Posted on 03/24/2002 1:13:53 PM PST by knighthawk
WASHINGTON: Pakistan may be the only country in the world which has at least 10,000 "non-military personnel" ready to give their lives anytime, a top Pakistani security official has been quoted as saying.
The official, who was not named, told a daily here that the jehadis or militants were in large numbers in Pakistan ready to die anytime.
"Pakistan's intelligence agencies have long had covert ties to militant groups in Pakistan - ties nurtured to help successive Pakistani governments support the now-defunct Taliban, as well as pressing Pakistan's battle against Indian troops in Kashmir," 'the Washington Post reported today.
Referring to "crackdown" on militant outfits, the daily said: "But with violence continuing almost daily, many analysts are asking whether the crackdown has been mostly talk. For example, recently about 1,300 of arrested militants have been released without being charged with any crime."
The daily said Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar was quietly allowed to go home on Friday and is said to be under a kind of house arrest despite the fact that his outfit is on the State Department's list of terrorist organisations and banned by President Pervez Musharraf.
"The leaders of Pakistan's two largest religious parties have also been quietly released in recent weeks. They were arrested for leading anti-government rallies protesting Musharraf's decision to join the anti-terrorism coalition."
"Analysts here said while they believed Musharraf was serious about wanting to crack down on Islamic militancy and prevent further terrorist attacks, he was also walking a fine line, trying not to offend powerful religious groups and even making conciliatory gestures toward them," it said.
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When are we going to get it straight. The poulation of every Islamic country in the world consistes of at least 25% die-hard Jihadists. It's the nature of the lunatic belief.
And once again, never trust anything about Pakistan in an Indian newspaper, or anything about India in a Pakistani newspaper...no matter how reputable a paper is and the Times of India is reasonably reputable as such things go. Yet, as usual on FR, anything that people WANT to believe is approached without the slightest scrap of skepticism.
Funny thing is they are probably both right!
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