A homicide bombing Friday at a Muslim shrine near Pakistan’s capital killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, officials said. Witnesses said they counted at least 20 bodies.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, but this Islamic country has a long history of violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims .

Hundreds of Shiites were gathered at the Bari Imam shrine on the outskirts of Islamabad for a religious festival when the bomb went off.

“About 12 people have been killed and it seems to have been a suicide attack,” said Information Sheikh Rashid Ahmed . He said the death toll may rise.

An Associated Press photographer at the scene counted at least 20 bodies, many of them in pieces. An intelligence official said at least 20 were killed and 150 were wounded.

Read more…

Update: Reports have updated the death toll to 20

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

• Bangladesh is fast emerging as a major hotbed of radical Islamist terror groups. One of the most prominent, Harakat ul Jihad il Islami, is implicated in the arming the brutal Marxist insurgency in Nepal, training terrorists in southern Thailand, the simultaneous bombings in the northern Indian state Assam, and the sheltering of key hunted JI figures. It is becoming a magnet for terrorists and quickly spiraling into failed-state status.

• Pakistan plans on continuing to defy the US over Khan, while trying to minimize its dependence on the US. The US is also mounting new pressure on Pakistan to sign the NPT before a May NPT conference, so the IAEA can inspect Pakistan’s nuclear sites. Pakistan is hedging its bets with new secret military deals with the Central Asian states with a rapidity that has stunned the US. On the economic front, complete privatization (to Gulf Arab investors) of all major state-owned enterprises over the next five years is planned to allow Pakistan to divorce itself from the need for US aid.

• Israel is to allow Egypt to deploy combat helicopters, anti-tank weapons, LAVs, and 750 commandos along the Gaza-Israel border. Meanwhile, the PA’s measures contra weapons-smuggling tunnels are ineffective and all the armed parties are intensifying their efforts to get weapons.

Other Topics Today Include:

Iran Reports, including EU-3 negotiations, cruise missiles, and demonstrations; Israel withdrawal pains in Gaza; Abbas’ security issues; Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations in Cairo?; Yemeni crackdowns, Bahraini Patriot Act; Jihad in Memphis; No Fly growing pains; Venezuelan reserves and opposition update; Philippines the next Afghanistan?; Algerian al Qaeda caught in Pakistan; the return of the PKK in Turkey; Bulgarian jihad; Ricin in the UK; the Taliban attacks; and much, much more…

Read the Rest…

Investigators on Sunday were examining a mutilated corpse from a bombing at a Shiite Muslim shrine in southwestern Pakistan that killed at least 29 people to determine if it was a homicide attack, police said.

The bomb went off at 10:20 p.m. on Saturday as thousands of worshippers were taking supper at the shrine in Fatehpur village, 210 miles south of Quetta, during an annual commemoration of a revered Shiite saint entombed there.

At least 16 others were wounded, some critically, in the blast that left a scene of carnage and added to security woes in restive Baluchistan province, where fighting last week between government forces and renegade tribesemen claimed at least 30 lives.

Police said 29 people had died in the bombing, but the shrine’s caretaker, Syed Sadiq Shah, claimed that at least 44 people had lost their lives and 25 others were injured.

The motive for the attack was unclear.

Read more..

Fox News reports that Pakistan is withdrawing troops from the area where bin Laden is believed to be hiding:

The withdrawals from the region near the Afghanistan border follow intense military operations by thousands of troops against remnants of bin Laden’s Al Qaeda organization and its allies.

The top Pakistan general in the region says the army is removing checkpoints in return for local tribesmen’s support against foreign militants. He adds that some Pakistani soldiers will remain nearby.

From California Yankee.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

TOP TOPICS: THE KASHMIR POTBOILER

• Contending that solving Kashmir is easy, and can even be achieved in a day’s sitting General Musharraf proposed a simple solution to the problem of Kashmir. These generally involve India ceding some (Muslim-majority) territory to Pakistan in return for peace. India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took his time, but then ruled out any solution that would involve another Partition along religious lines. Recently India’s foreign minister suggested that maybe economic trade between India and Pakistan could help spur the peace process.

• General Musharraf, who will keep his epaulettes after all is not accustomed to being rejected, promptly declared that he might need to review what he put on the table since the vibes from India were just not right. The good news is that India and Pakistan are firmly engaged in bilateral talks and confidence-building measures; the bad news is that any eventual solution of Kashmir involves one of the two countries having to swallow an unacceptable bitter pill.

• India began withdrawing troops from the state of Jammu & Kashmir, as part of its internal rapprochement process. The separatist elements remained churlish and refused to meet the visiting Indian Prime Minister, in spite of the state getting an unparalleled $5.3 billion economic development package.

• Rather strangely enough the Hizbulla has a seemingly reasonable solution but you can be assured that when they say Kashmiris they actually mean Jihadis. Despite the continued talks between the two countries the insurgency continues and the death toll mounts.

Other Sub-Headings Today Include: What Condoleezza Rice means to South Asia; India adopts Bush strategies in tackling terror; Pakistan makes some important decisions; Bangladesh and refugees; Shifting Alliances; Looking for good South Asian blogs?

Read the Rest…
 

Reuters reports that the military chief of northwest Pakistan, who is also in charge of clearing out al-Qaeda militants, says Osama bin Laden can not be hiding in Pakistan’s tribal lands on the Afghan border:

Bin Laden and his bodyguards could not go undetected in the rugged tribal lands, although pockets of al Qaeda-backed fighters are battling Pakistani forces there, said Lieutenant-General Safdar Hussain.

“He requires his own protection and the kind of security apparatus he is supposed to have around would give us a very big signature,” Hussain told Reuters in an interview in his well-fortified headquarters in the northwest city of Peshawar.

“There is not an inch of South Waziristan agency or the tribal area which we have not swept time and again and if he was here, I assure you he could not have escaped my ears and eyes.”

From California Yankee.

REUTERS: Explosion Hits Islamabad Hotel, Causes Casualties

An explosion hit the Marriott Hotel in the central area of the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Thursday, causing several casualties, witnesses said.

Glass and other debris were blown out the front of the hotel and through the lobby, the witnesses said.

There was no immediate official word on the cause of the blast, although some hotel staff said they thought it might have been caused by an electrical fault.

Blood could be seen on the ground and at least one man was carried out on a stretcher, but he was still alive.

UPDATE:
Further reports confirm that it was an electrical short.

[by Dan Darling]

Several very important news stories have come out over the weekend that provide a great deal of insight into the nature and composition of our post-9/11 enemy, namely al-Qaeda and those groups aligned with it inside the framework of the Islamic International Front (the same name, one might note, as the group that sent a claim of responsibility for the Taba bombings to Sada al-Balad).

It is important to understand as much as possible with respect to the enemy because such things are very helpful in recognizing how al-Qaeda has changed and adapted since 9/11.

• Africa and the Pan-Sahel Initiative
• In Pakistan…
• And In Iraq…

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

TOP TOPICS: THE KILLING OF AMJAD FAROOQI

• Amjad Farooqi was responsible for some of the worst acts of terrorism in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was among the earliest Pakistani jihadis to be sent to bolster the Taliban; he was responsible for the earliest attacks on Westerners in Kashmir; he had a hand in the kidnapping of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 that led to the release of Omar Shiekh and Masood Azhar; he was responsible for the kidnap and murder of Daniel Pearl; and he is also alleged to have been behind the attempts to assassinate Gen. Pervez Musharraf last year. His career was cut short when he was fired, literally, this month when he was killed by Pakistani security forces who had been searching for him since May.

• Farooqi’s killing raised the usual eyebrows - he was a link between the ISI and the al Qaeda, and his killing came when Gen. Musharraf was playing the role of the moderate Islamic statesman in the United States.

• Farooqi was reported to have been taken into custody as early as June this year; but now takes his secrets with him to his grave. It is hard to state the seriousness of the intelligence loss of Farooqi’s death in that many people believed he was a leader of the Lashkar-e-Jangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist organizations.

• Sectarian attacks on Pakistan’s Shia minority killed over 30 people during prayers at a mosque in Sialkot. Jihadis from the Sunni extremist quarter (of which Farooqi was a leading exponent) have often carried out sectarian attacks in retaliation against government action.

Other Sub-Headings Today Include: India wants its UN seat; General focus on Pakistan; Bangladesh the 50/50 nation; Shifting Alliances; Follow up on A.Q. Khan; Lost and Found

Read the Rest…

VOA: Musharraf Warns US Could Lose Fight Against Terrorism

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says the United States could lose the war on terrorism if it does not address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other political disputes around the world.

General Musharraf says Muslims feel their religion is being targeted, especially by Washington's strong support of Israel over Palestinian concerns.

In comments on ABC television and at a U.S. business-sponsored dinner Monday in New York, where he will attend the U.N. General Assembly, the Pakistani leader identified political disputes, poverty and illiteracy as the root causes of terrorism, which he says are not being addressed.

General Musharraf plans to meet with President Bush Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. activities. Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in the fight against global terrorism.

AJ-JAZEERA: Pakistan closing in on ‘foreign militants’

On Saturday Major General Niaz Khattak, the operational commander in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, 400km southwest of Islamabad, said, “Around 600 to 700 foreign militants are still in the tribal area.”

“But the operational places of militants have been reduced to a considerable degree,” he said during a trip organised by the Pakistani army for journalists.

Armed fighters have been locked in a standoff with Pakistani security forces since March. A week ago Pakistani fighter jets and helicopter gunships pounded a fighters’ training camp, killing at least 50 - most of them allegedly foreigners.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

TOP TOPICS: PAKISTAN GETS SERIOUS

* In the last few months Al-Qaeda has staged multiple assassination attempts on Musharraf and other member of the Pakistani government. Recently reports have event cited the same Al Queda group, Islambouli Brigades, was linked to the recent bombings of Russian Airlines!

• Musharraf and the ruling powers of Pakistan have belatedly responded with a seriousness that has not been seen before, unleashing all their resources against militants and Al Qaeda terrorists alike causing them to scramble to different hiding places.

• In part due to Pakistan’s success, Pakistani militants and Al-Qaeda elements have started to cooperate closely and form alliances. While some have claimed that Pakistan is putting on a show to help G.W. Bush, it is really hard to believe that anyone would thing that Musharraf would repeatedly let himself almost get killed as well as lose trusted allies just to put on a show. Musharraf has become serious as a matter of survival and he knows better than anyone else how serious the threat is in part because, he helped create it.

Other Topics Today Include:The Maldives at sea; Bangladesh; Balochistan rises in revolt, again; Shifting Alliances; India - trouble beyond the Chicken’s neck; Nepal - A shattered Shangri-La

Read The Rest…

AP: Pakistan says it has busted suicide plot

Pakistan announced Saturday that it had arrested at least five men suspected of having ties to al Qaeda who’d been plotting to launch suicide attacks on government leaders and the U.S. Embassy.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters that security forces had captured five or six suspects — one Egyptian, the others Pakistani — in the past week across the country, and had seized weapons.

Authorities were hunting for four to five other suspects, he said.

However, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat told The Associated Press that about a dozen suspects had been nabbed. He said they’d been planning suicide attacks on “important personalities.”

Hayyat said the group wanted to hit the official residence of President Pervez Musharraf, Parliament and the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Islamabad, as well as Army House in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi.

They also wanted to target government ministers, he said.

REUTERS: Pakistan Plays Down ‘Terror Summit’; 2 More Arrests

Pakistan’s military Monday played down a report in the latest edition of Time magazine describing what it called a “summit of terrorists” held in March in lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

While Pakistani officials acknowledge that remote tribal areas like South Waziristan, 250 miles southwest of Islamabad, have been visited by foreign and local al Qaeda-linked militants in recent months to coordinate operations, the military said there was no summit.

The government also says Shakai in South Waziristan was used as a training area for al Qaeda until militants and tribal allies were forced out by the military in June.

Time reported the “gathering of terrorism’s elite” took place in March in Waziristan.

It quoted some U.S. officials as saying the gathering may have been a “pivotal planning session” in the same way a meeting of al Qaeda operatives in 2000 was used to discuss plans for the Sept. 11, 2001 strikes against the United States.

Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan denied any meeting took place.

“The story is fictionalized that a high-level summit meeting took place in South Waziristan,” he said. “There was no summit meeting.”

From MSNBC:
Pakistan: U.S. Blew Undercover Operation

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The al-Qaida suspect named by U.S. officials as the source of information that led to this week’s terrorist alerts was working undercover, Pakistani intelligence sources said Friday, putting an end to the sting operation and forcing Pakistan to hide the man in a secret location.

Under pressure to justify the alerts in three Northeastern cities, U.S. officials confirmed a report by The New York Times that the man, Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, was the source of the intelligence that led to the decision.

Is Musharraf dragging his feet or not? Well, if this is true, then there’s some good news in Pakistan…

DAILY TIMES: Pakistanis sneak up to Bin Laden

CIA-sponsored Pakistani agents have infiltrated the outer core of Al Qaeda in the high-gear American effort to grab Osama bin Laden.

The Pakistani agents, who are joined by Afghans and Uzbeks, are “beyond foot soldiers but not in the inner circle.” These agents “are more senior than the agents (the United States had) three years ago, who were on the periphery,” a senior intelligence official told Washington Post, according to a report published Saturday.

US intelligence believes that Al Qaeda today has a far less capable team than it had before the 9/11 attacks. However, Al Qaeda would “still want to continue to attack us in the ways they did three years ago,” the official said.

According to a CIA official, “We have busted plots repeatedly” undertaken by “serious Al Qaeda players” involving both aircraft and ships, some in Northeast Asia, others in Southeast Asia. He said intelligence on the possibility of other attacks had recently been strong. “I wouldn’t characterise what we have now as chatter. I think we have some fairly specific information that Al Qaeda wants to come after us,” he added.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

THE THAW AND THE MELT

• There was positive movement on the diplomatic level between India and Pakistan. Diplomats formalized nuclear risk reduction measures (NRRMs), agreed to disagree on Indus river water sharing, and began high-level discussions on the Kashmir dispute. The latter included a quiet low-profile meeting between J N Dixit, India’s National Security Advisor and Tariq Aziz, General Musharraf’s key point-man.

• Even as there is progress on the diplomatic front, cross-border infiltration and terrorism in Kashmir follow set patterns, with violence picking up come summer, as melting Himalayan snows open infiltration routes that even India’s over 700km long fence is unable to completely plug. In the days immediately preceding the talks, jihadi terrorists slit the throats of a railway engineer, and massacred 12 villagers including several young children.

Other Topics Today Include: Double agents and nuclear con-men in India; Palace intrigues and provincial rebellions in Pakistan; Nuclear Proliferation; India and Israel; Much ado about something in Bangladesh; Potential missteps in Afghanistan; Dalai Lama rejects Colonel Saunders in Tibet.

Read The Rest…

The AP is reporting that Pakistan has launched an attack on foreign fighters in the South Waziristan region, targeting a group of “300 to 400 mainly Chechen and Uzbek Al Qaeda-linked fighters” with “[s]ome Arabs and Chinese Uighurs” among their ranks, in retaliation for attacks Wednesday that broke an April 24 cease-fire:

Thousands of Pakistani troops backed by gunship helicopters have attacked hideouts of Al Qaeda-linked foreign militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border.

Security officials say the aircraft pounded hideouts in the Shakai area near South Waziristan tribal district capital Wana, where clashes left 35 militants and 15 troops dead on Wednesday.

CNN had more details from the statement by Pakistan’s military:

“Today, we appropriately responded to the latest unprovoked attacks by the terrorists,” army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said Friday.

The Pakistan army later said in a statement that 35 militants and 15 security forces had been killed in South Waziristan since Wednesday. It said the militants had taken the local population hostage, forcing the army to take action to flush them out.

About Friday’s assault, it said the army was targeting “known and confirmed hideouts of miscreants.”

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

TOP TOPIC

• Karachi is starting to seem like Baghdad with four major bombings in less than two weeks, assassinations, and major riots. The US recently put out warnings, saying there would most likely be more attacks and it seems like Al Queda is behind the bombings trying to create instability in Karachi it can exploit. No matter who is to blame Karachi is a powder keg that needs very little to ignite.

Other Topics Today Include: Saudi bombings send ripples through Asia; India post-election - democracy abhors inequity; Pakistan’s assassination plots; Pakistan’s chickens come home to roost; Nuclear proliferation reports; India & Israel: shifting alliances; Bangladesh - Islamic extremism & internal woes.

Read The Rest…

CNN reports that Pakistan’s education minister survived a rocket attack outside the southwestern city of Quetta. 18 rockets were fired at Education Minister Zobaida Jalal’s residence, killing one of Jalal’s servants.

Jalal has been responsible for recent changes to the curriculum in Pakistani schools that reduce the influence of fundamentalist Islam and the concept of holy war.

Critics have said she acted under pressure from the United States.

Jalal said the attacks were “harrassment” and called them “disheartening,” but said she would not be deterred from her duties.

“I will continue doing what I am supposed to do,” she said.

As many of you may know, female Chechen suicide bombers are often referred to as “black widows” because their attacks come in part as a response to the deaths of their husbands at the hands of the Russian military. There is speculation that many of the women who were part of the Tashkent bombings were widows as well.

Expect to see more of the same. Pakistani forces are hunting an Uzbek woman training female suicide bombers in the Afghan border region.

Pakistan’s security forces are hunting for the widow of a suspected Uzbek terrorist who is allegedly training women suicide bombers in the border region with Afghanistan, Reuters reported, citing local government officials.

The woman has set up a training camp in the border area, Reuters cited an unidentified official from the government of North West Frontier Province as saying. Her husband was a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was killed in a Pakistani military operation in the area in January, the official told Reuters.

The original Reuters story says the woman is named Aziza and that she is training Pakistani women to engage in attacks within Pakistan in order to get revenge for her husband’s death during the operations against the IMU in January.

(Cross-post from The Argus)

Our Friday democracy briefings examine current events in democratization around the globe, and link to lengthier analyses of democratization trends in countries of particular interest. This Special Report examines democratic prospects in Pakistan, and is by Patrick Belton, a researcher at Oxford and president of a foreign policy society and think tank, who writes daily at OxBlog.

Our third and final segment looks at the efforts being made to strengthen and track democracy and liberty in Pakistan, examines past security ties between the USA and Pakistan, and concludes with an assessment of U.S. policy implications and options. Pakistan’s possession of nuclear materials, its role in the proliferation of same, and its ongoing disputes with India certainly make the development of a stable, democratic, and free Pakistan a project worthy of America’s - and the world’s - close attention.

Part 1
* Pakistan: Political Structure
* The Islamist MMA
* Recent Parliamentary Elections and Constitutional Changes

Part 2
* Liberal Freedoms: A Mixed Record
* Historical Background of Democracy in Pakistan
* Why Has Democracy Always Failed in Pakistan?

Part 3
* Freedom Ratings
* International Efforts at Fostering Liberty
* History of U.S.-Pakistan Security Ties
* Scenarios and Options for U.S. Policy

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn.

MORE MUSHARRAF DEALS

• General Musharraf faces a particular constraint as Pakistan’s President - as chief of army he is constitutionally forbidden from holding the post of President. As the position of army chief holds considerable influence he is reluctant to let go; even at the risk of unraveling a deal he struck with the Islamic undamentalist alliance under which he was to ‘shed his uniform’ by the end of 2005. Musharraf is now engaged in political re-engineering [video] that many observers feel will involve him becoming the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League, faction-ridden political party founded by Pakistan’s founder. While Pakistan’s progress towards democracy is at best marginal, both the European Union and the Commonwealth are moving towards legitimizing Musharraf’s regime.

• Meanwhile the Pakistani army made a deal with Al Qaeda supporters in its South Waziristan region in a step which showed Musharraf’s limitations in the war on terror. More than 78 militants arrested in this year’s “hammer and anvil” spring offensive were released in return for the surrender of 5 key Al Qaeda Taliban supporters, who were also granted amnesty. Nek Mohammad, who had trained and fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan remains unrepentant. The Pashtun tribesmen seem to have defeated yet another army.

• Pakistan recently complained about a slight border incursion by US troops chasing elements of Al Queda and the Taliban. Showing again its weakness as a key alley in the war on terror Pakistan has refused to kill or capture foreign militants on the border of Afghanistan. It is hard to understand why the US has made Pakistan a Non-Nato Major Ally (NNMA).

• If you would like to learn more about Pakistan’s government and political structure you should read Patrick Belton’s excellent analysis at Winds Of Change. Here is part 1 and part 2 of his three part report.

Other Topics Today Include: India’s all electronic elections; non-proliferation resolutions; Shifting Alliances; Lashkar-e-Taiba in Oz; Pakistan and India; Nepal in chaos; Bangladesh’s internal woes; Terror in Thailand.

Read The Rest…

Our Friday democracy briefings examine current events in democratization around the globe, and link to lengthier analyses of democratization trends in countries of particular interest. This Special Report examines democratic prospects in Pakistan, and is by Patrick Belton, a researcher at Oxford and president of a foreign policy society and think tank, who writes daily at OxBlog.

This second segment looks at the history and status of democracy and liberty in Pakistan. While all democracies are imperfect and democratic failure is not unknown (q.v. Europe’s history over the last century), Pakistan’s history has certainly been shaky at best. After going over the present state of liberty in Pakistan and giving you some historical background, this article looks at 4 reasons why democracy and liberty have had such a rocky ride, courtesy of a Pakistani NGO named Pildat.

Part 1
* Pakistan: Political Structure
* The Islamist MMA
* Recent Parliamentary Elections and Constitutional Changes

Part 2
* Liberal Freedoms: A Mixed Record
* Historical Background of Democracy in Pakistan
* Why Has Democracy Always Failed in Pakistan?

Our Friday democracy briefings examine current events in democratization around the globe, and link to lengthier analyses of democratization trends in countries of particular interest. This Special Report examines democratic prospects in Pakistan, and is by Patrick Belton, a researcher at Oxford and president of a foreign policy society and think tank, who writes daily at OxBlog.

This first segment looks at the various factions in Pakistan, and brings you up to speed on the country’s recent political history internally. The Art of Peace has a sobering article about Musharraf stepping down as Army Chief at the end of the year, and what this might mean. There are even rumblings of civil war -which may not come to pass, but it’s worthwhile to understand the players here just in case.

• Pakistan: Political Structure
• The Islamist MMA
• Recent Parliamentary Elections and Constitutional Changes

Read The Rest…

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

SPRING OFFENSIVE

• Last month we started to see the beginnings of the much talked about Spring Offensive in Afghanistan and Pakistan to round up elements of the Taliban and Al-Queda. Pakistan has made a large showing of force but has seemed to have had little success. Pakistan’s efforts so far have been mixed with few success and many major blunders which give a lack of credibility to Pakistani claims that they can deal with the threats of Al-Queda and Taliban forces in their country as they claim in this news video.

• Last month we reported on the idea that the US has made a deal with Mushraff in light of Dr Khan’s involvement in a Global Nuclear Weapons ring . It does seem many share this opinion now Mushraff has survived multiple assassination attempts that seem to have been sponsored by Al-Queda and has more than one reason to go after them. Regardless though of what pundits say it is obvious that coalition forces are planning to make a serious effort to deal with Al-Queda in the area.

Other Topics Today Include: Pakistan Becomes a MNNA, India Reacts, Enemy Within, Proliferation, Terrorism in South Asia; and more.

Read The Rest…

REUTERS: U.S. Says No Plans to Chase Militants Into Pakistan

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it had no current plans to chase Islamic militants fleeing its forces in Afghanistan into Pakistan, despite comments by the U.S. ambassador suggesting it might have to do so.

According to news reports Ambassador to Kabul Zalmay Khalilzad said in a speech in Washington on Monday that Pakistan must eliminate terrorist sanctuaries or the United States would have to step in and do so itself.

Although Pakistan is a key ally in the U.S.-led “war on terror,” U.S. forces are not currently allowed to conduct combat operations inside the country.

U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Beevers told a news conference in Kabul it would be inappropriate for him to comment on Khalilzad’s remarks.

“That said, our relationship with the Pakistani army in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas remains unchanged,” he said. “I think they are making some significant leaps and bounds there, so we expect that to continue and we look forward to continuing to work in a complementary and parallel fashion as we work on the Afghan side of the border and the Pakistanis work on their side.”

(Notice the quotes around war on terror, but no quotes around the word terrorist.)

REUTERS: Pakistan Raids Islamic Terror Group, Arrests Nine

Pakistani police have arrested nine suspected Islamic militants in connection with a suicide bombing at a U.S. consulate in 2002 and an attack on a hotel that killed 11 French nationals, police said Tuesday.

The men belonged to the shadowy Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Alami and include the group’s leader, Syed Sohail Akhtar, known as “Mustafa,” said police chief Syed Kamal Shah. They were detained in Karachi in overnight raids, he said.

“It’s a huge success,” said Shah. “Their arrest should convey a message to all terrorists that one day they will have to face the law. Police found a large cache of weapons and bomb-making material with them,” he added.

REUTERS: Pakistani Soldiers Executed in Al Qaeda Standoff

Al Qaeda-linked militants have executed eight Pakistani soldiers taken hostage in fighting near the Afghan border, officials said on Saturday, raising the temperature in an offensive on Islamic radicals.

President Pervez Musharraf said his government was determined to act strongly against al Qaeda fighters, blaming them for a spate of attacks across the country including two attempts on his life in December.

The soldiers, their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head at point-blank range, were found in a ditch on Friday near Wana, the capital of the South Waziristan area in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal territories.

“It was a cold-blooded murder,” said Major-General Shaukat Sultan, the army’s spokesman. “We have identified the local and foreign militants and now we are chasing them. It was the worst kind of terrorism.”

Uzbekistan seeks the extradition of terror leader

Uzbekistan will consider seeking the extradition of the leader of a terror group if he is caught among suspected Al Qaeda militants fighting Pakistani troops near the Afghan border, an official said on Monday.

“If Tahir Yuldash is captured, we will consider his extradition, since he has committed crimes on Uzbek territory and was one of the main founders of the terrorist group IMU,” the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilkhom Zakirov said.

George Tenet, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, made a secret trip to Pakistan earlier this month, which could be the basis for a new anti-terrorist operation which got underway on Sunday, to hunt down members of al-Qaeda.

“There’s a major effort under way to locate al-Qaeda leaders,” a senior Pakistani official said. “The importance of George Tenet’s visit in this connection cannot be underestimated.”Neither the US nor the Pakistani government have publicly confirmed Mr Tenet’s visit. But in interviews with the Financial Times, Pakistani officials said Mr Tenet spent a day in Pakistan mainly discussing the government’s handling of recent investigations into rogue nuclear scientists, accused of selling nuclear know-how to other countries. Mr Tenet also talked about plans for a new operation along the Afghan border, the officials said.

In other news

A joint Russian-Pakistani group on combating international terrorism and other challenges started functioning in Islamabad on Monday.

This is already the second session of the group, which was set up two years ago. It will be attended by representatives of the Foreign Ministries, Interior Ministries, Justice Ministries and the Defence Ministries of the two countries.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed to RIA Novosti that Anatoly Safonov would take part in the consultations on February 23-26. “This is a working group on questions of terrorism, and appropriate problems will be discussed at this session,” a spokesman for the ministry pointed out.

The Pakistani leadership repeatedly stated its firm intention to put an end to the threat of terrorism in the country and its readiness for a broad cooperation in this sphere with other countries.

CNN: Police ‘foil’ Delhi airport attack

The Jammu and Kashmir police say they have thwarted a suicide attack planned by Pakistani militants on New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Gopal Sharma, the state director general of police, told reporters Saturday that police arrested three men in connection with the foiled attack.

“The three militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were arrested by Poonch district police (and they were) from outside the state,” Sharma said.

Lashkar e-Taiba is a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant outfit designated as a terrorist group by India, Pakistan and the United States. It has been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Some Western analysts say the group has had links with the al Qaeda terrorist organization.

CNN BIAS
CIA World Factbook lists Sringinar as in Indian sovereign territory. The byline on the story is: SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

PAKISTAN’S NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION SCANDAL

• Last month we talked about Pakistan’s rogue scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who confessed this month to sharing nuclear weapon information with a variety of countries. Robin Burk’s special report provides great information on the topic. While Khan was pardoned by President Musharraf, most likely as part of a deal to get a total confession and cooperation, he is now saying that a pardon will be based on what a Pakistani investigation might find.

• Musharraf has mea culpa’d saying he long suspected Khan of supplying nuclear weapons information on the black market but did not act because he did not have proof and that if the U.S. had proof they should have supplied it earlier. The U.S., though, is refuting his claims saying they provided Pakistan with ongoing evidence of a “black market in nuclear technology for years.”

• There is also evidence that Khan provided information to Iraq in the early 1990’s for its nuclear weapon program. There is also very recent information that Khan assisted in the removal of special material from Iraq.

Other Topics Today Include: Terrorist Cells in Pakistan Target U.S.; South Asian Internet Virus Makers; The Israel-India Alliance; Terrorism roundup in South Asia; and more.

Read The Rest…

Wash Times reports on Islamic extremists entering the the US.

Islamic radicals are being trained at terrorist camps in Pakistan and Kashmir as part of a conspiracy to send hundreds of operatives to “sleeper cells” in the United States, according to U.S. and foreign officials.

The intelligence and law-enforcement officials say dozens of Islamic extremists have already been routed through Europe to Muslim communities in the United States, based on secret intelligence data and information from terrorists and others detained by U.S. authorities.

A high-ranking foreign intelligence chief told The Washington Times in an interview last week that this clandestine but aggressive network of training camps “represents a serious threat to the United States, one that cannot be ignored.” The official said as many as 400 terrorists have been and are being trained at camps in Pakistan and Kashmir.

Pakistani officials are denying the accusations.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

Hope for Peace?

• India and Pakistan stunned much of the world early this month with their surprise peace talks about Kashmir causing The Instapundit to wonder if it is the beginning of trend? While things do look promising and we all would prefer Pakistan and India to reach a peaceful agreement Sruju seems very skeptical. If somehow India and Pakistan can create a lasting peace, even with all their differences, Pakistan and India may serve as a example for peace and prosperity in the Middle East.
  
  Other Topics Today Include: Pakistan’s Enemy Within; Rogue Scientists; More on the Indian-Israeli-U.S. alliance; Roundup of Islamic terrorism throughout SE Asia

Read The Rest…

Mansoor Ijaz has an excellent discussion of Pakistan's history as a conduit for nuclear proliferation. His conclusion:

Having come dangerously close to falling under the U.S. definition of a "rogue" state, Pakistan could now become a beacon for how to responsibly deal with rogue elements inside the state without compromising its sovereignty or dealing a blow to an important cornerstone of the national psyche. Other states (Georgia, for example) with nuclear weapons programs that may also be in the market for selling their secrets might take notice and change course.

To emphasize U.S. concerns, the president (and Congress) should condition all U.S. aid to Pakistan on Islamabad's acceptance of nuclear safekeeping vaults, sensors, alarms, closed-circuit cameras, and other technologies that give Musharraf and his like-minded aides the ability to internally monitor and track Pakistan's nuclear technologies. Simply excusing leakage as the work of "greedy" individuals with their own agendas, as Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman did when the Iranian revelations were made, is neither believable nor an acceptable risk to the safety and security of civilized nations.

Furthermore, a new formula for giving U.S. aid should be devised that is inversely proportional to Pakistan's spending on military and nuclear budgets. The less Islamabad spends of its national wealth on building nuclear bombs that protect no one, the more America should spend on helping Pakistan build schools and hospitals that educate and protect the masses.

Pakistan has the right to maintain its nuclear arsenal for deterrence against regional threats, and perhaps as importantly, for its national dignity. It does not have the right, whether sanctioned officially or not, to assist in the creation of nuclear monsters that seek Armageddon itself. Nor does it have the right to misappropriate American taxpayer dollars in support of actions by the very elements that seek our death and destruction on their misguided path to eternity.

Cross-post from OTB

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report.

Today's briefings are brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

Top Topics

* Al-Qaeda is reportedly regrouping and recruiting in Kashmir (both Pakistani Azad Kashmir and Indian Jammu and Kashmir) before moving sending jihadis to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

* As AfricaPundit already noted, al-Qaeda elements in East Africa led by Faisal Abdullah Mohammed are using Somalia as base from which to launch attacks throughout East Africa with the assistance of its Somali affiliate al-Ittihad al-Islamiyyah.

* Rohan Gunaratna, widely considered one of the foremost experts on al-Qaeda in the world, is warning that Europe may be attacked by terrorists in retaliation for the war in Iraq.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; USA Homeland Security Briefing; al-Qaeda regrouping in Yemen; US posting bounties in Somalia; 3 Pakistani soldiers busted fighting with al-Qaeda; Maulavi Akhter Mohammed says down with Musharraf; jihadi minimum wage; Sri Lankan parliament suspended and military on call; an al-Qaeda plot in Kyrgyzstan thwarted; Bhutan's prince off to war; and an Eminem knife fight in Istanbul.

Read the rest...

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

TOP TOPIC

* Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad touched off a firestorm with a speech to the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Malaysia that made numerous disturbing comments about Jews ruling the world, etc. He also exhortated Islamic world to arm itself. We have a roundup of blogosphere reactions to Mahathir's comments inside...

* JK: Are Pakistan's actions making nuclear proliferation unstoppable? "Fibonacci's Nukes" offers a sobering analysis of the current situation.

Other Topics Today Include: More on Mahathir; Our problematic allies; Philippines reports; Indonesia; Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in a nukes deal; Pakistan's mixed record; G.W. Bush's success in Asia; is South Asia cyber terrorism central; and more.

read the rest...

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

TOP TOPIC

Pakistan has for several decades been treated as a valuable ally of the United States yet many people have started to question if Pakistan really is. At the same time Pakistan has helped the U.S. apprehend numerous terrorist and now Al-Queda is calling for President Mushraf’s removal which Pakistan is taking as a serious threat.

Topics Today Include: Commentary on the Israeli and Indian alliance; India gains influence in Washington; Australia sees U.S. as necessary ally in stabilizing South Asia Islamic terrorism throughout SE Asia; and Tech Central Stations new Asia/Pacific site.

read the rest! »

Pakistan, like every nation on the planet except Iraq, formally condemned the September 11 attacks. Nevertheless, as the people of America soon learned, the military junta led by General Musharraf was not the only face of Pakistani politics. In this follow up to our initial post covering Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Bin Laden, Dan Darling takes us back to the early months of the War on Terror, and the roles played by various Pakistani factions.

Evaluating an Ally: Pakistan and the War on Terror, Part 1

On September 15 of 2001 we first stared that other face of Pakistan in the eye when the "moderate" Maulawi (Islamic scholar) Gul Rahman called for holy war if the US retaliated against Osama bin Laden. Shortly thereafter, we learned that the maulawi's views were hardly fringe. They were shared by many members of the nation's feared and powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which might be better referred to by its Urdu nickname that roughly translates as "the invisible government."

read the rest! »
 
 

The blogosphere has been on the Saudis' case for a long time now over their role in al-Qaeda and beyond. Now doubts about the Saudis are going mainstream, and similar doubts are growing about Pakistan and the role of its ISI intelligence service. They too have been on the blogosphere's hit list for quite some time now, but a combination of recent events and the work of a French anti-Idiotarian intellectual are beginning to bring their role into mainstream consciousness as well.

Dan Darling & I are currently engaged in a research project into "The Saudi-Pakistani-Bin Laden Triangle," and we'll be drawing together sources and analysis to paint a more complete picture for our readers. In the meantime, we thought it might be a useful service to hand our readers some advance sources and reading materials...

read the rest! »
 
 

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South/South East Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

TOP TOPIC

• Unfortunately our biggest story for the month is the horrific bombings that happened in India this month. The largest was in Bombay. Just about every India blogger has some comments on the news, from Suman to Varnam. But it's useful to look at why Bombay was such a tempting target.

read the rest! »
 

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South-SE Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen.

• India continues to claim that Pakistan supports terrorist camps. The Strategypage has more on this topic, and what's going on in between India and Pakistan on a day to day basis. And have we mentioned the wall India is building in Kashmir?

• JK: Winds of Change.NET explains what's at stake politically in Kashmir, from both India and Pakistan's point of view. Not to mention the nuclear stakes involved.

read the rest! »

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

TOP TOPICS

• LA Times: "After more than a decade of working behind layers of front companies and in hidden laboratories, Iran appears to be in the late stages of developing the capacity to build a nuclear bomb." They've done a special investigative report. As WATCH/ notes, the NY Times has a similar investigative report.

• Fierce Highway has a great analysis of the missing 9/11 report pages, the Saudis, and U.S. policy. See also the sequel: "More Reason, Not Less".

read the rest! »

BBC:

At least 15 people have been arrested in the Pakistani city of Quetta in connection with the attack on a Shia mosque which left 53 people dead.

The deputy head of police in the province of Baluchistan said members of outlawed Sunni organisations had been arrested in several raids in the city overnight.

He said they were also looking into the possibility that foreigners were involved in the attack on Friday.

There are unconfirmed reports that seven Afghan nationals have been arrested in the border town of Chaman.

Reuters:

LAHORE, Pakistan - Pakistani police have arrested a prominent Islamic militant belonging a group which has been blamed for many sectarian killings and has been linked to the murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl, officials said on Saturday.

Allah Wasaya was detained in Lahore. Police did not say which crimes the militant was wanted for, but a senior police official told Reuters: "He was one of the most wanted members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi."

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was declared a terrorist organization by the United States earlier this year.

It seems al-Qaida has a "you are either with us or against us" rule as well. From the Guardian:

Pakistani authorities raised the possibility Saturday that Taliban fugitives and their al-Qaida allies carried out a massacre of 44 Shiite Muslims at a mosque in this southwest Pakistani town across the border from Afghanistan.

The attack on Friday was the first use of a suicide bomber in Pakistan's bitter sectarian conflict between extremist Shiite and Sunni Muslims. It came a few weeks after a former Taliban military commander said the ousted Sunni Muslim movement would begin using suicide squads against its foes.

NJ.com:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest who received death threats after his church took over a school in eastern Pakistan was gunned down at home Saturday, police said.

Gunmen broke into Rev. George Ibrahim's home in Ranala Kot, a small village about 180 miles south of Islamabad, shortly after midnight. There were no reports of arrests and no claims of responsibility.

Ibrahim had received several death threats, according to Shahbaz Bhatti, head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. The threats apparently came after the province returned the school to Catholic Church ownership.

"He wanted to denationalize the school, which had been the property of the church and when he got it back he received threats saying 'you will pay a price for the school,"' Bhatti said.

It was not known who made the threats, but Bhatti feared it was extremist Muslim groups, who have been blamed for previous attacks against Christians in Pakistan.