February 29, 2008

By ISMAIL KHAN

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Eight suspected Islamic militants, including four men of Middle Eastern origin and two from Central Asia, were killed early Thursday in a triple missile attack on a house used as a training facility in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a security official and residents said.

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By SAMAD KHURRAM

The former head of the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence’s (ISI) political cell recently confessed that he was responsible for political manipulation in Pakistan’s 2002 elections that led to Islamists coming to power in two provinces and gaining 59 seats in the National Assembly. Read more »

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistani security forces have arrested Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the one-time head of Harkat Jihad-e-Islami in connection with an October assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto, the interior minister said Tuesday. Read more »

Published by DAWN (March 3, 2008)

By Yousuf Nazar

The new government’s economic managers may hold the key to its success or failure. Inflation, energy crisis, and stagnant exports would need immediate attention. There is a tendency to look at the economic issues in isolation from the politics but the economic policy would need heavy engagement from the new leadership. It will need to demonstrate that it has the capacity to take bold and imaginative decisions. The new leadership may not have the luxury of any honey moon period and  is likely to face not only a rough ride but also the risk the bureaucracy or former World Bank types would drive its policy and ensure its failure.   

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Pakistan’s extremism starts at the top
By Chietigj Bajpaee

Pakistan’s election results have challenged the misplaced fear in the international community that Pakistan could fall under the control of Islamic extremists. However, this does not rule out the possibility of Pakistan’s descent into an abyss of instability. Read more »

By Omar Cheema, the News

ISLAMABAD: The main wheeler and dealer of the ISI during the 2002 elections, the then Maj-Gen Ehtesham Zamir, now retired, has come out of the closet and admitted his guilt of manipulating the 2002 elections, and has directly blamed Gen Musharraf for ordering so. Read more »

By JANE PERLEZ and CARLOTTA GALL  of the New York Times

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The two main opposition parties that won Pakistan’s elections this week announced Thursday that they had set aside their differences and would form a government, further isolating President Pervez Musharraf, America’s favored ally here.   Read more »

Within 24 hours of the humiliating defeat of the king’s party and a massive rejection of Musharraf’s policies, the anti-democracy elements have started to conspire against Pakistan but the people have spoken. They want Musharraf to go and would like to see the PPP and PML(N) govern and fulfil their promise to restore real democracy in accordance with the charter of democracy. Read more »

QARI SAIFULLAH AKHTAR HAS BEEN AT LARGE IN PAKISTAN SINCE  MAY 2007

1. Who is Qari Saifullah Akhtar? Was he involved in the assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto on October 18, 2007?

2. Is there a connection between his “release” from the custody of the intelligence agencies in May 2007 and the phenomenal rise in bomb attacks during the second half of 2007?   

3. Why did the government keep him for nearly three years, first denied he was in its custody and then released him?      Read more »

By MUNIR AHMAD –

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a crowd following a rally for a candidate allied with the opposition Pakistan People’s Party, killing 40 people and heightening fears of Islamic militant violence during Monday’s crucial parliamentary elections. Read more »

Bill Schiller ASIA BUREAU, TORONTO STAR

 PIRKOT SADANHA, Pakistan

–As the convoy carrying candidate Abida Hussain snakes its way across the plain toward this dusty, hard-bitten town smack in the middle of the Punjabi heartland, a voice precedes it.

It blares from loudspeakers strapped to one of Hussain’s campaign cars. It’s husky and hoarse, full of passion and fire, and it talks about Pakistan’s “democratic future.” And as it wafts across the landscape, people strain to listen. It’s the voice, not of Abida Hussain, but of slain Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, belting out her last speech before she was assassinated in December. Read more »

The following is probably one of the best articles I have read in DAWN in a long time. Irfan Husain hits the nail on the head when he says, “most young people simply do not grasp the role the intelligence services have played over the years in smearing politicians and the political system. Indeed, even their parents do not look behind the newspaper headlines and, more recently, the glib formulations on TV chat shows. Rather than examining the unpleasant truth, we have chosen to swallow the standard line put out by GHQ. This lazy acceptance of lies and half-truths has depoliticised an entire generation.” A must read! Read more »

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By CARLOTTA GALL and ISMAIL KHAN

February 12, 2008

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The announcement of a cease-fire just a few weeks into a determined military operation against one of Pakistan’s most wanted men, the militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, has once again raised questions about the Pakistani government’s commitment to combating militancy in the country’s tribal areas. 

Protesters demonstrated against President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan on Monday in Islamabad, the capital. His government has previously made deals that have allowed militants in the northwestern tribal areas to regroup and fortify their stronghold. 

Pakistani analysts said they feared that the cease-fire was reminiscent of past deals that allowed the militants to regroup and fortify their stronghold, turning the tribal areas into a veritable ministate for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. United States officials have long voiced reservations that any further deals with the militants would be counterproductive.

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Two employees of Pakistan’s atomic energy agency have been abducted in the country’s restive north-western region abutting the Afghan border, police say.The technicians went missing on the same day as Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, was reportedly abducted in the same region.

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