Missile kills Pakistan tribal head

follow the development here http://www.rferl.org/specials/uzbek_unrest/

This is the visible trigger of the problems, but not the real reason. I guess that the real reason is the fight for money and power among the clans.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/4/B23C24F6-E78A-4569-8B83-7D014478C2EE.html

Prague, 19 April 2005 (RFE/RL) The 20 young men whose trial started yesterday are all in their early 20s. They lived in the same district, Khamza, in Tashkent, went to the same school, and attended the same mosque.

Farida Rahimova, a lawyer for some of the men, told RFE/RL: "They are very young, all 20 of them. Many of them are engaged in entrepreneurial activities. One of them does karate. Another teaches at school. The third studies in Moscow, he is a Ph.D. student."

All of the men are accused of anticonstitutional activities, membership in an extremist organization, banditry, terrorism, and murder. In September 2004, they were detained along with many others after a string of explosions and attacks in Uzbekistan in the spring and summer of that year. The attacks, several of which were suicide bombings, left 47 people dead.

The accusations against the men also include causing explosions in February 1999 in Tashkent that left 12 people dead. The Uzbek government has blamed Islamic extremist groups for both sets of attacks.

Rahimova spoke to RFE/RL after yesterday's hearing, saying the charges against the men are groundless. "In today's hearing, we've heard a lot of slander, even from the prosecutor," she said. "He charged these men with crimes perpetrated two-three years ago. They are charged with [aiding] a woman who blew herself up in the Chorsu bazaar [in Tashkent in March 2004] and even with bomb explosions that took place in 1999 in Tashkent. I'm sorry, but do prosecutors realize how old these boys were back in 1999?"

Parents of the accused men say their sons adhere to the Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam. Wahhabism is an Islamic revivalist theory and the state ideology of the Saudi dynasty. It was imported to Central Asia in the early 1990s.

A mother of one of the accused men said her son was not in Tashkent during the attacks. She also said her son is a devout Muslim. "My son didn't do anything wrong. His only guilt is that he started praying when he was 13," she said. "He said to the court that if he is charged with praying, then [it meant] he agreed he was guilty. It's wrong. It shouldn't be like this. Our leader [President Islam Karimov] says those who beg pardon, must be pardoned. But the attitude toward my son hasn't changed, after he begged for pardon."

Many prisoners' relatives, as well as human rights activists, have said that all Muslim prisoners are forced to write a letter to President Karimov begging his pardon and denouncing their faith in exchange for amnesty. If they reject this, they are forced to eat pork and are subject to different kinds of torture.

Uzbekistan is a predominantly Muslim country, but Karimov's government views pious Muslims with suspicion and has prohibited any religious activity outside state-controlled mosques. Wahhabis, members of the outlawed Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, and other unregistered religious groups are subject to constant crackdowns.

Rights activists and independent observers say thousands of Muslims have been imprisoned in Uzbekistan simply because their faith has aroused the authorities' suspicions. In the past, many have been charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional regime, extremism, and terrorism.

Independent human rights activists say this most recent trial is another farce conducted to demonstrate the authorities' war against terror- the real purpose of which, according to the human rights activists, is to further crack down on peaceful Muslims.

Vitalii Ponomarev, the Central Asia program director at the Moscow-based Memorial human rights center, told RFE/RL: "This trial is another in a series of falsified trials, the new wave of which started after the explosions last spring," he said. "I believe this trial is in no way different from many others. In this one, too, we witness violations of religious freedom. Very often, simple gatherings of people are used as grounds for persecution and criminal cases are fabricated."

The trial comes amid reports of the arrest of Sobirjon Yakubov, a correspondent for the independent Uzbek "Hurriyat" daily. He was detained on 11 April. On 15 April, Interior Ministry official Alisher Sharafutdinov confirmed that Yakubov had been arrested and accused of "undermining the country's constitutional regime."

Fellow journalists at "Hurriyat" have said the charges against Yakubov are groundless. They say Yakubov was arrested not only because he was a devout Muslim, but because of his journalistic activity. According to the "Muslim Uzbekistan" website on 19 April, in the past Yakubov has written about the killing of Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze and his own hajj pilgrimage. His article about his travels to Mecca was titled "A Journey To The Land Of Dreams."

That's what I meant. The Saudis are funding the islamists.

Uzbekistan
Read the complete article:
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=11296

The general public does not see religious militant groups as fomenting discontent, and claim that it is Karimov's economic policies and poverty, as well as the oppressive tactics of law enforcement agencies, that drive people to protest. In an effort to collect more taxes, the government had begun imposing restrictions on imported goods, demanding new registrations that cost money, and introducing new tariffs that are making it increasingly difficult for traders to make a living selling their cheap wares at local markets. As state salaries are very low, and there is little large-scale private enterprise, many people depend on the local markets to earn additional income or even to fully support themselves. Last September, in Chorsu, women gathered to protest the regulations and appealed to Karimov to repeal the resolutions and free the markets so they could earn some income. Not only do official regulations make it hard to make a living, but police - which there are plenty of in Uzbekistan - and other law enforcement agencies and official institutions are noted for expecting payments from individuals in return for not harassing them. Falling afoul of Uzbek law enforcement agents, whether they are tax collectors, police, or judges, can be a serious matter in a country where those organs consistently rank as one of the world's most noted human rights abusers. That, too, has led many to be driven to despair, with some claiming police arrest people over personal vendettas, or simply to extract a bribe. At the very least, it adds to the daily stress of making a living. For the unfortunates who actually do cross paths with Uzbekistan's law enforcement agencies, the consequences range from some bruises and minor financial setbacks to death.

Institutional brutality and corruption

As a country, Uzbekistan can be characterized as calm, stable, and law abiding. The same cannot be said of its law enforcement structures, which are characterized as brutal and corrupt. For years now the US State Department's reports on human rights practices have condemned Uzbekistan for its poor human rights record and blamed law enforcement agencies for grossly infringing on civil liberties. It has never blamed the public for lawless behavior. Last year's report even stated that two individuals who died while in police detention in 2002 appeared to have been boiled to death. Uzbek police countered that the two had fatally injured themselves with boiling water while throwing hot tea at each other. Despite a number of programs run by the US, the OSCE, and some Western European states to reform the Uzbek police and judiciary, the human rights records of those agencies has not improved. In part, this is an institutional problem. Like much of the former Soviet Union, Uzbekistan inherited an institutional system based on a system of patronage. To be hired into the judiciary, police, or security organs, one had to kowtow and invariably pay an appropriate bribe. As his career progressed, those lower down paid homage to him, while he continued to kowtow to the higher ups. By the time an individual reached the top echelons of his agency, he had paid so many bribes and kowtowed so much, he was not inclined to shake up the system, since it was now paying him off. Without the political will at the top it is difficult to implement reform.

Long-time loyalties

Another factor that must be taken into consideration when assessing why Uzbekistan's police are so loyal to the authorities is the relationship between President Karimov and the heads of the Interior Ministry and security service, Zokirjon Almatov and Rustam Inoyatov, respectively. Both Almatov and Inoyatov have held their posts from the early days of Uzbekistan's independence. In other former Soviet republics, there has generally been a turnover in those posts so that those institutions have not become overly powerful in their own right. In Uzbekistan, it appears Karimov, Almatov, and Inoyatov make up a type of triumvirate, where one could not displace either of the other two because they are in such control of their own powerful apparat, and they all depend on each other for their political survival. Other republic presidents have made a point of reshuffling the heads of their power ministries to prevent anyone from becoming too entrenched and a power in his own right. In Uzbekistan, there is a strange co-dependency between the three. As all three -Karimov, Almatov, and Inoyatov - sincerely believe that force and ruthlessness is an effective method for dealing with dissent, they cannot be relied on to curb the excesses of their law enforcement agencies.

International influence

There had been hopes that the international community could serve to curb Uzbekistan's lousy human rights record, but that has not been the case. In the 1990s, Karimov was anxious for Western support as a way of protecting the country from any encroachment by Russia on its sovereignty. As a staunch Uzbek nationalist, he went as far as to drop out of the Commonwealth of Independent Sates' (CIS) Collective Security Part - the group's military dimension - and join GUAM, renamed GUUAM afterwards, a subgroup within the CIS that worked largely to block Russian initiatives that went against Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, or Moldova's interests. Nonetheless, the continual criticism heaped on Karimov's regime by the Western international community antagonized the Uzbek president. Karimov was also disillusioned with Western aid. Aid that went to support independent media, independent NGOs, political party development, and so forth was not welcome. Even the aid that went towards police, military, and security forces did not please the president. Much of the military aid was aimed at securing any chemical or biological materials left over from the Soviet era and did not go towards developing Uzbekistan's armed forces. The police aid included training on how not to torture prisoners during interrogation. Again, Karimov did not see the need for that. Aid for economic development meant little to Karimov, since most was geared at fostering independent enterprise, while Karimov's regime was reluctant to privatize large enterprises, or open the country's considerable gold resources for investment, which would mean loosening control over those assets.

The new post-9/11 game

By 2001, Karimov was feeling the pinch in regards to international allies. Rejecting Russia had antagonized Moscow, but had not gained strong Western support for his regime. Then came the 11September 2001 attacks on the US, which the Uzbek leader saw as a godsend opportunity in bind the US to his side. Within days of the attack, Karmiov offered the US use of a military base on Uzbek soil. As the country borders Afghanistan, that offer was a logistical boon for the US. It also worked to redirect US interest to the country. However, the forthcoming aid continued to target independent enterprise, media, and political parties, rather than Karimov's priorities. In addition, the criticism of Uzbekistan's human rights record did not abate. Western aid was seen as a contributing factor for the success of the revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan - revolutions that Karimov regarded with dread. By 2005, Karimov was again feeling isolated. In May, Uzbekistan formally dropped out of GUUAM, and relations with the US were on a downhill course.

Prospects for change

Unlike the Rose, Orange, and Tulip Revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, respectively, any popular uprising in Uzbekistan will probably be bloody. Law enforcement agencies have a vested interest in the current system and are unlikely to calmly stand by and watch it crumble. Police did shoot at demonstrators in Aksy in Kyrgyzstan in 2002, but that had more to do with disorganization and no clear understanding of how to behave than a desire by the police to uphold Akaev. After the deaths at Aksy, the Kyrgyz regime made efforts to insure that such an event would not happen again, and Akaev's cabinet resigned. When demonstrations began last March over a questionable parliamentary election, police stood back. Recruits were reluctant to use force and the country's leaders knew that using force could unleash a violent public reaction that would not just drive Akaev into exile, but would demand his scalp. Given Uzbekistan's history under Karimov, should his regime fall, people will demand his scalp - even in the event of a bloodless coup. Thus, unlike Akaev, Karimov has nothing to lose by resorting to force, and everything to lose if he should fall.

Ustina Markus is a Washington, DC-based international affairs analyst specializing in security issues. She was based in Osh, Kyrgyzstan for two years as a senior field analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG)

As I said on another thread earlier, The " main demonstrators' main motivation" for the riots may be socio-economic, but the people waiting in the wings are islamic extremists.

Thought I'd post this here too................

http://www.dawn.com/2005/05/23/top6.htm
By Pazir Gul

MIRAMSHAH (North Waziristan), May 22: Five tribesmen were killed in an attack by US helicopters in the Lawara Mandai area of the North Waziristan agency on Saturday night, officials said. Another 20 shells fired by the coalition forces from Afghanistan's Paktika province landed near Lawara Mandai, but did not cause any damage, eyewitnesses said.

Director-General of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan confirmed that several shells and rockets fired by the coalition troops had landed near Lawara Mandai. "We don't know about the casualties," the ISPR chief told Dawn on phone on Sunday. He said the matter would be taken up with the coalition authorities.

He said that the coalition commanders on the other side of the border had informed their Pakistani counterparts about the operation in the area and certain rounds had landed in the Pakistani territory on Saturday night. "There is report about collateral damage," he said, adding that he had no information about casualties in the area.

Maj-Gen Sultan said that the army troops had already been deployed in the area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. However, authorities in Miramshah, the agency's administrative headquarters, said that five men of the Madakhel Wazir tribe were killed after two US helicopters had fired rockets. The names of the victims could not be ascertained.

They said that the US helicopters had intruded into Lawara Mandai up to one kilometre, and two fighter jets flying at a high altitude also violated Pakistan's airspace.

Sources said that the Pakistani security forces did not react to the attack. The army has recently set up two base camps in Ghulam Khan and Lawara Mandai areas of the North Waziristan agency. A senior military official said last week that the border had been sealed to stop cross-border movement of suspected militants.

Back to Pakistan. Can we trust them:
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/Archives/3_46.htm

Fighting Words, Hidden Pacts
Guest Writer: Mohammad Shehzad
Islamabad-based freelance journalist and writer

The Pakistani military establishment's fondness for Islamist fundamentalists, jihadists and rightwing groups remains as strong as ever, and the May 15 Convocation of Deeni Madaris (religious seminaries), as well as the May 18 edict against suicide attacks provide the latest evidence to this effect.

On May 15, Wafaqul Medaris Al Arabia (a coalition of more than 9,000 Deobandi seminaries that claims to be the original patron and creator of the Taliban) organized a grand convocation in the immediate vicinity of the Parliament, Presidency and the Prime Minister's House at the state-owned Convention Center, with the full patronage of the present regime. Venomous speeches against the US were made on the occasion; jihad was glorified; Government policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kashmir were condemned.

The May 15 Convocation was both unusual and, in many respects, incredible. The state owns and runs the majestic Convention Center that is used for high-profile activities like South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Conventions. It is the most elite venue in Islamabad. Securing access for a programme is no easy matter, and it is not the kind of place that has often lent itself to extremist political or religious outburst. This is the first time that this facility was extended to such an organization, and to give vent to their fury against the US.

It is clear that two powerful players continue to dominate Pakistani politics - the Army and the mullahs (clerics). The convention creates doubts about Musharraf's 'enlightened moderation' and his claims of liberalism. There is mounting evidence that the regime is strengthening a miniscule but violent minority instead of encouraging the silent and peace-loving majority. The mullahs, it appears, are Army's 'B' team, and are bound to become stronger in future with the establishment's patronage. With the state's patronage, they will eventually come to dominate the entire political space in Pakistan, with the jehadi element becoming an increasing threat, both internally and externally.

The May 15 Convocation brought together thousands of Deobandi clerics from all over the country including the self-proclaimed 'spiritual leaders' of the Taliban - Maulana Samiul Haq, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, former Inter Services Intelligence Chief (ISI) Hamid Gul, and Qazi Hussain Ahmad. Former Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and Minister for Religious Affairs Ejaz ul Haq represented the Government. The Convocation, ostensibly intended to award outstanding clerics, sent out a strong message, emphasized particularly in speeches by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Fazl ur Rehman and Samiul Haq: politics and religion are intrinsically linked and cannot be analysed in isolation; and the mullahs are the greatest custodians of politics.

As Fazl-ur-Rehman declaimed: "Politics is the governance of a society the rules of which were set by Koran and propounded by the holy Prophet. Therefore, the Prophet was the greatest politician and statesman. Muslims are bound to follow him in all respects of life. Since the mullahs are the true disciples of the Prophet, politics is their religious right. And by doing politics, the mullahs are carrying forward the Prophet's mission. Politics is surely not the business of the Army."

Rehman also held General Musharraf responsible for the desecration of Quran in Guantanamo, and for The Washington Time's derogatory cartoon depicting Pakistan as a dog. He accused Musharraf of imposing the so-called modernism/liberalism on the nation at the West's behest.

In his prepared speech, Rehman recalled the days when the clerics would go door-to-door and collect food as alms. "The beggars of yesterday have now become a threat to global powers," he said, "Today, they are ruling the country. This shows clerics are successful politicians!"

Rehman accused the powerful nations of exploiting the resources of the weak nations through international treaties and argued that Pakistan should not adhere to such treaties. "The international treaties have imposed extremely unfair conditions on us completely nullifying our constitution."

Insisting that it was not the seminaries that were extremist or terrorists, he declared, "What the US has done in Afghanistan and Iraq sufficiently proves the fact that there is no terrorist/extremist bigger than America. The inhuman policies of the US are pushing the Muslims to extremism."

In his highly charged speech, Samiul Haq claimed that the big powers were working on a single-point agenda - the annihilation of the seminaries. "The international community is against only one thing, the seminaries. Its target is not the Islamic Army, the Muslim rulers, generals or the politicians. It is not concerned with our natural resources. Its target is only one - to label our seminaries as hub of terrorism and extremism."

The convocation passed a 14-point resolution, which included:
The five wafaq (coalitions) of religious seminaries should be given the status of a board and their degrees/certificates should be recognized at the national level.
The Seminaries Reforms Board should be immediately abolished. It is a violation of the agreement that the Government had entered into with the five wafaq.
Seminaries are not involved in any act of terror. Such propaganda is a Jewish conspiracy.
We condemn the Agha Khan Board (AKB) and demand that it should be immediately banned.
The proceedings of all the Government and private events should start with the recitation of Koran and it should be made part of the law.
The ban on the foreign students who want to come to Pakistan for religious education should be lifted and they should be granted visas.
The Government should stop patronizing the Hindu and European culture in the country and ban such NGOs that are involved in this crime.
The state-media should stop promoting nudity.

The May 15 Convocation was extraordinarily well-organised. A media cell, equipped with computers, internet connectivity and photocopiers had been established at Lal Masjid; security was tight, and nobody was allowed entry without invitation. The proceedings of the Convocation were transmitted live through the internet at www.defendersofislam.com. Some clerics who could not make it to the Convention Center participated online. Several observers were inclined to some skepticism regarding the administrative skills of the clerics, and suspicions were voiced that the 'ISI has sponsored this show.'

Arif Jamal - a prolific writer on jihad and rightwing politics - observed: "The Convocation marks a new beginning of relations between the Musharraf Government and the Deobandi ulema. The conflict between the Musharraf Government and the Pakistani Deobandi ulema that started with the fall of the Taliban Government in Afghanistan and reached its climax with the attempts on the life of General Musharraf appears to be over. The Musharraf Government's reconciliatory efforts towards the ulema in general and friendly acts towards the Deobandi ulema in particular have finally convinced them that the Government is not hostile towards ulema."

Musharraf has also back-paddled on the issue of seminaries registration and reforms in their curriculum. Jamal notes, further, "The Government has been going slow on its reform agenda for the madaris for the last one year. It has considerably reduced its interference in the affairs of the madaris. It has also stopped issuing any hostile statements against the ulema and madaris. It has also exempted them from mandatory registration under the Deeni Madaris (Voluntary Registration and Regulation) Ordinance, 2002, which was an important demand of the madaris. It withdrew cases against some of the leading Deobandi ulema as a part of its reconciliation efforts"

The regime's efforts to secure support from the Islamist right were also at least partially visible in the fatwa (edict) of May 18, issued by a group of 58 ulema, against suicide attacks in the country. Significantly, the fatwa exempted the masterminding of suicide attacks against 'foreign occupation', including such attacks in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kashmir. The impact of the fatwa, however, is expected to be negligible, since it has little backing from scholars of repute. As the Daily Jasarat columnist, Shahnawaz Farooqi, noted, out of the 58 ulema who issued the fatwa, 57 had no standing. "We have heard their name for the first time in our life. There is only one familiar name - Mufti Muneebur Rehman."

Farooqi went on to urge Mufti Muneebur Rehman to issue an edict against the Army. "Pakistani generals subjugate the country whenever they wish to do so. National, international and Islamic law does not allow such subjugation. Therefore, Mufti Muneeb and his clique of other so-called 57 scholars should issue another edict that should declare Army's dictatorship as un-Islamic." He added, further, that violent resistance against an oppressive ruler was also jihad, giving the example of Hazrat Ali's jihad against Yazeed. "Yazeed was a Muslim and Hazrat Ali had waged jihad against him. In the light of Muneeb's edict, Hazrat Ali's resistance against Yazeed becomes an act of terrorism."

The fatwa has been outrightly rejected by the dominant rightwing formations. Fazlur Rehman declared: "The edict has been issued under political compulsions. It is not based on Shariat but on politics. The Government has bribed ulema to obtain the edict at the US behest. The US is responsible for introducing the trend of suicide attacks."

Interestingly, Mufti Muneeb's colleague Sarfraz Naeemi also disagreed with his fatwa: "The edict will benefit unbelief. The entire world knows the motives behind the edict. The greatest benefit will reach to the murderers of the Muslims - India, Israel and the US. At the moment, the Muslims are being massacred all over the world. Instead of issuing the edict of jihad against the butchers of the Muslims, Musharraf has bribed the ulema to get an edict against suicide attacks. The suicide attacks are not haram [forbidden in Islam] but are the supreme form of jihad. There should have been an edict against Bush - that whoever will kill him will go to the heaven."

The outcome of the fatwa came exactly after 10 days, on May 28, when the Shia shrine, the Hazrat Bari Imam, in the vicinity of the heavily guarded Diplomatic Enclave, witnessed a powerful suicide explosion that killed 25 people and injured more than a 100. The message to the Government was loud and clear: the fatwa meant nothing. Extremist elements would continue to do whatever they deemed necessary.

Will the government backpedal wrt the May 15 Convocation of Deeni Madaris:

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=107659

Important evidences on Bari Iman, Karachi blasts found: Sherpao

Tuesday May 31, 2005 (1618 PST)

ISLAMABAD, June 01 (Online): Federal Minister for Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has said that several important evidences regarding the terrorist incidents of Bari Imam and Karachi have been found while the investigation in this regard has also entered into a significant phase.

"Terrorist incident of Bari Iman and Karachi are not the failure of security agencies and law enforcement agencies", he stressed.

Speaking to a private TV Channel here on Tuesday Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said that law enforcement agencies after 9/11 had been performing their duties vigilantly. He also added that Security agencies of Pakistan launched effective raids against Alqueda activists and other out-laws, which proved successful. He expressed hope that law and order situation in country including Karachi had been fully under control.

Interior Minister claimed that a terrorist arrestrted during the terrorism incident of Karachi had led to find important clues, which could not be brought to public yet and said that detained terrorist belonged to defunct Jash Mohammad.

said that detained terrorist belonged to defunct Jash Mohammad.

More on Jaish-e-Mohammad: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/jandk/terrorist_outfits/jaish_e_mohammad_mujahideen_e_tanzeem.htm

What is the truth:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-6-2005_pg1_2

President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday condemned the killing of Aslam Mujahid and the terrorist attack on the imambargah and appealed for calm and unity to foil the saboteurs' designs.

Police on Tuesday identified two of the assailants involved in Monday's attack on the imambargah. Dr Najeeb, town investigation officer (TIO) of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, told Daily Times that the surviving assailant was identified as Tehseen, a resident of Orangi Town. The TIO said Tehseen was critically injured in the gunfight outside the imambargah. The dead assailant was identified as Muhammad Asif Khan, the TIO said, adding that Tehsin had told police that he and Asif were from the defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ).

Earlier, Tehsin kept changing his statement, the TIO said, adding that he first told police that his name was Muhammad Jamil and he was a Jaish Muhammad activist. Then he said his name was Bashir.

Comments: Jaish Mohammad probably has connections to former (and present?) officers of ISI and the Army, thus it is "better" if the terrorist is connected to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

That is one screwed up country.

A bit confusing.
On the one hand, the article states that this convention was apparently sanctioned by the gov't.
On the other hand, it says that the speeches were anti-gov't.
Makes me wonder, if permission was given to hold this convention in order to gain info?

"Lashkar-e-Jhangvi" is often used by Pakistani authorties as a cover name for a terrorist whom they do not want to identify as belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed or Lashkar-e-Taiba etc. The latter two are of course ISI's favorite terrorist groups and Pakistani officials will be reluctant to admit that their "boys" have now gone freelance and operate for Al Qaeda instead of doing ISI's wetwork against India in Kashmir.

BTW, did you know that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's parent group hosted Al-Zarqawi during his days in Pakistan?

Check this out.

Link

Another key job for the United States, Schroen says, is to figure out a way to find the right incentive for Musharraf to hunt harder for al Qaeda's leaders. One major step, in that regard, is for the Pakistani president to get more answers from inside his own military and intelligence establishment. "A man of that caliber [bin Laden] could not be hidden out for that many years without word getting out in the community. So, I think some people probably know within ISI and the military."

Sorry the link had an error

Jaish-e-Muhammed
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/jandk/terrorist_outfits/jaish_e_mohammad_mujahideen_e_tanzeem.htm

and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/terroristoutfits/Lej.htm

BTW, did you know that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's parent group hosted Al-Zarqawi during his days in Pakistan?

No, but Raman wrote about similar connections. http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/may/12raman.htm"

Rumors in London that SAS is preparing for a big catch.

Corruption and bribes will not win WOT:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GF18Df03.html

The making of a terrorist
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Jun 18, 2005
KARACHI Two and a half years ago, Pakistan's most-wanted person, Asif Ramzi, was found dead, along with five others, following an explosion in a bombing-making factory in Korangi, a satellite district of the southern port city of Karachi.

Ramzi was wanted in connection with the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and the June 2002 bombing of the US consulate in Karachi.

This incident alerted the security agencies of both the US and Pakistan to the emergence of Korangi, as well as neighboring Landhi, as a new breeding ground for the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, and consequently a new target in the "war on terror". The Landhi-Korangi area already had notoriety as a "no-go area".

The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi is the militant offshoot of the banned Sunni sectarian group Sepah-i-Sahabah, which although not directly affiliated with al-Qaeda, its members have a kinship, as many of them trained together in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban in that country.

A road to terror
From the bustling artery of Sharah-i-Faisal in Karachi, when a car turns at Gora Qabrustan (a Christian Cemetery of British India times) toward Korangi Road, the driver breathes a sigh of relief as a smooth, broad road offers a swift drive to the expressway that connects the southern districts to the central and eastern parts of the city.

However, this is just 15-minute ride. Before the expressway, one turns off into Korangi, a veritable ghetto where one can almost smell the fear and tension. By the time the sun goes down, gangs of armed youths have taken to the streets, where they rule until dawn - frequently letting off shots into the air to announce their presence and authority to officials, and the local population.

Welcome to the hunting grounds of Korangi and Landhi.

The discovery of Ramzi's bomb-making factory in Korangi in December 2002 has been followed by dozens of arrests of members of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi with connections to the area. In the most recent incident, a man identified as Tehseen was arrested in connection with a suicide attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Karachi in which several people were killed, including two of the attackers. Tehseen was injured when guards at the mosque fired at him. He is from an extremely poor family in Korangi.

Rooted in depravation
Korangi and Landhi were established in the early 1960s for displaced families that had come from British India after the partition of 1947, and which were living in squatter settlements near founding-father Muhammad Ali Jinnah's mausoleum in the heart of the city.

Bureaucrats at the time were well versed in British ways - they knew the art to building colonies. Small housing units were set along a network of broad roads, complemented with schools, dispensaries, basic health units and playgrounds. The generation raised in the early 1960s in Korangi and Landhi was ambitious, and despite their poor background, many reached the top ladders of the corporate, social and sporting worlds, while others established themselves at lower and middle levels in government offices.

By the 1980s, though, Korangi and Landhi had changed. As people prospered, they shifted to better neighborhoods, and their cheap houses were filled by an altogether different community, including Bangladeshis, people from Myanmar and a huge Pashtun population. The latter worked as unskilled laborers in the industrial areas that had sprung up in the vicinity.

However, displaced families from India still made up the largest and most dominant component of Korangi and Landhi, which became the strongest pillar of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) when it was launched in 1985 in Karachi. The MQM was a national movement created to protect the rights of displaced families from India.

The MQM's militant wing established arms dumps, torture chambers and training centers in Landhi. This area was inaccessible to police and very well guarded by armed youths. No strangers were allowed in the area, which was called Mohajir Khail. (Mohajir means immigrant, from British India, and Khail is a Pashtun word which shows that, like the North West Frontier province's tribal areas, Mohajir Khail was also inaccessible to law-enforcing agencies.)

The MQM used Mohajir Khail to torture their political opponents belonging to the Pakistan Peoples' Party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, and other ethnic groups, such as the Pashtuns and Sindhis.

The Mohajir Khail was destroyed in 1993 by the Pakistani army, which also engineered a split in the MQM, leading to the formation of a faction led by Afaq Ahmed (now in jail). Subsequently, an army operation was conducted in the whole of Karachi, including Landhi and Korangi. The army arrested members of the MQM led by Altaf Hussain (who later went into exile in London to escape cases against him) and posted rangers in the area, but at the same time, the men in uniform patronized the faction of Ahmed. The cases against Hussain included killings, abductions, extortion, and burning the national flag. Now his party - renamed the Muttahida Quami Movement - is part of coalition governments in federal and provincial administrations.

As a result of the army action, the area became the hotbed of gang wars, where guns ruled and outsiders dared not enter. Every day, two or three bullet-riddled bodies would be found in gunny bags.

Religion, the poor man's addiction
The mid-1990s saw severe economic depression in Landhi and Korangi, with markets closed for five days of the week. In job advertisements, companies clearly stated that candidates from Landhi and Korangi need not apply as they knew that because of the chaotic conditions in these areas workers would never be punctual. Schools and stadiums were occupied by the Pakistan Rangers, who often remained silent spectators as the gangs fought each other.

When the Taliban movement emerged in the mid-1990s, men from the Bangladeshi and Myanmarese populations in the area responded enthusiastically, as the clerics in their mosques were mostly pro-Taliban. Within a year, many men from both factions of the MQM joined different militant organizations, top of which was the Sepah-i-Sahabah. Thus, an already heavily militarized area due to its gang politics became a paradise for jihadis as well.

The banned Sepah-i-Sahabah was an anti-Shi'ite organization founded by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. It has been renamed Millat-i-Islamia. Sepah-i-Sahabah sermonized against the beliefs of Shi'ites but did not call for their massacre. However, when many Sepah-i-Sahabah heads were killed by Shi'ites (this still goes on - the most recent was Maulana Azam Tariq, a member of the National Assembly and a pro-President General Pervez Musharraf person) a breakaway faction called Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, which believes in the killing of Shi'ites, was formed by Riaz Basra. Basra was rounded up by Pakistani security agencies when he tried to enter Pakistan after the Taliban retreated in 2001. After an unannounced detention, he died in what is believed to be a stage-managed encounter with the authorities.

Since the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi was banned and most of its members were wanted, they left Pakistan and took refuge in Afghanistan during the Taliban's time. There they interacted with Arab Afghans. When the Taliban fell, they returned to Pakistan, bringing with them many Arab friends to whom they gave shelter and sanctuary. Later, they carried out several joint terror actions in Pakistan.

Amjad Farooqui, who was involved along with al-Qaeda's Abu Faraj al-Libbi in assassination attempts against Musharraf, was a leader in the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, as was Ramzi. Invariably, they all took sanctuary in the thickly populated areas of Korangi and Landhi.

US outsmarts all
Since September 11, 2001, the US has invested millions of dollars in Pakistan to help track down al-Qaeda members and other terror suspects. Some of this money has gone to the Pakistani police, and some has been invested in a network of informers called Spider. But as long as no-go areas such as Landhi and Korangi existed, where police and rangers could not go freely, success was limited.

So US intelligence came up with a plan. It used the Altaf Hussain group's network in the MQM to counter jihadis and militants, leading to the arrest of many wanted people, to the extent that many militants have been rooted out from the area.

A case study
This correspondent has interacted with many people from the Landhi and Korangi area, and one in particular stands out. Let's call him Akhtar, a man in his late 20s. He is not a militant, although circumstances conspired to push him in that direction, just like many who did turn out to be militants.

When Akhtar started going to his nearby mosque in Korangi four years ago, everybody in his family was happy that he had separated himself from the drug addicts and goons of the neighborhood, as well as from the ethnocentric parties of the area known for their terror, militancy and extortion. They were satisfied that Akhtar was now on the right path and would lead a straight life.

Akhtar grew a beard and insisted that he interact with all religious circles in the mosques. He was a tolerant human being, searching for pearls of virtue wherever he could find them.

However, after four years, during which time Akhtar's personality was molded and he became known for his piety and his tabiligi (preaching) activities, a police unit came looking for him, not to hear his wisdom, but to inform his family to hand over the "sectarian criminal" in a few days, or face the music. Akhtar happened to be out of town preaching at the time.

Akhtar met this correspondent through a friend, as he believed that newspapers were his last hope.

"Yes, Korangi and Landhi are two points where many suicide bombers and members of the Laskhar-i-Jhangvi stay, but you cannot write a story in isolation or without enumerating the causes which made this area with its destitute population a breeding ground for terror groups," Akhtar said.

"Our misfortune starts from our birth place, that is Landhi and Korangi, which became the nucleus of crime from the mid-1980s. Armed youths roamed around freely. Two military operations were conducted in the area, which gave a free hand to the police to rough up the whole population. They used to arrest criminals, but also innocent suspects, which they only let go after their poor families paid a bribe.

"That was the environment in which I grew up. My friends were either members of ethnocentric parties, as one could not survive without their association, or those who fell into drug addiction," said Akhtar. "The first time when I was picked up, I happened to have associated with members of a breakaway faction of the MQM, that is, the Afaq group. During interrogation, I was badly tortured. Later, the Afaq group's leaders secured my bail and I came out of jail. Now I was 'member' of the Afaq group.

"That is exactly the time when police and rangers were playing a game of hide and seek in Landhi and Korangi. Youths were put in police lockups without their cases being registered, and they were badly tortured. There was a time when the government crushed one faction of the MQM and patronized the other faction, and then the other way around. The youths changed their loyalties accordingly. In such an environment, two prominent groups emerged and attracted hundreds of youths who were tired of arrests and tortures. One is the banned Sepah-i-Sahab, and the other was the Jaish-i-Mohammed.

"Maulana Masood Azhar [chief of the now banned Jaish-i-Mohammed] quite often came to our neighborhood, with over a dozen armed guards. His speeches were truly impressive, but more impressive was his protocol and police security. Many disgruntled youths joined Jaish-i-Mohammed, and many joined Sepah-i-Sahabah. Some were inspired by their teaching, and some came in search of protection from police raids.

"I was neither in the Sepah-i-Sahabah nor in the Jaish. I was a peaceful talibligi [Muslim preacher]. However, since the leaders of these groups were regular visitors to the mosques in the area, I was a regular listener of their lectures, and in that way I was part of their circle and kept friendly ties and social interaction, but not as a member.

"After 9-11, the situation changed. All ethnocentric groups, which previously had been under official scrutiny, were given a respite, and organizations like the Sepah-i-Sahaban and the Jaish-i-Mohammed came under fire and were banned.

"Instead of neighborhoods, mosques and seminaries were the target, where police and intelligence officials carried out daily raids. As a result, all members of those banned organization went underground. Many stopped their activities, but several joined militancy in the name of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.

"The police game of extortion and bribery, played with members of the ethnocentric parties in the past, was now played with members of sectarian and jihadi organizations. In the past, all Mohajirs [immigrants from India] were culprits, whether they belonged to any party or not, but now all mosque-goers were guilty of terror.

"The law-enforcing agencies created a hellish situation. Many people who did not have the money to bribe their way out of trouble knew that they could be killed in a fake encounter [police have a reputation for extrajudicial killings in which suspects are shot in what is officially termed as 'retaliatory fire'.] Therefore, many choose to become suicide bombers, because they know that either way their fate is death.

"There are people like myself who are suspects and who were given an option list by the police, including 'gentle' arrest and then freedom after paying a bribe - or else be ready for a 'fake encounter'. I am again standing at a crossroads, like I was some years back when I was detained as a suspect by the police and then my release was secured by an ethnocentric party. But in return I became a member. Now I have to either collect money to bribe corrupt police, or join a sectarian group to get a safe sanctuary to hide and then make myself mentally ready to be killed in police encounter, or in a suicide attack."

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

Hmm. Interesting lead. Perhaps the SAS maybe able to go where the CIA cannot, at least with deniability.