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| India-Pakistan |
| Bill Roggio: Pakistan may capitulate to the Red Mosque |
| 2007-07-06 |
| Click to his site to click on his links; his links in italic: Musharraf approves amnesty; update on latest news from the Lal Masjid and the Taliban's response Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who survived an assassination attempt earlier today, is prepared to pardon the Islamists and the leaders of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, according to Pakistan's Daily Times. President Musharraf "approved a plan to extend a general amnesty to about 100 militants still holed up inside Lal Masjid, provided they lay down their weapons and surrender to the security forces," sources privy to a meeting in Rawalpindi told the Daily Times. "The sources said that the government had decided to withdraw all criminal cases filed since February against the 100 or so militants, including Lal Masjid deputy cleric Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, provided they surrender." There is no word if Abdul Aziz, Ghazi's brother who was captured attempting to escape the mosque in a burka, will also be pardoned. The impetus for this amnesty offer comes from within the military and intelligence establishment, "who suggested that the militants had taken Ghazi hostage." Rumors have persisted that both Ghazi and Aziz have been coerced by "militants" to take a radical position, however this ignores Ghazi and Aziz's long history of supporting radical endeavors. Most importantly, the clerics were behind the 2004 fatwa, or religious edict, which "stated that Pakistani soldiers fighting South Waziristan did not deserve a Muslim funeral or burial at Muslim cemeteries in the event that they were killed while fighting in the tribal region" against the Taliban and al Qaeda operating there. "The decree turned out to be a major reason why many officers and soldiers in the Pakistani army refused to fight militants in Waziristan." Both clerics have been instrumental in fomenting the current crisis in Islamabad. They have threatened suicide campaigns, and vowed to start the "Islamic revolution in Islamabad" at the beginning of April by implementing sharia law. Aziz and Ghazi have repeatedly supported the cause of both the Taliban and al Qaeda. "We have a relationship of love and sincerity with jihadi organisations," Aziz said in an interview on Pakistani television yesterday. He also called al Qaeda "our foreign friends." The battles at the mosque are still ongoing. Sporadic gunfire was reported throughout Friday, and "intense firing" was reported around midnight. The Pakistani Army has blown holes in sections of the wall, and continues to fire tear gas into the compound. Over 60 students fled the mosque and were captured, and a security official told Dawn a number of them were members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is the new name of the banned terror group and al-Qaeda affiliate Lashkar-e-Taiba. Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been put on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #23 The centrifuges are metal. If his expertice came into play, I would think that's where. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-07-06 22:05 |
| #22 Or centrifuge or other type of device. Well, you get the idea. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-07-06 20:34 |
| #21 Although they are not in metallic form when run through a gas diffusion device. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-07-06 20:33 |
| #20 They are both metals. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-07-06 20:33 |
| #19 He did post doc work at a Netherlands research lab that was engaged in uranium enrichment research and gas centrifuge technology. The Dutch finally became suspicious but the CIA wanted to keep monitoring him to figure out who he was connected to/with. He skipped town back to Pakistan and Bhutto put him in charge of the effort for a Pakistani nuclear bomb. The lab was/is in Rawalpundi. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-07-06 20:30 |
| #18 I wasn't terribly good at chemistry (a side effect of being the child of a biochemist, I've been told). I don't remember, do uranium and plutonium count as metals? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-06 20:20 |
| #17 I believe Khan was a metalurgist. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-07-06 20:15 |
| #16 If I recall correctly, didn't China give Pakistan the nuclear bomb technology? I seem to remember someone commenting Dr. Khan's PhD (such as it was) being in geology, or some such, nothing anywhere near physics or even engineering. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-06 19:51 |
| #15 Red Star Turban. ION, various pro-CHINA Netters are still belabeling Paki as future PRC territory. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-07-06 19:20 |
| #14 I'm not a John Derbyshire of The Corner fan in any way... but I did find this comment interesting The Last Straw [John Derbyshire] An arresting sentence in this BBC report on Pakistan President Musharraf's latest troubles: "The turning point clearly was the abduction of the Chinese massage parlour girls," says a senior diplomat in Islamabad. "We know that the Chinese sent a very strong message that they could take losses in Balochistan or the tribal belt but were not prepared to see their citizens abducted and tortured bang in the heart of the capital." This is all to do with Musharraf having finally authorized an assault on the "Red Mosque" seminary in Pakistan's capital. It's a nest of radical jihadis, who have been making a nuisance of themselves going round the city imposing Islamic virtue, Taliban-style. One of those impositions somehow led to them kidnapping the madam of a Chinese-staffed brothel much frequented by Pakistan's movers and shakers (if you'll pardon the expression). Musharraf has been loth to stomp on the jihadis for all the usual reasons—mainly, the Pak army's long, long record of using jihadis as proxy troops in various conflicts (Afghanistan, Kashmir,...). Those jihadis really come in handy. However, the kidnapping of the madam got the Chinese mad. Everybody else—including us—is chronically mad with Musharraf for foot-dragging over his country's jihadis, but China's too close (they share a 300-mile border) and too mean (WAY meaner than us), and the Pak-Chinese relationship goes too far back—all the way back to Cold War days, when the line-up was Russia with India, Pakistan with China (and then, after Nixon/Kissinger, with us). |
| Posted by: Sherry 2007-07-06 19:05 |
| #13 Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been put on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list. did anyone else here think of Animal House and the 'double secret probation'? |
| Posted by: Abu do you love 2007-07-06 18:52 |
| #12 promise anything, once the cops have them "What promises? That would be the Muslim way of doing things. Taqiyya should go both ways. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-06 18:04 |
| #11 Limited special ops or air strikes in Waziristan and the NWFP, perhaps. Not to stike openly in the city that houses the military command and ISI, I think. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-07-06 18:03 |
| #10 I thought the US had the green light to operate in Pakistan? Musharraf can pardon; US can send a guided missle. |
| Posted by: airandee 2007-07-06 17:52 |
| #9 Just what makes you think he's telling the truth? promise anything, once the cops have them "What promises? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-07-06 17:42 |
| #8 I suspect that in time some of them will disappear mysteriously if they accept "amnesty" and surrender. At least I hope so. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-07-06 17:29 |
| #7 If I was him, I would level the mosque and turn it into a public bathroom. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-07-06 17:02 |
| #6 Just when you think it can't get any more loony, the theater of the absurd becomes a farce. Exactly who does Musharraf think keeps on trying to kill him? Gremlins? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-06 16:57 |
| #5 If he caves - CHINA will NOT be HAPPY!. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-07-06 16:50 |
| #4 Agreed; they were surrounded and on the ropes so who caves? too bad the guys on the ground with the guns missed that airplane.... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-07-06 16:35 |
| #3 Surprise meter didn't budge. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-07-06 16:33 |
| #2 Surprise meter didn't budge. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-07-06 16:33 |
| #1 Serious mistake. That which does not kill them makes them stronger. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-07-06 16:19 |