Fighter jets pound Taliban strongholds across Swat

MINGORA / TIMERGARA: Fighter jets and attack helicopters pounded Taliban hideouts in the northwest on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a parliamentarian from Swat said 700,000 people were stranded in the valley.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the punishing offensive, now into its 17th day, escaping also out of the reach of Taliban fighters who have terrorised the local population in a bloody campaign to enforce sharia law.

The air attacks targeted Taliban strongholds across the Swat valley, AFP quoted security officials as saying.

Helicopter gunships also swung into action in the neighbouring district of Lower Dir, where the military has been on the offensive since April 26 after Taliban fighters advanced within 60 miles of Islamabad.

Up to 15,000 security forces are taking on about 4,000 well-armed fighters in Swat in what Islamabad calls a battle to ‘eliminate’ militants.

‘All exit roads from Mingora have been closed. Our troops have surrounded the city to deny any exit to militants,’ said a military official, referring to the main town in Swat.

‘We have also blocked the road to Dir as militants were using the route to flee to the tribal district of Bajaur,’ the official said.

Terrified residents trapped in Mingora told AFP by telephone that militants had planted mines and were digging trenches.

‘Please, please, please, do not call me again, they will cut my throat and say that I was spying,’ said one resident contacted by AFP, pleading for his name not to be published.

‘People are becoming mentally ill, our senses have shut down, children and woman are crying, please tell the government to pull us out of here,’ said a shopkeeper, also on condition of anonymity.

‘Just imagine how we are surviving. Forget the lack of electricity and other problems, the Taliban are everywhere and heavy exchanges of fire are routine at night.’

Amjad Ali, a 35-year-old plumber, said he and his four children walked for three days to the Jalozai refugee camp to escape scenes of horror in Mingora, where Taliban were armed with guns, sniper rifles and rocket launchers.

‘Bodies were dragged by dogs... nobody could collect them,’ he said.

‘There was a lot of fear because they (the Taliban) are famous for killing and beheading the people,’ he said.

Overall, the military says 751 militants and 29 troops have been killed in its operations in Lower Dir, Buner and Swat, although there is no independent confirmation of the figures and no word on civilian casualties.

On Tuesday, the military operation in Swat entered a crucial stage when commando units were dropped by helicopters on mountains around the Taliban headquarters in Peochar, said to be the hideout of the chieftain of militants in the region, Mullah Fazlullah.

Official sources said that a fleet of at least 13 helicopters flew over the Peochar valley and dropped commandos on mountains as the army intensified its offensive in the region.

People in adjoining Dir also reported seeing several helicopters hovering over the area and dropping commandos on hills in Niag Darra, Karo Darra and Turmang Darra areas.

According to sources, around 1,200 troops backed by tanks and artillery reached Turmang Darra in Upper Dir on Tuesday. Planes and helicopters flew over the area.

About the Peochar action, the military’s Swat Media Centre said: ‘Jetfighters and helicopter gunships shelled the region before dropping special services group (SSG) personnel in the region.’

Local people said ground forces moved towards the area which is considered to be ‘rear base’ of militants. Besides Mullah Fazlullah, his close lieutenants Muslim Khan, Shah Dawran, Mehmood Khan and Ibne Amin are also said to be based there.

Peochar, surrounded by dense forests, is a strategic location with several training camps, centres for suicide bombers, arms depots, torture cells, private jails where kidnapped people and ‘prisoners’ are kept, ‘courts’ and offices.

Taliban’s shura held its meetings in Peochar and issued directives to militants in the district and other parts of Malakand region.

Officials on Tuesday said four militants were killed when helicopters gunships shelled their positions in Imamdheri. Militant hideouts in Malam Jabba were also attacked.

The district headquarters of Mingora is still under the control of Taliban. They are patrolling the streets and holding positions on rooftops.

Power, water, and gas supply to the whole district remained disconnected, adding to the misery of local people. Government employees are yet to receive salary for March because all banks are closed.

In Shangla, a child and another non-combatant were killed on Tuesday and five other people were injured in Jabbar area adjacent to Malam Jabba. About 250 displaced families arrived in Lelonai area of Shangla which has been under curfew for 48 hours.

At least 11 militants were killed and nine others injured during a search operation and troops cleared the area from Chakdara to Gaddar. Four suspected militants were arrested.

Troops took positions on rooftops along the Timergara-Peshawar road. A security man was killed and another injured in Osakai area.

Sources said 40 to 45 bodies were lying in the premises of the Government Degree College in Gulabad which had been occupied by militants and shelled by security forces. A soldier was killed and a lieutenant injured in a clash near Gulabad.

Troops advanced to Tendodag, a stronghold of the Taliban, after taking control of the GT Road.

Two paramilitary soldiers — Amjad of Mohamand Riffles and Javed of Dir Scouts — were shot dead in Chakdara for violating curfew. They were going to Peshawar and Swat to resume duty. Another man was injured.

Security forces also took control of Hayaseri and set up a military camp there.

Pakistan 'most dangerous country in the world': Canada

OTTAWA: Extremist attacks across nuclear-armed Pakistan in recent years have made it ‘the most dangerous country in the world,’ Canada's Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Monday.

‘I'm extremely concerned,’ MacKay told a press conference. ‘The instability in Pakistan in my view makes Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world.’

Around 12,000 to 15,000 Pakistan security forces are battling fighters in three northwest districts in what Islamabad says is a fight to eliminate militants —branded by Washington as the greatest terror threat to the West.

MacKay said the Taliban's recruiting and rearming in Pakistan is also harming Nato efforts to rout insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan, where Canada has deployed some 2,800 troops.

‘As long as insurgency is allowed to foster and to incubate inside Pakistan, the problem remains very real, very difficult,’ he said.

Gilani agrees to convene all-parties conference

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told a special session of the National Assembly on Monday that rebels masquerading as religious Taliban in the country’s north-west had a ‘foreign agenda’, and said the present war on them wouldgo on until their surrender.But his call for a united fight against what he called ‘enemies of the country’ received a mixed reception with opposition calls for more information and a prominent government ally and one-time Taliban sympathiser dissociating from newly launched military operation in the Malakand division.

At the start of a debate on the situation, the prime minister also announced a government decision to call an international donors’ conference in Islamabad soon to mobilise funds to help hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting, mainly in Swat and three other adjoining districts.

Mr Gilani agreed with opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s demand for calling an all-parties conference to discuss the ‘grave situation’ confronting the country and also offered an in-camera briefing for parliamentary group leaders by senior officials of law-enforcement agencies engaged in the campaign.

He said the government ordered the new full-scale military operation last week when ‘we were left with no option’ after the rebels responded to the enforcement of a Sharia regulation demanded by them as part of controversial peace deal by challenging even the country’s constitution, democratic system, judiciary and the writ of the government and taking law-enforcement officials as hostages.

‘They are enemies of the country,’ the prime minister said about what he called ‘terrorists who have no religion… and who don’t accept anything’ and added: ‘They are following some foreign agenda (and) want to conquer this country.’

But he did not name any foreign power helping the militants, who are usually linked with Afghan Taliban movement and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network that US-led western forces in Afghanistan are seeking to eliminate after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

‘With this conscientious nation and a patriotic military, we can defend the county,’ the prime minister said. ‘However strong the terrorists may be, they cannot face the military. We will make them surrender and establish the (government’s) writ.’

EXIT POLICY
But Mr Gilani said military action could not be a permanent solution of the problem and that it had to be followed by an ‘exit policy’ with provisions for strengthening other law-enforcement agencies with enhanced capacities and better equipment, bomb-proof police stations and devices to jam illegal FM radio broadcasts used for rebel propaganda.

Referring to the large-scale exodus of civilian population from the troubled region, the prime minister said all matters pertaining to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) would be managed and coordinated by the NWFP government with the help of a special federal support group to be headed by Lt-Gen Nadeem Ahmed, a former deputy chairman of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority. Its tasks would include registration of IDPs, medical cover for them and relief supplies.

He said the provincial government would assess damages due to fighting and consider giving tax exemption for the affected areas.

WALKOUT
Chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose party had once been a supporter of the Afghan Taliban and is now a part of the PPP-led coalition government, surprised the house by staging a protest walkout at the end of his speech in which he said he had not been consulted before taking the new military action, which he said was neither timely nor right.

Opposition leader Nisar Ali Khan also complained that most members of the house were as ignorant about the new ‘declaration of war’ as they were about the failed peace deal they had supported but said his Pakistan Muslim League-N would not oppose the new operation and ‘will be with you if anyone challenges the writ of a democratic government’.

But he said it was also ‘our duty to stay the hand that bombs our people’ as done by unmanned US drones in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The prime minister specially responded to the concerns voiced by the opposition leader and said his government would not compromise on ‘national sovereignty, respect and dignity’ and also assured the JUI leader that there would be no repetition of not taking his party into confidence in the future.

Pakistan Muslim League-Q’s NWFP president Amir Muqam and former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao both called for avoiding military bombing in towns and for prompt and better relief for the IDPs in their speeches in the debate, which will resume on Tuesday at 10am.

At least 360,000 flee fighting in Swat, Buner, Lower Dir

ISLAMABAD: At least 360,000 people have fled heavy fighting in northwest Pakistan in little over a week and registered with authorities, officials said Monday. A spokeswoman for UN refugee agency UNHCR told AFP: ‘360,600 individuals registered in camps and outside camps as part of a new influx from Swat, Buner and Lower Dir’ since May 2. Government air and ground forces launched a military offensive against Taliban fighters in the district of Lower Dir on April 26 and in neighbouring Buner on April 28. Heavy clashes broke out in Swat, another neighbouring northwest district, between security forces and Taliban militants on May 6.

On May 8, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military had been ordered to eliminate militants, which prompted a further civilian exodus. Ariane Rummery, the UNHCR spokeswoman, said the provincial government in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), with the help of UNHCR, had set up 29 registration points for the displaced, mostly in the towns of Mardan and Swabi. ‘Less than 20 per cent are staying in camps, while 80 per cent are staying outside camps,’ Rummery told AFP. A local Pakistani government official working at the emergency response unit in Peshawar, the capital of NWFP, said half a million had fled ‘since the offensives’ but was not able to provide a clear date. Security forces have conducted operations against militants in parts of NWFP over the past two years, on top of six years of battles in the surrounding semi-autonomous tribal belt on the border with Afghanistan. ‘The number of the internally displaced people is more than 500,000 while those registered in camps are 278,000 at Peshawar, Mardan and Swabi,’ Abid Majeed an official at the emergency response unit at Peshawar told AFP. He said most of the displaced prefer to live with relatives or rent homes, than stay in camps.

Local officials said more than 100,000 people on Sunday alone fled Swat, which has sunk from popular ski resort to a Taliban bastion ripped apart by insurgency to enforce sharia law. ‘I am not in a position to give exact figure of the internally displaced persons as we are in the process of putting together the information that our staff is collecting,’ said Swat administration official, Khushhal Khan. – AFP

Up to 700 militants killed in Swat offensive

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani military said Monday that 52 militants had been killed during an offensive against Taliban militants in the northwestern district of Swat in the last 24 hours.‘(The) operation against miscreants by security forces is making headway...In the last 24 hours, 52 miscreants have been killed and five wounded during the exchange of fire,’ the military said in a statement.Interior Minister Rehman Malik earlier said more than 700 militants were killed in Swat in the last four days.'The operation will continue until the last Talib,' Malik said in Islamabad on Monday.

'We haven't given thema chance. They are on the run. They were not expecting such an offensive.'That figure — which exceeds that given by the military on Sunday by at least 200 — and his claims of success could not be independently verified. The military is restricting access to the battlefields and many local journalists have also left. The government has not given figures for civilian casualties, but accounts from refugees suggest they are significant.The United Nations said 360,600 refugees had fled Swat and neighbouring Dir and Buner districts since operations began last week. That figure is on top of some 500,000 people registered as displaced due to past offensives.Fighter jets continued to bomb suspected militant positions in Swat, 80 miles northwest of Islamabad, on Monday.Jawad Khan, a university student who lives in the Kabal area of Swat, said jets bombed the nearby Dhada Hara village Monday morning.'I saw smoke and dust rising from the village,' Khan said, adding he didn't know about casualties because of curfew restrictions, which have been enforced again.A police official said jets bombed the Matta area of Swat on Monday as well.The official said he was confined to his station but could see a decapitated body lying outside along a road where a clash between military forces and the Taliban on Sunday left six militants dead. He requested anonymity.He also said that information he had received indicated the militants retained control of Swat's main town, Mingora.The military launched the offensive after the insurgents in Swat used a peace deal to impose their reign in other neighboring areas, including a stretch just 60 miles from Islamabad.The army says 12,000 to 15,000 troops in Swat face 4,000 to 5,000 militants, including small numbers of foreigners and hardened fighters from the South Waziristan tribal region.Malik said the government was providing sufficient funds to help the displaced Pakistanis, and brushed aside fears that militants would try to infiltrate relief camps.'This fear is baseless that they are melting down among the displaced people because we are screening the displaced people,' he said. 'We are registering them with documents, checking each and every individual.'Opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited a camp for the displaced on Monday and said it was everybody's responsibility to help.‘It's a very unfortunate situation,’ Sharif told reporters.‘The nation in no way approves the activities of those elements who are responsible for the displacement and migration of these people,’ he said.On Sunday, suspected militant hideouts were attacked in Kanju, Mingora, Venaibaba, Namal, Qambar, Peochar, Fizagath, Tiligram and Chamtalai areas and 50 to 60 militants were killed.

Security forces urged citizens to remain vigilant and said that the terrorists had planted explosive devices in various areas of Mingora and Swat to put the blame of civilian deaths on security forces.

There are reports that militants destroyed two schools one in Barikot and the other in Maniar.

Terrorist activities continued in Swat where Zahid Khan, Imam of a mosque at Nishtar Chowk was killed.

Military authorities said they had secured a large area in Shangla up to Biladram and advancing troops detected IEDs on the Chamtalai bridge where an intense exchange of fire took place.

In Shangla, security forces resumed operation on Sunday from the important heights of 2,245 and 2,266 which had been captured on Saturday and secured the area up to Shalwal Kandao. One soldier died during the clashes.

Troops found a number of bodies of militants and weapons left by them near Ramotai Loe Sar.

One soldier who was injured on May 8, died on Sunday during evacuation.

The ISPR said a training camp of militants in Banai Baba was destroyed and 140 to 150 militants were killed. Troops secured the Shangla Top.

The Shangla DCO confirmed that 140 to 150 terrorists had been killed.

In Dir, troops secured the area from Kala Dag to Haya Sarai and during a clash with militants at Musa Jan and Sarai Kot on Sunday, five militants were killed and one soldier was injured.

In a separate incident, militants kidnapped a reporter of a private TV channel from Chakdara.

Military authorities said ground forces continued to consolidate positions on Gulabad heights and the area between Chakdara Bridge at Landakai had been secured by ground forces. Troops detected and defused three IEDs.

The militants suffered heavy casualties when helicopters attacked their hideouts in Barwada Char, destroying six bunkers and two ammunition dumps.

Troops secured the ridges around Sultanwas and the militants there were surrounded, the ISPR claimed.

The militants resumed their activities in South Waziristan and on Saturday night attacked a security forces convoy in Spin area South of Tanai.

During the ensuing clash 18 militants and an officer, Capt Muneeb, were killed and two soldiers were injured.

Later, the militants fled the area leaving behind bodies of their men. One injured militant was arrested.

Pakistan not to collapse, says Zardari

WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari, in an interview aired on Sunday, strongly rejected the notion that Pakistan might collapse and called for international efforts to fight extremism.

“Is the state of Pakistan going to collapse?” Zardari asked himself rhetorically on NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme. “No. We are 180 million people. There the population is much, much more than the insurgents are.”

The president was responding to assessments by some US military analysts, who had raised the possibility of a collapse of the Pakistani state because the Taliban insurgency had so destabilised it. But Zardari admitted that Pakistan had “a problem” with Taliban activities inside its borders and suggested an international approach to address it.

“I think we need to find a strategy where the world gets together against this threat, because it’s not Pakistan-specific,” he said. “It’s not Afghanistan-specific. Like I said, it’s all the way from the Horn of Africa. You’ve had attacks in Spain. You’ve had attacks in Britain. You’ve had attacks in America. You’ve had attacks in Africa, Saudi Arabia,” he said.

“So I think the world needs to understand that this is the new challenge of the 21st Century, and this is the new war.” Zardari acknowledged Pakistan will need US help to succeed in this fight. “It’s an accepted position that you — we cannot work this problem out unless Pakistan, Afghanistan and America are on the same page,” he said.

Legislation has been introduced to the US Congress calling for a tripling of US civilian aid to Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollars per year over the next five years, and calls for “benchmarks” for measuring the effectiveness of the assistance.

But Zardari rejected suggestion that some limits on aid be imposed based on performance by Pakistan. “I feel that we shouldn’t have any, any kind of conditionalities,” he stated. “We should have result, a result-oriented relationship, where I should be given a timeline — and I’ll give you all a timeline — so we can both give each other timelines and meet the timelines on the positive.”

Meanwhile, President Zardari expressing his concern over the displacement of people from Swat and the Malakand Division directed the federal government to properly look after the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

He said he had taken up the issue of rehabilitation and safe return of the IDPs in his talks with the US leadership and the need for massive international help in this regard. He said that it was recognised and reflected in the supplementary budget of the US for this year.

He said he would continue his drive for garnering international support for the rehabilitation of the IDPs, which the president described as one of the top priorities of the nation. The president, in a message from New York, said the government should utilise all resources for proper rehabilitation of the IDPs, particularly the women and children.

He said the government should mobilise all the relevant institutions to provide necessary facilities to the IDPs, including the residential facilities. He referred to the prime minister’s announcement of the allocation of Rs one billion for the rehabilitation of the IDPs and said the government, if required, would provide further resources for the purpose. President Zardari also praised the armed forces for their courage in the war against terrorism and militancy.

People told to leave troubled areas as operation continues

MALAKAND: At least 44 militants were killed when jet fighters, helicopter gunships and artillery shelled different areas in Swat, Dir and Malakand on Saturday.
Local people and officials said that 25 militants had been killed and several others wounded in the bombing and shelling in Qambar, Amankot, Green Chowk, Landi Kas, Shahiabad, Namal, Chamkali, Wenai and Peuchar areas of Swat.

The longstanding curfew in the entire Malakand division multiplied the misery of the displaced and a large number of people were trapped in their homes in Mingora and other areas of swat.

They appealed to the government to relax curfew to enable them to leave their homes for safety. They alleged that Taliban were stopping them from vacating their houses.

The Swat administration announced that curfew would be relaxed from 6am to 1pm on Sunday and asked the residents of Qamber and Amankot to leave the areas as soon as possible.

‘We expect more than 100,000 people will quit their homes at different places in Swat today,’ local administration chief Khushhal Khan told AFP, adding that while vehicles would be allowed to leave the valley, no one would be allowed in.

The UN refugee agency has warned up to one million people have already been displaced in northwest Pakistan, with tens of thousands streaming out of Buner, Lower Dir and Swat, registering in camps or sheltering with families.

The government has said it was bracing to cope with half a million people displaced by the fighting.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saturday that the army would minimise civilian casualties while the government would look after those displaced by the conflict. These views echoed President Asif Ali Zardari’s special message from New York, which stated that the government must take special care to protect the refugees of the operation, in particular addressing the needs of women and children. APP quoted the President as saying that a billion rupee fund would be announced for the rehabilitation of the IDPs.

Meanwhile, ten people, militants and non-combatants among them, were killed and five others injured when helicopter gunships shelled Maizara and Thana areas of Malakand.

A mortar shell hit the house of one Qadir Gul in Thana village, killing his daughter-in-law and grand son. Another shell hit a house in the same area, killing Qayyum, son of Habibur Rehman, and Hazrat Nawab, son of Abdul Wahab.

Hundreds of people left their homes in Thana and Batkhela and moved to other areas through Palai road via Buner. About 500 new families arrived at the Rangmala relief camp. A large number of people were stranded on roads because of curfew.

Thirteen militants, including a key commander, were killed and five others wounded when security forces pounded militant hideouts in Maidan, Lower Dir.

Clashes between security forces and militants were also reported in Hayaserai, Kumbar and Darro areas of Maidan. Several bunkers and hideouts of militants were destroyed in Kolal Dheri, a stronghold of the Taliban.

The security forces recaptured the bungalow of Khan of Hayaserai, a son of the late Nawab-i-Dir. It was occupied by militants a few days ago.

Officials claimed that troops had cleared Hayaserai, Kumbar and Darro villages of militants.

However, a spokesman for the Taliban told Dawn by phone from an unspecified place that they had repulsed attacks by security forces in Kumbar and Hayaserai and claimed that troops suffered heavy casualties. Civilian casualties were reported in the Maidan fighting.

‘Taliban have taken shelter in vacated houses and are attacking security forces,’ the spokesman said.
Lower Dir DCO Ghulam Mohammad enforced curfew for an indefinite period in the district on Saturday, causing problems for the displaced persons trapped in different areas.

About 12,000 people have moved out of Tazagaram, Shawa, Kityari, Gul Abad, Gaddar, Chakdara and Ouch areas of Adenzai tehsil.Local people said that helicopters gunships had conducted an aerial search of Osakai and Warsak areas of Adenzai, sparking panic and fear among the locals.

According to sources, over 100 armed Taliban entered the Osakai village on Saturday evening and asked residents to vacate their homes. The militants had started taking positions in mountains of the village and a clash between them and security forces might take place any time, the sources added.

The Swat Taliban active in Adenzai areas reportedly held a public gathering at Chakdara Square on Saturday. The meeting, attended by a few people, mostly children, was addressed by a local commander, the sources said. Militants whisked way a local photographer who tried to take footage of the gathering.

In Buner, army troops were moved to cover up the deployment of the Special Service Group on hilltops between Daggar and Pir Baba. Militants offered stiff resistance to SSG personnel soon after they were dropped in the area by helicopters, the sources said.

Security forces, backed by helicopter gunships and tanks, moved to the troubled area. Air and ground forces combed the localities. Heavy artillery pounded hideouts of militants in Patora, Jaffar, Dagger, Pirabai, Ghazi Khanay, Sultanwas and Pir Baba.

Govt to take over all Madaris: Zardari

WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari has announced that his government would take over all Madaris as part of Madaris reforms and separate the students from extremists and they would be imparted modern education along with religious education.
He also pledged to take the ongoing military operation against insurgency to its logical conclusion.

He said the PPP-led government in Pakistan has resolved to bring reforms in the Madaris systems whereby the academic courses will be made rather advanced while it will bring them under the government system.

President Zardari asserted this amid his address to the community dinner here in Washington on Saturday.

He also reiterated the government’s commitment to continue with the military offensive against Talibanisation in the Swat Valley and vowed to completely uproot insurgency from Pakistan.

“We are making our all-out efforts to strengthen ties with old time friends of Pakistan as was practised by founding chairman of the PPP late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and late chairperson PPP Benazir Bhutto,” he said.

He ruled out the impression of disrupting ties with the US, saying, “Pakistan and the US are friends for the last 60 years and it is time now that “we seek the US help for the establishment of durable economic system in Pakistan”.

“We have taken all political parties on board as the challenges being confronted by Pakistan cannot be dealt with single-handedly,” Zardari made it clear, maintaining, “The reservations raised by the Friends of Pakistan (FoP) are untrue and baseless”.

President Zardari said the operation against militants in Swat will continue and he will not withdraw the step he has already taken.

The president urged the militants not to fight the military and lay down arms. He said those misguided people who refuse to heed will be dealt with accordingly.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the audience that the government was following a balanced foreign policy which sought good relations with all major world powers and the neighbouring states.

The minister said the Washington talks led to a comprehensive strategy which allows the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan to defeat militants.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the government had taken a number of difficult decisions because it believed it was in Pakistan’s interests to do so.

Agencies add: Zardari said he understands the concern of expatriate Pakistanis about unrest in some north-western parts of the country and promised that the government would do all it can to pull the country out of difficulties and hand over a better Pakistan to the next generation.

Zardari said the government sympathised with the Baloch, who underwent suffering under dictatorship.

“We are striving for reconciliation with all forces in Pakistan, rejuvenation of national institutions, reorganisation of Pakistan’s strength. We have a lot of strength but we have never allowed our full potential to be utilised for the good of the country.”

Zardari pledged to mount an all-out war against the Taliban extremists, vowing to kill the militants in a military offensive.

“This is an offensive — this is war. If they kill our soldiers, then we do the same,” Zardari told PBS public television during a visit to Washington.

Pressed on whether Pakistan’s stated goal of “eliminating” militants meant killing them, Zardari replied in the affirmative.

“Eliminate means exactly what it means,” he said.

Zardari also said Islamabad has shifted an unspecified number of troops from its border with India to fight against the Taliban.

“We have already done so,” Zardari said when asked why Pakistan would not move troops from the eastern front.

Zardari also renewed his pledge to work for better relations with India.

“I’ve always considered India a neighbour with which we want to improve our relationship with,” Zardari said.

In interviews with The Washington Post and Public Broadcasting Service channel’s News Hour, the Pakistani leader underscored the need for greater appreciation of the extremism threat.

He termed the US assistance for Pakistan over the last decade only a small fraction of the massive funds Washington is now using to bail out staggering financial institutions.

“The way I look at it is that you’ve given more aid to AIG than you’ve given to Pakistan in the last 10 years. So your one institution requires more attention than 180 million people and this war of the world. So it’s a more dangerous war than the world has ever fought before,” he remarked in reference to complexity of the challenge.

“The situation in Pakistan is much more important,” he stated, adding that the Pakistani economy needs to be boosted with “some form of a permanent stimulus.”

Zardari said his first meeting with Obama was “a very good start.”

President Zardari rejected media fears about the safety of Pakistani nuclear assets.

He ruled out the possibility of sharing specific information about the location and security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and said that no one in the US government had asked him for more information.

Asked if any American officials knew “everything” about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, he responded: “Every country has a right to their own sovereignty. We don’t ask you personal questions, and you don’t ask us.”

He said the “nuclear arsenal has no relevance in the war against the Taliban. There is no way they can get their hands on it, first. And all the sort of relevant authorities are satisfied that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is in safe hands.”

Zardari said he is the supreme commander, “so they (nuclear assets) do come under the command of the president.”

The president said he continued to request that Pakistan be given its own fleet of US aerial drones to attack Taliban and al-Qaeda hideouts in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border.

“Maybe some people here would not like to go to that direction,” he said, “but . . . I keep asking,” he added.

Democracy and the Sharia

Sufi Mohammad, a cleric with substantial following in Swat recently declared that democracy is not compatible with the Sharia.
We might dismiss him as one who is poorly educated in Islamic studies but for the fact that others in his clan of orthodox ulema entertain similar views. It may then be appropriate for us to see how well democracy and Islam go together.

Islam forms the foundational principle in Pakistan’s constitution. There are two ways of interpreting a country’s basic law: one is to hold that whatever is not forbidden is to be regarded as permitted. That would be the liberal constructionist approach. Alternatively, it may be said that whatever is not specifically permitted is to be taken as forbidden. That is strict construction. On exploring the place of democracy in Islam we will adopt the first of these approaches (the liberal).

Two ingredients of democracy may first be noted: it is government by the chosen representatives of the people, and that these representatives are accountable to the people for their performance. Democracy is also concerned with the process by which the ruler comes to power. That process has to be one of election.

Next to the Quran and the Prophet’s (PBUH) Sunnah the Sharia honours the practice of the pious caliphate (632-661), it so happens that the precedents of this period with regard to the process of coming to power are not uniform. But an elective element of one sort of the other was evidenced in one out of the four cases.

The Quran, Sunnah, and the four schools of jurisprudence (fiqh) have little to say about forms of governmental organisation. The Quran says only that we are to obey God, the Prophet, and those from among us who have been given the authority to govern. It does not say how such persons are to reach office. As noted earlier, three of the pious caliphs attained office through some sort of an election. Al Mawardi, a renowned mediaeval political thinker, recognises the ruler’s election by a small group of notables present in the capital as a legitimate procedure. But he seems to prefer election by the generality of people throughout the realm if its mechanics can be managed.

Precedents of the pious caliphate concerning the ruler’s accountability to the people are once again mixed as the caliphs considered themselves accountable to varying degrees. A word may now be said about a third ingredient of democracy, namely, the people’s right to have a say in the making and implementation of public policy. The Quran enjoins Muslims to settle their collective affairs by mutual consultation (‘shura’). The practice of the pious caliphs in this regard was variable. It should however be noted that the shura was never institutionalised, meaning that the number and kind of persons to be consulted, the kind of issues on which they were to give their views, and the status of the recommendations resulting from the process were never settled.

Keeping in mind the foregoing elaborations, how may we place democracy in Islam? It seems to me that the basic elements in the democratic process (ruler’s election, his accountability to the governed, and their right to political participation) stand approved. It was open to the subsequent generations, to extend their scope. There is nothing to stop them from enfranchising the entire body of citizens.The injunction regarding mutual consultation goes beyond requiring the decision-maker to consult; it gives the consultees (the people) the right to be consulted.

Coming together in an assembly is the best organisational mode for them to engage in mutual consultation. And since it is physically impossible for all of the people to gather together at one place and time, resort must be had to representatives authorised to speak and act for the people. Parliamentary question hour, votes of censure, and the authority to dismiss the government of the day are viable procedures for enforcing the ruler’s accountability. All of these arrangements will work to implement the spirit of the relevant Islamic injunctions. They are thus Islamic enough.

Generations of Muslims following the pious caliphate abandoned Islam in so far as it relates to politics and governance. They reverted to their native tradition and practices. Both Islam and democracy require equal rights for all citizens. This the nativity in most Muslim societies would not accept.

We have elected governments in Pakistan at the present time. Yet there is widespread concern that democracy here is very fragile. This may be due to the fact that democracy has had a tough going in this country. It has periodically been overthrown by the army. The generals and the feudal lords who dominate governance in Pakistan think of democracy as an unnecessary nuisance.

The good news is that the people of Pakistan are gaining political maturity. Indications are that they are tired of authoritarian rulers, like democracy and intend to keep it. In this they have support from the powerful print and electronic media and other organs of civil society such as the lawyers. The likelihood is that this time democracy has come to stay.

‘I’m here to understand what you mean by Taliban’

Is there a threat of Talibanisation engulfing the entire region?

I think it has already engulfed our region. I think there’s a need for a very clear thinking (on this issue of Talibanisation). In India, there are two kinds of terrorism: one is Islamic terrorism and the other Maoist terrorism. But this term terrorism, we must ask, what do they mean by it.

In Pakistan, I’m here to understand what they mean by this term. When we say we must fight the Taliban or must defeat them, what does it mean? I’m here to understand what you mean when you say Taliban. Do you mean a militant? Do you mean an ideology? Exactly what is it that is being fought? That needs to be clarified.

I think both needs to be fought. But if it’s an ideology it has to be fought differently, while if it’s a person with a gun then it has to be fought differently. We know from the history of the war on terror that a military strategy is only making matters worse all over the world. The war on terror has made the world a more dangerous place. In India, they have been fighting insurgencies military since 1947 and it has become a more dangerous place.

Swat and the Taliban boy

It is very important for me to understand what exactly is going in Swat. How did it start? A Taliban boy asked me why women can’t be like plastic bags and banned. The point is that the plastic bag was made in a factory but so was the boy. He was made in a factory that is producing this kind of mind(set). (The question is) who owns that factory, who funds it? Unless we deal with that factory, dealing with the boy doesn’t help us.

Water is the main issue

One danger in Pakistan is that we talk about the threat of Taliban so much that other important issues lose focus. In my view, the problem of water in the world will become the most important problem. I think big dams are economically unviable, environmentally unsustainable and politically undemocratic. They are a way of taking away a river from the poor and giving it to the rich. Like in India, there’s an issue of SEZs (Special Economic Zones), whereby the land of the people are given to corporations. But the bigger problem is that there are making dams and giving water to the industries. This way the people who live in villages by the streams and rivers have no water for themselves. So building dams is one of the most ecologically destructive things that you can do.

Fight over Siachen glacier

There are thousands of Pakistani and Indian soldiers deployed on the Siachen glacier. Both of our countries are spending billions of dollars on high altitude warfare and weapons. The whole of the Siachen glacier is sort of an icy monument to human folly. Each day it is being filled with ice axes, old boots, tents and so on. Meanwhile, that battlefield is melting. Siachen glacier is about half its size now. It’s not melting because the Indian and Pakistani soldiers are on it. But it’s because people somewhere on the other side of the world are leading a good life….in countries that call themselves democracies that believe in human rights and free speech. Their economies depend on selling weapons to both of us. Now, when that glacier melts, there will be floods first, then there will be a drought and then we’ll have even more reasons to fight. We’ll buy more weapons from those democracies and in this way human beings will prove themselves to be the stupidest animals on earth.

Money and the Indian elections

Whatever system of government you have, whether it is a military dictatorship or a democracy, and you have that for a long time, eventually big money manages to subvert it. That has begun to happen even in a democracy (like India). For example, political parties need a lot of publicity, but the media is also run by corporate money. If you look at the big political parties like the Congress and the BJP, you see how much money is being put out just in their advertising budgets. Now where does all that come from?

RSS and the Indian establishment

The RSS has infiltrated everything to a great extent. In India, we have 120-150 million Muslims and it’s considered a minority…It’s impossible to not belong to a minority of some sort in India. Caste or ethnicity or religion or whatever, in some way everyone belongs to a minority. The fights that many of us are waging against the RSS and against the BJP are to say that we live in a society which accommodates everybody. Everybody doesn’t have to love everybody, but everybody has to be accommodated. The RSS has infiltrated the (Indian) army as much as various kinds of Wahabism or other kinds of religious ideology have infiltrated the ISI or the armed forces in Pakistan. They are human beings like everyone else and they too get influenced.

Indian media and sensationalizing of news coming out from Pakistan

I think the media in both countries play this game. Whenever something happens here, they hype it up there, while when something happens there, they hype the news here. We say that we live in times of an information revolution and free press, but even then nobody gets to know the complete picture…

The Pakistani media is a little different from the Indian media. They stand on a slightly different foundation. But both share the problem of a lack of accountability…The trouble in India is that 90 per cent of their revenue comes from the corporate sector…there’s increasing privatization and corporatization of governance, education, health, infrastructure and water management. So in India you see an open criticism of governance, but very rarely criticism of corporations. It’s a structural problem. It’s not about good people or bad people. It’s just that you can’t expect a company to work against itself. This is a very serious issue which needs to be sorted out.

Is the Indian army a sacred cow?

The Indian army is quite a sacred cow especially on TV and Bollywood. But at the same time if you talk to the people in the Indian army, they say that they feel that the media is very critical of them. I don’t share that view. I think it is a sacred cow. People are willing to give them a lot of leeway.

Women and their fight for justice

When women fight for justice, we must fight for every kind of justice…We must fight for justice for men and justice for children. Because if you fight for one kind of justice and you tolerate another, then it’s a pretty hollow fight. You may not be able to fight every battle, but you should be able to put yourself on the line and say I believe this.

Imran writes letter to Brown, lashes out at Altaf

LONDON: Imran Khan, the Chief of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf in a letter sent to Prime Minister Gordon Brown has alleged that a British citizen, Altaf Hussain, who styled himself as the leader of a Pakistani political party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, sitting in London, sought to incite ethnic violence and vigilantism by calling on his supporters to arm themselves and fight ‘talibanisation’ – a label he tried to put on the two million Pashtun workers of Karachi.

‘As a result 36 people were killed over two days of violence. When the Sindh Inspector General of Police implicated the MQM in his inquiry, they demanded his immediate removal,’ the letter released to the press on Friday alleged.

The letter also charged that on Altaf Hussain’s call from London the MQM was involved in the 12th May 2007 carnage in Karachi where 48 people were killed and 200 sustained bullet wounds, including 10 workers belonging to the PTI. Mr Khan asked the British PM to refer to Britain’s Karachi Consulate’s report on the incident.

The letter said it was shocking to find that no investigation had been conducted into the activities of Mr Hussain despite his public criminal record in Pakistan, ‘considering that the British government has arrested people on mere suspicion in the Heathrow case and the recent Pakistani students’.

The letter said: ‘At the time of his arrival in London, he was facing 234 registered criminal cases against him, including 44 murder charges and 18 torture charges.’

‘His Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is controlled by Mr Hussain in mafia-style, with his word being the law. Detractors face the ultimate punishment – death – carried out through the private armed force maintained at his Karachi barricaded headquarters known as Nine Zero.’

Militants on the run: ISPR

RAWALPINDI: More than 140 militants have been killed in Swat during the last 24 hours as the Army intensified its operation in the valley, military spokesman and Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Athar Abbas told a press briefing here on Friday.
“Security forces have made some advances and the militants are on the run and trying to block the exodus of innocent civilians by preventing their departure through coercion, roadblocks and making the people hostage,” the military spokesman said.

Answering a question, he said 12,000 to 15,000 Army personnel were taking part in the operation and there was no need to pull out troops from the eastern border as sufficient number of troops had been deployed in the disturbed areas.

He said the approximate number of terrorists in Swat was around 4,000 and they had also recruited young people from the area, most of whom had been provided arms.

He said the militants in Swat were predominantly locals but they also included militants from across the border and a few Tajiks and Uzbeks. He said the Afghan drug money was the biggest source of finances received by the militants, who also generated funds by kidnapping-for-ransom.

Giving details of the operation, he said on Friday 10 militants were killed in Kabal in an attack by helicopters while five were killed in Kanju, including their commander Akbar Ali.

About the security situation in Swat, he said Khawazkhela and Chamtalai area had been secured by security forces. He said one soldier lost his life while five militants were killed in the operation. An exchange of fire took place at the Matta police station as a result of which 13 militants were killed. Another 10 were killed at Takhtaband and Qambar.

He said the militants had abducted over 100 individuals, killed 30 security forces personnel, carried out four suicide and eight improvised explosive device attacks, looted six banks, destroyed three police stations and one grid station and damaged two schools after the peace agreement.

He said the militants killed the brother of UC Nazim at Khawazakhela while two policemen from Sor Bridge at Khawazakhela were kidnapped. The militants fired six rockets at the Circuit House, Mingora. As a result, one soldier died and two received injuries.

He said the militants’ training camps on the mountain strongholds, ammunition dumps and command and communication centers had been targeted through precision strikes. “Special care has been taken to strike identified targets and those which are away from populated areas,” he said.

General Abbas rejected the impression that the operation in Swat had been launched under the US pressure. “We analyse the threats keeping in view our national interest, and not on the dictates of external powers,” he maintained.

He said the government had made reconciliatory efforts regardless of the external pressure and the other side was provided full opportunity to establish peace. He said these militants stood fully exposed now and everybody was convinced that the Nizam-e-Adl was not their agenda. “The operation will continue till its logical conclusion and complete elimination of extremists from the area,” he said.

Answering a question about the threat from the eastern border, he said Pakistan was closely monitoring the Indian wargames and there was no cause of concern at all. He said the Army and the Frontier Corps contingents had been put on high alert to stop the movement of ammunition and militants from across the border while security on routes leading to Swat had also been beefed up. He said all precautionary measures had been taken to avoid any backlash following the failure of the peace deal.

He said the militants’ resistance in Buner had considerably reduced. However, they were maintaining their positions at Sultanwas and Pir Baba. “Today, a preliminary operation was launched in Kalapani area, where six militants have been killed and two arrested. The operation to clear Sultanwas is in progress and soon the militants’ position in Sultanwas will be eliminated,” he informed newsmen. He said curfew was relaxed daily for six hours to allow the people to travel to Swabi and Mardan.

He said militants hiding in a compound in the Maidan Area had been attacked and 15 of them killed, including their two commanders. “The militants attacked the Levy Fort, Chakdara, and damaged it. During the heavy exchange of fire, three soldiers were killed and 11 others injured,” he added.

US approves aid for Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The House Committee on Appropriations has approved $1.9 billion for Pakistan for the next fiscal year, $591 million above the request.

This also includes $597 million to help address the economic crisis, about $100 million above the request.

The fund to address the economic crisis will be used for agriculture and food security, strengthening national and provincial governance, expanding the rule of law, and improving access to and quality of education.

The amount also includes assistance for more than a million people displaced in the fight against terror and now sheltered in makeshift camps across the country.

On Thursday evening, the committee also approved $400 million, as requested, for the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund, available from the next fiscal year, which begins on Sept. 30, 2009.

The fund will be used to build the counterinsurgency capabilities of the Pakistani security forces.

The committee also approved $897 million, $91 million above the request, for a new secure US embassy and consulates in Pakistan.

A separate amount of $46 million is for diplomatic operations including additional civilian staff and diplomatic security.

AFGHANISTAN
The committee matched the administration’s request for $3.6 billion to expand and improve capabilities of the Afghan security forces.

It also gave $810 million, $240 million below the request, to support coalition partners who have provided assistance to US military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Afghanistan also gets $1.52 billion, $86 million above the request, including: $980 million to fund economic development and agriculture programs, strengthen national and provincial governance, and expand the rule of law.

The committee approved $536 million, $86 million above the request, for diplomatic operations in Afghanistan including additional civilian staff and diplomatic security.

Iraq gets $968 million, $336 million above the request, including: $482 million to continue stabilisation programmes, and strengthen governance and rule of law; and $486 million, $336 million above the request, for diplomatic operations.

OVERSIGHT
The committee gave $20 million, $13 million above the request, to expand oversight capacity of the State Department, USAID, and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan to review programmes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Earlier, the Obama administration earmarked $700 million in its budget for the next fiscal year for training and equipment to improve Pakistan’s counterinsurgency capability.

This is a major increase from the $400 million set aside for this purpose in the current fiscal year which expires on Sept. 30.

This marks the first time since 2003 that the Afghan war funding surpassed the outlay for Iraq. The Pentagon is seeking $130 billion in war funds for 2010, including $65 billion for Afghanistan and $61 billion for Iraq. For 2009, the Pentagon had request $87 billion for Iraq and $47 billion for Afghanistan.

The move demonstrates a shift in US priorities as the Obama administration increases its focus on fighting the militants it holds responsible for planning and executing the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The proposed fund for Afghanistan covers the deployment of 21,000 additional US troops this year, raising the total to 68,000. More funds would be required if President Obama decides to meet the request of US commanders for 10,000 more troops next year.

The Pentagon's $534 billion base budget is $21 billion, or 4 per cent, larger than last year's. It includes key initiatives that to reshape the US military to fight insurgencies across the world.

Major spending increases include $2 billion on intelligence and reconnaissance, $500 million to field and maintain helicopters, and funds to add 2,400 personnel to Special Operations Forces in 2010 as well as aircraft to support them.

More will be spent on some modern weapons systems, with an increase in the purchase of littoral combat ships and the ‘fifth generation’ F-35 fighter jets.

The 2010 Pentagon eliminates $8.8 billion in weapons programmes that were in the 2009 budget. It would halt the programme for the F-22 fighter jet after 187 are manufactured.

Other major cuts include ending the $13 billion presidential helicopter programme, which has more than doubled in cost; the $19 billion transformational satellite programme; and the Air Force combat search-and-rescue helicopter programme, as well as cutting $1.2 billion from missile defence.

Gilani declares all-out war on militants

ISLAMABAD-In a decisive move, the PPP-led coalition government on Thursday gave go-ahead to the armed forces to quell insurgency in Swat and Malakand Division and eliminate the armed militants challenging the writ of the government.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani while unveiling this decision in late night televised address to the nation announced the formal deployment of troops in Malakand Division to eliminate insurgency from the area expressing his firm resolve that the government will take strict action against militant and terrorist elements.
Prime Minister also announced Rs1 billion for the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons promising employment opportunities for one member of a family that has lost life of any of its members at the hands of terrorists.
He said the decisions were taken as last resort after holding consultations with the political parties and other stakeholders, adding the government had launched reconciliation process in Swat and efforts were made to resolve the issue peacefully. He said the government accepted the demand for enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl for restoration of peace but regretted that armed militants continued to challenge the writ of the government.
“We adopted the path of dialogue with good intentions and Nizam-e-Adl was enforced with the condition that militants would lay down their arms and peace restored”, he said, adding: “We had faced pressure. We were criticized for such policies but we took the decision for our national interests.”
He said that in order to restore honour and dignity of the country, the armed forces have been called in to eliminate militants and terrorists. “We will eliminate those who have tried to destroy peace of the country,” he said.
He asked the nation to stand behind the armed forces as well as the government to defeat those who have earned bad name for the country. Prime Minister said that army had been called in for decisive action after due deliberations with all the quarters concerned. He further said that the nefarious activities of terrorists and militants to destroy the image of the country had reached the stage where the government felt constrained to believe that action is necessary against them.

48 militants die as Swat fighting intensifies

MINGORA/DAGGAR: Forty-eight militants, including an important commander, were killed as warplanes and gunship helicopters continued pounding the Taliban hideouts in the restive Swat Valley, while tens of thousands of local residents fled the area for safer places on Thursday.

Security forces intensified the offensive and severe gunfire and shelling echoed across all the major towns of Swat on the third day of fighting Ibne Aqeel, an important commander of the Taliban and brother of the strongman of Matta Taliban Ibne Ameen, was killed by security forces in a retaliatory attack when the militants attacked the Matta police station. Five more militants were also killed in firing that continued for hours.

Security forces also targeted militants’ strongholds at Khwazakhela, Bandai, Charbagh, Winai, Peuchar, Kabal, Shahdheri, Matta, Akot, Shahdarra and Pir Killay with jet fighters, gunship choppers and artillery, military officials said.

Mingora remained the flashpoint where gunfire between the militants and troops continued all the day. The militants attacked the Mingora police station and an exchange of heavy fire took place between the personnel of security forces and militants. However, no casualty was reported in the fighting.

Sources in the security forces said the daylong fighting and shelling had left 48 militants dead, including six in Winai, 10 in Bamakhela, 12 in Shahdheri, Sahagai and three in Pir Killay. Security forces also rounded up two suspects in Pir Killay and shifted them to an undisclosed location.

About 400,000 residents left the valley after the authorities relaxed the curfew till 6:00 pm in many parts of the troubled district, except for Khwazakhela where it was in place till the filing of this report.

A lot of families, who streamed out of Mingora and other surrounding towns, trailed all the way to Takhtbhai and Shergarh in Mardan district on foot. Tens of thousands of other families are still stranded in Mingora and other places as no transport is available due to the continuing curfew.

The troops’ convoys are still moving towards the valley and the public transport was not allowed to come into the town. Eyewitnesses said many of the families were waiting in Mingora as they could not pay excessive charges demanded by the transporters.

The militants, however, were offering resistance in Buner district where security forces continued their advancement. Security forces and militants were locked in fierce fighting in Sultanwas and Pir Baba. Shelling continued in Elay area that destroyed dozens of homes and left a number of women and children injured.

However, the curfew was relaxed from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm that allowed the residents to leave for safer places. About a dozen important personalities, including Hameed, the Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer, police officials, religious figures and political leaders of the area are said to be missing.

Meanwhile, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Buner chapter commanders Maulana Muhammad Alam Khalil and Maulana Yasir claimed that the militants had caused huge losses to security forces and snatched arms from them. They said a large number of government servants had pledged to quit their jobs.

The Buner-Mardan main road was closed after clashes between the troops and militants. Eyewitnesses said that Yousaf Filling Station and the market at Ambela were razed to the ground in the shelling by security forces and scores of vehicles were also damaged.

The Utility store in Elay village was looted by unidentified gunmen, who took away food and other items. On the other hand, the Taliban offered ceasefire in the entire Malakand Division and pledged to play their role for restoration of peace if the government promised implementation of Shariah in the region.

Taliban commander in Buner Maulana Khalilur Rahman phoned The News and said they were ready to announce a ceasefire in the whole Malakand and lay down their arms if the government showed sincerity in its commitment to enforce Shariah.

The Taliban commander claimed that their fighters had not suffered casualties and were ready to fight for years for the implementation of Shariah, but they wanted a ceasefire due to the suffering of innocent people in the military operation.

“We are ready to cease fire, lay down arms, and serve the government and its law-enforcement agencies without getting even a single penny. But the government would have to implement Shariah according to the aspirations of the people of Malakand,” Maulana Khalil explained.

He said once Shariah was enforced “in its true form” in Malakand, the Taliban would declare fighting against the Pakistani soldiers and police personnel an un-Islamic act.

The militant commander alleged that it was the government and not the Taliban who violated the peace accord. “The government had promised us implementation of Shariah, withdrawal of the Pakistan Army troops from Swat and release of our prisoners, which they did not fulfil,” he said.

He said they had allowed Maulana Sufi Muhammad to negotiate with the government on the enforcement of Shariah in Malakand and would accept whatever was decided between Maulana Sufi Muhammad and the government.

AFP adds from Islamabad: The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas has said nine soldiers were killed during clashes with militants in Swat in the last 24 hours.

“In 24 hours, we lost nine soldiers and about 10 of them (were) injured,” Athar Abbas told AFP. Seven of the soldiers were killed when militants ambushed a convoy at the entrance to Mingora. “The troop carrier was coming and there were seven soldiers killed in that. Two soldiers were killed somewhere in the valley north of Matta,” Abbas said.

Army told to crush Swat militants

ISLAMABAD: The government announced on Thursday it had called out the army for a decisive action against militants in Swat and adjoining areas.

In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said nefarious activities of militants had reached a stage where a decisive step against them had become inevitable.

‘We will not bow down before terrorists and extremists and force them to lay down arms,’ he declared.

The prime minister stopped short of scrapping the Swat peace deal, but said sincerity of the government in pursuing reconciliation was misconstrued as weakness.

He said there was an understanding that militants would lay down arms after enforcement of the Nizam-i-Adl but it did not happen.

Mr Gilani said the time had come when the nation should unite against the elements which wanted to take Pakistan hostage at gunpoint and were hell-bent on putting the country’s future at stake.

‘Nobody can be allowed to challenge the writ of the government,’ he remarked. He said the country was facing two big challenges today: national security and economic progress. He said the two were interlinked because economic and industrial progress was not possible without peace and security.

He said the people who cooperated with security forces were victimised and hundreds of thousands were forced to migrate to other areas.

He said girls were being stopped from going to schools, public and private properties were occupied and damaged, women subjected to shameless treatment and to add insult to injury, all these steps were taken in the name of Islam.

He said the army had been called out to eliminate terrorists and protect the life and property of people in Swat. He said an amount of Rs1 billion had been allocated for rehabilitation of displaced persons. One member of every family which had lost a breadwinner would be given a job.

He appealed to all politicians to support efforts of the government. He urged ulema to highlight the true face of Islam which has no room for suicide attacks and oppression.

The prime minister also urged the international community to help Pakistan in rehabilitating displaced persons and for enhancing the capacity of its security forces to fight terror.

REACTION
The Pakistan Muslim League-N announced support for the military action. A PML-N spokesman, Siddiqul Farooq, said as militants had challenged the writ of the state, it was important to take action against them.

He said the PML-N would like the government to immediately call an all-party conference to evolve consensus. The ANP also supported the announcement. ‘It seems the man (Sufi Mohammad) we had entrusted with the task of getting the peace deal implemented had become hostage to the will of extremists,’ ANP’s senior vice-president Haji Adeel said.

He said the NWFP government was taken into confidence before the prime minister announced the action.

Former amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, opposed the move, but several religious scholars, including Mufti Muneebur Rehman and Sahibzada Fazal Karim of JUP, welcomed it.

Operation to continue till mission accomplished: Zardari

WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday that the operation against the militants would continue till normalcy was restored.

At a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar, President Zardari stressed Pakistan’s commitment to defeating the terrorists.

‘The operation will go on till the situation returns to normal,’ the president said when asked how long would the operation Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced earlier in the day continue.

The president said that Afghanistan and Pakistan realised they needed to improve their cooperation in the fight against the extremists and were willing to enhance their efforts to defeat them.

‘There’s a realisation in the world that it’s a regional problem, a worldwide problem. It is not an Afghan or a Tora Bora problem. It is not a problem secluded in the mountains of Pakhtoonkhwa,’ said Mr Zardari. ‘This realisation brings strength to the fight.’

Responding to another question, Mr Zardari said Pakistan looked forward to building a better relationship with India after elections in that country. ‘If American friends can help us in doing so, they are welcome to.’

Supporting President Zardari’s position on the issue of better cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mr Karzai said that during the tripartite talks in Washington, the two countries had taken important steps to improve their coordination.

‘We have taken a significant step forward for reducing the trust deficit between the two countries,’ he said. ‘One of the fundamental steps we took was to address this issue. Now we will go home and work on it and show the results.’

President Karzai said all three sides attending the Washington talks had come up with proposals for winning the war against the extremists.

Senator John Kerry, who has cosponsored a $7.5 billion aid package along with his Republican counterpart Richard Lugar, said before the news conference the two leaders had held an important meeting with the Senate committees for foreign relations, armed forces and intelligence.

The second part of the tripartite discussions focussed on ‘the real and tough problems’ faced by all three countries.

The way the two presidents summarised the problem was ‘really unprecedented’ and led to a frank exchange between all senators and the two presidents, Mr Kerry said.

‘Some questions were very pointed and very direct. The senators were impressed by the candour of the presidents and the purpose behind these answers.’

Senator Kerry said the meeting was not called to talk about what the US wanted Pakistan or Afghanistan to do. ‘We were here to listen to the presidents and learn what they believe they need.’

Senator Lugar said that questions were also asked about President Karzai’s campaign to get re-elected and about the ISI’s alleged involvement with the militants.

‘The ISI chief Gen Pasha explained why the Taliban exists and what the relationship is,’ he said. ‘We asked them what do you want us to do? Do you want the US in your countries; do your people want it?’

US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said another trilateral meeting would be held after the Afghan elections. He said the CIA and FBI chiefs also participated in the meeting with the senators.

The aim was to promote ‘real cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan because without that cooperation success is not achievable,’ he said.

Senator Kerry said he hoped the US Senate and the House would be able to overcome the differences between their bills for providing assistance to Pakistan.

‘We have a lot of confidence on how to pull that together, we have a sense of urgency, but we can’t give you a precise date,’ he said.

Shadow of the Taliban

While the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and its supporters constitute a direct challenge to the authority and resources commanded by the state, it is equally worrying that the extremist right-wing ideology they represent and the tactics they employ are casting a shadow that looms far beyond their strongholds.Large sections of the citizenry living far from the actual theatre of war are being threatened in this manner. This is dangerous for the former threat, it can be hoped, may be countered through superior weaponry and sufficient political will; but the latter threat, being nebulous and diffuse, is almost impossible to control.

In recent weeks, educational institutions in urban centres such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi — which stand in little danger of being physically overrun by the Taliban — have been receiving threats of varying intensity. Security has been tightened, and staff and students work under the fear of attacks by either militant ideologues or shadowy copycat criminals. The fact that at least two educational institutions have enforced stricter dress codes —mainly for female students — shows just how far the fear invoked by the Taliban has spread. In some cases women have been threatened for what the extremists consider ‘liberalism’ or ‘improper behaviour’.

Although the women of this country are no strangers to harassment, the gravity of the threats they now potentially face is greater than ever before. Women are usually the first and most vulnerable targets of the extremist right-wing thinking that now holds Pakistan at gunpoint. Yet they are now accompanied in their peril by others such as media personnel, who have been told to ‘mend their ways’, and thousands of citizens — including teachers, barbers and CD shop owners — whose businesses or workplaces have been destroyed or otherwise targeted by the extremists.

Instances of such targeting include the blackmail, harassment and intimidation of citizens at the hands of a dark ideology that has seeped into the very fabric of society, the tactics of which are most horribly apparent in the activities of the Taliban. The fact is that the Taliban have already extracted a heavy toll in terms of civil liberties and freedoms of citizens.

While the government and the security forces mull over methods to defeat the Taliban militarily, they would also do well to recall that the basic purpose of the state and its apparatus is to ensure the safety and personal freedoms of the citizens. It may require years to neutralise the Taliban threat in this deeper sense.

Swat mined by Taliban, cabinet told

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban have planted countless landmines and explosive devices around the populated areas of Swat to stop the people from leaving their homes and for using women and children as human shields against the military operation, a federal cabinet meeting was told on Wednesday.

The shocking evidence about the mining of the troubled areas was given by one of the federal ministers during the meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The ministers had not expected that the Taliban would quietly obtain the capability to plant mines and take on the Pakistan Army like a trained guerrilla force.

The minister, who gave these details, belonged to a religious party of the NWFP. He told his fellow cabinet colleagues that he had come to know from his own sources in Swat that the delay in action against the Taliban had enabled them to mine the areas and as the time was passing by, the Taliban were gaining strength and were better placed to challenge the security forces.

The minister, who in the past had been greatly supporting the cause of the Taliban and their drive in the name of Shariah, however, now criticised them. The sources said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said innocent people could not be allowed to suffer at the hands of Taliban, who were now taking extremely dangerous measures.

However, sources close to the Taliban vehemently denied mining of the area. They said those charging the Taliban with such inhuman acts may themselves have made such plans. They said the Taliban could not think of using civilians as human shields. The government and their allies have launched a smear campaign against the Taliban, they added.

India to get Afghan transit trade route

WASHINGTON: Pakistan and Afghanistan signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding to begin talks on a transit trade agreement which will ultimately allow India to use the Wagah-Khyber route for trade with Kabul.

The memorandum of understanding commits the two ‘countries to achieving a trade transit agreement by the end of the year, which we believe will have great economic benefits for both peoples,’ said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who hosted the Afghan and Pakistani presidents for the first round of the second trilateral talks.

‘This is an historic event. This agreement has been under discussion for 43 years without resolution,’ she said.

‘Afghanistan and Pakistan have reached an important milestone in their efforts to generate foreign investment and stronger economic growth and trade opportunities.’

Secretary Clinton also used the opportunity to regret the loss of innocent lives in US bombings, saying that ‘she wanted to convey to the people of both Afghanistan and Pakistan that ‘we will work very hard with your governments and with your leaders to avoid the loss of innocent civilian life. And we deeply, deeply regret that loss’.

Later, the Afghan and Pakistani foreign ministers signed the memorandum before Presidents Asif Ali Zardari and Hamid Karzai went to the White House for a trilateral summit with President Barack Obama.

‘Pakistan and Afghanistan are conjoined twins. Our suffering is shared. Our joys are always shared,’ said President Karzai while talking to the media after Secretary Clinton.

‘The life that we live is affected by the opportunities that we have and the lack of opportunities that occurs because of the circumstances in which we live today.’

‘Today we sit here as three democratic states, enjoined in the history of democracy, looking forward to working together,’ said President Zardari while responding to his remarks.

Although India is not mentioned in the memorandum of understanding, it will be the main beneficiary of a transit trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan as Kabul’s major trade partner.

Both India and Afghanistan have long insisted that Pakistan open its land route for transit trade between the two countries which do not have a common border.

But Secretary Clinton said that the opening of a transit trade route will also open new opportunities for both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

‘When … I look at the map of the world and see how strategically located both countries are, this is an agreement that will bring prosperity to both countries along the trade routes and beyond,’ she said.

‘Nothing opens up an area to economic development better than a good road with good transit rules and an ability to transport goods and people effectively.’

The agreement, she said, would also help bring more foreign direct investment into Afghanistan and Pakistan, because that’s always the first question: ‘How do we get our goods to market? How do we get them to another economy in another country?’

Secretary Clinton brought a high-powered delegation to the talks which included Director CIA Leon Panetta, Director FBI Robert Mueller, Pentagon’s Under-secretary for Policy Planning Michele Flournoy, and chief of the US Central Command General David Petraeus.

The Pakistani delegation, headed by President Zardari, also included Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, three ministers, several advisers and the DG ISI.

Bilawal Zardari, two ministers, advisers and the DG ISI left after the first round so did the CIA and FBI chiefs and Afghan intelligence and military officials.

SECOND ROUND
Only the two presidents, their foreign ministers and envoys in Washington attended the second round with Secretary Clinton who was assisted by the US special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

Secretary Clinton said that Wednesday’s discussions focussed on concrete initiatives to expand economic opportunities and trade, to bolster the agricultural sector as an essential source of revenue and jobs in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The three countries also discussed measures to help build the industrial sector in Pakistan, to create more jobs and opportunities for people. They also discussed measures to improve joint cooperation on security.

‘We do not believe either Afghanistan or Pakistan can achieve lasting progress without the full participation of all of your citizens, including women and girls. The rights of women must be respected and protected.’

President Zardari urged the US, ‘the world’s oldest and most powerful democracy’, to nurture democracies in other countries.

‘We thank the United States for its support for democracy, for security in Pakistan, and look forward to further support,’ he said. The president said that Afghanistan, Pakistan, and United States were all victims of terror.

‘I am here to assure you that we shall share this burden with you all, for no matter how long it takes and what it takes, democracies will deliver,’ he said. ‘My democracy will deliver.’

The Pakistanis, he said, stood with ‘our brother Karzai and the people of Afghanistan against this common threat … this is a cancer. It needs to be done away with.’

The president said that Pakistan carried a huge burden of confronting al Qaeda and Taliban together, ‘but we are up to the challenge because we are a democracy, and democracy is the only cure to this challenge.’

Mr Zardari said that as the United States was making progress after seven years of engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pakistan will too.

He said that democracy in Pakistan was only seven months old and during this period, the government had performed better than the dictatorships in the past years.

Mr Zardari said that Pakistan would need high level of support in the days to come and would also be far more transparent in its actions.

‘Democracy will avenge the death of my wife and thousands of other Pakistanis and citizens of the world. Pakistani democracy will deliver. The terrorists will be defeated by our joint struggle,’ he said.

Afghan President Karzai welcomed the US promise to minimize civilian deaths in the fight against the Taliban, hoping that the US could work together with Pakistan and Afghanistan to reduce and eventually completely remove the possibilities of civilian casualties.

‘Afghanistan would like to assure the United States, its most valued strategic ally, and Pakistan, its neighbor, brother and friend’ that it would do its best to defeat the terrorists.

US, Pakistan, Afghanistan face common foe, says Obama

WASHINGTON: The US, Pakistani and Afghan presidents began trilateral talks on Wednesday, hoping to come out with a joint strategy for defeating extremists operating in the Pak-Afghan region. US President Barack Obama held separate bilateral talks with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts before joining them again for the trilateral meeting.




The first bilateral — between presidents Obama and Karzai — continued for about an hour while President Zardari arrived at the White House at 2.20pm local time for a similar meeting with the US leader.

He was accompanied by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Salman Farooqi and Ambassador Husain Haqqani who also attended the trilateral talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier in the day.

Only yards from Mr Zardari stood more than 100 demonstrators protesting military actions against Baloch nationalists. They were holding placards with slogans such as ‘End Genocide in Balochistan, Freedom Our Motto, Free, Free Sindh, Balochistan’.

In a brief speech after the talks, Mr Obama said the three nations were cooperating in new ways to fight terrorism and to improve the lives of Pakistanis and Afghans, AFP reported.

Obama said he expected more ‘violence and setbacks’ in the war against the militants as he pledged US commitment to the two countries.

‘We meet today as three sovereign nations joined by a common goal —to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies,’ he said.

Speaking in the aftermath of US air strikes believed to have killed more than 100 civilians, Obama said the United States would work with its Afghan and Pakistani allies to ‘make every effort to avoid civilian casualties.’

The United States had made a ‘lasting commitment’ to defeat al Qaeda, Obama said. ‘This support will not waver and it will be sustained. No matter what happens, we will not be deterred.’