On the last day of voting, Abdul Rasool Sayyaf was among six delegates elected to represent the Paghman region, near the Afghan capital. The BBC correspondent in Kabul says its widely accepted that the rules of the Loya Jirga -- which is due to convene on Monday -- prohibit the election of warlords and those who have committed crimes. Professor Sayyaf says there is no proof that he was responsible for the many civilian deaths in Kabul during violent power struggles. Guess he had any witnesses shot. Sayyaf is the Saudis' man on the ground with the Northern Alliance. He heads the wahhabi political party, Ittehad-i-Islami, and he was the political link between Hekmatyar and Abdallah Azzam, bin Laden's partner in Maktab al-Khidamat (Services Office), which helped funnel fighters and money to the Afghan resistance from Peshawar, in the good old days.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:52 am ||
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In a continued search operation, US commandos have tracked down dozens of Taliban and Al-Qaeda members in the tribal villages of eastern province of Khost bordering on Southern Waziristan. Information from Afghanistan indicates US troops remained engaged in search operation in the tribal villages including Babr Mal, Owara Mandi, Yawar and Manra on Friday. They hunted down dozens of Afghans on the suspicion of being Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.
Eyewitnesses said that US commandos have got two houses on rent in the village Beer Bal where the suspected supporters of Taliban and Al-Qaeda are kept for preliminary investigation. The locals have vacated their houses in the village being gripped by panic and fear. Sources stated that Afghan troops are also assisting US special troops in the ongoing operation. US spy planes are carrying out their flights. The US commandos barge into the houses breaking away the doors without seeking prior permission, the eyewitness reported. They have arrested a large number of bearded people who are being shifted to various jails, the witnesses informed. Interesting bitch and moan. The source is Markaz ad Dawa, the Pak-Kashmir jihadi front. Just a few days ago, our guys weren't finding anybody home. Personally, I think it's a good idea to arrest large numbers of bearded men in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:52 am ||
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Senior US officials have met with representatives of four Iraqi opposition groups to discuss their role in efforts to unseat Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The representatives met with Marc Grossman, undersecretary for political affairs and other officials dealing with the Middle East, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said. He said the meeting was part of Washington's commitment to working with as broad-based an opposition as possible. "We continue to discuss the constructive role that they can play in advancing the goals of the Iraqi people," he said. Just coincidentally, Mubarak's in town and Sharon's arriving Monday...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:52 am ||
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Former All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) chairman, Syed Ali Gilani was arrested in Pattan Friday while he was on his way from Srinagar to Sopore to address Jummah congregation. According to Kashmir Media Service, an APHC worker, Muhammad Maqbool Nerwani, accompanying Syed Ali Gilani was also taken into custody. Gilani was also jugged in March for agitation and incitement to riot...
Meanwhile, senior APHC leader Maulana Abbas Ansari, addressing Jummah congregation in Srinagar, expressed grave concern over the growing tension in the region and said that peace in the region will be ensured only when Kashmir issue is resolved in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Aspirations as defined by Hurriyat, mind you. Accept no substitutes...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:52 am ||
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The Pakistani Army alone cannot even defend itself much less safeguardg the geographical boundaries of the country, stated Jamaat-i-Islami Naib Amir Prof Ghafoor Ahmad while talking to journalists Friday. He stressed that the military leadership should realize the gravity of the situation and pay attention to its professional responsibilities instead of indulging in the civil affairs. "The military should keep in mind the bitter experience of fighting a war in East Pakistan without the backing of Bengali people," he added. The Indos tromped the Paks and the Bengalis cheered. Once it was all over the Bengalis got down to the serious business of assassinating each other and seeing if authoritarian anarchy was a viable form of government...
He said the gulf between military and the people had been growing wider with the establishment of military colonies in every town of the country and induction of a large number of retired and serving military officers in civil services. "In fact the army has become a party against the rights of the civilian population of the country," he claimed. The fact that they're literate and have admistrative skills counts for nothing if they're not pious men, with turbans and automatic weapons.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:52 am ||
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This article seems to have its West & East parts of Pakistan mixed up. Which isn't too unusual for the Dawn.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
06/08/2002 10:23 Comments ||
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PAF Fighter planes on Friday kept a vigilant watch in Azad Jammu and Kashmir in wake of possible attack by India. F-16's were on regular patrol in the entire independent state to monitor any aggressive move by India and violation of airspace. Expecting something, perhaps? Why weren't they patrolling before? It would seem a reasonable precaution...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:52 am ||
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Remember the USAF AirGuard griping about the maintenance cost of running interceptors 24/7 some months ago? My guess is that 90% of the third world's air forces sit on the ground 99% of the time due to this factor: repair costs.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
06/08/2002 10:20 Comments ||
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Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Pakistan on Friday to put an end to "terrorist activities" directed against India and Kashmir. "If we consider the roots of terrorism, we should ask above all Pakistan to put an end to terrorist activities coming from its territory and directed at India and Kashmir," Putin said at the end of a regional summit here. Russia has Chechnya, the other terrorist hotspot. They don't have a lot of sympathy for "freedom fighters" in turbans.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:54 am ||
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The Jamaat-i-Islami chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has urged the government not to accept any pressure to bargain on Pakistan's principled stand on the issue of Kashmir and warned that any sign of weakness could cost the country its freedom. "The only way to stop war is to have full preparation to meet the challenges", he said, and announced to hold a massive rally on June 16 to demonstrate that the nation was united to meet any Indian challenge. A good way to avoid war would be to cease sending cannon fodder to blow things and people up in somebody else's territory.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that the issue of Kashmir is an incomplete agenda of the partition of the subcontinent which has yet to be resolved through a plebiscite by the people of the valley. He blamed Britain for the constant tension in the region and added that it was due to the fact that Britain awarded a Muslim district of Punjab to India giving the enemy a permanent physical access to the valley. Couldn't be the fault of people like Qazi for picking at the sore for the past 50 years and defining their next door neighbor as an enemy. It's gotta be them damn furriners.
He criticized the government for siding with the US in targeting the people of Afghanistan and its government which, he claimed, were the defenders of our western border and where now the US, British and European soldiers, in collaboration with the government, were deployed in the tribal areas and where instead of peace, lawlessness has become order of the day, he remarked. He said we have forewarned the government that the policy instead of saving us would lead to our disaster as the US action was not against Afghanistan but was against the Muslim ummah. Although the US had termed Iran, Iraq, Libya and Sudan an "axis of evil", its next target would be Pakistan, the only Muslim country with nuclear power, he feared. "They ain't targeting us because we're homicidal lunatics! It's our religion they're attacking! Our religion requires us to be homicidal lunatics!"
The JI chief lamented that the US commandos were being led by the Pakistan Army for conducting raids in tribal areas and festering sores madressahs where in the past even Pakistan army could not dare to enter. This action was followed by banning Jehadi organisations which had served Pakistan as its vanguard and fought against the enemy shoulder-to-shoulder with the Pakistan Army. But now those Mujahideen are being sent behind the bars without any reasons only to stop them from challenging the enemy and block them from fighting alongside the Kashmiri Mujahideen, he added. Once you start banning organizations made up of large numbers of professional killers with an ideology inimical to the interests of the nation, there's no telling where it's going to end. Why, they might somebody ban the subversive organizations behind them, too, and even jug the people making a good living running them...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 10:07 am ||
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The Ameer of Tehrik Mujahideen of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Ali Sheikh Abdullah Mubarak on Friday declared that freedom movement would continue against Indian occupation forces in held Kashmir until it achieved its objectives. In a media statement the Ameer said that the freedom struggle for Kashmiris would continue till the goal and objectives of right of self-determination are achieved. Does that mean they want Pak-occupied Kashmir to vote? I'll bet it doesn't...
He vowed that 14 million Kashmiris would render their lives for the defence of their territory adding that no power on the earth could deter Kashmiris from seeking their right to self-determination. He said that no betrayal with the blood of freedom fighters would be tolerated and the Kashmir freedom struggle would continue unabated till the ouster of Indian occupation forces from the valley. And the last Pandit is dead...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 05:45 pm ||
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The border security forces seized two tons of heroin following an encounter with Afghan drug smugglers near a village of the Chaghai district, some 700km west of Quetta, on Friday. On a tip-off, Kharan Rifles troops swooped on the village of Raiay before dawn and stopped two suspected vehicles on a road, passing along the village. Instead of stopping, the occupants of the vehicles opened indiscriminate fire on the troops, who returned the fire. Following the shootout that continued for an hour, the drug traffickers fled towards a hilly area at the Pakistan-Iran border, leaving behind both the vehicles. On search, 2,000 packets of heroin each of one kilogramme were seized from the vehicles.
The heroin seized is worth Rs800 million in the international market, Pir Sadiq Ali Shah, Col Commandant of the Kharan Rifles, a wing of the Frontier Corps, said, while confirming to Dawn the drugs seizure. He said the drug consignment had been brought from Afghanistan and was being smuggled to European countries via Iran.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:33 pm ||
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Pakistani officials have said Indian reports of a gunbattle in southern Kashmir are false and serve only to draw attention from the shooting-down of an unmanned Indian spy plane near Lahore. Indian officials said three Indian soldiers were killed in the firefight in the village of Loranmandi in the district of Poonch with suspected cross-border Islamic militants that started late Friday and continued into Saturday afternoon.
But Pakistani government spokesman Gen. Rashid Qureshi said the Pakistani army had reported no firefight activity in the Poonch area, and said there had been no intrusions into Indian-held territory. The general said a "normal exchange of fire" was taking place between the two sides, including shelling as deep as 10 km inside the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, the boundary separating the Indian and Pakistani sectors of disputed Kashmir.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar warned Saturday that the shootdown could "lead to escalation" of the already tense conflict between the two nuclear-capable South Asian neighbors. "In a situation like this, responsible states must exercise utmost care to ensure that no provocations are made which might lead to escalation," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:33 pm ||
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Expressing grave concern over the gravity of situation on the India-Pakistan border, the Organization of Islamic Conference called on Wednesday for the international monitoring of the Line of Control so that an environment conducive to the attainment of peace may be created. At a meeting convened on Pakistan's request, the Chairman of the OIC Group at the UN, Cheickna Keita of Mali, reiterated the Islamic group's solidarity with Pakistan in its hour of need. "My Islamic brethren, right or wrong. My mother, drunk or sober. Unless she's an adultress, or shows leg or something..."
Briefing the 57-member OIC, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram said the international community "cannot close its eyes, specially when the possibility of an Indian attack on Pakistan is very strong," even if by accident or misunderstanding of the latter's intentions, resulting in pre-emptive aerial strikes. Saying that one or two members of the UN Security Council have resisted involving the council in the crisis, Akram called upon the OIC member states to stand now with Pakistan in this "hour of peril," and to extend their good offices in persuading others, including the members of the Security Council, to do so. "That fire's really hot. Could you guys, like, pull our chestnuts out, please?"
He proposed that first, the international community should monitor the LoC in order to confirm no hostile or improper activity was taking place; second, India should be prevailed upon to de-escalate its military activity on its border with Pakistan, and on the LoC, returning to their peacetime positions, and third, India should work with Pakistan in exploring avenues of lasting peace in the region; in that process there should be a halt in the persecution of the Kashmiri people, concurrent with the easing of the use of militancy by the Kashmiri people and transition to a process involving India. "Let's get lots of international troops in there, preferably from Islamic countries — good, pious soldiers, with turbans and heavy weapons. Barring that, we'll get some Americans and the jihadis can get them involved so we can have a world war and us Muslims'll win because there's lots of us and we're pious. Okay?"
Pakistan's chief delegate observed that "after the events of Sept 11, 2001, India has sought to take undue advantage of the opportunity to portray the Kashmir liberation struggle as terrorism, and to delegitimize the struggle, disregarding the fact that the right of self-determination is a crucial principle of the UN Charter, as is also the people's right to defend themselves, including by armed resistance. This is true of liberation struggles everywhere, including Palestine." "Even when they blow people up indiscriminately, as long as it's Muslims engaging in armed struggle."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 09:41 pm ||
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An Islamic preacher has denied charges of soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. Abdullah El-Faisal, 38, of Stratford, east London, pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey to nine charges arising mainly from audio tapes made of his speeches, and was remanded in custody for trial on November 18. He was accused of soliciting Muslims to murder non-believers, Indians, Hindus, Jews and Americans. "Stirring up racial hatred? Moi? Never! Oh. It's on tape. Well, they're just Indians, Hindus, Jews and Americans..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 10:09 am ||
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Myanmar rebels fighting near the Thai border have seized two more government outposts after days of fierce fighting that has fuelled tension between Yangon and Bangkok, military sources said on Saturday. Myanmar is Burma, and Yangon is Rangoon, the capital. 50 years of "leadership" by xenophobes and small men wearing tin hats has turned Burma into an economic and cultural backwater. Unlike most economic and cultural backwaters today, Burma is not a Muslim nation, but is predeminately Lesser Vehicle Buddhist...
The Myanmar army has poured 1,500 reinforcements into the area and is expected to launch a fresh offensive in coming days at the rebel Shan State Army's headquarters, opposite Thailand's northern Mae Hong Son province, said Thai army officers stationed on the border. The Shan are related to the Thais and Laos, though, from my experience, not as attractive physically. The Shan States are made up mostly, though it's a bare mostly, of Shans. This is unlike Burma, which is not made up mostly of Burmans. Burmans â the Burmese speakers for whom Burma is named â make up an estimated 40% of the population of the country, with the remainder split among a large number of minorities, most of whom are hillbillies or forest dwellers.
The Shan army seized on Friday the Si Kieu and Doi Kom Kiew outposts, previously manned by a joint force of Myanmar troops and their allies the ethnic United Wa State Army soldiers. "The Myanmar army is expected to launch an attack at Doi Tai Lang, which is the Shan State Army's headquarters, in coming days," said one senior Thai officer. The Wa, or Lawa, are a forest tribe. Like the Shan and the Karens, they have their own tribal "state". The Burmese "national" army has been waging an internal war of suppression against the Shans and Karens for the past 40 or 50 years. The resistance is one of the few instances going today of a guerrilla war being run by genuine Freedom Fighters. The atrocities, I might point out, occur almost exclusively on the government side.
Myanmar troops and the Wa, an ethnic army blamed by Thailand for producing much of the Golden Triangle's output of heroin and methamphetamines, launched an offensive earlier this week to try to capture four border outposts taken earlier by the Shan army. I believe that the "Wa" dopers are the descendants and/or successors of a (Nationalist) Chinese army that was cut off in the poppy fields of Burma after the Second World War. With no home to go to, they went into the opium business and became crooks. Recognizing kindred spirits, the Burmese generals are allied with them, or vice versa. The actual Wa tribesmen are being kicked out of the Wa state...
Myanmar accuses Thailand of supporting Shan rebels backed up against the border â a charge Bangkok denies â and has warned of retaliation if Thai troops get involved in the fighting. That must have the Thais quaking in their sandals. The Thais and the Burmese have traditionally fought wars over this and that, but the last one was over a hundred years ago and featured elephants and single-shot rifles â see Anna and the King, which is a pretty neat movie. Since then, Thailand, a perfectly peaceful country, has had its own problems, but looks pretty swell compared to Burma, which has actually gone downhill since Chulalongkorn was a lad...
Tensions between the two countries flared last month after Thailand moved thousands of troops to its northern border. The troops were ostensibly there for a training exercise, but military sources said they were preparing for a strike on Wei Hsueh-Kang, a notorious drug baron who commands a faction of the Wa army. Thailand has as much problem with the fallout from the opium and heroin business as Burma. They don't like the idea of some Chinaman running his business without regard to their borders. And they're not real fond of the Burmese in general, and the Burmans in particular.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 5:22:22 PM ||
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Chairman-for-Life Yasser Arafat (1929-2002?) urged the United States and Egypt to make "immediate" plans for a Middle East peace conference. "Yo! Over here! They're shootin' at me again. Time to have a peace conference!"
The Palestinian leader, whom Israel is urging be sidelined as a Middle East peace player, addressed the appeal to US President George W. Bush and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who were set to start Friday a two-day summit at Camp David, north of Washington, on ideas to calm the troubled region. "I hope President Mubarak will discuss with President Bush how to immediately decide on a plan for an international peace conference," Arafat told reporters after attending weekly Muslim prayers at a mosque here. He said the peace conference should be based on the 1991 Madrid peace conference which started the peace process, various UN resolutions and "all the agreements (the Palestinians) have signed with Israel." And haven't kept. Y'don't think that might have contributed to the problem?
"They must act very fast to rescue the peace because the peace in the Middle East has been damaged," he said. "And if they don't act fast one of those tank rounds is liable to blow a hole right through me!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 10:14 am ||
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President Bush said Saturday he was not ready to propose a timetable toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. "We're not ready to lay down a specific calendar, except for the fact that we've got to get started quickly, soon, so that we can seize the moment," Bush said at a joint news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after they held talks at the presidential retreat.
Mubarak, in his opening statement, called for strong American engagement "in the context of an agreed time frame that should lead to establishment" of a Palestinian state. He had gone to Camp David proposing the declaration of a Palestinian state before negotiations on its final borders. How about after Yasser's retired?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 10:16 am ||
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The NYT seems either to wax verbose on GWB or overly taciturn. That original gave one comment from GWB and one from Mubarrak. Did the report happen to catch them, impromtu, on the way to the john? I doubt if any press conference given by two national leaders would have so little as that article indicated in content. In particular, what "moment" is to be seized? The Whitehouse.gov site has nothing on this joint statement, so I'm left guessing.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
06/08/2002 10:39 Comments ||
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Fareed Zakaria seems to imply that this window of opportunity may not be open indefinitely.
Three Israelis were killed and five others wounded Saturday in an attack by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank settlement of Karmei Tsur, the Israel Defense Forces said. The victims included two settlers, a pregnant woman and her husband, the IDF said. Another man died later, military sources said. Afraid something of substance might come out of Mubarak's meeting in Washington, are they?
Security officers at the settlement returned fire, killing one of the gunmen. The Israeli army is searching for the second, who escaped. The Associated Press, quoting military sources, said the gunmen sprayed bullets that ripped through a cluster of mobile homes. After daybreak, reporters could see soldiers carrying a stretcher with a body wrapped in a white blanket. Another body lay covered by a red blanket. A trailer door was punctured by bullets, and blood was smeared on a nearby wall. Civilians living in trailer houses, yeah, that's a pretty legitimate military target, ain't it? And those pregnant women can be dangerous — you know, those mood swings and all. Sometimes they get downright vicious and oppress the entire Palestinian people, all at once.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 10:20 am ||
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Philippine President Gloria Arroyo appealed to her South-east Asian neighbours to arrest Abu Sayyaf leaders if they fled to their shores following a stepped up military campaign against the kidnap-for-ransom group. Like Nur Misuari did. If the P.I. government follows through, they should be able to wipe them out. If they hesitate, they'll just grab some more foreigners and start all over again...
The Philippine military has intelligence information that 'they are looking for a way to escape,' Ms Arroyo told reporters after meeting the widow of an American hostage who was shot dead by Abu Sayyaf gunmen during a military rescue attempt. 'I am concerned that the Abu Sayyaf leaders might try to flee the country,' Ms Arroyo said, adding that she had asked the foreign department 'to seek the assistance of our Asean neighbours, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia.' Doubt she'll have much luck if they head for Indonesia. Maybe they'll do something about them when they start chopping people's heads off there, but probably not...
Ms Arroyo said her government would also seek the help of Interpol, the US Department of Justice and international law agencies to help in efforts to crush the Abu Sayyaf group. Four Abu Sayyaf members were killed during the botched rescue attempt on Friday. However, none of them were top leaders, sparking concerns among the military that they could regroup and launch another kidnapping. Like I always say, it's seldom the Mr Bigs who stop the bullets. That's what cannon fodder's for.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/08/2002 05:53 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.
