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Pakistan’s New Fear of Flying

KARACHI, July 22— I had just landed at Jinnah International Airport on July 7, and was walking toward the baggage claim area when I saw the bullet hole.

There it was, a single hole in one glass pane, probably from a stray bullet, fired hundreds of yards away. It was the only visible reminder of the firefight on June 8, when members of the Pakistani Taliban invaded the old terminal building where cargo and private flights now operate. Through the night, they fought a pitched battle with security forces that ended with 36 people dead, including the 10 militants. Another casualty, now permanently scarred, was our collective sense of security about our airport.

Jinnah International was the one place where we felt safe from Karachi’s woes. The airport feels like a sanctified space, its air already heavy with the magical scent of “abroad.” Traveling overseas is difficult at the best of times for Pakistanis, who must struggle through complicated visa applications and stressful visa interviews, weighed down by the need to prove one’s bona fide intentions as a visitor to another country, along with the daunting financial burden that traveling overseas presents to most Pakistanis.

But when you drive to Jinnah International to catch a dawn flight, with the sky turning from lavender to rose and peach, the airport shimmers from a distance like a mirage. The closer you get, the more real becomes the imposing gray granite building with its swooping ramps and graceful runways; with it, your dreams of escaping Karachi’s grip become reality, too.

The single bullet hole seemed so insignificant compared with the images that had crowded our television screens during the attack: plumes of smoke and fire emerging from the cargo buildings, soldiers bearing heavy weaponry to battle positions, ambulances rushing to the scene. I had been in London on June 8, but like everyone who lives in Karachi, I had seen similar scenes before — and not just on television: We’ve witnessed the bombs, gun battles and attacks, and their aftermath, with our own eyes.

But the airport siege opened a new wound. We were so proud of Jinnah International — not just its new terminal, built from 1985 to 1992 at a cost of at least $100 million, but also the old terminal. Its Star Gate remains a Karachi landmark. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis had passed through its dingy old buildings: to hajj, to emigrate abroad, to return home, to go to university, to discover the world.

The planners of the attack had to know that their strike, whether or not it crippled the airport indefinitely, would deliver a grievous wound to our psyche as Pakistanis. The airport, after all, represents our connection to the outside world, our modernity and our prosperity.

It is also the hub of Pakistan International Airlines, our beleaguered national carrier. Once the pride of the country, it is now the butt of a thousand bad jokes. P.I.A., you hear, stands for “Prayers in the Air.”

Pakistanis complain about nearly everything the airline does: its on-time record, its finances, its fleet maintenance, the often surly staff. But no matter how bad P.I.A. gets, it’s still ours: a national symbol established in 1955 under the leadership of a well-known Pakistani industrialist, Mirza Ahmad Ispahani. Its birth announced to the world that our fledgling country now counted itself among the nations that mattered. The terrorists struck at that idea, too.

Leaving home is always stressful, but Pakistanis have special reason to be nervous when flying abroad: Since 9/11, we have faced particularly stringent security checks and have often been singled out for special questioning at immigration lines. When we land abroad, the extra scrutiny and suspicion aroused by our green Pakistani passports amplify fears that we might be deported back to Pakistan, rather than be allowed to reach our destinations.

But the deepest cause of anxiety for Pakistanis leaving home may be historical memory. The ghosts of the millions who were slaughtered 66 years ago during Partition, when they were migrating between India and Pakistan, still haunt us when we travel. Who hasn’t heard the stories of entire trainloads of immigrants arriving dead at the train stations; of sword-wielding mobs killing defenseless men, women and children just because of their faith? These stories have been passed down through the generations, and their impact is imprinted onto our collective psychology. The Taliban’s actions at Jinnah International exposed that nerve, with eerie precision.

Pakistanis are always superstitious when we travel: We utter special Islamic prayers for safe departures and arrivals, and we give alms and thanks when we return home safely. But these customs won’t help to ease our anxiety nearly as much in the future. Not now that there are menacing-looking soldiers in combat fatigues clutching submachine guns as they patrol the airport’s corridors. Not now that only one person is allowed to drop you off at the airport, instead of the entire family that was present to comfort and distract you from last-minute jitters. And only one person can greet you when you return — taking some of the joy out of a successful homecoming.

Once I was safely home from the airport, the memory of that bullet hole in the windowpane, so small that it must have been overlooked by repair crews, reminded me of the way Bilal Tanweer, an up-and-coming Pakistani writer, opens the prologue to his novel “The Scatter Here Is Too Great”: “Ever seen a bullet-smashed windscreen? The hole at the center throws a sharp clean web around itself and becomes crowded with tiny crystals. That’s the metaphor for my world, this city: broken, beautiful, and born of tremendous violence.”

Bina Shah is the author of several novels, including “Slum Child,” and short-story collections.

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Pakistan military launches ground attack on militants in North Waziristan

Army in N. Waziristan (Credit: independent.co.uk)
Army in N. Waziristan
(Credit: independent.co.uk)

Islamabad, June 30: Pakistan launched a ground offensive against militant strongholds near the Afghan border on Monday after evacuating nearly half a million people from the region, the army said, in the most significant escalation of a two-week long operation to root out insurgents.

The ground offensive is the second phase of a long-awaited operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal area, a lawless, mountainous stretch of land in northwest Pakistan. The military announced the operation mid-June but has mainly limited its tactics to airstrikes while giving hundreds of thousands of people time to pack up their belongings and leave for safer areas.

The US has long pushed for such an operation to go after militants that use the area as a safe haven from which to attack targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But for years Pakistan has said its forces were too strung out battling militants in other areas of the northwest to go into North Waziristan. The military is also believed to have been reluctant to launch the operation without political support from the civilian government. Until recently the prime minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif, has been pushing for negotiations over military force as a way to end the years of bloodshed caused by militants.

The army began a house-to-house search in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, the army statement said. It said up to 15 militants were killed in the initial ground advance. The town is also the headquarters for a number of different militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban. Al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban also have a presence in North Waziristan.

The operation began days after militants attacked the main airport in the southern port city of Karachi, killing 26 people. Ten attackers died in the five-hour siege that shocked Pakistanis by showing how vulnerable the country’s institutions have become.

The siege of the country’s busiest airport became a turning point in the government’s willingness to negotiate with the militants. A week after the attack, the military announced its troops were starting the North Waziristan operation.

Pakistani forces killed 376 militants during the first 15 days of the offensive, the statement said, adding that 17 soldiers also died. North Waziristan has always been a challenging area for journalists to access but the operation has made it even more difficult to independently verify reports of casualties.

The military said infantry and commandos are leading the ground advance. Three soldiers were wounded in an exchange of fire, the statement said.

Mansur Mahsud, from the Fata research centre, which researches the tribal areas in northwest Pakistan, said they had been receiving reports that many militants had left for neighbouring Afghanistan or the more remote mountainous areas in the northwest after the airstrikes. But he said a ground offensive was still necessary to clear the area.

In the past, critics have accused Pakistan of playing a double game, supporting or tolerating some militants that it sees as useful in maintaining influence in neighbouring Afghanistan, and going after other militants that attack the Pakistani state. The military has said that this operation will pursue everyone equally, but many question how aggressive they will be.

The operation could take three to four months, and it isn’t likely to end militancy across the country immediately, said Mahsud. Militant groups still have a presence in places such as Karachi or Punjab province or other parts of the northwest.

But over time, Mahsud said it will significantly weaken the militants by denying them a place to headquarter their organisations and to train new recruits.

“It cannot end militancy 100% in Pakistan but it can have a significant effect,” he said. “Once this area is cleared the militants are forced to shift to Afghanistan or the mountains.”

About 468,000 people have poured out of North Waziristan, flooding the nearby Pakistani areas of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan in anticipation of the ground offensive. An additional 95,000 went to Afghanistan, the UN reported.

The Pakistani army has already conducted several military operations in the tribal badlands along the Afghan border, including 2009 offensives in the scenic Swat valley and in South Waziristan, the one-time headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani Taliban is a loose network of several local militant groups who want to overthrow the country’s government in a bid to install their own harsh brand of Islamic law. In their decade-old deadly campaign of bombings, shootings and other attacks, they have killed thousands of Pakistanis.

Nawaz Sharif’s government has been trying to negotiate a peace deal with the militants since he took office last summer. The operation has effectively ended prospects of any such move in the near future

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One year after shocking terrorist attack, Pakistan’s peaks bereft of foreign climbers

Fairy Meadows (Credit: paktravelguide.com)
Fairy Meadows
(Credit: paktravelguide.com)

FAIRY MEADOWS, Pakistan June 29 — For more than five decades, locals have called it “Killer Mountain,” a reminder of the risks of trying to scale beautiful, snow-topped Nanga Parbat.

More than 100 climbers and porters have died on the steep, rocky ascent up the world’s ninth-highest mountain — a fact Pakistan once touted in a bid to lure thrill-seekers.

Now, however, local residents are frantically trying to scrub the word “killer” from a mountain that has become a symbol of the threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban.

One year ago this month, about a dozen heavily armed Pakistani Taliban militants executed 10 foreign mountain climbers, including a U.S. citizen, at the base of the mountain. It was one of the worst acts of violence to strike the international climbing community.

Terrorism is hardly unusual in Pakistan; at least 3,000 people died last year alone in the country in violence attributed to Islamist extremists. But the attack at Nanga Parbat was a major blow, horrifying citizens who view the majestic northern mountains as a source of national pride.

“As a Pakistani, I look at it as our Sept. 11,” said Nazir Sabir, who in 2000 became the first Pakistani to climb Mount Everest in Nepal. He now operates an Islamabad-based tour company. “We never, never, ever thought that this could happen.”

The attack also crushed the remnants of Pakistan’s international tourism industry, creating new hardship in a part of the country known for its tolerance and hospitality. The loss of foreign climbers was so distressing that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cited it as one reason he ordered a military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan this month.

Pakistan is home to five of the world’s 14 highest peaks, including K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. Nanga Parbat, at 26,660 feet, is Pakistan’s second-highest mountain.

After the attack, the number of foreign mountain climbers collapsed.

“It may take years and years before they will consider going back to a place like Pakistan,” said Steve Swenson, past president of the American Alpine Club, who has been on 11 climbing expeditions in Pakistan over the past three decades. “I talked to a lot of people, even fairly knowledgeable people, about going there again, and their immediate response is: Is it safe? And then a not-unusual response is: Are you crazy?”

‘This is the day we take revenge’

According to local officials and residents, the Pakistani Taliban attackers hiked through the wilderness for three days to reach the base camp on the western side of the mountain, known as the Diamir Face, late on June 22, 2013.

“Taliban! Al-Qaeda! Surrender!” the militants shouted as they marched into the camp, where the climbers and about three dozen porters slept.

officials say security measures have been increased. (Max Becherer/Polaris Images For The Washington Post)

The assailants went looking for foreigners, slashing more than 40 tents with knives. They yanked people from their tents — one Lithuanian, three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, one American and one Nepali — tied their hands behind their backs and made them kneel in a row in the moonlight.

“Then, suddenly, we a heard a shot,” said one 31-year-old Pakistani climber, who was tied up by the militants nearby. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he continues to fear for his safety.

“Then we heard hundreds of ‘brrr, brrr, brrr’ sounds,” like an automatic weapon might make, he said. “Then a leader of the group came and shot all the dead bodies one by one again.”

One militant then shouted, “This is the day we take revenge for Osama bin Laden,” the man recounted — an apparent reference to the United States’ killing of the al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan two years earlier.

Only one foreign climber — a Chinese man who hid in a steep trench clutching a pickax — survived. The attackers also killed a Pakistani cook, apparently because he was Shiite.

Pakistani police later arrested six people who reportedly confessed to the crime.

Before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, hundreds of thousands of tourists traveled each year to Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan district, where the Himalayan, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountain ranges meet.

There were 20,000 tourists in northern Pakistan on the day of the attacks on New York and the Pentagon alone, but afterward the country was lucky to attract half that number in an entire year, said Tayyab Nisar Mir, a manager at the Pakistan Tourism Development Corp.

Those who did come were almost exclusively mountain climbers and long-distance backpackers determined to explore some of the world’s most picturesque scenery.

Although there were about 150 climbing expeditions a year in the country in the 1980s and 1990s, and about 75 annually after 9/11, only about 30 are likely to occur this year, officials said. And no climbers are expected this summer at Nanga Parbat. (At least two climbers made an unsuccessful attempt this past winter; no one has made it to the peak of Nanga Parbat or K2 in the winter).

The number of backpackers has declined even more dramatically, Mir said.

“Nanga Parbat was the last nail in the coffin of tourism in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the loss of tourism is costing the country $100 million annually.

Officials in Gilgit-Baltistan stress that the massacre was an isolated tragedy. They have been going to great lengths to reassure visitors that the region is safe.

On a pull-off spot overlooking Nanga Parbat on the Karakoram Highway, a sign once read, “Look to your Left: Killer Mountain.”

But Qaria Amin, 33, who operates a gem store at the spot, said that a month after the massacre, a police officer made him paint over the word “killer.” The sign now reads, “Look to your Left: Mountain.”

Local government officials had part of the mountain’s nickname, ”Killer Mountain,” painted over on a sign. (Max Becherer/Polaris Images for The Washington Post)

Kareem’s climbing equipment shop saw a constant stream of customers before. Now, merchandise collects dust. (Max Becherer/Polaris Images for The Washington Post)

Amin says he is lucky if he makes a $100 a week now, compared with the $100 a day he used to bring in selling rubies, topazes and emeralds collected from the nearby hills.

At Fairy Meadows, a village that overlooks the northwest face of Nanga Parbat and the Raikot glacier, the tourism industry has “collapsed, causing hopelessness,” said Raji Rehmal, a resident.

The village of about 50 extended families is so remote that there are few other economic opportunities. To get there, visitors travel an hour by jeep up what locals call “the world’s most dangerous road,” a lane so narrow that vehicles’ tires are inches from the ledge. The road ends at an elevation of about 8,200 feet, and visitors then must hike to the village, elevation 11,154 feet.

Rehmal, who estimates that he is 50 years old, says he has walked at least 13,000 miles working as a guide or porter for foreigners. His work helped pay for the construction of a school for the village. A foreign climber came up with the name Fairy Meadows in the 1950s because the grassy plateau reminded him of a fairy tale, according to tour operators.

“In the good days, there were doctors who used to bring medicine, and Westerners who used to linger longer just to teach the local kids,” Rehmal said. “We would never, ever think of harming any tourist, any foreigner.”

Pakistani hikers in the area also said they miss the foreign visitors.

“We have so little to be proud of, so if there is something as impressive as this, and foreigners come praise it, it’s a psychological lift,” said Nashreem Ghori, a 41-year-old Karachi native who was hiking near Fairy Meadows.

There has also been a steep decline in the tourism business in the Hunza Valley, an oasis of cherry and apricot trees wedged between imposing snow-
covered mountains. The area is one of several Himalayan­ locations that have been mentioned as the possible inspiration for the mythical Shangri-La in James Hilton’s 1933 novel, “Lost Horizon.”

“Here, we have nice weather, nice mountains, nice people, but tourists are not coming, ” said Mohammad Karim, 34, a guide who also runs a camping store in Karimabad, a town in the valley.

Ghulam Nabi, owner of a campground at Fairy Meadows, said he fears that residents may resort to mining or logging to try to earn a living if the tourists stay away.

“The people of Gilgit-Baltistan have learned a lot from Western people,” Nabi said. “We were taught how to protect the environment, and how to balance tourism and nature.”

Authorities now assign an armed police officer to any foreigner who wants to go hiking near Nanga Parbat. Pakistanis are hopeful that such measures, and the stunning scenery, will eventually draw back tourists.

“Those mountains are not going anywhere,” said Iqbal Walji, a Pakistani tour operator. “Sooner or later the people will come back, because it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth.”

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Taliban Fighters Warn Foreign Investors to Leave Pakistan

Taliban fighters (Credit: newsoneindia.in)
Taliban fighters
(Credit: newsoneindia.in)

Pakistan’s military began a full-scale operation in the Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan, prompting insurgents to warn foreign investors, airlines and multinational companies to leave the country.

“We’re in a state of war,” Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, said in a statement yesterday. “Foreign investors, airlines, and multinational companies should cut off business with Pakistan immediately and leave the country or else they will be responsible for their damage themselves.”

The army said June 15 it would target local and foreign terrorists in North Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border the U.S. has called the “epicenter” of terrorism. The operation, long sought by the U.S., comes a week after militants attacked the country’s biggest international airport.

As Islamic militants capture cities in Iraq and the U.S. draws up plans to withdraw from Afghanistan, public opinion in Pakistan is shifting in favor of stronger action against fighters who were previously seen locally as more of a threat to America’s interests. The Taliban wants to impose its version of Islamic Shariah law in Pakistan, which includes a ban on music and stricter rules for women.

Pakistan’s Future

“At stake is the future of Pakistan,” Mahmud Ali Durrani, a former national security chief and ex-ambassador to the U.S., said by phone. “Do we want a Talibanized Pakistan or do we want to live according to the constitution, democracy? If we want to live according to our constitution and democracy then we have to fight for it, because they are the kind of people who don’t believe in these things.”

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party won an election last year after pledging peace talks with the TTP, the group at the forefront of an insurgency that has killed 50,000 people since 2001. Negotiations that began in March collapsed over the TTP’s demands for prisoner releases even before progressing on issues such as Shariah law.

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“I am confident this operation will be a harbinger of peace and stability,” Sharif said in a speech in Parliament yesterday. “The decision on a decisive operation was taken with full consensus.”

After Taliban and Uzbek militants attacked Karachi’s international airport, killing 28 security officials and workers, U.S. drone strikes resumed in North Waziristan following a six-month pause.

Terrorist Hideouts

Pakistani jets yesterday destroyed six hideouts and killed 27 militants in the area, taking the toll to 167 in two days of air strikes, the military said in a statement. Another 10 insurgents were shot dead in a separate battle, it said. Six soldiers were killed and three were injured when an explosion hit the area, the military said.

Troops have cordoned off all militant strongholds, including the two main towns of Mir Ali and Miranshah, and have been deployed along the border with Afghanistan to prevent combatants from fleeing the country, the military said. Pakistan has also sought help of the Afghan security forces to seal the border, according to the statement.

North Waziristan residents such as Nur Rehman have fled over the past month in anticipation of a military offensive. The threat made life unbearable, and about a quarter of people in his village of Tappi have already left, he said on June 12 from the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, where he was staying with his wife and three children.

“In the sky you have drones and on the ground there’s no safety,” Rehman said. “You don’t know when you’ll become a target.”

Air Strike

More than 61,000 people have fled North Waziristan through the town of Bannu since a military air strike that killed more than 60 militants on May 21, according to the local government in Bannu. Another 6,500 people from the area, including 1,500 children, fled to Afghanistan, Mobarez Mohammad Zadran, a spokesman for the border province of Khost, said by phone.

North Waziristan is an area roughly the size of Connecticut that sits near the Afghan border in a semi-autonomous tribal region. Michael Mullen, the U.S.’s former top military official, in 2010 called it the “epicenter of terrorism” and “where al-Qaeda lives.”

No mobile phone coverage is available, and residents make a living through farming or trading goods with Afghanistan. About half of the world’s polio cases this year have been reported in North Waziristan as militants target vaccination drives, part of the fallout from the U.S. spying operation that led to Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011.

Own Laws

The roughly 700,000 people living in North Waziristan are exempted from paying taxes and are governed by their own set of criminal laws. While traditions entrust village elders to solve disputes, feuds are often settled with guns.

After the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, North Waziristan became a safe haven for foreign militants like Uzbeks and Turks who fought alongside the fallen Taliban regime. Local tribes welcomed them in line with a culture of hospitality, according to Khalid Aziz, chairman of the Regional Institute of Policy Research and Training in Peshawar.

In 2007, militant groups in the area united to form the TTP, which went on an offensive toward Islamabad. After Pakistan’s army flushed them out of the Swat valley and most tribal regions, it resisted U.S. pressure to follow through with a push into North Waziristan, which was also home to the Haqqani network and Gul Bahadur, who were fighting American troops in Afghanistan.

Unable to convince Pakistan to take action, the Obama administration intensified its campaign of drone attacks that President George W. Bush started in 2004. More than 3,200 people died in drone strikes from June 2004 to December 2013, according to California-based Pitch Interactive, Inc., which cited data from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

About 70 percent of all drone strikes have been in the North Waziristan region, according to Washington-based The New America Foundation. Only 58 known militant leaders have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, representing 2 percent of the total deaths, it said.

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Pakistan begins long-awaited offensive to root out militants in North Waziristan

Pak offensive in North Waziristan (Credit: guardian.co.uk)
Pak offensive in North Waziristan
(Credit: guardian.co.uk)

Islamabad, June 15 – A long-awaited military campaign to destroy militant safe havens in a Taliban-dominated part of Pakistan‘s borderlands began , years after the US first demanded action.

The army said it had launched a “comprehensive operation against foreign and local terrorists who are hiding in sanctuaries in North Waziristan”, the troubled tribal region that has served as a staging area for attacks across Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Military sources said as many as 30,000 troops could be involved in the operation to secure the border region, which the army believes must be completed before the end of Nato combat operations this year in Afghanistan.

An official statement said “Operation Zarb-e-Azb” had been launched “on the directions of the government”, but the decision follows months of public controversy over the issue, with leading politicians arguing any attempt to seize control of the area would provoke a violent backlash by the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s cities.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, had instead tried to negotiate a peace deal with militants, something most experts said had no chance of success given the record of militants breaking ceasefires.

Sharif’s obstinacy in the face of army demands for North Waziristan to be dealt with before summer has exacerbated tensions between Pakistan’s civilian and military leaderships, who have clashed over the treason trial of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

The military statement said the country could not afford to wait any longer. “Using North Waziristan as a base, these terrorists had waged a war against the state of Pakistan and had been disrupting our national life in all its dimensions, stunting our economic growth and causing enormous loss of life and property,” it said.

Pakistan’s military had already ramped up pressure on militant groups in North Waziristan in recent weeks, launching air strikes and limited ground operations which it described as limited acts of retaliation against Taliban attacks.

The latest came early on Sunday when the army claimed fighter jets killed 80 terrorists, most of whom it said were Uzbeks involved in last week’s lethal attack on Karachi’s airport. Military sources said Abdul Rehman, a senior commander from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who is said to have masterminded the airport attack, was among the dead.

North Waziristan is part of a swath of forbidding, mountainous border territory that fell under Taliban control after militants fled there from Afghanistan following the US-led invasion of 2001.

It soon became a global hub for a plethora of terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban.

The presence of a large safe haven next to Afghanistan enraged bWashington and Kabul who complained the region was being used to hatch plots, train fighters and prepare suicide bombers who could cross the border to kill Afghan and Nato troops.

But Pakistan refused to act, even after the attempt by a Pakistani American terrorist to bomb New York’s Times Square was traced back to the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan.

In 2011 the North Waziristan-based Haqqani Network, an Afghan militant group, launched a rocket attack on the US embassy in Kabul.

In response the White House expanded the use of missile strikes by unmanned drones to kill suspected militants, although the increase in strikes caused outrage in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s refusal to act in North Waziristan reinforced suspicions that it continues to support and protect some militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban, in order to gain influence in Afghanistan, a country historically feared by Islamabad because of its refusal to drop claims to Pakistani territory and long-standing ties with arch enemy India.

The army argued it was taking action, methodically clawing back control of parts of the tribal north-west that had slipped into militant hands by launching major operations in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan.

Some observers remain sceptical despite Sunday’s announcement. They argue the Haqqani Network and other militant groups regarded as useful allies are likely to be left untouched by the operation or will simply move into unsecured parts of western Afghanistan.

On Sunday the army insisted it would “eliminate these terrorists regardless of hue and colour”.

Despite the dangers posed by North Waziristan, many analysts, including one senior western security official in Islamabad, warn an operation may only succeed in forcing dangerous militants into other parts of the country, including the already turbulent city of Karachi where the Pakistani Taliban has made dramatic inroads in recent years.

They say the police are simply not prepared to fight an urban insurgency.

Speaking on local television defence minister Khawaja Asif said “terrorists may carry out attacks, we have to be watchful”. But he vowed that the operation would be carried through “to its logical conclusion”.

“Any group that uses Pakistan’s soil for terrorism will be eliminated, the operation will continue till the complete destruction of terrorism,” he said.

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‘We felt like sitting ducks,’ passenger says of Pakistan airport terrorist attack

Karachi airport burns (Credit: dawn.com)
Karachi airport burns (Credit: dawn.com)

Karachi, Pakistan (CNN) — Terrorists entered Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport at two different spots with a big plan: to destroy a group of parked airplanes and “bring down our aviation industry,” according to the Pakistani government.

It was late Sunday night, and the militants were armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests. They went into the cargo area, about a kilometer (0.62 miles) from where commercial planes take off.

In a “heroic” effort, security forces “laid down their lives” to block the terminal and stop the attackers, surrounding them and killing all of them, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

There were 10 terrorists, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said, and two of them detonated suicide vests.

By the time the attack was over, 28 people were dead, including eight members of airport security forces, two Pakistan International Airlines employees and one ranger. Another 24 people were injured, the military said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault on the country’s largest and busiest airport.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Bahar said the attack was retaliation for the death of former chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in November in North Waziristan.

Bahar warned more attacks will follow.

“As long as we are breathing, our attacks will be continuing ’til the end of our lives,” he vowed.

Fire followed attack

A building caught fire in the attack, but no planes were damaged, Bajwa said. The airport reopened Monday.

Some Pakistani media reported a renewed gun battle at the airport later Monday morning. But officials told CNN the noise was from fire-heated chemical containers exploding.

Still, as a precaution, security forces opened fire, said Ahmad Chinoy of the Citizen’s Police Liaison Committee. He said he was 100% sure there were no militants left in the airport.

Several days ago, Pakistan’s government had warned provincial officials of a possible “high-profile attack on a sensitive or key installation,” said Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of Sindh province. But the warning, he said, did not mention the airport.

‘We felt like sitting ducks’

Farooq Sattar, a member of parliament, was on a plane at the airport when the attack took place.

“My aircraft was on the tarmac ready to take off when suddenly, from what I understand, a message came to the pilot saying to get off the runway and return to the gate,” Sattar told CNN. “I heard shots and saw smoke.”

“Before the pilot could announce anything, I had text messages blowing up my phone saying ‘Karachi airport under attack.’ We were in the aircraft for three hours, full of fuel. They locked the doors.

“The airport was poorly guarded. It was only due to some airport security personnel that the attack got thwarted and the militants didn’t make it to our part of the airport. Passengers were extremely nervous. They started looking at me for answers.”

“We felt like sitting ducks on the tarmac,” he added.

Two crew members who were on their first ever flight “freaked out,” Sattar said.

History of terror

The Pakistani Taliban, which is formally known as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has long conducted an insurgency against the Pakistani government.

“Their primary target is the Pakistani state and its military,” said Raza Rumi of the Jinnah Institute, a Pakistani think tank.

“It resents the fact that (Pakistan) has an alliance with the West, and it wants Sharia to be imposed in Pakistan.”

The group claimed responsibility for a December 2009 suicide bombing at the United States’ Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan.

The attack killed seven U.S. citizens, including five CIA officers and a member of Jordanian intelligence.

The U.S. Justice Department charged Mehsud in 2010 for his alleged involvement in the attack.

Mehsud took over from Baitullah Mehsud, a fellow clan member, in 2009 after the latter was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Four years later, Hakimullah Mehsud suffered the same fate.

More claims and threats

Another TTP member claimed that the Pakistani government has been “abducting and killing innocent people,” and explained why the airport was targeted.

“We chose a location where there would be less civilian and more official casualties,” TTP representative Shahidullah Shahid said.

Shahid warned the group will engage “in a full-out war with the Pakistani state, starting on June 10.”

But “if even now the Pakistani government backs down,” Shahid said, “we are ready to engage in meaningful dialogue.”

Karachi airport attackers were disguised as security workers

More violence

The airport wasn’t the only site of violence in Pakistan on Sunday.

Twin suicide attacks near the border with Iran left 24 people dead, including four terrorists, authorities said. Qambar Dashti, commissioner of the Quetta Division, told CNN two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a hotel where dozens of Shia pilgrims from Iran were staying.

Dashti said 14 out of 18 wounded pilgrims were in critical condition.

Extremist Sunni militant group Jaish el-Islam, a splinter group of Lashkar e Jhangvi, claimed responsibility.

On Monday, while Karachi operated as usual, there was violence in other parts of the country.

Three soldiers were killed and many others were wounded in a suspected suicide attack at a checkpoint in North Waziristan, military officials said.

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Pakistani Military Says It Killed 60 Militants in Raids

North Waziristan bombed (Credit: thenews.com.pk)
North Waziristan bombed
(Credit: thenews.com.pk)

ISLAMABAD, May 21 — The Pakistani military said it killed at least 60 militants, and injured at least 30, in aerial raids on terrorist hide-outs across the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border early Wednesday. Local residents, however, said the dead also included women and children.

The strikes were carried out in retaliation for recent attacks by the Taliban and came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the chief of the army, Gen. Raheel Sharif, met to review the security challenges facing the country.

“Confirmed militant hide-outs were targeted early morning today in North Waziristan through precision aerial strikes,” said a senior security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to divulge details of the strikes.

The official said the strikes had been carried out after security forces received intelligence reports that “terrorists involved in recent attacks” in Peshawar and two other areas were “in these hide-outs.”

Another security official said that foreign militants were the main targets of the strikes. “Pakistani militants and foreign militants from Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement were the targets,” the security official said.

There were unconfirmed reports that two Pakistani militant commanders were killed in the airstrikes. The tribal region that borders Afghanistan in inundated with local and foreign militants, and Pakistani state control is very limited.

The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party, is based in North Waziristan and is made up largely of Turkic-speaking foreign militants including Uzbeks and Muslim Uighurs from the oil-rich northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang, which has seen an increase in violence recently. China blames the Turkistan Islamic Party for the attacks.

The aerial strikes in North Waziristan came almost two weeks after at least nine soldiers were killed there when a powerful explosion hit a convoy carrying security forces.

Though the military denied there were any civilian casualties in Wednesday’s raid, local tribesmen said that at least 10 civilians were killed in the strikes. The claims could not be independently verified.

The strikes were carried out around 2 a.m. in different parts of Miranshah, a town in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, which has long been a bastion for militant factions.

The strikes prompted the local government to impose a curfew in the area for fear of possible reprisals against security forces.

“In Mosaki village in Mirali, a house came under attack during aerial shelling, killing 10 civilians inside,” Haji Ghulam Khan, a local tribal elder, said by phone.

“Initially, they carried out bombardment through gunship helicopters and jets, followed by intensive artillery shelling,” Mr. Khan said. “Local people are running for their lives towards the nearby hills.”

A resident of Miranshah reached by phone, who asked not to be named, said that the death toll from the airstrikes was around 70, and that the dead included some women and children. He based his claim on contacts with local residents in Datta Khel, near Miranshah.

Phones went dead in most parts of the tribal region after the strikes and there was no independent confirmation of the number of casualties.

This was the second attack since the Pakistani Taliban announced on April 16 that they were ending a 40-day cease-fire. While the military has been eager to use force against the militants, the civilian government has insisted on holding peace talks. The talks grew out of an initiative announced Jan. 29 by Mr. Sharif, who said he would pursue a dialogue with the Taliban despite their attacks and growing calls in Pakistan for military action against them.

But dialogue between the government and the Taliban has faltered in recent weeks as each side has accused the other of not taking the talks seriously. There has been no public contact between Taliban and government representatives since March 26.

“The Taliban are ready for peace talks and very much serious, but the government side is lacking seriousness,” said Maulana Yousaf Shah, a Taliban representative. “At the moment, the government is the main hurdle.”

He said that the interior minister had announced a meeting between the negotiating committees of the government and the Taliban to discuss the prospects of the talks but that “so far nothing has happened.”

Separately, six people were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in southwestern Baluchistan Province, local news media reported.

Armed gunmen forced their way into the house of Abdul Hameed Baloch, a schoolteacher, in Dasht Chot village, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Turbat, a small town in the province, and opened fire at 4:30 a.m.

Those killed included two of Mr. Baloch’s brothers.

Baluchistan, a natural resources rich province, has long witnessed a simmering separatist movement, led by Baluch nationalists.

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Mosque named after Taseer’s killer

Qadri's assassin is hugged (Credit: visitpak.com)
Qadri’s assassin is hugged
(Credit: visitpak.com)

ISLAMABAD, April 30: In the suburbs of the capital, along the road to the airport, lies Ghori Town, a housing society near Khanna Bridge. This otherwise unassuming neighbourhood, however, has a curious claim to fame and an unexpected link with the man who was convicted of murdering former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and is currently awaiting confirmation of his death sentence in prison.

Taseer was shot and killed by Mumtaz Qadri, a member of his own security detail, at the Kohsar Market in Sector F-6 on January 4, 2011. The shooter Qadri has become a divisive figure in Pakistani society. He is hailed as a ‘hero’ by some and denounced as a cold blooded murderer by others. Clerics from the Barelvi school of thought are among those proclaiming Qadri’s ‘heroism’.

Perhaps this is why a mosque in the suburbs of the very city Taseer was killed in, has been named after Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. The mosque is constructed on a 10-marla plot of land, next to a girls’ seminary, the Jamia Rehmania Akbaria Ziaul Binaat. Even though the housing society is not fully developed and several houses in the neighbourhood are still under construction, there are already four mosques, catering to people from different schools of thought, in close proximity to each other.

The mosque’s prayer leader, Mohammad Ashfaq Sabri, told Dawn: “The mosque was built to pay tribute to the services of the man who taught a lesson to a blasphemer,” adding that the name was chosen in consultation with religious scholars and residents of the area.

Sabri said the main prayer hall was constructed by the housing society’s developers, but more storeys are expected to be added, which will be paid for by donations.

But those living in Ghori Town say no one asked them. In fact, several residents Dawn spoke to refused to be named for fear of reprisals.

“I know who Qadri is and what he did. I have a very different opinion of him, but I can’t speak out because I’m afraid something might happen to me or my family,” said one of the mosque’s neighbours.

Another Ghori Town-resident, Mohammad Tufail, said: “Have you ever heard of clerics consulting anyone in the neighbourhood before naming a mosque? But I figure, what’s in a name? We just go there, pray and come back. I don’t want to get involved in the politics of these Maulvis.”

“I cannot comment on whether this is right or wrong. I work to provide for my family and I don’t want religious fundos beating down my door because they don’t like something I said,” said Faisal Rasool, another resident of Ghori Town.Saleem Janjua, who also lives close to the Mumtaz Qadri mosque, offers his own interpretation of events.

“Some religious leaders or the owners of the housing society probably wanted cheap publicity. This will make the mosque popular and fund raising easier,” he told Dawn.

When word of the mosque’s controversial name got out, it triggered a major backlash on social networking sites. The late governor’s daughter Sheherbano Taseer, Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari and dozens of others condemned the decision to name the mosque after “a murderer”.

Civil society, politicians expressed concern

“It is clear that the fabric of our society has changed,” Ayesha Siddiqa, a security analyst who has also studied banned organisations, told Dawn.

“Extremism and violence terrify the common man and stop them from speaking out on such issues. There are people who would oppose such a move, but they have no voice,” she said.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar also expressed his shock.

“A mosque had been named after a self-confessed murderer. This will not promote peace and harmony in society, only deepen divisions”.

 

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TTP says it has “gifted” a lull in terror in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, May 2 : Accusing the government of using the dialogue process as a political tool and to increase military operations, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Thursday said they did not know who to talk to in Islamabad, as they believed the government had no powers to reach an amicable solution.

In a statement, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said they did not know whether they should talk to the government or the military.Shahid said talks and war could not go together adding that the Taliban had the right to defend themselves. He said, on the one hand, the government claimed it was interested in the dialogue but, on the other hand, it hurled threats at the Taliban.

He said the army had imposed a war on the people in Babar and Shaktoi areas of South Waziristan in the last two days. He also condemned the police action against the relatives of missing persons in Islamabad and said such a situation could not provide an environment for a meaningful and serious dialogue.

“The TTP has insisted that it is ready to talk in the interest of Islam and the Muslims of Pakistan. But we will not accept that the dialogue is used as a political tool and to pursue war startegy,” he said.

Shahid said the TTP had shown sincerity and seriousness during the talks and gifted a 45-day ceasefire to the people and the country but the government had not shown any seriousness since the talks took off.

He said the Taliban had left it to the people of Pakistan to decide whether a war or talks could go together and asked if it was the responsibility of the Taliban only to make the process successful.

He said the Taliban will not step back from serious and useful talks but would not accept the politics of threats and war.“We are fighting for the supremacy of Sharia and our Mujahideen have the capability to face any difficult situation and know how to give a befitting response to the enemy,” the TTP spokesman said.

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Journalists, civil society condemn attack on Hamid Mir

Hamid Mir (Credit: thenews.com.pk)
Hamid Mir
(Credit: thenews.com.pk)

LAHORE, April 21: Journalists, civil society activists and politicians have demanded early arrest of the perpetrators of the attack on anchorperson Hamid Mir, while terming it an attack on the freedom of speech and expression in Pakistan.

A large number of journalists and civil society activists gathered at the Lahore Press Club where they held a protest demonstration after passing a condemnation resolution. Hamid Mir sustained three bullet injuries in an attack on Faisal Avenue in Karachi by four unidentified gunmen, on Saturday. Doctors said one bullet pierced his intestine while two others wounded his leg and pelvic area, however he was out of danger.

The Lahore Press Club condemnation resolution and protest rally was joined by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Punjab President Ejaz Chaudhry, MNA Shafqat Mahmood, Andleeb Abbas, Punjab Federation of Union of Journalists leaders Rana Azeem, Afzal Butt and other office-bearers. LPC President Arshad Ansari, Afzaal Talib were also present there. Senior journalists including Geo Lahore bureau chief Khawar Naeem Hashmi and other journalist from Jang Group also joined the demonstration.

Civil society activists including former chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and former President Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jehangir, Hina Gilani, IA Rehman, Abid Hassan Manto, Imtiaz Aalam, Jungo Mohin, Mehmal Sarfraz also participated in the protest rally and demanded early arrest of culprits involved in attack on Hamid Mir besides arrest of their mastermind. The protestors were holding various placards inscribed with slogan in support of Hamid Mir and press freedom.

LPC president Arshad Ansari said that the journalist community would boycott covergare of the government if proper and quick inquiry was not made and justice was denied. Khawar Naeem Hashmi said three bullets cannot stop him (Hamid Mir) from speaking truth. “Our fight which is continue from past will continue for the sake of truth and for the country.”

Earlier, a condemnation resolution was passed in LPC demanding a transparent investigation and bringing the culprits to the book. Separately, Opposition Leader in National Assembly Khursheed Shah, while talking to media at Lahore airport condemned attack on Hamid Mir and urged the government to hold a transparent probe into the incident. PU vice chancellor Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran, Punjab University Academic Staff Association president Ihsan Sharif and secretary Javed Sami have also condemned the attack.

PU Institute of Communication Studies, the alma mater of Hamid Mir, where his father Waris Mir also served as chairman, has prayed for the early recovery of their journalists. ICS teachers and students have demanded the government to book the culprits at the earliest possible.

Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said the attack on a senior journalist Hamid Mir is tragic and highly condemnable. He prayed for early recovery of Hamid Mir. He was talking to media after inaugurating Walton Flyover Sunday.

The chief minister prayed that Hamid Mir take up his journalistic responsibilities again. He said that attack on Hamid Mir was an attack on freedom of press. He said that the federal government would conduct inquiry into the incident and ensure punishment to the culprits. He said that the elements involved in this heinous act will soon be apprehended and brought to justice so that no one could dare attack journalists again.

Federal Information Minister Pervauz Rasheed while talking to media at Lahore airport said as per a directive of Prime minister a committee was being constituted to conduct a transparent probe into the incident. He expressed his complete solidarity with the Hamid Mir and his family as well as the journalists community.

The attack on Hamid Mir has brough large-scale criticism of the government as well as the law enforcement agencies by the Pakistani and foreign media. India media has launched a campaign against ISI quoting a statement of Amir Mir, the brother of Hamid Mir, who is also an investigative journalist.

An ISI spokesman has condemned the attack on Mir and the allegations against the ISI: “The spokesman has condemned the incident of firing on senior anchor Hamid Mir, prayed for his wellbeing and quick recovery. The spokesman said that an independent inquiry must immediately be carried out to ascertain the facts.