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Keyword: pakistan

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  • Police: Arranged marriage led father to kill daughter

    07/06/2008 12:51:00 PM PDT · by forkinsocket · 30 replies · 634+ views
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 07/06/08 | S.A. REID
    A Clayton County man faces murder charges in the strangling death of his 25-year-old daughter early Sunday over her desire to end an arranged marriage. Chaudhry Rashad, 54, apparently got mad during an argument in which the victim, Sandela Kanwal, told him she wanted out of the marriage, Clayton police officer Timothy Owens said. Authorities were called to their Utah Drive home in Jonesboro just after 3 a.m. Sunday. Kanwal lived with her father when she was not with her husband, who is in Chicago, Owens said. She hadn't seen the husband in three months, he said. Both Rashad and...
  • Suicide Bomber at Pakistan Red Mosque Rally Kills 15 (ROP Alert)

    07/06/2008 1:57:52 PM PDT · by Coffee200am · 4 replies · 109+ views
    AFP ^ | 07.06.2008 | AFP
    ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A suicide bomber killed 15 people Sunday in an attack on police guarding an Islamist rally to mark the anniversary of an army raid on the radical Red Mosque in Pakistan's capital, officials said. In the latest apparent act of revenge for the bloody storming of the mosque, the attacker blew himself up in a crowd of policemen just after thousands of hardliners demanded the public hanging of President Pervez Musharraf. The operation to clear the mosque a year ago left 100 people dead, and unleashed a wave of suicide attacks that pushed the newly-elected government into...
  • Pakistani girl who jumped from balcony 'wants Italian citizenship'

    07/06/2008 1:34:37 PM PDT · by forkinsocket · 8 replies · 438+ views
    AKI ^ | 3 July 2008 | Staff
    A 15-year-old Pakistani girl who jumped from a balcony in northern Italy after refusing an arranged marriage says she wants to become an Italian citizen. "I no longer want to be Pakistani," said the girl, named only as 'Piccola' by Turin-based daily La Stampa. An investigation is being opened into Piccola's desperate attempt to escape the future her parents planned for her - marriage to a teenage Pakistani cousin. "They had agreed to marry me to my cousin, a 16-year-old who I don't love," she said. Piccola is currently in hospital with a broken leg after leaping from her family's...
  • Ten police dead in Pakistan blast

    07/06/2008 8:03:04 AM PDT · by nuconvert · 3 replies · 152+ views
    BBC ^ | July 6, 2008
    Ten police dead in Pakistan blast July 6, 2008 At least 10 policemen have been killed in an apparent suicide bomb attack in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, officials have said. The attack came on the first anniversary of a deadly siege at the city's Red Mosque, in which more than 100 people were killed during fighting. The mosque was stormed by Pakistani troops to evict militants who had taken sanctuary within its complex. Police had been deployed at a rally being held near the mosque on Sunday. "The blast happened 15 minutes after the meeting dispersed. A heavy contingent of...
  • Pakistan - Thousands of Islamists commemorate the storming of the Red Mosque

    07/06/2008 2:07:07 AM PDT · by HAL9000 · 2 replies · 124+ views
    ATS Swiss News Agency via translation | July 6, 2008
    via translation - Thousands of Islamists commemorate the storming of the Red Mosque Thousands of Islamist radicals gathered in Islamabad to celebrate the first anniversary of the bloody storming of the Red Mosque. The capital of Pakistan is placed under high surveillance. Many demonstrators deemed close to the Taliban and Al Qaeda brandissaient black flags and slogans scandaient paying tribute to the "martyrs" of the headquarters of the Red Mosque. The police established a security perimeter around the mosque, inaccessible by car, with son barbed wire and search pedestrians in the search for possible weapons. "We demand to act against...
  • Day after AQ (Khan) claim, Pak says case closed

    07/05/2008 10:25:22 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 6 replies · 236+ views
    The Times of India ^ | Jul 2008, 0042 hrs IST, | AGENCIES
    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's foreign ministry insisted on Saturday that its nuclear proliferation case was closed, a day after the disgraced architect of its atomic program claimed the army under President Pervez Musharraf helped spread the technology. Abdul Qadeer Khan said on Friday that Pakistan's army supervised a 2000 shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea. It must have been sent with the approval of Musharraf, the then-army chief who took power in a 1999 coup, Khan alleged. "It was a North Korean plane, and the army had complete knowledge about it and the equipment," Khan said. "It must have gone...
  • Musharraf says army still backs him, vows not to quit

    07/05/2008 10:20:01 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 161+ views
    The Times of India ^ | 5 Jul 2008, 1338 hrs IST, | AFP
    KARACHI: President Pervez Musharraf insisted on Friday that Pakistan's powerful army still supports him, but he said he would step down if he thought it would solve all of the country's problems. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, blasted "hypocrites" for saying that the nuclear-armed Islamic republic's 500,000-strong military had turned against him since he stepped down as army chief last November. "The army will never leave me alone," Musharraf told a meeting of business leaders in the southern port city of Karachi. "Those who said the armed forces are not with me are the worst hypocrites and...
  • Pakistan's Military Knew Of Nuclear Technology Transfer To N Korea, Says Scientist(centrifuges)

    07/04/2008 8:43:01 PM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 6 replies · 195+ views
    RTT News ^ | 07/04/08
    Pakistan's Military Knew Of Nuclear Technology Transfer To N Korea, Says Scientist 7/4/2008 2:52 PM ET Abdul Qadir Khan, who is considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, said on Friday that the country's former military regime was aware of the transfer of nuclear technology to North Korea. AQ Khan told media on Friday that the Pakistani army, which was headed by President Pervez Musharraf then, was aware of the technology transfer as the uranium enrichment equipment was dispatched onboard a North Korean plane under the supervision of Pakistani army officials in 2000. Khan's statements on Friday contradicts...
  • ‘Centrifuges sent to North Korea with Musharraf’s consent’

    07/04/2008 4:09:22 PM PDT · by milestogo · 1 replies · 187+ views
    ‘Centrifuges sent to North Korea with Musharraf’s consent’ * AQ Khan says army knew of shipment * Presidency slams ‘false statement’ ISLAMABAD: North Korea received centrifuges from Pakistan in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army during the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, Dr AQ Khan said on Friday. Khan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. Khan said the army had “complete knowledge” of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and...
  • Danish women held captive abroad ( Religion of Peace )

    07/03/2008 1:05:19 PM PDT · by george76 · 5 replies · 382+ views
    Copenhagen Post ^ | 02.07.2008
    In the wake of a Danish woman’s honour killing in Pakistan, crisis centres and the Foreign Ministry both say they are aware of many instances of women with Danish citizenship being held against their will in foreign countries Following the killing a 31-year-old Danish woman in Pakistan allegedly over disgracing her family’s ‘honour’ just over a week ago, both cultural experts and the Foreign Ministry are warning that the case was not an isolated one. Uffe Wolffhechel, head of citizens’ services for the Foreign Ministry, said his office is routinely brought into cases where Danish women of immigrant background are...
  • Italy: Pakistani girl 'leaps from balcony after refusing arranged marriage' ( Religion of Peace )

    07/03/2008 12:50:45 PM PDT · by george76 · 17 replies · 594+ views
    A 15-year-old Pakistani girl was hospitalised after reportedly jumping from a balcony in the northern Italian town of Alessandria. She had refused an arranged marriage with a 16-year-old Pakistani. "My parents had already been in touch with his and told me I would be marrying him. I have nothing against him but I do not love him," Turin-based La Stampa daily quoted the girl as telling police from her hospital bed ... The previous centre-left Italian government issued a 'charter of values' for immigrants after the tragic case of another young Pakistani girl, Hina Saleem who was murdered by male...
  • Holding Islamabad Accountable

    07/02/2008 5:57:44 PM PDT · by Kaslin · 1 replies · 169+ views
    IBD Editorials ^ | July 2, 2008
    War On Terror: Pakistan's deal to let U.S. drones strike Osama bin Laden without prior approval is an encouraging piece of news, and we look forward to more. We remain skeptical though.According to the Washington Times, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has agreed to let CIA-operated Predator drones target bin Laden. In a welcome switch from past denials, Musharraf is now tacitly acknowledging that al-Qaida's leader has set up shop in his backyard. That's a plus. But since when did America need anyone's approval to take out its Enemy No. 1 by any means necessary? Rewind to 9/11 and imagine the...
  • Dane dies in 'honour killing' in Pakistan

    07/02/2008 4:45:13 PM PDT · by forkinsocket · 11 replies · 548+ views
    The Copenhagen Post ^ | 01.07.2008 | Staff
    A Danish mother was shot by her brother-in-law in Pakistan in a so-called 'honour killing'; Danish authorities are powerless to press charges A Danish-born woman, with Pakistani roots, was shot and killed by her brother-in-law 12 days ago in a Pakistani village. According to Berlingske Tidende newspaper, who have seen Pakistani police reports into the killing, the woman was killed by the man for not following his orders. He and three other in-laws are in police custody in Pakistan. The 31-year-old woman had been living with her husband's family in the village of Kharian for three years. The husband came...
  • Deal lets U.S. drones strike bin Laden

    07/02/2008 8:06:22 AM PDT · by InvisibleChurch · 3 replies · 536+ views
    washingtontimes.com ^ | Wednesday, July 2, 2008
    The United States has a standing agreement with Pakistan that CIA-operated Predator drones may strike Osama bin Laden's hide-out without prior permission from Islamabad, according to people familiar with the arrangement. One source said the free hand - an exception in a country politically sensitive to U.S. counterterrorism operations - was granted by President Pervez Musharraf early in the war if the U.S. locates bin Laden in Pakistan's rugged tribal areas, where he is thought to be hiding.... DRONE
  • Operation Sirat-e-Mustaqeem: as straight as a coil!(Latest Pakistani army operation)

    07/01/2008 3:30:57 PM PDT · by milestogo · 4 replies · 139+ views
    Operation Sirat-e-Mustaqeem: as straight as a coil! Wednesday, July 02, 2008 By Mohammad Malick PESHAWAR: Who is really in charge in the Khyber Agency and who has written the script of the operation Sirat-e-Mustakeem to deal with the Fata situation and are the unfolding events unravelling as per the predetermined script? One militant commander claimed that an informal arrangement had been reached prior to the beginning of the operation whereby approximately 25 ‘bigger structures’ shall be blown in the Bara region by the security forces and then the process will stop. We will soon know whether this statement is true...
  • The Long Arm Of Pakistan

    07/01/2008 2:04:01 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 12 replies · 322+ views
    The Times of India ^ | 2 Jul 2008, 0050 hrs IST, | Haroun Mir
    KABUL: The latest terrorist attack on a prison in Kandahar was not the work of the Taliban alone. In fact, all significant terrorist attacks during the last several months in Afghanistan have the imprint of Al-Qaida both in the planning and execution. Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai's harsh reaction against Pakistan, by threatening to send Afghan troops into Pakistani soil to fight Al-Qaida and the Taliban in their safe houses, shows the frustration of the Afghan leadership against Pakistan's latest peace agreements with the Taliban. The US military in Afghanistan is convinced of Pakistan's duplicity and cannot ignore the threat coming...
  • US repels Taliban attack on the Pakistani border ( An estimated 33 Taliban were killed.....)

    07/01/2008 1:39:31 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 26 replies · 653+ views
    Long War Journal ^ | uly 1, 2008 11:13 AM | Bill Roggio
    The US military and Afghan National Army fought yet another major engagement in eastern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. An estimated 33 Taliban were killed in a battle in the Spera district in Khost province. The battle began after the Taliban launched a complex attack on a US outpost in the Spera district, right along the Pakistani border. The Taliban followed up a rocket attack with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire. US forces beat back the attack with "mortar, artillery fire and close air support," the International Security Assistance Force reported in a press release. The Taliban fighters "crossed...
  • Father and brother murdered Pakistani girl: Canadian police ( Religion of Peace )

    07/01/2008 8:38:22 AM PDT · by george76 · 22 replies · 771+ views
    ANI ^ | Jun 28, 2008
    Police in Toronto, Canada concluded that the 16-year-old-Pakistani girl Aqsa Parvez, was murdered by her father... and her brother, for refusing to wear the hijab or veil as is the custom for women in traditional Muslim households. "Instead of getting angry at the father and brother who are accused of planning the murder by luring the runaway teenager back to her home, leaders of the conservative and orthodox Muslim community made excuses." we found few other Muslim leaders willing to slam the father, mother, sister and brother, who either joined hands in killing the young girl, or sat passively as...
  • Mullah Omar wears shades, has trimmed beard, lives in Pakistan

    07/01/2008 10:14:11 AM PDT · by gandalftb · 7 replies · 586+ views
    The Canadian Press ^ | 063008 | A.R. Khan
    The leader of the Taliban, has reportedly had a makeover and been sighted on numerous occasions in Pakistan. Mullah Omar has changed his appearance since he fled from Afghanistan. Mullah Mohammed Zaher says he has personally met with the reclusive jihadist several times in Quetta, Pakistan. He says the Taliban founder has turfed his trademark turban, trimmed his beard and begun wearing sunglasses. "He does not look like a Talib anymore. He does not even wear a turban." Zaher says Omar has several safe houses in the Quetta area. "I used to meet him. I have seen his home," Zaher...
  • New York Times again exposes “highly classified Pentagon order”

    07/01/2008 7:57:36 AM PDT · by Eagles6 · 32 replies · 1,112+ views
    Canada Free Press ^ | June 30, 2008 | Judi McLeod
    As of 12:45 EST this morning, Drudge was still advertising a developing story posted hours earlier: “Sources: Bush anger at coming New York Times Story detailing hunt for Bin Laden…The newspaper is planning to expose a “highly classified Pentagon order” authorizing Special Operations forces to hunt al-Qaida leader in mountains of Pakistan. ‘Operation Cannonball’. Operation Cannonball was the code name given to the Al Qaeda hunt in Pakistan by the C.I.A. in 2006.
  • The Bara Operation is a lie, plain and simple(latest Pakistani army operation)

    06/30/2008 3:33:50 PM PDT · by milestogo · 6 replies · 194+ views
    The Bara Operation is a lie, plain and simple Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Comment By Mohammad Malick PESHAWAR: The so-called grand operation to "protect" Peshawar from the marauding troops of the Lashkar-e-Islami of militant leader Haji Mangal Bagh and others entered its third day today. The government has already claimed victory to the extent of ridding the Khyber Agency of the so -called criminal extremists who ostensibly have been sent scurrying to the farther valley of Tirah. Security czar Rehman Malik and Prime Minister Gilani are patting themselves on the back for having restored the government's writ. TV audiences are...
  • Nato missiles hit tribesmen(New details)

    06/30/2008 2:30:50 PM PDT · by milestogo · 4 replies · 253+ views
    Nato missiles hit tribesmen By Sher Khan Afridi submitted 27 minutes ago BARA (Khyber Agency) - Amidst operation against what the authorities call criminals and miscreants, a mysterious missile hit the base of one of the religious groups near Bara town of Khyber Agency in early hours on Monday, killing at least nine persons and injuring around 15 others including a woman.All the killed were stated to be tribesmen from scattered areas of Khyber Agency.So far no one has claimed the responsibility for the missile attack against the base of the religious group but its spokesman blamed the NATO forces...
  • Amid policy disputes, Qaeda grows in Pakistan

    06/29/2008 7:42:41 PM PDT · by Anti-Bubba182 · 21 replies · 654+ views
    IHT ^ | 6-30-08 | Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde
    WASHINGTON: Late last year, top Bush administration officials decided to take a step they had long resisted. They drafted a secret plan to authorize the Pentagon's Special Operations forces to launch missions into the snow-capped mountains of Pakistan to capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda. Intelligence reports for more than a year had been streaming in about Osama bin Laden's terror network rebuilding in the Pakistani tribal areas, a problem that had been exacerbated by years of missteps in Washington and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, sharp policy disagreements, and turf battles between American counterterrorism agencies. The new plan,...
  • Pakistan militant house destroyed

    06/30/2008 1:05:58 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 7 replies · 253+ views
    BBC ^ | Monday, 30 June 2008 12:44 UK 11:44 GMT, | BBC Staff
    Pakistan militant house destroyed The house was reduced to a pile of rubble An explosion has destroyed the house of a militant leader in the Khyber region of north-west Pakistan, killing at least seven people, officials say.It is not clear whether explosives stored in the building detonated or if it was hit by missiles. Security forces began a drive against militants in the area at the weekend. Separately, Islamabad and Rawalpindi were shaken by two loud bangs, but the air force said these had been caused by an aircraft breaking the sound barrier. It said one of its fighter...
  • Pak forces claim Peshawar now safe

    06/30/2008 11:39:14 AM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 2 replies · 148+ views
    Times of India ^ | Jun 30 2008, 0057 hrs IST,AFP | staff
    BARA (PAKISTAN): Pakistan's government claimed on Sunday that it had saved the northwestern city of Peshawar from militants as troops pushed forward on the second day of a major offensive against the rebels. ( Watch ) Soldiers backed by armoured vehicles retook control of the main town in the Khyber tribal district, on the outskirts of Peshawar, and also demolished a building belonging to a Islamist insurgent group, officials said. The government, under pressure from western allies over its peace talks with militants, launched the operation on Saturday to counter rebels threatening Peshawar and raiding supply convoys for Nato and...
  • Missile kills 9 in Pak's Khyber Agency

    06/30/2008 11:32:11 AM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 9 replies · 277+ views
    Times of India ^ | Jun 30 2008, 1228 hrs IST,PTI | staff
    ISLAMABAD: Up to nine persons were killed and as many injured in a missile strike carried out on Monday by pilotless drones on the headquarters of a religious group in Pakistan's troubled Khyber Agency. At least three missiles struck the headquarters of Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Aneelmunkar (promotion of virtue and prevention of vice force) at Bara in Khyber Agency, where Pakistani security forces launched a crackdown against militants on Saturday. The missiles apparently targeted Haji Namdar, the head of the religious group, but he was safe, eyewitnesses told TV channels. The witnesses said six to nine persons...
  • Twin blasts rock Rawalpindi, no casualties reported

    06/30/2008 11:21:49 AM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 6 replies · 167+ views
    Times of India ^ | Jun 30 2008, 1116 hrs IST,PTI | staff
    ISLAMABAD: Two massive explosions occurred on Monday in the cantonment area of the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi. There were no details of casualties. The blasts were so powerful that they were heard in the nearby capital of Islamabad. The Aaj TV channel reported that the blasts had caused extensive damage to a building housing office of Income Tax department. Several ambulances were seen rushing to the scene of the blasts. Further details were immediately not available.
  • SOURCES: BUSH ANGER AT COMING NEW YORK TIMES STORY DETAILING HUNT FOR BIN LADEN...

    06/29/2008 10:09:08 PM PDT · by Danae · 87 replies · 2,909+ views
    http://www.drudgereport.com/ ^ | 6/29/2008 | Drudge
    SOURCES: BUSH ANGER AT COMING NEW YORK TIMES STORY DETAILING HUNT FOR BIN LADEN... The newspaper planning to expose internal debate surrounding 'highly classified Pentagon order'; Special Operations forces hunt al-Qaida leader in mountains of Pakistan... DEVELOPING.... Thats the Story from drudge, OMG if the Times is gonna report this... Good GOD.... This is Huge. ( yea and Series) This is NOT a good thing for national Security and I am just a housewife. Even I can see and call a Traitor, a Traitor, but the Editor and the signing off authority that Prints this, to bee seen by the...
  • Pakistan broadens anti-militant offensive

    06/29/2008 11:00:15 AM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 27 replies · 370+ views
    AFP ^ | Sunday June 29, 2008 | AFP
    BARA, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistani forces pushed forward with the new government's first major offensive against Islamist militants Sunday, retaking control of a key town and demolishing an insurgent group's building.The operation was launched a day earlier in the Khyber tribal agency to counter rebels threatening the northwestern city of Peshawar and attacking supply convoys for US and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.Pakistan has come under growing pressure from the United States and other western allies who are concerned about its policy of negotiating with Taliban and other militants in the restive frontier region."The situation is under control. There has...
  • The battle for Afghanistan (The Tribune-Review Army embed in Afghanistan)

    06/29/2008 6:11:08 AM PDT · by Salena Zito · 4 replies · 610+ views
    The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | June 29th, 2008 | Betsy Hiel
    DURAGI, Afghanistan -- Early morning, and 14 U.S. soldiers stand in a semi-circle for a mission briefing. Four Humvees, engines running, rumble beside them. "We're going to Warshallah today," Army Capt. Sam Karr, 28, of Manhattan, Kan., tells his platoon. "I guess it has, like, 200 bad guys in it. That's nothing, dudes -- we've got 14, so we're good."
  • Pakistan strikes at Taliban in Khyber agency

    06/28/2008 6:35:36 PM PDT · by Uncle Ralph · 10 replies · 363+ views
    The Long War Journal ^ | June 28, 2008 | Bill Roggio
    Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is de facto control; yellow is under threat. The Pakistani government has launched an operation targeting the Taliban in the Khyber tribal agency along the Afghan border. The operation is led by the paramilitary Frontier Corps and police. Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has responded by halting peace negotiations and threatening to conduct attacks throughout Pakistan. The operation was launched in the early morning by elements from the Frontier Corps, the Frontier Constables, and police commandos. The Pakistani Army has not committed to the fight at this time,...
  • Pakistan set to attack Taliban ( Military to launch attacks on Taliban strongholds around Peshawar,

    06/28/2008 6:35:34 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 12 replies · 369+ views
    Financial Times ^ | June 28 2008 03:00 | Farhan Bokhari
    The Pakistani government has asked its military to get ready to launch attacks on Taliban strongholds around Peshawar, the northern city, amid warnings the militants were preparing to seize control of the town, said a government official.The threat is alarming as Peshawar is within two hours driving distance from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
  • US-led coalition, Afghan troops kill 32 rebels

    06/28/2008 9:59:14 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 7 replies · 222+ views
    AFP on Yahoo ^ | 6/28/08 | AFP
    KABUL (AFP) - Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed 32 Taliban-linked militants in fighting in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Saturday. The rebels were slain after attacking the forces patrolling in southern Uruzgan province's Khas Uruzgan district on Thursday, the statement said. "A total of 32 militants were killed by Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces in two separate engagements in the Khas Oruzgan District, the statement added. A 10-year-old Afghan child and two Afghan national policemen were wounded during the battle, it added, without giving details on how the child was hurt. The attack, the latest in an...
  • Pakistani forces destroy several centers of militant group ( Taliban challenged )

    06/28/2008 8:53:31 AM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 7 replies · 321+ views
    chinaview ^ | , June 28 | Editor: Sun Yunlong
     ISLAMABAD, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security forces on Saturday launched a major operation against a militant group in a tribal region in northwestern Pakistan and destroyed several of its centers, officials said.     "We are conducting operation on the public demand and with the government instructions," Muhammad Alam Khattak, who is in charge of the operation, told a news conference in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.     Khattak, Inspector General of the paramilitary "Frontier Corps", said the purpose of the operation was to establish the writ of the government.     He said the operation was launched by the paramilitary...
  • Pakistan launches anti-Taliban crackdown near Peshawar

    06/28/2008 8:35:19 AM PDT · by nuconvert · 10 replies · 359+ views
    Reuters ^ | Jun 28, 2008
    Pakistan launches anti-Taliban crackdown near Peshawar Jun 28, 2008 By Ibrahim Shinwari LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces launched an offensive against Taliban fighters near the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday, prompting a militant commander to suspend peace talks and threaten retaliation. The crackdown in the Khyber tribal region followed a series of sorties by Taliban fighters into Peshawar to push people to observe their puritanical interpretation of Islamic law. "There has not been any resistance from any group or miscreants," according to a government statement in Peshawar. Major-General Alam Khattack, who is leading the offensive, said it...
  • Pakistan army attacks militants

    06/28/2008 4:45:35 AM PDT · by Racehorse · 6 replies · 286+ views
    BBC ^ | 28 June 2008 | BBC
    The Pakistani military has launched an offensive against militants near the main north-western city of Peshawar, security officials said. Militants have become more active in and around Peshawar in recent months, say correspondents. A contingent of troops has blocked the road towards Afghanistan, imposed a curfew and ordered shops to shut. Pakistani militant leader Baitullah Mehsud said he was suspending peace talks with the government. Pakistani forces have fired mortar rounds at suspected militant hide-outs in the mountains of the Khyber region, west of Peshawar. "There has been no resistance, so far. No casualties, so far," Malik Naveed Khan, police...
  • Ex-Taliban fighter tells of training from Pakistani military

    06/27/2008 7:11:41 PM PDT · by indcons · 11 replies · 509+ views
    THE CANADIAN PRESS ^ | Alexander Panetta
    KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A former Taliban fighter has provided a gripping first-hand account of being secretly trained by members of the Pakistani military, paid $500 a month and ordered to kill foreigners in Afghanistan. Mullah Mohammed Zaher offered a vivid description of a bomb-making apprenticeship at a Pakistani army compound where he says he learned to blow up NATO convoys. He's one of three former Taliban fighters introduced to The Canadian Press by an Afghan government agency that works at getting rebels to renounce the insurgency. Zaher insists he was neither forced to go public with his story nor coached...
  • Taliban attack US base in Afghanistan from Pakistan

    06/27/2008 6:28:31 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 11 replies · 445+ views
    Long War Journal ^ | June 27, 2008 3:14 PM | Bill Roggio
    By Bill RoggioJune 27, 2008 3:14 PM Wanted poster for Siraj Haqqani. The image is a composite photo. Click to view. The Taliban has launched yet another attack on a US outpost in Afghanistan from inside Pakistan. A Taliban rocket teams fired at a US outpost in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan from two sites early this morning from two sites: one within Afghanistan and another about 400 meters across the border in Pakistan. Four rockets struck near the military base, but no casualties were reported. The military responded by attacking the two sites and notifying the Pakistani military of...
  • Taliban rampage in Pakistan's Swat district

    06/27/2008 6:17:43 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 9 replies · 258+ views
    Long War Journal ^ | June 27, 2008 9:00 AM | Bill Roggio
    By Bill RoggioJune 27, 2008 9:00 AM Map of Swat. Click map to view. The Taliban has launched a series of attacks against political opponents and the infrastructure in the scenic northern district of Swat in Pakistan. The attacks occurred as the government and the Taliban are committing to abiding by the terms of last month's peace agreement. The fighting began on Thursday after the Taliban attacked the home of the brother of the vice president of Swat's Pakistan People Party. The brother, his wife, and son were murdered by the Taliban, and their home was set on fire. The...
  • Pakistan's failure to pressure Taliban a concern: Gates

    06/27/2008 1:57:09 PM PDT · by milestogo · 5 replies · 148+ views
    Pakistan's failure to pressure Taliban a concern: Gates WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said Pakistan's failure to put pressure on Taliban forces on the country's border with Afghanistan had fueled a rise in violence, but said Islamabad appeared to recognize the problem. ADVERTISEMENT A 40 percent spike in violence in east Afghanistan in the first five months of 2008 "is a matter of concern, of real concern, and I think that one of the reasons that we're seeing the increase ... is more people coming across the border from the frontier area," Gates told a...
  • NWFP govt accepts Swat Taliban demands

    06/27/2008 5:06:41 AM PDT · by milestogo · 5 replies · 183+ views
    NWFP govt accepts Swat Taliban demands Friday, June 27, 2008 Rejects immediate Army pullout; check-points to be abolished; prisoners’ release soon By Delawar Jan PESHAWAR: The Swat Taliban brought the NWFP government to its knees after relentless attacks in the past four days, as the government agreed to do away with security check-points, release all the Taliban prisoners in a few days and ensure an early payment of compensation to the victims of military operations, but flatly refused to withdraw the Army forthwith. The government held fresh talks with the Taliban in Peshawar to revive the ceasefire and save the...
  • Taliban slit throats of "U.S. spies" in Pakistan

    06/27/2008 11:28:59 AM PDT · by LibWhacker · 27 replies · 1,063+ views
    Reuters ^ | 6/27/08 | Shaibzada Bahauddin
    DAMADOLA, Pakistan, June 27 (Reuters) - Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan publicly slit the throats of two Afghans on Friday after they were accused of spying for U.S. forces suspected of launching a missile strike in May. The two men, one of them a former Taliban fighter, were brought blindfolded before a crowd of several thousand people near the village of Damadola in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border before they were executed. "They were spies. Whoever spies for the Americans will meet the same fate," Qari Zia-ur-Rehman, a Taliban leader in the area, told the crowd before another...
  • Hot Pursuit: US Forces Strike Targets in Pakistan's FATA ...

    06/27/2008 6:18:32 AM PDT · by Clive · 12 replies · 580+ views
    Hot Pursuit: US Forces Strike Targets in Pakistan's FATA – Federally Administered Tribal Areas – over the Afghan Border Edited excerpts from an opinion piece by B. Raman, published in Outlook India [1]On the night of 10 June 2008, twenty-seven (27) people – thirteen (13) of them members of Pakistan's Frontier Corps (FC), including a Major – are reported to have been killed in an airstrike by USAF aircraft on a checkpoint located near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. [ The FC checkpoint was ] in the Mohmand Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. [...
  • Gates Welcomes Pakistan’s Pledge to Reassert Pressure at Afghan Border

    06/26/2008 4:49:05 PM PDT · by SandRat · 4 replies · 147+ views
    WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today praised a pledge by Pakistani officials to renew pressure along its northwestern border, where militants responsible for violence in eastern Afghanistan have taken refuge. The secretary praised a pledge today by top Pakistani officials to engage tribal leaders along the North West Frontier Province, where militants responsible for much of the violence in eastern Afghanistan are believed to be taking refuge. “The challenges that we're facing in Afghanistan, … are in some measure a result of the relaxation of pressure on the Pakistani side of the border,” Gates said...
  • Descent into Chaos

    06/26/2008 3:02:48 PM PDT · by forkinsocket · 12 replies · 427+ views
    Timesonline.co.uk ^ | June 22, 2008 | Max Hastings
    Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist of the highest narrative and analytical gifts, is baffled by the West’s almost demented indifference and folly towards Afghanistan and his own country. The stakes are huge. If either state fails, as is highly plausible, global stability will be rocked. The United Nations, Nato, the European Union and, of course, America will see their purposes and credibility set at naught. Yet, as Rashid writes: “The international community’s lukewarm commitment to Afghanistan after 9/11 has been matched only by its incompetence, incoherence and conflicting strategies — all led by the United States.” Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Washington’s...
  • Pakistan fleecing US in war on terror(could not account for as much as $ 2 billion)

    06/26/2008 7:37:59 AM PDT · by Cronos · 17 replies · 338+ views
    Times of India ^ | 26 Jun 2008, 0059 hrs IST | Chidanand Rajghatta
    Pakistan has been fleecing the US with exaggerated and sometimes fabricated expenses for its role in the war on terror, American auditors have reported, just hours after the Bush administration forked out $ 523 million in the latest payout to its ally. Washington has paid more than $5 billion to reimburse Pakistan for counter-terrorism expenses of which the administration could not account for as much as $ 2 billion, according to a Government Accounting Office (GAO) audit presented before a Congressional committee on Tuesday. The GAO report spoke of auditors uncovering an array of dodgy costs, including millions "spent" on...
  • Musharraf toeing US line to break Pakistan: A Q Khan(Pakistan threatened Israel)

    06/25/2008 8:57:19 PM PDT · by milestogo · 7 replies · 782+ views
    Musharraf toeing US line to break Pakistan: A Q Khan Thursday, June 26, 2008 News Desk RAWALPINDI: President Pervez Musharraf is working on the US agenda of dismembering Pakistan by 2015, a news agency reported here Wednesday quoting renowned Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. It quoted Dr Khan as having told an Urdu-language weekly published from New York in a telephonic interview that Musharraf is doing whatever the US wants. He said the US plans to break up Pakistan by 2015. Bitterly criticising the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said it is not an international organisation but...
  • Northwest Pakistan descends into chaos

    06/25/2008 8:50:16 PM PDT · by Ernest_at_the_Beach · 22 replies · 812+ views
    Long War Journal ^ | June 25, 2008 5:15 PM | Bill Roggio
    Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is de facto control; yellow is under threat. The Pakistani Taliban continue military operations in the tribal agencies and the settled regions of the Northwest Frontier Province despite ongoing negotiations to sign a peace agreement with the government. Forces loyal to Baitullah Mehsud overran a town previously run by pro-government tribal forces, and beheaded 22 Pakistanis. In Peshawar, the provincial capital, police and government officials have said the Taliban is close to taking control of the city. Baitullah Mehsud strikes in South Waziristan As the Pakistani government continues negotiations with Baitullah Mehsud,...
  • Iraqi Christians are targets of cleansing, committee told

    06/25/2008 5:10:28 PM PDT · by forkinsocket · 17 replies · 555+ views
    The Ottawa Citizen ^ | June 18, 2008 | Jennifer Green
    Muslim militants are crucifying children to terrorize their Christian parents into fleeing Iraq, a parliamentary committee studying the persecution of religious minorities heard yesterday. Since the war began in 2003, about 12 children, many as young as 10, have been kidnapped and killed, then nailed to makeshift crosses near their homes to terrify and torment their parents. One infant was snatched, decapitated, burned and left on his mother's doorstep, the committee was told. Filham Isaac, speaking for the Nineveh Advocacy Committee, told the human rights committee that Iraqi Christian churches were bombed, clergy murdered and unveiled Iraqi women raped or...
  • Covert Radio: Inside Central Asia, Uzbekistan and Iran

    06/25/2008 1:41:37 PM PDT · by RadioCirca1970 · 3 replies · 165+ views
    Covert Radio Show.Com ^ | 06/25/08 | Brett Winterble
    <p>In this episode of Covert Radio we focus on Iran and Central Asia. Joining us on the line are Bruce Pannier in segment 1 and Banafesheh Zand Bonazzi in segment 2.</p> <p>Bruce takes us on a journey of sorts into Central Asia and into the key strategic water disputes between Dushanbe (Uzbekistan) and Bishkek (Kyrgystan). This stuff matters because ultimately it affects US interests in that part of the world.</p>