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(The Times) Feb. 19, 2009 – The regional government in northwest Pakistan struck a peace deal with Sufi Muhammad, who was released recently after spending six years in jail for leading thousands of his supporters to Afghanistan to fight American forces in 2001.
The chief of outlawed outfit Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) Maulana Sufi Muhammad left for Swat to hold talks with Taliban. (GEO-Pakistan)
In return for the imposition of Sharia, the pro-Taleban cleric is expected to persuade Mullah Fazlullah, his son-in-law, who is spearheading the insurgency, to lay down arms.
“It will be a good step if it ends the bloodletting,” Mohammed Jaffer, whose grocery business has suffered hugely as a result of the fighting, said as he watched from his shop doorway. It is a common sentiment in Swat, desperate for peace after years of violence. But reining in Mullah Fazlullah will be no easy task.
The firebrand cleric, 33, has turned what was once a favoured tourist destination into a byword for terror. The Taleban in Swat has conducted a campaign of beheadings, lynchings and bombings, and although Mullah Fazlullah announced a ten-day ceasefire, analysts said that there was no indication that he would agree to put his weapons aside.
A similar deal last year collapsed in a few months and was blamed for giving the insurgents time to regroup. Many people — including Western politicians — accuse the Government of surrendering to terrorism and abdicating its responsibility to protect the lives and property of the people.
“This deal shows that the Pakistani Army has been defeated by the militants and the State is incapable of retaining control over its territory,” Athar Minallah, a leading lawyer and a former provincial minister, said.
Pak critics says new Islamic law in Swat Valley will encourage insurgents
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Medvedev helped Kyrgystan kick the US out of a strategic air base and supply line for Afghanistan, whereas the base is transfered to the autoritarian dictator in Turkmenistan. The advantage is a greater source of … oil & gas.
Dangling modifier in the region: Georgia.
Conflicted Russia gives and takes on Afghanistan
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."a very interesting take on the situation in afghanistan by pepe escobar in tomorrows edition of the asia times:
an excerpt:
this is the kind of analysis you’ll never see in the msm
recommended reading.
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The attack of September 11 can be seen as an attempt to get the U.S. government to engage in political activities that would put pressures on the Saudi and Pakistani governments of a kind that would undermine their political viability. The primary actions of the U.S. government in the region since 2001 – the invasion first of Afghanistan and then of Iraq – certainly met the expectations of al-Qaeda. What has been the result?
The Saudi government has reacted with great political astuteness, fending off U.S. pressures that would have weakened it internally, and has been able thus far to minimize al-Qaeda political success in Saudi Arabia. The Pakistani government has been far less successful. The regime in Islamabad is far weaker in 2008 than its predecessor regime was in 2001, while the political strength of al-Qaeda-type elements has been on a steady rise. The Mumbai attacks seem to have been an effort to weaken the Pakistani state still further. Of course, LET wished to hurt India and those seen as its allies – the United States, Great Britain, and Israel – but this was a secondary objective. The primary objective was to bring down the Pakistani government.
In Pakistan, as in every country of the world, the political elites are nationalist and seek to further the geopolitical interests of their country. This objective is fundamentally different from that of al-Qaeda-like groups, for whom the only legitimate function of a state is to further the re-creation of the caliphate. The persistent refusal of the Western world to understand this distinction has been a major source of al-Qaeda’s continuing strength. It is what will turn Pakistan into Obama’s nightmare.
US Calls Release of Pakistan’s AQ Khan ‘Extremely Regrettable’
● Militants in Pakistan blow up Khyber Pass bridge
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
From your link …
Iran is getting closer and closer to Russia. Russia currently holds the presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – the Eurasian answer to NATO not only in terms of security but also in the economic and energy spheres. The SCO unites Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with Iran and Pakistan as observers.
Russia Gives Kyrgystan $2 bn Stimulus
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – A suicide bomber ran into a crowd of mourners at the funeral Friday of a slain Shiite Muslim leader in northwest Pakistan, killing 30 people and triggering riots by enraged mobs.
Witnesses told of horrifying scenes after the explosion rocked Dera Ismail Khan, a town with a history of sectarian violence on the edge of the Sunni-majority nation’s restive tribal areas.
“The head and a foot of the suicide bomber has been found at the scene. The bomber appeared to be 20 years old with a beard,” he added.
The bombing came two weeks after 35 people died in a suspected suicide bomb attack against Shiite worshippers in the Punjab town of Dera Ghazi Khan, in what was one of Pakistan’s deadliest sectarian attacks.
“The government must stop the genocide of Shiites in Dera Ismail Khan. They are killing us, attacking our houses and do not spare even our funerals,” said Hussain from hospital.
Troops took control of Dera Ismail Khan and imposed an indefinite curfew. Residents shut themselves in their homes, closing all shops and businesses, police said.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."