Pakistani city under threat of militant takeover

[CHIMO]

Source: Globe and Mail

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — Security around Peshawar, the provincial capital in northwest Pakistan, has been dramatically stepped up amid fears that the city could fall to heavily armed Islamic militants who have now massed around its outskirts.

From three sides, Peshawar, which borders Pakistan's wild tribal belt, is menaced by Taliban groups and other warlords.

If Peshawar is taken over by extremists, the rest of the North West Frontier Province is also threatened, raising the possibility that religious fundamentalists may gain control of a state on Afghanistan's border. The drama in Peshawar reinforces existing doubts about the new Pakistani government's policy of pulling back the army and seeking peace deals with militants.

In the tribal belt, known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the grip of militancy has tightened and it is now increasingly spread into “settled” areas such as Peshawar, and the nearby towns of Mardan and Charsadda. Across much of FATA, militants decide the law, supposedly in accordance with Islamic principles.



Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080627.wpakistan28/BNStory/Front/home

[Bush_MUST_Go]

1. Oh fun! There's a country that DOES have nukes. And Osama bin Laden.

[ohio2007]

2. Musharraf made a mutual defense pact with China back in Oct,2001

imo,
China will remind the ambassador from Pakistan they intend to step in and honor that agreement.....

....despite Herculean efforts being made by the new Pak govts. " Peace Committee Department " in the western badlands.

Militants mass near strategic Pakistani city

Taliban groups and other extremist warlords now threaten Peshawar from three sides. Should they take over Peshawar, the rest of the North West Frontier Province could ......

snip

In all of these places, the militants usually develop complex alliances with criminals,
first attacking them to win favor with local people,
then absorbing their ranks after the criminals grow their hair and their beards to win favor from the Taliban.

Last weekend, 16 Christians were abducted from a house in an upscale section of Peshawar. Unnerving for reasonably tolerant Peshawar was the recent kidnapping of four prostitutes from a house in Hayatabad, the most expensive area of the city, adjacent to Khyber Agency.

Abduction of young boys has also become common in Hayatabad.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008022419_peshawar28.html




I find it ironic today;


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhuLu6M-Li0&feature=related


We just want OBL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YRafkQKMqM&feature=related

[ohio2007]

3. Pakistani Taliban leader suspends peace talks ( Peshwar now under sharia law )

Taliban bring vigilante law to Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Taliban are no longer at the gates of Peshawar, they’re inside, making their presence felt in the largest city in the NWFP.

snip
These days Taliban fighters do not sneak in to Peshawar. They arrive in broad daylight on the back of pick-up trucks, brandishing automatic weapons, and threatening owners of music stores to close down. “They had long hair and flowing beards, and were carrying Kalashnikovs. They told me to close down the shop or face the consequences,” said Abdul Latif, a clean-shaven 20-year-old, whose video store received a visit from the vigilantes last week. “I asked police for help but they said they are helpless,” he said.

snip
“It’s just a matter of months before news comes that the entire NWFP has slipped out of control,” Fazl warned parliament.
snip
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C06%5C28%5Cstory_28-6-2008_pg1_13

Pakistani Taliban leader suspends peace talks

snip
"The talks will remain suspended until the government stops talking about operations and attacks against us," he said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location. (Reporting by Alamgir Bitani, writing by Zeeshan Haider)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL238707.htm


Where will we stand in '09 on the above issues ?


http://www.barackobama.com/issues/foreignpolicy/

[Bush_MUST_Go]

4. Gee, democracy is breaking out ALL over the region. Great job Dubya.

[otherlander]

5. Kick

:kick:

[ohio2007]

6. A real unreported war being ignored at all costs in the west ?

Pakistan presses on with offensive vs. militants

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani paramilitary forces destroyed a handful of militant centers and uncovered alleged torture cells as they pressed ahead Sunday with an offensive against extremists near the Afghan border, officials said.A spokesman for Pakistan's top Taliban commander promised Sunday that militants would retaliate against the government, and were suspending efforts to reach and implement peace deals.

The operation in the Khyber tribal area is a shift for Pakistan's new government, which has sought to reduce violence through the peace deals. But with extremists increasingly threatening Peshawar, a major northwest city, and ambushing supply convoys bound for U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan, the government turned to its troops.

snip

The troops destroyed at least four militant centers and uncovered a privately run jail, said Habibullah Khan, additional chief secretary for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"The criminals were running a parallel administration in the area," Khan said. "They were kidnapping the people, trying them and punishing them and the government is fully determined not to allow anyone to run a parallel administration." Khan said the jail contained what he called "torture cells" with special equipment, but offered no details.

snip
Rehman Malik, head of the Interior Ministry, said forces destroyed a radio station used by the militants to broadcast propaganda.Khan said the operation would continue for several more days and insisted it was not aimed at any particular militant group.


snip

Gilani said the government was forced to take action because it faced an "immediate problem" from militants near Peshawar and in the Swat Valley.Afghan officials welcomed the operation in Khyber and reiterated their suspicion that a surge in violence in Afghanistan was partly due to the lack of pressure on militants in Pakistan's tribal areas. "We endorse this operation, we want this operation to be continued and we want this operation to be successful," Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.


A pall of smoke and debris rises from the ground during a bombardment by Pakistan's para-military force, using heavy artillery to bombard hide-outs of suspected militants during a crackdown operation in Bara Akakheil in Pakistan's tribal area of Khyber on Saturday,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080629/ap_on_re_as/pakistan



http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8560554&ch=4226714&src=news


Makes me wonder if China has "expressed concern" about the efforts made for peace in our time.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=66a_1214742844

[otherlander]

7. China and America

the two competing giants. It's always about the competing giants, which are usually not very different from each other, nearly-identical greedy entities, faceless gears grinding in the sky and leaving no room for human beings between them.

[Altean Wanderer]

8. Another mission accomplished n/t