Tag Archives: Pakistan

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Will Pakistan’s army finally pacify its lawless tribes 🇵🇰

07 Friday Mar 2014

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ANALYSIS  – At the beginning of last century when the areas now known as the federally administered territories were under the loose control of the British Empire, Winston Churchill used a new technique to pacify the rebellious tribes – bombing.
The Pathans of the North West Frontier never accepted outside rule then, especially when they were not Muslims.
When the nation of Pakistan was formed they were the first to offer their allegiance to the newly created Islamic republic.
But they never changed their ways and customs – lawlessness is and has always remained part of their way of life.
The question is will they finally behave now that they have the threat of the Pakistan army hanging over them.
Using first rate intelligence and backing it up with a single deadly airstrike or a bullet from an assassin, Pakistan’s military has pushed the ‘Pakistan Taliban’ to the the negotiating table. But the attacks have continued with a horrendous assault on a courtroom in Islamabad which brought today’s warning from Pakistan military that a full scale operation could be launched as early as this month if there is no end to the violence.
The people of Pakistan have already made their feelings clear about what should happen to the so called Tehreek e Taliban, even the politicians are united on this issue.
Only Nawaz Sharif who has attempted to bring them with in the political process has stood in the way.
The first wave of deadly Pakistan operations began after a number of Pakistani soldiers were beheaded by the Taliban. A pause in operations came after the Taliban leadership clearly afraid for their lives announced they were ready to talk.
A splinter group has been blamed for the courthouse attack, but that will not be good enough if there are any further atrocities. The question is of course have the lawless tribes finally got the message.

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Leader of Pakistani Taliban ‘is dead’

01 Friday Nov 2013

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Mehsud

TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

News that the leader of the Pakistani Taliban has been killed in a drone strike will be greeted with some joy within Pakistan, and will also be seen as a vindication of the drone policy pursued by the CIA inside the ‘tribal areas’ bordering Afghanistan.

Of course, Pakistanis would argue that the Pakistani Taliban would not be attacking their country had America not conducted its highly controversial drone strikes which the Pakistan military said has killed 67 civilians, and over a thousand militants.

Pakistan’s military has been accused of conniving with America in allowing the strikes to occur. If that is so, the reason for this may not be as straight forward as many believe. Pakistan’s relationship with America in the war on terror has always been to pursue their own nation’s interests, which in this case was to pacify a lawless part of the country – a borderland where  the kidnap of young boys and girls was commonplace.

So, the drone programme is as much a Pakistani military project, as  it was a CIA one.

The slaughter of Hakimullah Mehsud – however an unpleasant and unsavory character he may have been – is however, hugely problematic for Pakistan.

The rationale behind this assassination is of course to cut off the head of the snake, a man who the Pakistan military have been itching to get at after a series a high-profile attacks on their soldiers and headquarters.

For one, where does this leave the peace talks sponsored by the elected Prime Minster of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif – he had offered the Taliban the chance to engage in dialogue with the Pakistan government. That attempt at rapprochement was met with more attacks inside Pakistan, which left many wondering whether the Mehsud really spoke for the Pakistani Taliban, whoever they may have been.

And what does this say about the relationship between Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan military?

But more concerning than this of course, is the fear of what is follow. How many more Mehsuds have been created out of making this evil man a martyr?

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Bangladesh War Crimes – When hating Pakistan is not enough

19 Friday Jul 2013

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

Two more members of Bangladesh’s Jamaat -e-Islami party have been convicted of war crimes relating to the country’s secession from Pakistan in 1971.

That makes a total of seven – six of whom could be hanged, the other told that he escaped the noose because he was 90-years-old.

All but one of the ‘convicted’ members of Jamaat-e-Islami are accused of committing appalling crimes against intellectuals in Dhaka, alongside the Pakistan army.

Another – who was minister of social justice in the previous government – has been convicted of genocide and torture against Hindus.

More are to follow.

For their part the Islamic Party say they are being punished for siding with Pakistan. Independent observers say Jamaat-e-Islami are being gutted in an effort finish them as a political force in Bangladesh.

The War Crimes Tribunal set up by the daughter of the assassinated founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has been criticised for its lack of legitimacy by international observers.

Hasina’s rivals, the Bangladesh national Party, say the current government is trying to weaken the opposition by crushing one of it key allies in the run-up to forthcoming national elections.

Of course, this is much more.

By destroying the country’s leading Islamist party, Sheikh Hasina is signaling that her country’s future lies with India and the West, at a time when it may be in the country’s long-term interest to look at China and Pakistan.

She, like her father, Mujib Islam, sees no place for Islam in the political life of Bangladesh.

As well as this, she is of course also ignoring what happened once Bangladesh won its independence – the appalling actions of Indian-trained paramilitaries on members of Jamaat-e-Islami and anyone they accused of siding with Pakistan.

In this context, the War Crimes Tribunal can be seen for what it is – the latest act of revenge conducted by a nation that really hasn’t faced-up to what really happened in 1971, and after.

And until that happens people like Sheikh Hasina’s father will never get justice, for it wasn’t the Pakistan army or Jamaat-e-Islami who threw his bullet ridden unclothed body onto the street.

That crime was conducted by Bangladesh’s own army.

And they were not the only ones.

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Nawaz Sharif’s Triumphant Return

13 Monday May 2013

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PAKISTAN-POLITICS-JUSTICE-MUSHARRAFTEMPLATE ANALYSIS

Some fourteen years after being ousted in a military coup,  self-made businessman Nawaz Sharif has secured a resounding election victory to become Pakistan’s Prime Minister once again.

The world that the steel magnate returns to is of course a very different one to the one he left in 1999, when General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a coup d’etat.

Today’s Pakistan’s economy has felt the full force of the recession that has hammered the rest of the world. The rupee has been devalued to such an extent that the days when you could say ’20 rupees make one British pound’ appear to be some distant fantasy.

The people of Pakistan are still living in a third world country where running water is a luxury for most, as is the idea of getting fed.

There is no welfare system to speak or adequate hospitals either.

All the while, some of the poorest people on earth have had to endure almost daily drone strikes in Pakistan’s so-called tribal areas, and the well-heeled urban elite have learned to stay at home as terrorists strike in the country’s main cities.

Despite all this. the people of Pakistan turned up in large numbers – turnout was reported to have been 60 per cent – to put their faith in this man.

Let’s hope he doesn’t let them down.

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