Three US special forces soldiers were killed in northwest Pakistan this week, confirming that the US military is more deeply engaged on the ground in Pakistan than previously acknowledged by the White House and Pentagon (see ” The Secret US War in Pakistan,” November 23, 2009). The soldiers died Wednesday in Lower Dir when their convoy was hit by a car bomber in what appeared to be a targeted strike against the Americans. According to CENTCOM, the US soldiers were in the country on a mission to train the Pakistani Frontier Corps, a federal paramilitary force run by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry that patrols the country’s volatile border with Afghanistan. A Pakistani journalist who witnessed the attack said that some of the US soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and had been identified by their Pakistani handlers as journalists. The New York Times estimates that there are sixty to a hundred such US special forces “trainers” in Pakistan. Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for the United States Central Command said there are about 200 US military personnel in Pakistan.
There was yet another daring assault in the heart of Srinagar Lal chowk by two fidayeen armed with Ak-47’s and grenades. They were able to take stronghold in a Punjab hotel building and took on the security forces for more than 30 hours. According to the local sources, two Mujahideen and dozens of soldier including a major and a subeydar were killed and the gun battle ended with the Indian forces burning down the hotel building. This was perhaps because they were unable to apprehend the Mujahideen. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by Jamiat ul Mujahideen, but the Indian forces believe that this attack has the hallmarks of Lashkar e Taiba, an outfit that they also blame for the Mumbai attacks. This attack was highly symbolic in nature and was demonstrative of the fear that the Indian Army has of LET fighters who they believe are well equipped, daring , and even better trained than the most prestigious BLACK CAT and MARCOS of Indian army. An Indian army officer told this writer on condition of anonymity that “the LET has a habit of attacking Indian military installations and camps and they often do not take responsibility for it. Instead they use a different name to confuse the Intelligence agencies and continue with their work.” It has also been reported that there is growing sympathy for them among the people of Kashmir mainly because they never target or attack civilians, their enemy is the Indian military which is involved in heinous acts of state-terrorism in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
By: Faisal Awan
The writer is a member of editorial team of pakistanfirst.com
With too many Bollywood characters punctuating tiers of Lok Saba it seems like Bollywood action movie theme and mind set has inculcated in the hierarchy of the Indian Army to hilarious limits as well. The precedence of such mindset was exhibited by none other than its Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor, when he claimed “Indian army is ready to battle Pakistan and China at the same time”. This statement was further bolstered by Lt-General A S Lamba that “India within 48 hours of the start of assault can enter Pakistan”. The Indian Think Tanks and Indian Army are missing the cue that thrusting a war on Pakistan and entering Pakistan is by no means a Hindi Bollywood version of Adolf Hitler taking over Austria and Czechoslovakia or a Bollywood Remix version of “The Guns of Navarone”.
Indian government and army needs to understand that their unyielding greed for bloodshed and hegemony will back fire just like it did in September 1965, when General Joyanto Nath Chaudhri confidently and boastfully told his officers that he would like to have his evening drink at Lahore Gymkhana. What history witnessed then in the next 2-3 weeks was none other than a consummate squashing of their army chief’s wishful dream.
LAHORE: Amidst rising tension between Pakistan’s civilian government and the country’s military tops brass over some controversial provisions of the Kerry-Lugar Bill, there are reports that President Asif Zardari has been contemplating to replace Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani for his persistent opposition to the USD 7.5 billion American financial assistance programme.
The Pakistani military leadership has already made public its opposition to the Kerry-Lugar Bill by issuing a formal press release following the October 7, 2009 corps commanders’ conference which evoked immediate panic at the presidency and in government corridors. The statement issued by the military spokesman expressed serious concern over some of the provisions of the legislative bill and warned that these could affect ’national security’. Unlike previous no-strings US aid packages, Kerry-Lugar non-military financial assistance bill makes support conditional on Pakistan’s military being subordinated to its elected government, and taking action against militants sheltering on its soil. The Pakistani military leadership’s ire is focused on the Kerry-Lugar Bill’s specific requirements that the US Secretary of State certify, at six-month intervals, that the Pakistani military remains under civilian oversight, even specifying such details as the need for the government to control senior command promotions.
“Those who lived with dignity and embraced martyrdom with honor, will always be remembered as our heroes for sacrificing their lives in defense of Pakistan against fitna.”
May Allah accept their sacrifices and give them ajer (return) as shohda-e-ummat. We salute our heroes and pray for their success in operation rah-e-haq.
It has become apparent that regardless of what the Pakistani Army does, a major war escalation has been scheduled by the American military, beginning in June and they are going to manipulate its extension till Waziristan — entangling and trapping Pakistan Army.
Pakistan’s leaders continue to go through this painfully slow dance to the death with their American employers, disrupting life in the tribal regions, pretending to be locked in to a battle to the death with a few thousand militants, while they prepare an all too real escalation of Obama/Bush’s war, all for the sake of maintaining the greater illusion of fighting “al Qaida.” Pakistan’s leaders are playing a very deadly game here with Obama, betting the survival of their precious nation that the United States warlords will blink first.
Zardari-led government has promised another deliverable to their masters but we will not let them throw our soldiers right into a trap.
