#2
"[T]he feeling is that as long as the Brotherhood protects the United States' interests in the region, it can act with impunity within its borders."
Regrettably, it's a bit more than just a "feeling".
A year after the Toulouse attacks by Mohamed Merah (pictured), French counterterrorism experts are monitoring the practice of "taqiya" - or deceiving society by concealing ones faith and its uses in jihadist circles.
Nearly a year ago, as one of Frances longest-ever police sieges was about to end on the morning of March 22, 2012, Mohamed Merah also known as the Toulouse gunman uttered a cry that seemed enigmatic to the uninformed, but was weighted with meaning for counterterrorism experts.
Its not the money, its the deception thats critical, said the 23-year-old French-Algerian shortly before he jumped off his Toulouse apartment window and was gunned down by an elite French anti-terror unit.
The somewhat cryptic cry was a likely reference to taqiya a form of religious dissimulation or legal dispensation in which believers deny their faith or even commit blasphemous acts as a deception if they are seriously threatened or at risk of persecution.
"Concealment is a technique as old as the world," explained French anti-terrorism judge Marc Trévidic in an interview with FRANCE 24. Its also an essential component of any war strategy, regardless of the people involved.
In Islam, taqiya dates back to the time when Shiite Muslims were hounded and persecuted by the Sunni caliphs following the 7th century schism between the followers of the Prophets son-in-law, Ali, and the Sunni caliphate.
For the traditionally persecuted Shiite minority, deception or taqiya was considered a matter of survival. Although the term does not exist in Sunni jurisprudence, there have been rare cases of Sunnis practicing taqiya in extraordinary circumstances.
But it was not until the term was recovered by Sunni jihadists trained in the Afghan terror camps that it began to get the attention of counterterrorism experts as trained and radicalised young men began practising taqiya as a means of integrating and disguising themselves in Western societies
Taqiya, as its understood today, is actually a radicalized version of concealment, in the sense that some religious extremists have found 'dalils' (or 'evidence') in the Koran that would justify their actions, said Trévidic.
[Dawn] TARGETED killing has come to be seen as driven by sectarian, ethnic or terrorist motives. In Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... assassinations are pushing certain groups towards isolation. Since January 2010, on average some 3.6 murders have taken place in this city every day.
Targeted killings aren't isolated acts; they are organised, well-coordinated acts undertaken with the sanction of a jihad boy, or political, organization.
The prime reason for the upward trend in sectarian assassination is the strengthened nexus between banned sectarian organizations and terrorist organizations.
According to statistics of the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies, more innocent people fall prey to assassinations as compared to those who die in suicide or other blasts. In 2012, 839 were killed as a result of 389 incidents of kabooms and suicide kabooms, while 1,784 were killed in 1,324 incidents of assassinations.
Karachi is the worst affected. Ethno-political, sectarian and land-mafia rivalries have intensified the incidence of such killings. Since 1994, Karachi alone has lost over 9,500 people to assassinations, the majority belonging to various political parties, particular sects and sectarian groups.
According to CRSS statistics, last year a 30 per cent increase was observed in assassinations in the city. From the statistics one can discern that the majority of the victims were from certain political parties.
Although for the last two decades Karachi has been the preferred hunting ground for killers, now Quetta, Gilgit-Baltistan and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. are also in the crosshairs.
During the last four years around 283 pro-government community elders have been killed. This has rendered it difficult for law-enforcement personnel to win the public's cooperation. People's faith in the criminal justice system has also been badly eroded, and no one, even from affected communities, is prepared to stand witness in court.
The majority of such cases are registered against unknown accused. Without the cooperation of the people and in the absence of even circumstantial evidence, it becomes difficult for Sherlocks to trace the killers. The blind nature of these cases means that most are submitted in courts as untraced.
Illiteracy, unemployment, abject poverty and exposure to hate-mongering are responsible for the creation of such killers. Recruitment agents exploit their psychological and financial needs and the enrolled 'talent' is trained in skills such as cycle of violence riding, throwing grenades while driving cycle of violences and shooting. They are kept motivated by propaganda and hate material.
Target identification is an exclusive job usually carried out by the criminal mastermind. Before striking the targets the killers shadow them. Generally, small arms are used in such killings. In recent incidents, reportedly, pistols fitted with silencers were used.
Before shooting the target, the communication between the handler and shooter takes place primarily via cellphone. During such communication, code words are used while illegal mobile subscriber identity modules (SIMs) facilitate the killers. We direly need a crackdown against the illegal sale of such SIMs.
The network actually consists of very few individuals; if one is tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! , the whole gang can be busted. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the conviction rate in cases of assassination is very low and therefore, the majority of the accused are acquitted. The complainants are usually unaware of the killers' identities, so they do not charge anyone in the first information report lodged with the police.
Furthermore, adequate protection has not been made available to judges, Sherlocks and witnesses. Article 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, provides protection to the judges and prosecutors.
Compensation is an obligation of the state. Justice (retd) Zahid Qurban Alvi presided over a commission set up by the Sindh government to determine the number of victims and the compensation that was to be paid to the heirs. The government gave Rs0.2 million to the heirs of each victim killed in a targeted attack. The commission also recommended providing free education (from the zakat funds) to two children of each such victim.
The higher judiciary has also taken suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice of assassinations. To encourage citizens to share information, the Peshawar High Court has directed the police to introduce a universal access number so that information can be volunteered anonymously. The systemic surveillance of banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations and their supporters needs immediate attention, though.
Hate literature propels otherwise innocent people towards crime and aids terror funding and the recruitment of terrorists. The administration needs to clamp down on such distribution and printing presses.
Pakistain's policing model depends primarily on eyewitness accounts. To deal with new challenges, technology-led policing coupled with the cooperation of vulnerable communities is the need of the hour. Merely increasing the human resource base will not be enough; we need to build the capacity of law-enforcement agencies.
Recently, the police along with several communities worked out a plan to install 9,000 closed-circuit cameras in Karachi. Such technological help will facilitate the police in nabbing target shooters. But the police need to adapt to technology.
CCTV cameras were installed in a few important areas but due to poor monitoring, maintenance and a lack of coordination between the police and the monitoring room, these cameras effectively remained decoration pieces. When the residence of a police officer in Karachi was attacked in 2011, the CCTV cameras were not working.
Without credible intelligence, policing is a wild goose chase. Intelligence-led policing will strengthen the law-enforcement agencies. Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... the "special branches" of all provincial police departments need revamping.
In Karachi, especially, the proliferation of small arms is another important factor. Civilians are estimated to hold some 18 million guns. Obviously, de-weaponisation of the city is one of the most daunting tasks yet to be undertaken.
By adopting a proactive strategy, improved and coordinated endeavours and the sharing of timely intelligence, the law-enforcement agencies can control assassination.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Targeted killings aren't isolated acts; they are organised, well-coordinated acts undertaken with the sanction of a jihad boy, or political, organization.
They're not talking about Drones, right?
[Dawn] PAKISTAN is at war with itself on many fronts. It is not only a battle for its soul but also for its very existence. But the battle is already half lost when there is confusion in the ranks about who is the enemy and fear paralyses the will to fight.
The declaration of the recent multiparty conference, called by Maulana Fazlur Rahman's Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, on peace talks with the Taliban was virtually a signing of a surrender document -- weak politicianship buying security for themselves, leaving the people at the mercy of terrorists.
Less than a week after the declaration supporting virtually unconditional negotiations with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, the forces of Evil struck again by blowing up, in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , an entire block of apartments predominantly inhabited by the Shia community. There was no claim of responsibility for the gruesome attack that killed scores of men, women and kiddies.
But the footprints lead to a Taliban aligned sectarian outfit. Last week another bombing destroyed a mosque in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. killing several worshippers. The wages of appeasement are leading to the loss of more innocent lives and pushing the country towards more instability.
Not only did the conference concede to the Taliban's conditions for so-called peace negotiations, it even dropped the word terrorism to mollify those responsible for murder. The killings of thousands of people were instead attributed to "lawlessness", absolving the Taliban of suicide kabooms and beheadings of security personnel for whom they themselves had claimed the responsibility.
Nothing could be more farcical than the conference declaration that reduced the whole issue of myrmidon violence to a war between the Taliban and the army. For peace, it declared, it is essential to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. The fact that the TTP and its allies have declared a war on the Pak state was completely ignored by the participants in their eagerness to placate the Taliban.
The five-point declaration seems to be a part of the move by the political parties to distance themselves from the military operations against the forces of Evil in Fata.
Thousands of soldiers have been killed fighting the forces of Evil who had turned the already lawless region into a new hub of terrorism presenting an existentialist threat not only to Pakistain, but also challenging regional security.
Nothing can be more treacherous than legitimising the violence and absolving those responsible for the death of thousands of Paks. No wonder the Taliban have welcomed the multiparty declaration which has virtually validated the terms set by the banned terrorist outfits.
One can understand the defence of the Taliban by the JUI-F and other right-wing Islamic parties, who have contributed to the rise of myrmidon narratives in this country.
But the signing of the declaration by parties like the Pakistain Peoples Party, Awami National Party, Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... 's Pakistain Moslem League and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... is quite shocking.
Although there is no formal government approval for the declaration, the participation of the members of the coalition at the conference provides tacit support to the peace talks. This has created huge confusion about the government's position on fighting myrmidon violence and the nature of the threat confronted by the country.
The peace talks would apparently be conducted by a tribal jirga under the supervision of the newly appointed governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , providing some kind of official sanction to the initiative. Although the formal negotiations have yet to start because of the non-response from the army leadership, the declaration seems to have already adversely affected the counterterrorism efforts of the security agencies.
The recent terrorist attacks in Karachi and Peshawar are glaring examples of unrelenting violence despite the peace talk offer by the Taliban. For sure there is a strong nexus between the TTP and the sectarian groups involved in the large-scale killing of Shias across the country.
What makes the declaration more absurd is that it makes a peace deal, if it happens, binding on any future government. These kinds of guarantees are obviously not going to work. But they can certainly be used by the forces of Evil to strengthen their position.
It is so obvious that the purpose of the multiparty conference, so close to the elections, was to mollify the Taliban to get them to halt violence during the election campaign. But there is no indication, yet, that there will be any respite in terrorist attacks particularly those directed at the parties on the Taliban hit list.
The forces of Evil have warned that they will continue to target the ANP, the MQM and the PPP, which unfortunately are also signatories to the declaration. Undoubtedly, the ANP has suffered the most with myrmidon violence gripping Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. But it now appears to have relented after the liquidation of its senior party leaders.
The effort to buy security through appeasement is certainly not going to work. Instead it will result in more insecurity. The Taliban and their allies only seek to buy time through engaging in so-called peace talks to create more space to expand their activities, as they have done in the past.
There seems no possibility of the peace talks taking off, but the declaration has further widened the gulf between the politicianship and the military with disastrous consequences for Pakistain's battle against militancy and terrorism. Most definitely security forces cannot fight the enemy without political support. The multiparty conference has exposed the civil and military divide that has consistently hampered the formulation of a coherent counterterrorism strategy.
While most political parties, either out of fear or driven by political expediency, pursue a policy of capitulation, the military's ambivalence on militancy and sources of extremism has contributed to the current paralysis of policymaking. It is the main reason for the failure to build a national narrative so important to ridding the country of the menace of terrorism and extremism.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2013 00:00 ||
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[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Here in the Middle East we have a saying "Dogs bark, but the caravan keeps going." Mind you, IMO, this particular pack of dogs (BBC) is long overdue to discovering what half a brick can be used for.
#5
In the 2006 Lebanon war, Israel suffered one fatality for every 75 rockets fired. During the recent Gaza conflict, they suffered one fatality per 300 rockets fired
Something happened and if it is not Iron Dome then what?
Posted by: Bernard Z ||
03/13/2013 9:33 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"Some say..." I'll take Israel over Mr/Ms Some any day.
In the 2006 Lebanon war, Israel suffered one fatality for every 75 rockets fired. During the recent Gaza conflict, they suffered one fatality per 300 rockets fired
#14
It's hard to agree with "environmental" issues when so many are lies. Man caused Global Warming and Alar are two that float to the top of the cesspool.
#1
The Brotherhood additionally benefited from its influence in Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt. Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned satellite behemoth, has polished the image of anti-regime Islamists in its coverage. The Brotherhood also carefully selected leaders who can be easily controlled or who have minimal leadership skills.
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[Dawn] PAKISTAN is at war with itself on many fronts. It is not only a battle for its soul but also for its very existence. But the battle is already half lost when there is confusion in the ranks about who is the enemy and fear paralyses the will to fight.
Nawaz Sharif
