Pakistan has begun to disband two major units of its powerful intelligence service that had close links to Islamic militants in Afghanistan and Kashmir , the New York Times said quoting senior Pakistani military and intelligence officials. The paper said that the change has not been publicly announced. But the officials described it as one of the most significant shifts emerging from Pakistan's decision to align itself with the West during the crisis in Afghanistan and to reduce ties with Islamic groups there and in Kashmir.
The officials told the Times that the move would result in the transfer of perhaps 40 per cent of forces assigned to the secretive organization, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which draws its manpower from the military. The agency's size is an official secret, but some officials said the cut could amount to at least 4,000 people, from a force of perhaps 10,000. Last month, President Pervez Musharraf pledged in a speech that his country would fight terrorism in all its forms. Since then, his government has banned several Islamic groups and has announced the arrests of about 2,000 activists.
The changes described within the intelligence service would be an even more tangible sign of his resolve. The changes were described by the officials as highly sensitive. The organization, whose headquarters here is surrounded by brick walls and guard towers, is one of the country's most powerful forces, and quests by the American government and forces within Pakistan for its reform have until now been rebuffed. The senior officers of Afghanistan and Kashmir units have already been transferred, and the others are being ordered to return to other military units, officials told the paper. None have been disciplined, but the United States has requested permission to interview several dozens of them to learn more about their ties to the militants. That request is still being weighed by the Pakistani authorities, several officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2002 8:55:05 PM ||
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The police investigations into the disappearance of US journalist Daniel Pearl could not make any breakthrough on Wednesday, but the provincial administration insisted they were making progress. A spokesman for the Sindh Home Department said theyhad found clues to tracing the locations of individuals believed to have information about Mr Pearlâs whereabouts. Punjab Police are also working to arrest Amjad Farooqui and Hashim alias Arif, he added. Sources said the police had started looking for another suspect, identified as Jawwad Shaikh, who was believed to be one of the captors .
The police had checked the record of flights abroad with the help of national and foreign airlines and found that Jawwad Shaikh and Dr Javed Iqbal were booked on Feb 9, 2001, for Riyadh by Saudi Airline (SV-737). The sources said Dr Javed Iqbal flew to Saudi Arabia but Jawwad Shaikh missed the flight. The police believed he was present in the country. The sources declined to divulge more details, saying the police had started a hunt for Jawwad, whose arrest could be the key to recovering Mr Pearl. The US journalist had gone missing on Jan 23, under mysterious circumstances.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2002 00:00:00 ||
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Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped last month on his way to interview a Muslim fundamentalist leader in Pakistan, has been killed by his abductors, officials said Thursday. The U.S. government condemned his killing as "an outrage" and his newspaper called it an "act of barbarism." FBI and Pakistani officials said they received a videotape containing "indisputable" confirmation that the 38-year-old Pearl had been killed. A spokesman for the Home Government Department of the province of Sindh said authorities received the tape around 11 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EST) and it "contained scenes showing Mr. Daniel Pearl in captivity and scenes of his murder by the kidnappers."
It's not clear exactly when he may have been killed. The tape was apparently sent to the Sindh Home Government Department, and Pakistan officials delivered it to the U.S. consulate in Karachi, where it was viewed by FBI officials. Earlier, a U.S. official told CNN that two Pakistani men approached a Pakistani journalist with the tape, and a U.S. law enforcement agent acquired it. Pearl's January 23 abduction prompted appeals from top U.S. and Pakistani officials for his release, and resulted in the arrests of several people believed to have been involved in the kidnapping -- including the man Pakistani officials identified as the ringleader, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. "We now believe, based on reports from the U.S. State Department and police officials of the Pakistani province of Sind, that Danny Pearl was killed by his captors. We are heartbroken at his death," said Paul Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. "Danny was an outstanding colleague, a great reporter, and a dear friend of many at the Journal. His murder is an act of barbarism that makes a mockery of everything Danny's kidnappers claimed to believe in," Steiger said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2002 9:02:38 PM ||
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Israel killed 18 Palestinians in a blistering series of raids, airstrikes and clashes yesterday in Gaza and the West Bank as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved yesterday an increase in the scale and variety of military strikes, an Israeli political source said. The strikes for the first time hit Palestinian leader Yasser Arafatâs Gaza City headquarters, strafed by a warship, killing four of Arafatâs bodyguards and injuring four others. Fourteen others were killed in separate incidents.
The series of attacks and counter-attacks have been one of the bloodiest convulsions of violence since the Palestinian uprising broke out in September 2000. The latest deaths came in the afternoon yesterday when Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians alleging that they were planting a bomb along the fence separating Israel from the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli officials said the raids and airstrikes were a retaliation for Tuesday nightâs attack which killed six Israelis.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2002 8:31:20 PM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
