ISLAMABAD: Explosions rocked Islamabad Saturday, however, the nature and sites of the explosions are yet to be confirmed.
According to preliminary reports the explosions with big bang were heard in the capital and the details are yet to come. No loss of life was reported in preliminary reports. The police are locating the sites of explosions.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2007/08/12/top13.htm#93
Pakistan’s Strategic Assets Completely Safe, Secure
Aug 11, 2007
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s strategic assets are completely safe and secure and the highest level of institutionalized protection is accorded to them.
They are under strong multi-layered decision making, organizational administrative and command and control structures since 1998, Foreign Office Spokesperson Ms Tasnim Aslam said while dismissing the concerns raised by certain inspired and tendentious reports in the western media about the safety of Pakistan’s strategic assets.
In a statement issued here Saturday, she said Pakistan’s command and control structures are not controlled by individual personalities but are institutionalized and multi-layered to ensure safety and security at multiple levels.
Excerpted
Analysts are feasting on recent developments in Pakistan which is a complicated case scenario of a country on the brink of disintegration at best and literally a ticking time bomb at worst. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and some say it is increasingly falling into a state of anarchy. Meanwhile, the US is pondering taking action against terrorists near its border with Afghanistan.
Exiled former presidents including Benazzir Bhuto could easily muster support from the population and incite a popular uprising against the incumbent general Musharraf, who took power in 1999 in a coup d’etat. Discontent with the current government is growing every day among the Pakistani population.
The pressure’s on for President Musharraf, both at home and outside due to obligations to combat terrorism. A few days ago general Musharraf sent a strong message to the world indicating that all was not well when he cancelled a meeting with tribal leaders in Afghanistan, to reportedly make preparations for imposing emergency law. One day later he ruled out this option.
The desperation has been building in recent weeks. Pakistan’s leader has been looking to the outside world for support; frenetic talks with the US administration were followed by an alleged deal with the former leader Benazzir Bhuto. The upshot has been that Pakistani leaders themselves have subjected their foreign policy to a strict review. At the same time however everyone was aware that they were conducting the meeting as the all too familiar accusation that Pakistan is playing a double game over Al Queda and the Taliban was beginning to become truly damaging to the incumbent Pakistani leadership.
At a recent record long meeting of the National Assembly, the country’s rulers decided not to change one iota to their foreign policy course. Which is the direct opposite of US goals in many respects. It’s what struck a chord with the Pakistani population which is increasingly alienated from the incumbent governement’s policies. Foreign Minister Khursid Mahmood Kasuri wasn’t exactly talking to the walls when he listed ‘examples of Pakistani independent decision making’. He cited Pakistan’s disagreements with the US administration over the Iraq war, the Iranian nuclear issue, refusal to send troops to Iran, the planned Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, a UN Security Council resolution on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by non-state actors, a comprehensive convention against terrorism, last year’s Israeli attack on Lebanon and the question of Palestine.
These issues have broad based backing of the Pakistan population which is increasingly loath to another tenure of a government that does not represent its opinions. Anti Western sentiment is growing in Pakistani’s, who are also angered over the vast amount of US sponsor money which goes to the military rather than to humanitarian aid. The ticking time bomb theory recently gained momentum all the more after the US threat to strike Taliban bases, talk that is also making its way into the rhetoric of the US Presidential election campaigns.
What came out of the record long foreign policy session of the Assembly can be seen as a roadmap for future developments. Outside meddling in Pakistani affairs is unlikely to soon be over whatever the political landscape turns out to be. It is closely linked with the islamic militants that live in tribe controlled areas like the North West Frontier Province. This is rife with al Queda backed tribal insurgency that spills over into Afghanistan.
Musharraf’s political opposition is mass supported and proposes Islamic government which threatens to retaliate the April storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad. Musharraf’s betting that he will be re elected by the outgoing parliament and provincial assemblies, but if this happens a popular uprising is almost surely going to take place. The President’s recent move to do away with Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was met with fierce opposition which was the trigger for grassroots democracy movements demanding elections. These groupings claimed their first victory when Musharraf was overruled.
And if Musharraf had hoped for an excuse to proclaim the state of emergency when he sent armed troops to storm the Red Mosque, a move surely designed in part to appease the US, he miscalculated. Insurgency is only taking on a new sinistre edge as some 600 students have reportedly signed up as suicide bombers as a result. Every leader in the Islamic world knows what an uncurable situation this brings.
It’s ironic that Musharraf has made such an issue of sticking to military rule and his military uniform because despite the army’s support, many police nowadays in areas of conflict refuse to put on their uniforms because these make them targets of suicide bombers. Suicide bombings took off this year especially. Since January 21 attacks have taken place killing 225 people. The Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao was narrowly missed in March when a bomber blew himself up in Charsadda, not far from NWFP’s capitol Peshawar.
Some say the internal strife shows that Musharraf is getting a taste of his own medicine, because he allegedly sponsors suicide bombing missions into Afghanistan. But Pakistani officials accuse the Afghanis of the same crime.
Excerpted
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3240&cid=6&sid=20