Massive political support for military operation

 

ISLAMABAD: Moments after the army launched a full-scale operation against the Taliban militants in North Waziristan on Sunday, the political parties seemed divided on the issue, with a majority supporting the operation.
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Sunday welcomed the military operation and assured his party’s full support to the armed forces.The opposition leader said the prime minister should take parliament into confidence on the operation and make strict security arrangements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad for the safety of public and sensitive installations.

“The final victory will be of the people of Pakistan and terrorists will have to face elimination,” he said.Khursheed Shah again assure the armed forces of the rock-solid support of his party, the Pakistan People’s Party, and the people of Pakistan in their operation against the militants.

“The PPP will continue to give scarifices for the defence of the country,” he added.Agencies add: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister and head of government dialogue committee Irfan Siddiqui said talks and terrorism could not move side by side.

Talking to a private television channel, he said the military operation was decided after repeated incidents of terrorism in the country. “It was reflective of the people’s aspirations,” he said.Siddiqui said both the government and the army were sincere in the dialogue process and the process continued even during the incidents of terrorism but no result-oriented breakthrough came from the opposite side.

He said 100 or so incidents of terrorism had hit the country during the dialogue process. “One group was involved in the talks and the other indulged in terrorism. There was no command and we were forced to launch the operation. Now this is the stance of the entire nation,” Siddiqui added.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain on Sunday welcomed the launch of the military operation against the Taliban militants.“I welcome this operation and am glad that the government is supporting the armed forces,” he said while speaking to a private TV channel.

“Those who have not backed the operation must realise that it is a matter of national security. I appeal to them to come on the same page by setting aside their political compulsions,” he said.

“I fear that the Taliban will sneak into Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta after the operation. They can carry out small attacks in cities in retaliation and to divert the army’s attention from the operation,” he opined.

“I also call upon all civil agencies to be vigilant and act against suspected people. I want to tell the people of Pakistan that our enemies can take advantage of the situation. We need to set up vigilance committees to protect our cities and towns,” he said. The MQM chief urged all media channels to play the national anthem to unite the nation.

Speaking to a local news channel MQM Senator Babar Ghauri said: “This is a commendable decision by the government; we have been repeatedly telling the current government that instead of engaging the terrorists in dialogue the government should act against them.”

He said Karachi had a number of terrorists and it might suffer from a blowback; this threat should be tackled so that Karachi does not have to suffer on account of this.”

The Awami National Party (ANP) leader Zahid Khan said: “We also held a dialogue previously (during our govt) but that did not produce effective results. We wanted peace and we were okay if that came through dialogue but unfortunately that could not happen.

This time, learning from our experience, we had cautioned the government that the dialogue approach would not work. The government should have taken parliament into confidence before launching the operation but it didn’t.”Secretary Information Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Shireen Mazari criticised the government for not taking political parties into confidence before launching the operation.

In her statement on Twitter, she said it was shameful that the prime minister had failed to take political parties into confidence.She said a central core committee meeting of the PTI would be held on Monday (today) in which an announcement of policy would be made.

The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Sunday announced full support to the military operation against terrorists. Chairman Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza of the Sunni Ittehad Council said his party extended full support to the operation against terrorists. He said it was their demand from day one that the solution to Taliban militancy lay in an operation.

“History teaches us that rebels should be crushed forever instead of holding dialogue with them. It was proved through the decision of launching the military operation that the lone voice raised against terrorists by the Sunni Ittehad Council leader Sahibzada Haji Muhammad Fazl Karim five years ago was correct.”

Majlise Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Nasir Abbas Jaffery welcomed the launch of a military operation against terrorists in the North Waziristan and said the decision represented national aspirations.

In a statement, he said the killers of 60,000 Pakistanis never deserved any concessions. “We not only back the announcement, but also assure our armed forces that every person shall move shoulder to shoulder with them against the anti-state elements. The entire 180 million population of Pakistan endorses the operation,” he said.

PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi said his party had always warned that an operation of this scale will result in a large influx of refugees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which his party rules.

“The PML-N government did not tell the public and the opposition why talks had failed. We do not know about the dimensions of this operation.”JI Ameer Sirajul Haq termed the decision of an operation in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) disappointing and said the government right from the outset had made its “good intentions” manifest by letting the talks’ issue linger in the committees.

He said the national leadership and the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should have been consulted before the operation, as it would further complicate the political and national crisis in the country.

He further said that no measures by the government had been seen for protecting the local populations from the effects of the operation. “This situation can further transform into a human tragedy on a large scale,” he stated.

JI parliamentary leader and Ameer of Punjab Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar and Secretary General Nazir Ahmed Janjua said the operation will intensify the bloodshed in the country.

They said the government had made an unwise decision by opting for the military operation, as matters were heading towards improvement through the government-Taliban dialogue.

The two leaders said the government had led the country on the path of destruction by launching an operation in NWA under the patronage of the US. They noted that military operations were no solution to any problem.

The JI Punjab leaders further said that parliament and the nation had not been taken into confidence on the operation.

They said that the government should immediately halt operation in the NWA.Major General (retd) Jamshed Ayaz lauded the launch of operation. “It came slightly late. But better late than never. Pakistan has suffered a big loss – and Pakistan comes first. They have made a correct decision to launch this. The time for talks is over now.”Defence analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais asked what the KP government had done to stop terrorists from entering their province.

A series of massive intelligence failure

ISLAMABAD: The recent attack on the Karachi airport has raised serious question on the role and capabilities of intelligence agencies as the militants have ruthlessly struck at sensitive defence installations and killed some high profile people in recent years but no comprehensive national security plan has been chalked out as yet.

The last few years have seen unending violent incidents, which claimed not only thousands of civilian lives but included several attacks on some high profile individuals as well as sensitive places in the country, including the attack on the GHQ, naval bases, airbases, airports and intelligence agencies’ regional headquarters.

The attacks on high profile individuals included two unsuccessful attacks on former president Pervez Musharraf, former premier Benazir Bhutto, former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, Lt Gen Mushtaq Baig, Major Gen (retd) Ameer Faisal Alavi, former head of the SSG, Maj Gen Sanaullah Niazi, Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, Commandant Frontier Constabulary (FC) Sifwat Ghayur and many others.

The recent attack on the Karachi airport killing at least 28 people, including 10 terrorists, has once again raised question marks as who would protect and guard the strategic and sensitive installations. If we have a look at the timeline of attacks on some sensitive installations, then this presents a clear picture of our intelligence failure.

Similarly, at least 15 people, including 10 militants, were killed at the Bacha Khan International Airport on December 15, 2012 due to which the airport was shut down for 18 hours.

During the recent years, one of the major attacks by terrorists occurred on the Minhas Airbase, Kamra, on August 16, 2012. Then on May 22, 2011, the terrorists attacked the Pakistan Naval Base, Mehran, killing at least 17 people including security personnel. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan while claiming responsibility termed the attack revenge for the May 2011 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

On March 12, 2010, two suicide bomb attacks in Lahore Cantonment area killed at least 45 people. While breaching the security of Pakistan’s most sensitive area i.e the General Headquarters (GHQ), at least 10 terrorists dressed in army uniforms attacked the GHQ in Rawalpindi on October 10, 2009. The TTP claimed responsibility for this attack too.

Similarly, at least 10 police recruits and a civilian were killed when terrorists attacked the Manawan Police Training School in Lahore on March 30, 2009.On December 4, 2008, at least 40 people were killed when terrorists attacked the Askari Mosque in Rawalpindi Cantonment. Besides 17 children, a major general was also among those killed.

The terrorists attacked Pakistan Army’s Surgeon General Lt Gen Mushtaq Baig near the Army Headquarters in Rawalpindi on February 25, 2008.On August 21, 2008, over 70 people were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gate of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in Wah Cantonment.

On December 27, 2007, the two-time prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and suicide bombing in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh, killing up to 20 others and injuring many more.

Similarly, a suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint in the high security zone of Rawalpindi, less than a kilometre from President Gen Musharraf’s Camp Office, on October 30, 2007, killing seven people. The blast also destroyed the check post of Gen Tariq Majid’s residence. General Tariq was then serving as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.

The list of attacks is long. However, each time the terrorists while breaching layers of security succeeded to target key and sensitive installations, it raised many questions not only in the minds of the people of Pakistan but even the international community expressed its concerns over such terrorism incidents.

Massive turnout in Afghan polls defies Taliban threat

 

KABUL: Afghans flocked to polling stations nationwide on Saturday, defying a threat of violence by the Taliban to cast ballots in what promises to be the nation’s first democratic transfer of power.
Polling stations closed after nearly 10 hours of voting that saw a massive turnout, including in some of the most dangerous areas of the country. Electoral workers wearing blue vests with the logo of the Independent Election Commission pulled the paper ballots out of boxes and carefully showed them in footage live on national television on Saturday. Partial results are expected as soon as Sunday. Saturday’s vote was a sharp contrast from Afghanistan’s 2009 election, which was marred by widespread allegations of vote-rigging that tarnished President Hamid Karzai’s re-election.

Turnout from Afghanistan’s presidential election was seven million out of 12 million eligible voters, or about 58 percent, election commission chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said. Nuristani told reporters the figure of seven million was based on preliminary estimates.

The excitement over choosing a new leader for the first time appeared to overwhelm the fear of bloodshed in many areas, as Afghans embarked on a major transition nearly 13 years after the US-led invasion toppled the rule of the Taliban.

Despite Taliban threats, voting was largely peaceful with long queues in cities across the country as voters cast their ballots at around 6,000 centres under tight security. The Taliban rejected the election process saying that the polls under the supervision of the foreign forces had no importance. The Taliban had urged their fighters to target polling staff, voters and security forces, but there were no major attacks reported during the day.

Polling stations started to close at 5:00pm (1230 GMT), though officials said that people already in line would still be allowed to vote. In Kabul, hit by a series of deadly attacks during the election campaign, hundreds of people lined up in the open air to vote despite heavy rain and the insurgents’ threat of violence. “I’m not afraid of Taliban threats, we will die one day anyway. I want my vote to be a slap in the face of the Taliban,” housewife Laila Neyazi, 48, told AFP. Poll security was a major concern following the attacks in Kabul, most recently a suicide bombing on Wednesday that killed six police officers.

But a fatal blast was reported in Logar province, south of Kabul, where one person was killed and two wounded according to Mohammad Agha district chief Abdul Hameed Hamid. IEC chief Nuristani said attacks or fear of violence had forced 211 of a total 6,423 voting centres to remain closed. The day before the poll, Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus was shot dead by a police commander in eastern Khost province. She was the third journalist working for the international media to be killed during the election campaign, after Swedish journalist Nils Horner and Sardar Ahmad of Agence France-Presse. Interior Minister Omar Daudzai said all 400,000 of Afghanistan’s police, army and intelligence services were being deployed to ensure security around the country.

Afghans have taken over responsibility for security from US-led forces and this year the last of the Nato coalition’s 51,000 combat troops will pull out, leaving local forces to battle the resilient Taliban insurgency without their help. In the western city of Herat, a queue of several hundred people waited to vote at one polling station, while in Jalalabad in the east, voters stood patiently outside a mosque. Voters also lined up in Kandahar city, the southern heartland of the Taliban, with some women among the crowd in contrast to the 2009 election when turnout was very low due to poor security.

The country’s third presidential election brings an end to 13 years of rule by Karzai, who has held power since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

Around 13.5 million people were eligible to vote from an estimated total population of 28 million. As well as the first round of the presidential election, voters also cast ballots for provincial councils.

The front-runners to succeed Karzai are former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, Abdullah Abdullah — runner up in the 2009 election — and former World Bank academic Ashraf Ghani. There is no clear favourite and if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round — preliminary results for which will be announced on April 24 — a run-off is scheduled for late May. Massive fraud and widespread violence marred Karzai’s re-election in 2009 and a disputed result this time would add to the challenges facing the new president. Whoever emerges victorious must lead the fight against the Taliban without the help of more Nato troops, and also strengthen an economy reliant on declining aid money. The election may offer a chance for Afghanistan to improve relations with the United States, its principal donor, after the mercurial Karzai years. Relations fell to a new low late last year when Karzai refused to sign a security agreement that would allow the US to keep around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan to train local forces and hunt al-Qaeda.