On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that Blackwater is operating in Pakistan. In an interview on Express TV, Gates, who was visiting Islamabad, said, “They [Blackwater and another private security firm, DynCorp] are operating as individual companies here in Pakistan,” according to a DoD transcript of the interview. “There are rules concerning the contracting companies. If they’re contracting with us or with the State Department here in Pakistan, then there are very clear rules set forth by the State Department and by ourselves.”
Today, the country’s senior minister for the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Bashir Bilour, also acknowledged that the company is operating in Pakistan’s frontier areas. Bilour told Pakistan’s Express News TV that Blackwater’s activities were taking place with the “consent and permission” of the Pakistani government, saying he had discussed the issue with officials at the US Consulate in Peshawar, who told him that Blackwater was training Pakistani forces.
KARACHI: As anger mounts over the degrading language and observations in the Kerry-Lugar Bill on Pakistan’s military services and intelligence agencies, the Army conveyed its part of protest to the United States when Commander of International Forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal met Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani at the GHQ on Tuesday, informed officials said.
These officials said that General Kayani told General McChrystal that like the Pakistani people, the military and intelligence services were furious at the observations made on Pakistan’s security establishment in the Kerry-Lugar Bill. Kayani also protested over the controversial statements made by some US officials in recent days.
BrassTacks presents another bitter-facts series exposing threats to Pakistan and deliberate ignorance of current government. Zaid Hamid exposes the covert war which CIA is waging against Pakistan, as he explains the current domestic scenario of Pakistan and the threats to our nationals security that we face due to CIA covert ops and US policies.
In latest episode of the series, cutting edge analysis of the current scenario are presented by Zaid Hamid.
Finally, the military admits what Pakistan’s pro-U.S. government has been hiding for months. The weapons that the terrorists – the fake Pakistani Taliban – are using to kill Pakistanis are coming from U.S. and India. Some members of the Karzai puppet regime have privately confirmed to Pakistani officials that they are incapable of stopping Indian terrorist activities on Afghan soil. To avoid embarrassment, Washington quickly ‘leaked’ a story that U.S. weapons given to Afghan security forces have reached insurgents. The timing of the leak conveniently coincided with the Pakistani army discovering the American double game. The Americans have been taking Pakistan for a ride for seven years.
Briefing reporters about the progress of operation Rahe Rast, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas yesterday revealed the extent of foreign support that the TTP terrorists are getting from Afghanistan. Large caches of weapons of US and INDIAN origin have been found as the security forces completely secure control of Mingora city, destroying various training centres of terrorists and killing important militant commanders, the military said.
The Americans have their excuses in order – Earlier this year it was revealed that over 200,000 US weapons – including assault rifles and grenade launchers – are ‘missing’ from the US army’s inventory in Afghanistan. The US army is unable to provide serial numbers for a large number of the missing weapons and no records have been maintained for the location or disposition for the rest.
The Pakistan Army, quite rightly has told the Americans to stop worrying about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and start worrying about the weapons ‘lost’ in Afghanistan.
Coming to the issue of Indian made weapons found in Swat – India claims its consulates in Afghanistan only issue visas for Afghan tourists to India and runs scholarship programmes for Afghan students. The Indians also claim their presence in Afghanistan is limited to reconstruction and aid efforts.
Terror struck at the heart of cricket when masked gunmen attacked the bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Sources within the security establishment had been aware of an imminent attack being planned by Research & Analysis Wing – India’s premier intelligence agency.
“We had been picking up chatter and had received important information from the R&AW terrorists arrested in recent weeks. An attack was imminent. We had prepared for any eventuality and Alhamdolillah we were able to avert a major catastrophe. The security team fought bravely”, said a source on condition of anonymity.
Five cricketers, including Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, and his deputy Kumar Sangakkara, received minor injuries. The attack left five security men dead.
Sports producer Gavin Scovell said security teams responded quickly.
“The guards were brilliant. They weren’t panicking. They were very calm,” Scovell said. “It must have been a terrifying experience, but they handled it well.”
Indian politicians and diplomats have been campaigning hard to have Pakistan declared a terrorist state, in recent weeks. The Indian Cricket Board also made its displeasure known at Sri Lanka’s decision to tour Pakistan, after India pulled out of the tour in the wake of Mumbai attacks.
The attack in Lahore is designed to damage the strong relations Pakistan shares with Sri Lanka. Pakistan has excellent relations with Sri Lanka and has given training and supplied arms to the Sri Lankan military fighting the Indian-backed Tamil Tiger rebels.
The attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers comes just a day after Sri Lankan state media published photographs and videos of Indian ministers including MDMK chief Vaiko, with LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran.
Kamran Khan: India Behind Lahore Attack
Pakistan’s Munich: The Enemy’s Fingerprints
The Indian fingerprints in the attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team cannot be ignored. New Delhi has been at war with both Islamabad and Colombo for decades. Hitting both in one place is a masterstroke. Indian military and its agents should brace for retaliation. Read Full Article | Ahmed Quraishi
Zaid Hamid on the Lahore Attack on Sri Lankan Cricketers
Who could be involved in Lahore attach on Sri Lankan Cricket team? Who is attacking our long standing friends? What could be the intentions behind it? Is it regional game? Are there any links with Mumbai Attack? and much more… LISTEN
Minister of State Nabil Ahmed Gabol said India is behind the attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team in Lahore on Tuesday, saying the attackers had crossed into Pakistan from India.
“The evidence which we have got shows that these terrorists entered from across the border from India,” Gabol told Geo News.
“This was a conspiracy to defame Pakistan internationally. This incident took place in reaction to 26/11,” he said. It is a declaration of open war on Pakistan by India,” said the minister.
MUMBAI: Indian Mujahideen’s (IM) top operative Sadiq Sheikh’s confession on his alleged role in the July 11, 2006 serial Mumbai train blasts has come as a huge embarrassment to the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad. Two years ago, the ATS had chargesheeted 13 people but Sadiq and other members of IM module were not named as conspirators.
The Indian authorities had then said that Sadiq’s claims were part of an al-Qaida ploy to mislead investigators. They had then claimed that the blasts were carried out by Simi activists and Pakistanis. [Link]
This comes after the massively embarassing ‘Noida Encounter’ episode which made them a laughing stock within their own media.
On January 25th, Indian and International Newspapers ran the headline ‘Pakistan Terrorists Shot Dead in Delhi’.
Police in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, just ten miles outside the capital, claimed to have intercepted the two suspects in a car following a tip off. A spokesman said the suspects refused to stop and opened fire, leading to the gun fight in which the two suspected militants were shot dead. They apparently ‘confessed’ to being Pakistani in their dying moments, and were also carrying their Pakistani passports, we were told.
Here’s a report in Times of India questioning the loopholes in the official story.
Meanwhile also have a look at a list of some notable fake encounters carried out by Indian security forces in recent times, courtesy of Google.
Indian and International Newspapers ran the headline ‘Pakistan Terrorists Shot Dead in Delhi’ on January 25th.
Police in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, just ten miles outside the capital, claimed to have intercepted the two suspects in a car following a tip off. A spokesman said the suspects refused to stop and opened fire, leading to the gun fight in which the two suspected militants were shot dead. They apparently ‘confessed’ to being Pakistani in their dying moments, and were also carrying their Pakistani passports, we’re told.
[BrassTacks foreword] Sri Lankan paper exposes RAW’s game in Baluchistan. It is time we seriously work to make India smaller so that their fitna can be crushed. The Indian Zionists don’t understand the language of co-existence or peace.
Its an open secret that India is itching to replicate Israel’s actions in Gaza and ‘punish’ Pakistan for its alleged involvement in cross border terrorism. But first, India needs to turn Pakistan into a Gaza with US assistance; a weak state with no real military power or ability to defend its territory or its citizens. These dangerous plans are already under way, with the full support of Asif Zardari’s government.
In a recently published article in ‘Outlook India’ titled ‘Can India Emulate Israel’s Action in Gaza?‘, B. Raman not only lends his full support to Israel’s actions in Gaza citing its ‘right of self defence’, but also recommends that India retaliate by deniable covert actions inside Pakistani territory – in other words by carrying out terrorist attacks within Pakistan.
B. Raman is an ex IB and R&AW operative, who has served as advisor to a number of military and intelligence officials and now writes for prominent Indian publications. Acting as an advisor to the then chief of Research & Analysis Wing, Raman had recommended in 2001, amongst other things, carrying out ‘economic warfare’ through overt and covert means, bringing Pakistan’s economy down to its knees.
Noting that political, diplomatic and economic actions by themselves would not have the desired effect, he recommended these to be ‘simultaneously accompanied by hard-hitting covert actions‘ such as terrorist attacks.
For all his faults, Musharraf’s government has to be credited for keeping the Indian designs in check to some extent. Around 2005-6 when R&AW started aggressively using its bases in Afghanistan to carry out these ‘hard-hitting covert actions’ within Pakistan’s soil, Musharraf started confronting the US with evidence of the role played by Indian consulates in Afghanistan.
Whereas India has officially declared 14 Indian consulates in Afghanistan, on ground they have 107 in which 20 intelligence units are burning their midnight oil to destabilise Pakistan. Many mercantile shops run by Indians have an intelligence office in the rear. Very young boys, mostly orphans, destitute or homeless are recruited. Recruits are mostly Afghans, Uzbeks, Tajiks and Caucasians. The latter being fair skinned and resembling Europeans are trained to hit targets in Europe or in USA to once again create a 9/11 like situation.
Reportedly, 10,000 ideologically motivated saboteurs and suicide bombers have been trained. Besides receiving military training, they have also been made to learn Pashto and customs of Pathans. They are regularly infiltrated into troubled spots of Pakistan. Posing as volunteers they join the rank and file of militants to fight the army. They are the ones who are destroying schools, CD shops, bridges and other installations and carrying out brutal beheading of captured personnel. CIA is assisting in providing intimate information about military road moves and military targets. The idea is to create chaos and confusion and also to defame the army and the real Taliban that have not come under their influence. They are also responsible for creating cleavages in the people of FATA and in disrupting peace deals. In Kurram Agency, Afghan officers and soldiers are actively involved in the sectarian conflict by way of providing arms and ammunition to Tori tribe. In Swat, Fazlullah-led militants are supplied with war munitions as well as fighters. USA has bared its teeth.
Likewise, dissident tribal chiefs in Baluchistan including late Akbar Bugti were also taken on board. The CIA helped in reincarnating BLA and providing all sorts of war munitions to Baloch militants belonging to Bugti, Marri and Mengal tribes and establishing over 60 Farari camps in Baluchistan.
The Indian and US led campaign to label ISI as a terrorist organistaion, or sponsors of global terrorism at the very least, picked up pace once the ISI started to expose and block the clandestine activities of CIA and RAW in Pakistan and especially after the assasination of Akbar Bugti, which had sent shockwaves through New Delhi and Langley, Virginia.
With Musharraf refusing to play ball, a regime change as well as the installation of a puppet government subservient to the US and India had become a necessity.
Since the regime change, we have seen unprecented levels of corruption and incompetence from the ‘elected representatives of the people’. The clandestine activities of CIA and RAW have taken off to new heights. Terrorist attacks now occur far more frequently scaring off not just foreign investors but local businessmen.
The economy has, as per R&AW’s 2001 directive, been brought to its knees through a carefully orchestrated artificial crises. The efforts to destabilize Pakistan using separatists as well as criminal terrorist outfits inserted through Aghanistan into Pakistan, have now intensified.
Contrary to popular view, a so called ‘Islamist’ takeover, or ‘Talibinisation’ of Pakistan is directly in the interest of both the US and India who have for years been raising alarms about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons ‘falling into the hands of extremists’ – giving them an excuse to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence.
Soldiers of the US Joint Special Operations Command carry out regular drills simulating US attacks on Pakistani nuclear facilities in case of an extremist or Taleban takeover, although the Americans admit not having a full account of locations where Pakistan’s nukes are stored.
On the media front, American and Indian analysts are now openly discussing ways of nuetralising Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities.
Attempts are being made to infiltrate Pakistan’s nuclear circle – a group of a few hundred scientists and other employees – by ‘recruiting’ key individuals with access to critical information, as well as placing those already on CIA’s payroll in important positions including the National Command Authority. A number of these attempts have been blocked by the Pakistani intelligence services in the last few months and necessary action has been taken to prevent senstive information from being passed onto the CIA and R&AW. No wonder the ISI doesn’t have a lot of admirers in India or the US.
The 26/11 attacks in Mumbai were designed to give the perfect opportunity for India to nail the ISI – Pakistan’s first line of defence – and leave Pakistan defenseless to a full onslaught from both sides. If it wasn’t for the botched handling of the whole affair by India, and more importantly the anticipation and preparedness of the Pakistani Armed Forces, India just may have got its wish.
B. Raman is an ex IB and R&AW operative, who has served as advisor to a number of military and intelligence officials and now writes for prominent Indian publications. Acting as an advisor to the then chief of Research & Analysis Wing, Raman had recommended in 2001, amongst other things, carrying out ‘economic warfare’ through overt and covert means, bringing Pakistan’s economy down to its knees.
