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Asia Times so salt: A moment of truth for Pakistan
[..]They are undoubtedly concerned that should they clear the mosque in one final military attack, violence across the country will only increase. Already, scores - if not hundreds - of people have died in the mosque siege. Indeed, there is even talk of the unrest becoming so widespread that it would justify calling in North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led troops in Afghanistan to extend the "war on terror" into Pakistan territory. For the al-Qaeda leadership sitting in the tribal areas, the situation is fast evolving into the promised battle of Khorasan. This includes parts of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan from where the Prophet Mohammed promised the "end of time" battle would start. Jihadist circles clearly want to exploit the crisis to boost themselves as major players, and envisage even a share in the power in Islamabad. [..] Three Chinese nationals were killed in Peshawar, NWFP, on Sunday. They are unlikely to have been preferred targets, but militants want to make the brutal point that the writ of the government means little in this area. [..] "I don't see any solution except that the militants are given a safe passage, otherwise the situation will deteriorate and go way beyond the control of the government," said Gul, who is considered one of the architects of the jihadist movements in Pakistan, Kashmir and Afghanistan. "A serious situation is evolving and if any [further] operation is conducted against Lal Masjid it will simply radicalize the religious centers of the country. There are 250,000-275,000 mosques in the country. Think what would happen if all those centers were radicalized. "The jihadis want this sort of situation, and eventually it will prompt Western armies to enter Pakistan to attack Taliban and al-Qaeda targets. The government should realize what lies ahead. It is a pity that our army was preparing youths to seize Lal Qala [the Red Fort of Delhi] and they ended up seizing the Lal Masjid," Gul said. The Lal Masjid situation deteriorated on Sunday when a commando operation in the early hours of the morning went badly wrong. The commandos had planned to break down one of the mosque's walls, but were caught in a trap. The leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Haroon Ul Islam, died in the subsequent gunfight. A Pakistani official told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, "They [those remaining in the mosque] are not ordinary students or jihadis. They are very well-trained militants. The way they trapped our commandos, it just could not be the handiwork of a Pakistani jihadi. We are sure that there are some Arabs inside, and possibly a high-value target is commanding them." The establishment later gave out the names of two Arab commanders of al-Qaeda - Abu Zar and Abu Masoor - as being in the mosque. This could not be verified. On Sunday, Ghazi sent text messages to the mobile telephones of all the journalists with whom he had previously been in contact, including this one. It read: "We have all tied bombs to our bodies. We will fight till the last and will not embarrass our friends." [..] Posted by: 3dc 2007-07-09 |
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