the military is now committed to what General Kayani declared more recently: internal terrorism is Pakistan’s biggest threat.

Whether or not this will yield action on the ground, or produce a more deadly response from the TTP, we shall have to wait and watch, and hope for the best.

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013...tarys-resolve/

If terror attacks are anything to go by, it is quite clear the terrorists have no intention of letting go of their arms and violent ways, peace talks offer accepted or not. They didn’t stop their attacks even when they had put the offer of talks for peace on the table. However, with time they have changed their tactics knowing fully well that the public won’t support their cause if they kept targeting the innocent. So a change of target was deemed necessary and what better target than security forces who fit their idea of an enemy or friend of an enemy.

The recent suicide attack on security personnel has left 22 dead and scores of injured with some in critical condition, raising fears of more casualties. How the troubled region has become a particularly favourite area for the terrorists to attack the security forces, can easily be inferred from the number of attacks on security personnel, security establishments and check posts during the past few years. Only last year, a number of soldiers were beheaded in a gruesome manner. The searing question is not about the ability of the terrorists to strike where or who they want, but how come after every drone strike Islamabad claims that that many foreign terrorists were killed and yet it has failed to launch a military operation in NWA to clean the area of all terrorists once an all.

The badlands on Pakistan’s western border have long been associated with providing safe havens to the terrorists, both of domestic and international variety. An operation in the South Waziristan had cleared the area of many militants, who then sought sanctuaries in the North Waziristan, the home of the Haqqani Network, a terror network with vast resources both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the one suspected of having links with Pakistan’s agencies, thus putting the standing of the country right at the edge of a precipice. With the international media portraying, and rightly so, the North Waziristan as a hub of international terrorism, Pakistan cannot afford to go easy on the militants and turn its head away, believing there is nothing wrong. That time is way past, and with the US and NATO winding up its operations by the end of next year, it would in no way justify having this monster grow up in our backyard as it would ultimately turn its attention inwards and tear apart the society and leave the country reeling under some deeper wounds, wounds that might make it impossible to heal in time. One stitch in time saves nine, or so they say. Military operation in NWA should be priority number one.

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013...ration-in-nwa/

March 27, 2013

Afshain Afzal

Pakistan Foreign Secretary, Jalil Abbas in a statement pointed out that terrorism would continue to affect Pakistan even after the withdrawal of NATO forces. He disclosed that Pakistan has released over two-dozen Taliban cadres at the request of the Afghan High Peace Council but same failed to produce results. He also disclosed that Islamabad is considering transfer of senior Taliban cadres to Qatar as part of efforts to facilitate the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

In another development, the All Pakistan Ulema Council (APUC) who had been scheduled to travel to Afghanistan for a meeting to process peace efforts has made a major breakthrough by brining whole warring factions of Mujahideen on one focal point. However, the recent statements of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen have earned a lot of criticism and APCU has demanded an unconditional apology from Karzai government. The recent secret visit of Afghan intelligence chief to Pakistan, no doubt, needs to be viewed in the same context. Since over a year, US and allies have withdrawn almost all the combatants from Afghanistan and have allowed only those supporting arms personnel to remain in Afghanistan who are either engaged in development projects or deputed on security/services duties at fortified bases. But Washington desire to have long term agreement with the coming Afghan government so the foreign interference is ensured.

In order to fail peace talks and allow Afghanistan and Pakistan bleed, the actors of the games have again started using blame game as tool to tarnish the image of Pakistan. News item published in the New York Times reflected that Pakistan Army carried out drone attacks in the month of February 2013 but same has already been rejected by the Army authorities in Pakistan.

An Inter Services Public Relations spokesperson while denying the report, termed the accusation a distortion of facts and disclosed that no operation including air strikes was conducted by Pakistan’s security forces in the Tribal Areas on 6 and 8 February. No one can deny the fact that certain Pakistanis, Afghan and Indian agents in the garb of inter-faith religious harmony are already working for foreign secret groups to eliminate orthodox Sunni Muslim leadership in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere. But, one wonders if Washington is not violating the diplomatic norms and international law by ignoring elected members of the parliaments and negotiate underhand directly with individuals, groups and institutions without the knowledge of elected government.

The issue of drone attacks by Pakistani authorities has been highlighted at a time when there seems to be bright chances that Islamabad would be able to resolve its internal security issues, without compromising the writ of the government. The drama of cold blooded murder of Pakistani troops by foreign agents to blame negotiating groups has created a lot of suspicions among the stakeholders. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s leader Hakimullah Masood many times has talked very high about the Pakistan Army and has ordered Mujahideen not to attack any Pakistani personnel, whatever may come.

It is evident from these developments that the terrorism and suicide bombing in various parts of the country, especially in Quetta, Abass Town Karachi and more recently in the attack on Pakistan Army personnel are aimed to fail peace talks and malign Sunnis leadership. It is pertinent to mention that during last decade, over 265,000 orthodox Sunnis including women and children have been killed in Pakistan alone, making a total of over 1.5 million, those killed together in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Today, US and allies are the main countries which are interfering in the internal affairs of the other countries and disturbing the world peace.
Terrorism has intentionally not been defined to allow certain countries to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. These countries are directly supporting and financing nationals of other countries to engage in acts of sabotage, espionage, treason, terrorism or sedition.

Let’s compare with the criterion of US being followed. One may fall in big trouble if his or her involvement is traced in support of training or advocacy of any act of sabotage, espionage, treason, terrorism or sedition or association or sympathy with persons who are attempting to commit or who are committing against the US. Same stands good for association or sympathy with persons or organizations that advocate, threaten, or use force or violence, or use any other illegal or unconstitutional means, in an effort to overthrow or influence the government of the US or any state or local government or prevent Federation or local government personnel from performing their official duties. And last but not the least involvement in direct or indirect support that prevent others from exercising their rights under the US constitution or other laws.

Disregard to the peace talks, Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked Pakistan to do more to rein in the extremist militants along its borders. Pakistan’s legitimately elected government is being put under constant pressure and blackmail.
The breach of sovereignty, self-respect and integrity has become a matter of routine. Intelligence high command in Dubai, New Delhi and Washington are deflecting peace talks so that own vested interests are achieved. In the recent Psychological Operations campaign, US’ intelligence agency claims to have arrested Reaz Qadir Khan on the grounds that he provided support to a suicide bomber, Ali Jaleel who participated in a 2009 attack at Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Sector Headquarters in Lahore that killed about 30 people and injured over 300. Reaz Qadir is suspected to have helped Ali in planning and financing to carryout attack. It has been claimed intercepted e-mails reflected that Ali wrote to Reaz Qadir divulging that he was about to enter training camp. Reportedly, shortly after the suicide attack in Lahore, Reaz Qadir dispatched around $750 from an Oregon store to one of Ali’s wives in Maldives.

These developments indicate that Maldives is the next target, basically because the nation happens to be orthodox Muslims. The fact cannot be denied Washington and New Delhi are much aggrieved from the leadership at Maldives on their orthodox Islamic stance. Other irritants include the Chinese-Pakistani-Maldives connection. Think tanks have openly suggested that one day countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives etc may upset western and Indian designs. In fact, after the disintegration of erstwhile Soviet Union there is no imminent threat from the communism.

The Christian clergy has neither the will nor the capacity to stand on the path of evils in the modern societies. Islam and its followers are the only power left in the field to challenge the illegitimate authority of terrorists who are bent upon to destroy world peace. It would surprise many to learn that the people of western world and those who support them are not against any religion or nation but they are being misled by their governments.

There is a requirement that we must ensure that those involved in acts of sabotage, espionage, treason, terrorism or sedition or association or sympathy with them should be exposed and let all the nations of the world live as per their own aspirations without fear of any form of interference from outside. All the peace loving people of the world must support peace talks in Afghanistan and should not allow the terrorists governments to mislead about other nations.

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/213905/