General Kayani allowed US special forces to secretly operate in Pakistan
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US embassy cables released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks reveal that teams of US special forces have been secretly working with Pakistan military in the tribal areas, the Guardian said on Wednesday.
Small US special forces teams helped hunt down Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters and co-ordinate drone strikes, American cables revealed.
They pointed out that the number of soldiers involved were limited to just 16 in October 2009 – but the deployment is of immense political significance.
The first special forces team of four soldiers was deployed at an old British colonial fort in the northern half of the tribal belt in September 2009, so as to help Frontier Corps paramilitaries to carry out artillery strikes on a militant base, one of the leaked US cables revealed.
A month later, two more teams of six soldiers each were deployed at Pakistani army bases in North and South Waziristan, a lawless warren of mountains considered to be the global headquarters of al-Qaeda, it said.
Their job was to provide “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” support, “general operational advice” and to help set up a live satellite feed from American drones flying overhead.
American officials, who had long been pushing for such a deployment in the face of “adamant” Pakistani opposition, were jubilant, viewing it as a sign of growing trust in an often troubled relationship, the cable said.
“The developments of the past two months thus appear to represent a sea change in [the military’s] thinking,” read one of the cables.
American special forces had been deployed in Pakistan since 2008 but were limited to a training role, it noted.
Permission for the active combat deployment “almost certainly” came with the personal consent of Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, another cable read.
“Patient relationship-building with the military is the key factor that has brought us to this point. The Pakistanis are increasingly confident that we do not have ulterior motives in assisting their operations,” according to the cable.
Participation of American soldiers in combat operations in the tribal campaign has never been publicly acknowledged due to its extreme political sensitivity in a country seething with anti-US sentiment, it further noted.
In the cables, Pakistan bureaucrats have been shown as supporting the drone attacks, viewing them as a solution to a problem. (Source)
’امریکی فوجی پاکستانی سرزمین پر‘
وکی لیکس کی جانب سے افشا کی جانے والی امریکی سفارتی دستاویزات کے مطابق پاکستان نے سنہ دو ہزار نو میں امریکی فوج کے خصوصی دستوں کو قبائلی علاقوں میں پاک فوج کی کارروائی میں شرکت کی اجازت دی تھی۔
وکی لیکس پر بدھ کو شائع ہونے والے ایک مراسلے میں جو نو اکتوبر سنہ دو ہزار نو کو امریکی وزارت خارجہ کو بھیجا گیا تھا، اس وقت پاکستان میں تعینات امریکی سفیر ڈبلیو این پیٹرسن نے کہا تھا کہ پاکستان فوج نے اجازت دے دی ہے کہ قبائلی علاقوں میں جاری فوجی کارروائی میں امریکی سپیشل فورس پاک فوج کا ساتھ دے۔
اس مراسلے میں کہا گیا ہے کہ یہ دوسری بار ہے کہ پاکستان فوج نے امریکی فورسز کو اپنے ساتھ کارروائی میں مدد کرنے کی اجازت دی ہے اور اس سے قبل سنہ دو ہزار نو ستمبر میں امریکی سپیشل سروسز کے چار اہلکاروں کو پاکستان کے قبائلی علاقوں میں فرنٹیئر کور کے ساتھ منسلک کیا گیا تھا اور یہ تعاون نہایت کامیاب رہا تھا۔
مراسلے کے مطابق جی ایچ کیو نے امریکی فورسز کو گیارہویں کور کے ساتھ کام کرنے اور پاک فوج کو انٹیلیجنس، نگرانی اور دیگر امور پر مشورے دینے کی اجازت دی۔ یہ فورسز پاک فوج کے ساتھ جنوبی اور شمالی وزیرستان میں تعینات کی گئیں۔
مراسلے میں کہا گیا ہے کہ امریکی سپیشل فورسز پاکستان میں چار سال سے موجود ہیں لیکن سنہ دو ہزار نو سے قبل ان کا کردار تربیتی شعبے میں تھا۔
امریکی سفیر کے مطابق جی ایچ کیو کی جانب سے امریکی سپیشل فورسز کو اجازت ملنے سے یہ ثابت ہوتا ہے کہ پاکستانی فوج میں امریکی فوج کے حوالے سے سوچ میں تبدیلی آئی ہے۔
امریکی سفیر نے اس مراسلے کے آخر میں لکھا ہے کہ امریکی فوج کی پاکستان فوج کے ساتھ ہونا سیاسی طور پر نہایت حساس ہے اور اگر یہ خبر پاکستانی میڈیا تک پہنچ گئی تو پاکستان فوج یہ اجازت نامہ منسوخ کر دے گی۔
On a related note:
Wikileaks: Pakistan privately approved drone strikes
US special forces fought side by side with Pakistani soldiers and the government in Islamabad privately approved drone strikes while publicly condemning the CIA’s covert raids, according to the Wikileaks diplomatic cables
Rob Crilly in Islamabad 9:43AM GMT 01 Dec 2010
The revelations of America’s secret war in Pakistan will deeply embarrass President Asif Ali Zardari (a puppet of Gernal Kayani) who has long denied such deep co-operation with Washington for fear it would embolden Islamist opposition to his feeble government.
In public, both sides have described putting American boots on the ground as a red line issue.
However, a cable sent by the then US Ambassador to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, states that Pakistan has twice requested American soldiers to embed with its Frontier Corps in North Waziristan and South Waziristan, areas dotted with Taliban and al-Qaeda bases.
On both occasions Pakistan asked for the help of US special forces to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance – including video footage from drones – to its troops. On one mission they helped the Pakistani soldiers target an enemy base with artillery.
“These deployments are highly politically sensitive because of widely-held concerns among the public about Pakistani sovereignty and opposition to allowing foreign military forces to operate in any fashion on Pakistani soil,” she wrote.
“Should these developments and/or related matters receive any coverage in the Pakistani or US media, the Pakistani military will likely stop making requests for such assistance.”
A second cable describes a 2008 meeting with Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Pakistani prime minister, in which he brushes aside concerns about the use of Predator drones against targets in the tribal areas and gives an insight into how he would deny any co-operation.
“I don’t care if they do it as long as they get the right people. We’ll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it,” he told Ms Patterson.
There have been more than 100 drone strikes so far this year as the Obama administration steps up its covert use of Predators in the skies over Pakistan.
[Of course, Gilani and Zardari were speaking the voice of their masters in khaki.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8172922/Wikileaks-Pakistan-privately-approved-drone-strikes.html
On another related note, before being ‘handed over’ to the USA, Aafia Siddiqi was most probably in an ISI’s safe house in Sadda, Kurram Agency.
WikiLeaks cables: Mystery deepens over Pakistan scientist Aafia Siddiqui
Embassy cables show US diplomats were non-plussed over neuroscientist’s whereabouts before she surfaced in Afghanistan
Declan Walsh
The Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2010
Aafia Siddiquin custody in Afghanistan after going missing for five years. WikiLeaks cables reveal diplomats were unaware of her whereabouts, contrary to popular sentiment in Pakistan Photograph: Anonymous/AP
Contrary to claims by supporters of Aafia Siddiqui, the controversial Pakistani neuroscientist was never imprisoned at the Bagram military prison in Afghanistan, the embassy cables suggest.
“Bagram officials have assured us that they have not been holding Siddiqui for the last four years, as has been alleged,” the embassy wrote on July 31, 2008.
The record is a fresh twist on one of the most vexed mysteries of the Bush-era “war on terror”. Siddiqui, an MIT-educated 31-year-old, disappeared from Karachi with her three children in March 2003, shortly before US officials accused her of belonging to al-Qaida. She resurfaced in Afghanistan five years later, accused of trying to shoot American soldiers and was sent for trial to New York.
This year she was convicted and sentenced to 86 years in prison, prompting protests across Pakistan.
Siddiqui’s family and supporters insist Siddiqui is innocent, and that she spent the “missing” five years between 2003 and 2008 in US detention at the Bagram base.
US denials of that account have generally been treated with scepticism by the Pakistani media, which has given credence to the family’s account and dismissed US statements as part of a cover-up.
But the cables suggest American officials felt they genuinely had nothing to hide about Siddiqui and her three missing children, two of whom resurfaced in Karachi.
After Siddiqui was convicted last February, ambassador Anne Patterson said that Pakistani reaction was driven by “one-sided” media coverage that caused Pakistanis “to conclude her acquital was a near certainty”.
Just as Pakistanis accuse the Americans of a conspiracy to convict Siddiqui, US officials cast a wry eye over the Pakistani activists who helped turn her case into a cause célèbre of anti-Americanism in Pakistan.
At one point the cables note that lawyer Javed Iqbal Jaffery, who filed a court application on Siddiqui’s behalf, had also represented the disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. It was “unclear who is paying Jaffrey and/or orchestrating this campaign on Siddiqui’s behalf.”
The cables also reflect how the issue became a thorn in relations between the two countries, recording numerous requests by prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to visiting US politicians for Siddiqui’s return to Pakistan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-cables-mystery-aafia-siddiqui
……..
US embassy cables: US denies knowledge of Siddiqui children
ednesday, 29 October 2008, 13:28
C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 003418
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 10/29/2018
TAGS PGOV, PK, PTER, PREL, TFIN, ETRD
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR CONVOKED OVER U.S. ATTACKS
Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b), (d).
Summary
The Pakistan government summons US ambassador Anne Patterson in protest at US drone attacks in the tribal belt, then raises questions about the whereabouts of Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s children. Patterson denies any knowledge. Key passage highlighted in yellow.
Read related article
1. (C) Summary: On October 29, Pakistani Acting Foreign Secretary Khalid Babar convoked Ambassador to raise several recent hot-button issues. In response to a Pakistani Senate resolution, Secretary Babar raised protests against alleged U.S. attacks inside Pakistani territory. He reiterated MFA requests to repatriate Aafia Siddiqi and pushed back on pending 1267 cases. The protests were largely pro forma but the meeting is already being reported in Pakistani press as MFA’s “strong protest” against U.S. violations of sovereignty. End Summary.
2. (C) On October 27, the Pakistani Senate passed a resolution strongly condemning alleged attacks by U.S. drones in Pakistani territory. The Senators called upon the GOP to convey this protest to U.S. and NATO/ISAF authorities. In response, Acting Foreign Minister Khalid Babar convoked Ambassador to register their ongoing complaints. Babar repeated previous GOP statements condemning the violation of territorial integrity and also reiterated that such attacks undermine political solutions in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Ambassador noted the ongoing and successful military cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan.
3. (C) Babar also raised concern about Dr. Aafia Siddiqi’s repatriation and the whereabouts of her two young children. Ambassador made it clear that U.S. authorities do not know the whereabouts of the children, who have never been in U.S. custody, and noted that the Pakistani Embassy has been given full consular access to Siddiqi. Babar was aware that Siddiqi is currently being assessed for mental fitness to stand trial in the U.S., but noted that the MFA had been required to report to the Islamabad High Court on a case demanding that the GOP repatriate Siddiqi.
4. (C) Babar lastly raised the issue of 1267 case statements, particularly four new cases including that of former Director General of ISI Hamid Gul. Babar requested that the case statements include more verifiable evidence so that the GOP would not block them. He suggested that more intelligence sharing early in the process would expedite these cases and highlighted cases regarding terrorism financing where technical evidence might be shared. Additionally, he suggested that the cases be disaggregated to allow the easy one to go forward faster. By submitting the 1267 cases in a block, the GOP refuses them in a block as well even if some would pass independently.
5. (C) Comment: Despite the MFA’s media statement, Babar delivered his concerns in a pro forma manner. We have told the MFA repeatedly that there currently is no legal basis to repatriate Siddiqi, and we have no idea on the location of her other two children.
PATTERSON
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/175741
عافیہ بگرام میں نہیں تھیں: وکی لیکس
عافیہ صدیقی کی گمشدگی کا معاملہ مزید الجھ گیا ہے
وکی لیکس نے جن خفیہ امریکی دستاویزات کا انکشاف کیا ہے ان کے مطابق امریکی سفارت کار اس بات سے آگاہ نہیں تھے کہ عافیہ صدیقی افغانستان میں منظر عام پر آنے سے پہلے کہاں پر تھیں۔
ان دستاویزات کے مطابق پاکستانی سائنسداں عافیہ صدیقی افغانستان میں بگرام کی فوجی جیل میں قید نہیں تھیں۔
جبکہ عافیہ صدیقی کے حامی اس موقف کے حامی رہے ہیں کہ دوہزار تین میں کراچی سے گمشدگی کے بعد سے وہ امریکی فوج کی قید میں تھیں۔
وکی لیکس کے مطابق سفارت خانے نے اکتیس جولائی دو ہزار آٹھ کو لکھا تھا کہ ’بگرام کے حکام نے ہمیں اس بات کا یقین دلایا ہے کہ انہوں نے گزشتہ چار برسوں سے صدیقی کو قید میں نہیں رکھا ہے جیسا کہ الزامات لگائے جا رہے ہیں۔‘
بگرام کے حکام نے ہمیں اس بات کا یقین دلایا ہے کہ انہوں نے گزشتہ چار برسوں سے صدیقی کو قید میں نہیں رکھا ہے جیسا کہ الزامات لگائے جارہے ہیں۔
عافیہ صدیقی کی گمشدگی کے متعلق یہ ایک نیا انکشاف ہے جس سے یہ معاملہ مزید پیچیدہ ہوگیا ہے۔
امریکہ نے الزام لگایا تھا کہ اکتیس سالہ ڈاکٹر عافیہ صدیقی کا تعلق القاعدہ سے ہے جس کے چند روز بعد ہی مارچ دو ہزار تین میں وہ اپنے تین بچوں کے ساتھ کراچی سے لاپتہ ہو گئی تھیں۔
اس کے پانچ برس بعد وہ افغانستان میں ظاہر ہوئیں۔ ان پر امریکی فوجیوں پر گولی چلانے کا الزام تھا اور اسی الزام کے تحت ان پر مقدمہ چلانے کے لیے انہیں نیو یارک بھیج دیا گیا تھا۔
اس مقدمے میں انہیں اس برس چھیاسی برس قید کی سزا سنائی گئی ہے جس کے خلاف پاکستان میں زبردست احتجاج ہوئے ہیں۔
عافیہ صدیقی کو سزا دینے کے خلاف پاکستان شدید احتجاج ہوئے تھے
عافیہ کے حامی اور ان کے اہل خانہ انہیں معصوم بتاتے ہیں اور ان کا الزام ہے کہ دو ہزار تین اور آٹھ کے درمیان وہ امریکی فوجیوں کی قید میں تھیں۔
تاہم وکی لیکس کی دستاویزات کے مطابق امریکی حکام نے محسوس کیا کہ ڈاکٹر صدیقی اور ان کے تینوں بچوں کے متعلق وہ کچھ بھی چھپانے کے حق میں نہیں تھے۔
فروری میں جب انہیں قصوروار ٹھہرایا گیا تو امریکی سفیر این پیٹرسن نے کہا کہ پاکستان میں رد عمل میڈیا کی ” یک طرفہ” کوریج کے سبب ہوا ہے جس نے پاکستان کو ’یہ نتیجہ اخذ کرنے پر آمادہ کیا کہ ان کی رہائی تقریبا یقینی ہے۔‘
اس دستاویز میں ایک جگہ اس بات کا بھی ذکر ہے کہ عافیہ صدیقی کی طرف سے عدالت میں عرضی داخل کرنے والے وکیل جاوید اقبال جعفری کو، جنہوں نے جوہری سائنس دان عبدالقدیر خان کا بھی کیس لڑا تھا، ’پیسے کون فراہم کرتا ہے اور محترمہ صدیقی کے طرف سے ان کےحق میں مہم کون چلاتا ہے۔‘
وکی لیکس کے مطابق ان دستاویزات سے یہ بھی پتہ چلتا ہے کہ اس مسئلے پر دونوں ملکوں کے درمیان تعلقات کس قدر خراب ہوگئے تھے۔
دستاویزات کے مطابق وزیراعظم یوسف رضاگیلانی نے دورہ کرنے والے امریکی سیاسی رہنماؤں سے کئی بار عافیہ صدیقی کی پاکستان واپسی کا مطالبہ کیا تھا
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/12/101201_aafiya_wikileaks_sz.shtml
The guilty verdict against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui has sparked public protests and condemnation of the U.S. The response to the verdict has resurrected familiar allegations that Dr. Siddiqui was kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence agencies and the FBI, unlawfully detained by the U.S. in Afghanistan, and physically and mentally abused by American soldiers. (Note: Shortly after Siddiqui was arrested by Afghan authorities in 2008, Ambassador and POLCON met with HRCP Chairman Asma Jehangir who speculated that Siddiqui may have been held by ISI since the time of her disappearance in 2003. Jehangir aslo specualted that she could have gone underground which would also explain her absence from 2003 to 2008. End Note)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/248613
Another related note:
WikiLeaks: ISI chief met Israelis to stop India attack
The chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency said he had contacted Israeli officials to head off potential attacks on Israeli targets in India, according to an October 2009 US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.
Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of Pakistan’s spy agency, told former US Ambassador Anne Patterson that he wanted Washington to know he had been to Oman and Iran “to follow up on reports which he received in Washington about a terrorist attack on India”.
“Pasha asked Ambassador to convey to Washington that he had followed up on threat information that an attack would be launched against India between September-November. He had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India,” the Oct 7, 2009 cable reported.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/84508/wikileaks-isi-chief-met-israelis-to-stop-india-attack/
Kayani / Pasha responsible for extra judicial killings in Swat:
US ‘kept Pakistani army Swat murders secret’
WikiLeaks cables reveal hundreds of extra-judicial killings in Swat Valley and tribal belt since 2009
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Declan Walsh in Islamabad
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 November 2010 21.30 GMT
Article history
A woman in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan where the WikiLeaks cables claim hundreds were killed during fighting between the army and Taliban. Photograph: Reuters
A deeply entrenched “culture of revenge” in the Pakistani army led to a spate of murders during fighting against the Taliban in Swat and the tribal belt, according to a secret US assessment last year.
But while US diplomats voiced private concerns about the killings – now admitted to number in the hundreds – they deemed it was better not to comment publicly in order to allow the Pakistani army to take action on its own.
Last October, one year after the assessment was sent to Washington, US officials made moves to sanction several Pakistani military units accused of the killings. Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, has also launched an investigation.
“A growing body of evidence is lending credence to allegations of human rights abuses by Pakistan security force” during fighting in the Swat valley and the tribal belt, the US ambassador, Anne Patterson, wrote in September 2009.
She said the most worrisome allegations concerned murders in which both regular army and paramilitary frontier corps soldiers – who are drawn from the Pashtun tribes – were implicated.
Patterson said cultural traditions meant revenge killings were “key to maintaining a unit’s honour”, while commanding officers complained that Pakistan’s weak judicial system was incapable of prosecuting detainees.
Commanders feared that if detainees were handed over to the courts and formally charged, they would be released, placing army and frontier corps troops at risk.
Pakistani police were also involved in the killings but were dealt with through a separate chain of command, she said.
An estimated 5,000 detainees – picked up during anti-Taliban operations in Malakand division, which includes Swat, and Bajaur and Mohmand tribal agencies, along the Afghan border – were at risk, she said.
Patterson proposed a number of measures to counter the problems, ranging from offering human rights training and promoting prison reform, to helping draft a new law that would create a “parallel administrative track” for charging and sentencing combat detainees. British officials could help draft the law, she suggested.
The cable contained no mention of the Leahy amendment, a 1997 US legal provision that obliges the government to cut funding to foreign military units found guilty of serious human rights violations.
“Post fully recognises that there is little that the [US government] can do to change the culture of revenge that underlies many of the extra-judicial killings,” the ambassador wrote. “However, it is our view that if senior commanders are offered a viable alternate to deal with detained combatants … the prevalence of human rights abuses will diminish.
“Much of this is dependent on goodwill … that can easily erode if too much public criticism from USG [US government] officials over these incidents is forthcoming. For this reason, post advises that we avoid comment … and that efforts remain focused on dialogue and the assistance strategy.”
After shocking footage emerged earlier this year that purported to show Pakistani soldiers murdering six men, it emerged that the US government planned to cut aid to at least six Pakistani military units.
Senator Patrick Leahy, author of the Leahy amendment, told a reporter: “I am not going to close my eyes to it because of our national interests in Pakistan.”
Sources told the Guardian that the targeted units included elements of the 12 Punjab infantry regiment and the paramilitary Frontier Corps. By conservative estimates at least 300 people have been murdered by security forces in Swat since 2009. But at a meeting in Washington in September, Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told human right activists the real number was much higher.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/us-pakistani-army-swat-murders-secret
Brutal extrajudicial killings by the Pakistan army – where is the media?
http://criticalppp.com/archives/23532
Blackwater operating at CIA Pakistan base, ex-official says
• Contractor said to be helping to load missiles
• US denies controversial company is in country
Declan Walsh in Islamabad and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 December 2009 19.26 GMT
The US contractor Blackwater is operating in Pakistan at a secret CIA airfield used for launching drone attacks, according to a former US official, despite repeated government denials that the company is in the country.
The official, who had direct knowledge of the operation, said that employees with Blackwater, now renamed Xe Services, patrol the area round the Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan province.
He also confirmed that Blackwater employees help to load laser-guided Hellfire missiles on to CIA-operated drones that target al-Qaida members suspected of hiding in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions, confirming information that surfaced in the US media in the summer.
The secretive base at Shamsi is a key element in the CIA co-ordinated missile strikes that have hit more than 40 targets in the past year. Officials in Washington said that a drone attack on Wednesday killed a senior al-Qaida figure. The officials declined to name the individual, other than to say it was not Osama bin Laden. It is the first time in almost a year that the US has claimed to have successfully targeted a senior al-Qaida figure.
The controversy over Blackwater stems mainly from its work in Iraq and Afghanistan that raised questions about the US use of private contractors in war zones. Several cases against the company are pending in US courts over violent incidents, including a 2007 Baghdad shooting spree.
The New York Times reported today that links between Blackwater and the CIA in Iraq and Afghanistan have been closer than has yet been disclosed, with Blackwater staff participating in clandestine CIA raids against suspected insurgents.
The US and Pakistan governments, as well as Xe, deny the company operates in Pakistan.
Blackwater is a particularly emotive issue in Pakistan, where the company’s name, along with the drone strikes, have become lightning rods for anti-American sentiment. Television stations have run images of alleged “Blackwater houses” in Islamabad, while some newspapers regularly run stories accusing US officials and respected journalists of being Blackwater operatives.
US diplomats say the stories are mostly incorrect, and the Pakistani media has confused American contractors from other companies and aid workers with Blackwater employees. Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, offered to resign if Blackwater was proved to be in Pakistan.
But there is growing evidence to suggest that Blackwater is working in Pakistan. A serving US official said that Blackwater had a contract to manage the construction of a training facility for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, just outside Peshawar, this year. But most of the work on the project, the official said, was done by Pakistani sub-contractors.
Blackwater rebranded itself Xe after the shooting in a Baghdad square that left 17 Iraqis dead. The CIA director Leon Panetta earlier this year ordered that many contracts with Blackwater be terminated. A Congressional committee is investigating links between Blackwater and the intelligence services. Xe, in a statement, denied that Blackwater was ever under contract to participate in covert raids with the CIA or special forces in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else.
In a separate development, five young Americans detained in Pakistan over alleged terrorist links will probably be deported, Javed Islam, a police chief, said. They had not been charged.
The US authorities have not yet said what action, if any, they will take when the five return. The five, aged between 19 and 25, are alleged to have made contact with militant groups. News of their arrest has renewed US fears on homegrown terrorists. The five all attended a mosque in Alexandria, Virginia, run by the Islamic Circle of North America.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/11/blackwater-in-cia-pakistan-base
Hamid Mir in defence of Pakistan (Army):
ہمیں کمزور نہ سمھو…قلم کمان …حامد میر
کیا یہ امریکا کے زوال کا آغاز نہیں؟ امریکی سفارت کاروں کی خفیہ دستاویزات ہزاروں لاکھوں کی تعداد میں بے نقاب ہوچکی ہیں۔ دوسرے الفاظ میں ”وکی لیکس“ نے امریکا کو دنیا کے سامنے ننگا کردیا ہے۔ گھر کے بھیدی نے لنکا ڈھا دی۔امریکی سفارتکاروں کا طرز فکر ہمارے سامنے آچکا ہے اور اب اس حقیقت میں کوئی شک نہیں رہا کہ ہمیں امریکیوں سے ہوشیار رہنے کی ضرورت ہے۔ بس بہت ہوچکا۔ اب ہمیں امریکیوں کے ہاتھوں مزید ذلت برداشت نہیں کرنی چاہئے۔
۔ یہ دانشور بھول جاتے ہیں کہ ابھی چند ہفتے پہلے کی تو بات ہے جب امریکی طیاروں کے حملوں میں ایف سی کے جوان شہید ہوئے تو ہم نے ایک ”ناں“ کی۔ ہم نے امریکا کیلئے پاکستان کے راستے افغانستان جانے والی سپلائی لائن بند کردی۔ صرف ایک ہفتے کے اندر اندر سپر پاور کو ہمارے سامنے جھکنا پڑا اور امریکی سفیر نے پہلی دفعہ ہم سے معافی مانگی۔
یہ خاکسار کوئی جذباتی بات نہیں کررہا۔ اس معافی کے بعد بھی امریکیوں نے ہماری آزادی اور خود مختاری کو ایک عالمی تماشہ بنانے کی پالیسی ختم نہ کی تو ہم امریکیوں کو سبق سکھانے کی صلاحیت بھی رکھتے ہیں۔ جی ہاں! جس قسم کے ڈرون طیاروں کے ذریعے امریکا پچھلے کئی سالوں سے پاکستان میں بمباری کررہا ہے اسی قسم کے ڈرون طیارے پاکستان بھی بنا چکا ہے۔ پاکستان کے ڈرون طیارے بھی پائلٹ کے بغیر اڑتے ہیں، پائلٹ کے بغیر نہ صرف دن کی روشنی میں بلکہ رات کے اندھیرے میں بھی اپنے ہدف کو 25 ہزار فٹ کی بلندی سے نشانہ بنا سکتے ہیں اور دشمن کے ریڈار کو دھوکہ بھی دے سکتے ہیں۔ امریکا کے ڈرون طیاروں کو گرانے کیلئے ہمیں امریکا سے خریدے گئے ایف16 طیاروں کی ضرورت نہیں بلکہ ان ڈرون طیاروں کو بھگانے کیلئے ہمارے اپنے ڈرون ہی کافی ہیں۔
اب آپ سوچ رہے ہوں گے کہ اگر امریکا القاعدہ اور طالبان کے خلاف پاکستان میں ڈرون حملے کرسکتا ہے تو ہم القاعدہ اور طالبان کے خلاف اپنے ڈرون استعمال کیوں نہیں کرتے؟ میری اطلاع کے مطابق ہم نے جنوبی وزیر ستان میں عسکریت پسندوں کے خلاف اپنے ڈرون طیاروں کو بڑی کامیابی لیکن احتیاط کے ساتھ استعمال کیا۔ ان طیاروں کو صرف ان علاقوں میں استعمال کیا گیا جہاں صرف عسکریت پسند موجود تھے بے گناہ سول آبادی کو نقصان پہنچانے سے گریز کیا گی
۔ امریکی میڈیا کے ذریعہ پروپیگنڈہ کیا جاتا ہے کہ یہ ڈرون حملے پاکستانی حکومت کی مرضی سے ہوتے ہیں بلکہ یہاں تک کہا جاتا ہے کہ یہ ڈرون طیارے پاکستانی ایئر پورٹوں سے ہی پرواز کرتے ہیں۔ وزیر اعظم یوسف رضا گیلانی، وزیر خارجہ شاہ محمود قریشی اور آرمی چیف جنرل اشفاق پرویز کیانی کئی مرتبہ امریکی میڈیا میں شائع ہونے والی خبروں کی تردید کرچکے ہیں اور یہ کہہ چکے ہیں کہ انہوں نے امریکیوں کے ساتھ مذاکرات میں ڈرون حملے روکنے کا مطالبہ کیا ہے۔ پچھلے دو اڑھائی سال میں یہ حملے کم نہیں ہوئے بلکہ بڑھ گئے ہیں۔ ان حملوں نے ریاست اور عوام کے درمیان غط فہمیوں کے کوہ ہمالیہ کھڑے کر دیئے ہیں۔ کیا وقت نہیں آگیا کہ ان غلط فہمیوں کو دور کیا جائے؟ کیا وقت نہیں آگیا کہ وزیر اعظم، وزیر خارجہ اور آرمی چیف اہل وطن کے سامنے اپنی سچائی کو ثابت کریں؟ امریکیوں کی خوشنودی کی خاطر اپنوں کی تنقید کا نشانہ نہ بن کر انہیں کیا مل رہا ہے؟
Jang, 2 Dec 2010
Well I wished Kayani will be the first casualty of the Wikileaks , but it happened to be
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-first-scalp-german-aide
Cross-posted from here:
http://criticalppp.com/archives/31493/comment-page-1#comment-49078
‘Why do we need LUBP’ can be explained by a most recent event: the release of Wikileaks cables and the way some of the cables implicating Pakistan Army are being ignored or twisted in the media and blogs.
Yesterday, I watched ARY TV’s Off the Record with Kashif. All three guests in that programme (Sheikh Rasheed, Haroon-ur-Rasheed, Syed Talat Hussain) were univocal on a one point agenda, i.e., to defend their masters in khaki. In fact, Talat Hussain said words to this effect: “us din say yeh siasatdan darain jis din koi ArmyLeaks release ho gai” (Pakistani politicians should thank God that there is no ArmyLeaks.)
It is therefore important for us at LUBP to keep exposing and confronting the official narratives of Pakistan army which are frequently recycled by our newspapers, TV channels and most blogs.
Today, it was so refreshing to read the following analysis of Karman Khan in service of his masters by XYZ at CafePyala:
But then we have Mr Kamran Khan on his Geo programme, Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Saath, deciding to embrace both positions. His programme tonight (December 2) was a marvel of double-speak and chutzpah. But before I come to tonight’s programme, let me also run you through the recent history of this programme since the current Wikileaks saga broke, since I have been following and been amazed by it every day.
Monday, November 29: On the day when ‘Cablegate’ was the top story in the entire world, the first cables having been released late the night before (according to Pakistan Time), guess how much coverage was given to them in Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Saath. None. Zero. Zilch. Cipher. Instead, Kamran Khan devoted the entire programme to an extended promotional interview of Malik Riaz, the controversial billionaire owner of Bahria Town construction, said also to have recently invested heavily in ARY. The only explanation I could come up with this remarkable detour was that either Khan now had a home in Bahria Town or that Riaz has now invested in Geo as well.
Tuesday, November 30: Kamran Khan grudgingly does a segment on the Wikileaks expose, mainly focusing on those related to Saudi King Abdullah’s perceptions of President Asif Zardari but seems still to be unsure about the news-worthiness of the story. Seems inclined to believe it’s not really credible information until Professor Hasan Abbas from Washington tells him nobody’s really questioning the authenticity of the cables. Manages to use the New York Times misquote about Abdullah calling Zardari “an obstacle to Pakistan’s progress” and adding in “because he is not sincere to the country” of his own accord.
Wednesday, December 1: Finally realizing that Cablegate is worth more than just a segment, leads his programme with the statement that the cables have caused a storm (“bhonchal”) in the politics of the country. Continues to use the misquoted story and focuses almost entirely on cables related to Zardari. No mention of cables implicating General Kayani in domestic politics or ISI chief General Pasha in talks with Israel or of the alleged involvement of Arab countries in Pakistan’s affairs or their instigations to the US to attack Iran, which would obviously have serious implications for Pakistan. No mention also of cables giving the lie to Nawaz Sharif’s claims about his interactions with the Saudis.
Which brings us to Thursday, December 2: In an amazing display of whatever you want to call it, the first part of Kamran Khan’s show was devoted to decrying the manipulation behind the leaked cables and casting doubt on their credibility. Why? Well, because they had ‘tried to besmirch the good name and reputation of the Pakistan army and its well-respected leader General Kayani.’ Incidentally, according to Kamran Khan, the army is “a totally uncontroversial institution.” He concluded that there is a sinister game afoot to undermine Pakistan’s interests through the ‘selective’ release of these cables. He then proceeded to ‘contextualize’ General Kayani’s positions through “new information received”, that shows how “brave” and upright the general is, which incidentally is the same ‘information’ presented by Syed Talat Hussain in Dawn today. (Hmmm, I wonder where both could possibly have received the information from…)
The second part of the show, on the other hand, was devoted to praising the credibility and insight given by the leaked cables which have “documented everything” and “not one single word of which has been denied by anyone or cast into doubt.” Why? Well, because they showed what a scumbag and how beholden to US interests President Zardari was. “What are the poor, powerless 170 million people of this nation to do?” cries Kamran Khan.
If that’s not called having your cake and eating it too, I don’t know what is.
http://cafepyala.blogspot.com/2010/12/have-cake-will-eat-too.html
General Kayani allowed US special forces to secretly operate in Pakistan
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