2 October 2008: United Nation Information Centre, Islamabad: Following a number of security incidents in the recent past, including the bombing of the Marriot Hotel, have drawn attention to the prevailing security situation in the country and the potential security risks to the international and national communities. After a careful assessment of the security situation in the country and implications for the United Nations in Pakistan, the Secretary-General has approved a change to security phase III for the following locations in Pakistan:
· Islamabad;
· Rawalpindi; and
· Quetta, and nine districts of Baluchistan (Zhob, Chaman, Chagai, Qilla, Saifullah, Pishin, Sibi, Kholu and Dera Bugti).
The children and, possibly the spouses, of the international staff are advised to be relocated for an interim period. United Nations shall keep reviewing the security and safety situation in the country, and shall revert to security phase II as and when the security situation improves.
There are a large number of United Nations entities working in socio-economic development and humanitarian relief field, which deliver much-needed support to the people of Pakistan. The UN will strive to minimize any adverse affects of phase III security measures on the scope and efficacy of its programs.
We wish to reaffirm that the United Nations stands committed to maintain its support and assistance to the people of Pakistan.
Showing posts with label Marriot Bombing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marriot Bombing. Show all posts
Marriot Bombing "Who did it"
MARRIOT BOMBING
Many may disagree with me but I am convinced that the bombing on the Marriot hotel was done by the intelligence agencies for many reasons that I shall explain in this paper. My intentions are not anti government or spread rumours but must be perceived with intent that if what I am writing is true (and that will only be known to the government), it must be immediately stopped.
It must be clearly understood that four major partners have ruled Pakistan in turns. They include the Feudal, the army and bureaucracy which we call the establishment and the Mullah. The people of Pakistan count no where in governance or respect and as long as this will continue, my war against the above four will continue with the pen.
My conviction of government involvement stems from reasons,
That the red areas have proved to be red light areas where there is no prohibition on entry.With the country engulfed in a serious war, why should we be feasting at such high levels?With the VIP culture at its rampage, I am sure the entire intelligence concentration must have been in and around PM houseOn 12 may 07, the world witnessed the manner the people of Pakistan were massacred in Karachi by the government. Just that one event proved how much love/respect the foursome power holders have for the people of Pakistan.It has been observed on several occasions in the past that whenever there was a visit of a US dignitary to Pakistan, the intelligence agencies were involved in blasts to prove to the US officials that Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism. This was also true when a Pakistani dignitary mainly Musharaf was on a foreign visit.The assassination of Miss Bhutto was also an intelligence job. I make my assessment on two grounds,
(a) Why was the crowd allowed on exit point?
(b) The suicide bomber and the gunman were in the crowd leaving no doubt that the crowd was allowed on purpose. Who was responsible for the security which again proves me right in Para 1. Who has benefited form her assassination and who was her security in-charge.The blast during the lawyers meeting in Islamabad was a personal vendetta of Musharaf against the lawyers and once again carried out by the intelligence agencies.The quality and magnitude of RDX, the ease with which the truck reached its target, the selection of timing, the selection of high value target, the destructive magnitude of the bomb and the twin objective it achieved points towards a professional hand behind the blast. What were the twin objectives?
(a) The president was going to address the parliament and a blast following his speech was a good publicity excuse to convince the nation that the planned bombing was to target the president. Mind you no agency has taken the responsibility for the blast so far.
(b) The second most important reason for the blast was the forth coming visit of President Zardari to US. The object was to soften the US position against Pakistan. The intensity of the blast will definitely make Mr. Zardari a "Mazloom" (innocent person) in front of Bush. Therefore Mr. Zardari has been able to soften the drubbing that he was expecting from Bush. The inadequacy in rescue will be a good excuse to ask US for more money and help.
If Para (b) was true, once again we have proved how much dignity the people of Pakistan enjoys in the corridor of power. There is no doubt in my mind that Musharaf's policy is still being pursued. He wanted to enjoy both the worlds by protecting the Taliban and taking money from US. There is no denying that Taliban have made significant in roads by recruiting into the intelligence agencies and the army. In fact they were hand and glove a few years ago. The US has become aware to our dual policy and therefore stopped trusting our intelligence and army.
Why is the government so reluctant in tabling a resolution in the parliament to establish a national policy against Taliban? Why is the government reluctant to convert all madaris into normal schools? They are the breeding ground of all the evil. Why aren't the political parties putting their act together in mobilizing their party workers to bring the nation on one platform against Taliban's? The nation is ready but needs to be lead and such leadership is lacking. In Zia's time mosques were deliberately encouraged in every nook and corner not even sparing places of social entertainment with a specific aim to bring the nation to mosque five times a day to be brain washed into a version of Islam practiced by Taliban. However these Taliban who were brain washed to fight the US evil for glory of Islam do not exist any more. They are now power hungry and many other elements have joined. Fortunately they are now exposed to the people and they have risen against them but the government is still pursuing a prop Taliban Musaraf policy resulting in lack of will to mobilize the nation.
When I recently visited Pakistan, I was told Mr. Lashari (CDA Chairman) has paid rupees two billion to Mr. Zardai to stop his transfer. Yesterday it was disclosed on TV that CDA had spent 60 corores to buy fire fighting equipment but very little was available to distinguish the fire in Marriot. If we continue a similar future course Pakistan is doomed. What course we should follow will be my next paper.
By Sikander Shah
P O Box 4277 Sharjah UAE
Disclaimer:
NNA and Daily Khabarnama is not part of any political/miltary/inteligance agency, all posts on this blog and website is personal views of different peoples.
Many may disagree with me but I am convinced that the bombing on the Marriot hotel was done by the intelligence agencies for many reasons that I shall explain in this paper. My intentions are not anti government or spread rumours but must be perceived with intent that if what I am writing is true (and that will only be known to the government), it must be immediately stopped.
It must be clearly understood that four major partners have ruled Pakistan in turns. They include the Feudal, the army and bureaucracy which we call the establishment and the Mullah. The people of Pakistan count no where in governance or respect and as long as this will continue, my war against the above four will continue with the pen.
My conviction of government involvement stems from reasons,
That the red areas have proved to be red light areas where there is no prohibition on entry.With the country engulfed in a serious war, why should we be feasting at such high levels?With the VIP culture at its rampage, I am sure the entire intelligence concentration must have been in and around PM houseOn 12 may 07, the world witnessed the manner the people of Pakistan were massacred in Karachi by the government. Just that one event proved how much love/respect the foursome power holders have for the people of Pakistan.It has been observed on several occasions in the past that whenever there was a visit of a US dignitary to Pakistan, the intelligence agencies were involved in blasts to prove to the US officials that Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism. This was also true when a Pakistani dignitary mainly Musharaf was on a foreign visit.The assassination of Miss Bhutto was also an intelligence job. I make my assessment on two grounds,
(a) Why was the crowd allowed on exit point?
(b) The suicide bomber and the gunman were in the crowd leaving no doubt that the crowd was allowed on purpose. Who was responsible for the security which again proves me right in Para 1. Who has benefited form her assassination and who was her security in-charge.The blast during the lawyers meeting in Islamabad was a personal vendetta of Musharaf against the lawyers and once again carried out by the intelligence agencies.The quality and magnitude of RDX, the ease with which the truck reached its target, the selection of timing, the selection of high value target, the destructive magnitude of the bomb and the twin objective it achieved points towards a professional hand behind the blast. What were the twin objectives?
(a) The president was going to address the parliament and a blast following his speech was a good publicity excuse to convince the nation that the planned bombing was to target the president. Mind you no agency has taken the responsibility for the blast so far.
(b) The second most important reason for the blast was the forth coming visit of President Zardari to US. The object was to soften the US position against Pakistan. The intensity of the blast will definitely make Mr. Zardari a "Mazloom" (innocent person) in front of Bush. Therefore Mr. Zardari has been able to soften the drubbing that he was expecting from Bush. The inadequacy in rescue will be a good excuse to ask US for more money and help.
If Para (b) was true, once again we have proved how much dignity the people of Pakistan enjoys in the corridor of power. There is no doubt in my mind that Musharaf's policy is still being pursued. He wanted to enjoy both the worlds by protecting the Taliban and taking money from US. There is no denying that Taliban have made significant in roads by recruiting into the intelligence agencies and the army. In fact they were hand and glove a few years ago. The US has become aware to our dual policy and therefore stopped trusting our intelligence and army.
Why is the government so reluctant in tabling a resolution in the parliament to establish a national policy against Taliban? Why is the government reluctant to convert all madaris into normal schools? They are the breeding ground of all the evil. Why aren't the political parties putting their act together in mobilizing their party workers to bring the nation on one platform against Taliban's? The nation is ready but needs to be lead and such leadership is lacking. In Zia's time mosques were deliberately encouraged in every nook and corner not even sparing places of social entertainment with a specific aim to bring the nation to mosque five times a day to be brain washed into a version of Islam practiced by Taliban. However these Taliban who were brain washed to fight the US evil for glory of Islam do not exist any more. They are now power hungry and many other elements have joined. Fortunately they are now exposed to the people and they have risen against them but the government is still pursuing a prop Taliban Musaraf policy resulting in lack of will to mobilize the nation.
When I recently visited Pakistan, I was told Mr. Lashari (CDA Chairman) has paid rupees two billion to Mr. Zardai to stop his transfer. Yesterday it was disclosed on TV that CDA had spent 60 corores to buy fire fighting equipment but very little was available to distinguish the fire in Marriot. If we continue a similar future course Pakistan is doomed. What course we should follow will be my next paper.
By Sikander Shah
P O Box 4277 Sharjah UAE
Disclaimer:
NNA and Daily Khabarnama is not part of any political/miltary/inteligance agency, all posts on this blog and website is personal views of different peoples.
9/20 is Open War on Pakistan
If the 9/11 events in 2001 changed the security paradigm in the United States and elsewhere, the 9/20 deadly attack on Islamabad's five-star Marriott Hotel meant the same to the state of Pakistan. It in fact amounts to a watershed in Pakistan's long-held defense strategy that partially relied on proxies as a low-cost mechanism to pursue strategic objectives.
The ghastly strike left about 80 people dead sent all and sundry in a state of shock and awe. This undoubtedly underscored the gravity of what government and military officials meanwhile acknowledge as a "full-fledged insurgency" a war that has killed 10,267 Pakistanis in five years, most of them since January 2007 in nearly 100 suicide attacks. These are 6,000 Pakistani deaths more than the total number of Pakistani lives lost in the Pak-India War of 1965.
Terrorists struck at the Marriott, located in the centre of a largely secure neighborhood, within four hours of President Asif Zardari's avowal to "eliminate terrorists from the face of Pakistan." As if rebuking the challenge thrown by the President, the suicide bomber rammed the six-wheeler dumper truck loaded with 600 kilograms of TNT, RDX explosives including mortars, artillery rounds, mines and aluminum powder – into the barrier of the hotel.
The steady spike in violence and the indiscriminate nature of attacks since early this year – an attack on the assembly of tribal elders at Darra Adamkhel near Peshawar, the slaughtering of 22 members of a peace Jirga (assembly) at Jandola near South Waziristan, the attack at the crowded entrance of an ordnance factory and the one on Marriott that also killed the Czech ambassador to Pakistan and two US Marines – denote that the masterminds of the insurgency act in total disregard to tribal or social traditions. Neither are their tactics embedded in nor close to any religious ideology or moral scruples.
Thus far, this was the most consequential attack as far as the war between the Pakistani government and the militants is concerned. The planners chose the high-profile Marriott Hotel as the target, in an obvious attempt to scare foreigners and dent the country's image abroad. Stay off Pakistan, was the message delivered through this strike, the third on the hotel within three years.
It is an open political war on Pakistan, a lethal tool to destabilize Pakistan, either to balkanize it or to throw it under the blanket of religious obscurantism in the name of war against "American imperialism and its allies." The Afghan Taliban had espoused the same system for their country but ended up sinking Afghanistan in terror, theocratic dictatorship and obscurantism based on their tunnel-visioned version of Islam.
The apparent proponents of the same ideology, many of whom are Pakistan's ex-proxies used in the Kashmir insurgency and in Afghanistan, are struggling to suck the soul out of the nation-state called the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Proxies of the past have openly challenged their former mentor i.e. the state of Pakistan. This time around, the litany of such attacks demonstrates that these proxies are acting probably on behalf of external players to cause indiscriminate destruction and sow terror in people's minds.
For the first time, signs of a political insurgency are unmistakably visible. In various interviews and their writings very prominent and respected analysts like Talat Masood, Rasul Bakhsh Raees and Dr. Hassan Askari Rizvi declared the attack as one on "symbols of a functional state." They say "this war knows no social values, no tribal tradition and carries no religious trappings." Nor were attacks on innocent locals and foreigners morally justifiable. The proverb "chickens had come home to roost" fits the events as they had been unfolding in Pakistan for almost seven years; religious zealots whom Pakistan's security apparatus had helped and used as proxies for missions in Afghanistan and Kashmir have turned around to take on its erstwhile mentor. The Godzilla of Jihad has given birth to smaller Godzillas many of whom are on their own – challenging the liberal world which they see as a big impediment in their way. Only an informed and non-emotional national debate can probably help the nation overcome the Godzillas that are now threatening the very existence of Pakistan.
This situation also means additional strain on Pakistan because of the reaction to the latest wave of violence; while the country drew sympathies from governments in the United States as well other capitals, they are also contemplating ways as to how contain the violence from spreading beyond Pakistan's geographical territories.
An almost certain consequence of the foreign concern for Pakistan would be greater external involvement, not for development but for containment of the fundamentalist forces. Inherently, this strategy could be even more dangerous if viewed by the majority of 170 million Pakistanis as "foreign-driven." This could also invite more ferocious reaction by the anti-State elements. The demand of the hour, therefore, is to create a balance between what other countries want of Pakistan on the one hand, and what Pakistan must do itself to prevent the country from descending into more violence and chaos. This also requires a coherent and united approach by the civilian and the military leadership. Slightest divergence on the strategy will expose the state of Pakistan to greater exploitation by the forces it is trying to hunt and eliminate.
PS: Government agencies picked Jamshed Mursileen and a prayer leader from Gujranwala, Punjab on the night of Sunday September 21. According to Fauzia Habib, People's Party's woman MNA, on Aaj TV on Tuesday September 23 those who helped the logistics were hosted at a mosque in Wah Cantt for ten days where they were taken care of by the prayer leader of that mosque. Both these incidents along with many others depict a certain pattern of the militants using mosques as their ideal hideouts and planning facilities. Government must also closely observe and watch over the mosques that they suspect could be involved in such activities.
(Dear reader: This is the weekly pager from the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), Islamabad, Pakistan. CRSS firmly believes in academic neutrality and takes up issues that both the State and Society of Pakistan are faced with. We are a non-profit and non-political organization committed to promoting rational and critical thinking. You may also like to visit our website: www.crss.pk This pager is also available in PDF format from our website.)
---DISCLAIMER
CRSS is not part of any political grouping or party and firmly adheres to academic as well as intellectual neutrality.
Our aim: To explore any issue by asking "Independent Questions" and endeavoring to provide "Independent Answers."
CRSS is not part of any political grouping or party and firmly adheres to academic as well as intellectual neutrality.
Our aim: To explore any issue by asking "Independent Questions" and endeavoring to provide "Independent Answers."
---DISCLAIMER
NNA and Daily Khabarnama is not part of this Post our purpose is to provide maximum discussion to our readers.
NNA and Daily Khabarnama is not part of this Post our purpose is to provide maximum discussion to our readers.