Pakistan capital put on high alert

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

Pakistan has heightened security in Islamabad amid threats from the country's Taliban that an increase in violence will break out in the capital.

Security threats prompted schools to shut down and embassies to restrict movement of their staff on Friday.

Nematullah Kundi, a Pakistani police official, said: "This is a high alert. We have stepped up security in the city, in and around the diplomatic enclave and the area near the parliament building, which is the declared red zone. "Extra guards have also been deployed at schools in the red zone and elsewhere in the city."

While much of the recent violence has been concentrated in northwest Pakistan, where the army has been fighting Taliban fighters, many fear Islamabad could be next.

Fighters on the move

Scores of Pakistani Taliban fighters have already moved from their stronghold in the Swat valley into Buner, a district located northwest of Islamabad.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/04/2009410141053390610.html

---

Taliban threats put Islamabad on high alert

Source: Al Jazeera English YouTube Channel

The threat of more Taliban attacks is forcing a new security clampdown in Islamabad where concrete barricades and security checkpoints have been set up across the capital.

The security alert follows a warning from Baitullah Meshud, Pakistan's Taliban leader, to strike Islamabad unless the US stops launching deadly missile attacks against his fighters.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder has more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TalQnLrt3Uo

[villager]

1. so what *is* "the plan," when Pakistan collapses?

n/t

[ddss75]

2. find and secure the nukes!!!

I read something online one night that said that there was a special team that did nothing but train to go in and secure the Pakistani nuclear weapon stash in case of the government losing control. I hope that is true, because we have dicked around with that country for the last 8 years going out of our way to keep whatever person with whatever tenuous control in power. Hell that place is the Lebanon for the new millennium, it really isn't a country, it is a place on the map where people die for no reason.

[Turborama]

3. I don't know, but I sure hope there is one...

I've been getting more and more nervous about their nukes falling into the wrong hands over the past few years and it now looks like things really are spiralling out of control there.

[EFerrari]

4. But the "loose nukes" we know about for sure were HERE.

Right? And yesterday, someone who knew exactly what s/he was doing, took out the phone system and internet access in Silicon Valley for the whole day.

We seem to have more problems than Pakistan does.

Maybe we should stop killing civilians with drones and see if things calm down a little over there.

[Turborama]

5. We should obey Pakistan's Taliban leader so he leaves Islamabad alone?

Hmmm, I don't think we can now, even if we wanted to.

[EFerrari]

7. We shouldn't be indiscriminately killing civilians and driving support to the Taliban.

What the Taliban says is immaterial.

[Turborama]

9. Indisrciminate? You make it sound like we're carpet bombing the place.

I'm not for the use of remote controlled drones, by the way, I'm just into keeping things in proportion.

Actually, the Taliban are also playing a part in the humanitarian crisis themselves.

BTW, what 'loose nukes' are you referring to?

Personally, I think the Brits should step up to the plate and sort this shit out. They're the ones who started all this 50+ years ago...

[EFerrari]

11. So far, we're something like 14 terror SUSPECTS for 600+ dead people.

And who's to say if we even know who those guys were for sure. We just killed them.

I was thinking of those nukes that were flown across country by accident. By the Navy? The Air Force? Some months ago.


/oops

[Turborama]

12. I'm curious, have you got a link for those stats?

I thought they might be the nukes you meant, just wanted to check. That was a terrible error by whoever was in charge at the time.

[EFerrari]

I just read it here last night. Edit: Got lucky. Link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5426928

[Turborama]

15. Thanks

On a tangent but related topic, did you see this scary story about robots that was posted a while ago...?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3626318

[EFerrari]

19. I never saw that one but there was another, perhaps related one here

in the last month or so about robots that are move like dogs in rough terrain, and that are being tested by the Pentagon. We seem to be addicted to really bad ideas. :)

[ohio2007]

16. Whats the body count from the suicide blast "victories" are committed and recorded

by your "liberating hero's ?

The 'boots on the ground' in Pakistan are not from the "coalition of the willing" crossing in from Afghanistan.They are home grown "Git R Done" good ole boys

Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistan Taliban, is a "terrible man"

according to President Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5132270/Terror-plot-Baitullah-Mehsud-profile.html


Why do the women over there like to see children doing a mans job ?
such wonderfull creatures they are.
Canadian Hostage Video Released By The Taliban

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=deb_1237498427

US claims Al-Qaeda using children as Iraq suicide bombers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3158472&mesg_id=3158472

Terrorist use young boy for suicide bomber to attack US troops

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=552_1201538050

[EFerrari]

18. I'm sorry. You must have misplaced your post because it has nothing to do with

mine, my opinions or this discussion.

[ohio2007]

21. Actually, it was to JohnyCanuck in the link you posted

JohnyCanuck (1000+ posts)

60 drone hits kill 14 al-Qaeda men, 687 civilians
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5426928

its biased since the death toll in Pakistan over the past 19 months "before the peace deal" :rofl: isn't included.

At least 750,000 have fled the area and we all know it wasn't because of the drones link


http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/02/22/world/asia/1194838044017/class-dismissed-in-swat-valley.html

just a bit of 'ancient' NYTimes bias video that veiw believe is happening anyway

btw,
on edit
that guy had his school blown up recently

Girls’ school blown up in Mardan
Monday, March 23, 2009
MARDAN: Unidentified men blew up a girls’ school in Mardan on Sunday. According to police sources, the men planted explosives near Government Girls High School Hattian, located near the residence of NWFP senior minister Rahim Dad Khan. The sources said the blast caused panic among the residents. However, no casualties were reported. online


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\03\23\story_23-3-2009_pg1_10

I know,
its a shame

[Igel]

26. Interesting.

Of course, there are a few important words: "Al Qaeda", for instance; or "leaders".

The other key word is "civilians", and that's where I think the writer decides to gloss over the truth a bit in the interest of solidarity. There's the assumption that those who aren't AQ leaders are Pakistani civilians. Quite a few reports have described part of the death toll in most strikes--sometimes most--as "fighters" or "Arabs" or "Uzbeks" or even "Taliban". These aren't all clearly and unambiguously Al Qaeda, nor are they leaders. But are they civilians? It's the same problem in many reports--if they're not soldiers in uniforms, they're civilians, as though that were the best way of classifying the deaths.

"Best", of course, requires some sort of complement--best for what? That's fairly obvious: We're out-group, so we must be blamed for as much as possible. That makes in-group divisions easier to deal with, and Pakistan has a lot of them.

Now, it's possible that the death toll is actually far higher that the sum of those two numbers. It seems to me that the writer would have included those deaths in some way.

[ohio2007]

22. Terror scorecard of first 100 days ( for those keeping score of the home team )

And who's to say if we even know who those guys were for sure. We just killed them.

The Taliban only kill collaborators in spite of what happens in the market place,those people were spies and collaborators

Terror scorecard of first 100 days

LAHORE: The ongoing spate of suicide bombings across the country has killed 332 people in 20 deadly attacks, which were carried out in the first 100 days of 2009 (between January 1 and April 10).

Of those killed, 30 belonged to security forces, while the rest of the 302 victims were innocent civilians. Data compiled by authorities showed that suicide bombers struck 20 times in the first 100 days of 2009 in various parts of Pakistan and killed at an average of 83 people per month. While the per-week average killing comes to 24. The daily average casualty rate stands at three. Of the 30 security forces personnel killed since January 1, 18 belonged to the Army and the Frontier Constabulary (FC), while 12 were policemen.
The month of February saw seven suicide attacks, leaving 118 people dead and 158 injured. Six suicide bombers blew themselves up in March, killing 130 people and injuring 147. The deadliest suicide attack of 2009 was carried out on March 27 at a mosque on the Peshawar-Torkham Highway .......

.....In the first 10 days of April, three suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing 63 people and injuring 64. The NWFP was the most affected by the deadly attacks. It was struck eight times by the suicide bombers in the first 100 days, targeting Mingora, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar.

....
The suicide bombers struck five times in the Punjab — twice in Islamabad and once in Rawalpindi....

.....
The authorities probing the ongoing spate of suicide bombings are of the view that the velocity of the suicide attacks and the diversity of their location — from Waziristan to Islamabad — shows a high level of preparedness and planning.

In the last three years, suicide bombers have become a more common weapon. Investigations show that most of the suicide bombers are coming from the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan, led by Baitullah Mehsud.

Mehsud has already claimed responsibility for many of the suicide attacks carried out in the first 100 days of 2009, including the attack on the Manawan Police Training School in Lahore on March 30.

For years, the Pakistani agencies have been accused of indoctrinating, motivating and training Jihadi cadres for export in the neighbourhood — to Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan. As a matter of fact, the Indian-held Kashmir had witnessed the first suicide hit in 1999 and since then there had been a steady stream of deadly suicide operations.
But these human bombs had excluded their home ground in Pakistan from the scope of their holy war. However, as things stand, there has been a sharp decline in deadly suicide attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, with Pakistan apparently emerging as a favourite target of these deadly strikes.

Therefore, the human bombs originally designed and nurtured by the Pakistani establishment to rip apart the enemies of Islam and Pakistan have apparently started exploding themselves inside their own country, killing their fellow Muslims. Pakistan’s chickens have come home to roost.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21454

some 'experts' claim there is going to be a "surge" into Islamabad. Thats going to keep the body bean counters busy if true.

[closeupready]

10. Correct.

The drone bombings and intensification of warfare into Pakistan is turning public opinion in Pakistan against the US. The media has long made it seem as though anti-U.S. sentiment is widespread, but the truth is that this is only a recent phenomenon. More instability in Pakistan is not in anybody's interests.

Editing to add, except India, which seeks to destroy, balkanize and eventually re-absorb the territory of Pakistan.

[ohio2007]

13. the poster unknowingly wants to 'submit' to a higher authority

"the floggings will continue until morale improves around the world

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5386307

Pakistani Taliban said moving closer to capital

The day is not far when Islamabad will be in the hands of the mujahideen.’

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/pakistani-taliban-said-moving-closer-to-capital--qs


A Talibanized-ISI Pakistan united........can never be divided.

Should we pay the monster more to leave us alone for awhile and push those nearest its pit
a bit closer to the edge ?
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/nwfp/buner-locals-form-more-lashkars-to-fight-miliants--qs



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3660502&mesg_id=3660502

[ShareTheWoods]

24. We seem to have more problems than Pakistan does?

Maybe in some areas. Our nukes are in far better hands than theirs are. I suspect we have several teams ready
to contain their boomers if the wrong hands happen upon them.

After Pakistan gets their house in order and stops harboring those that teach and train to be harbingers or terror attacks,
then we can stop doing it for them.

While I'm certain America has more unhealthy vices in its cities than most of Pakistan, our nukes are in the best of hands.

[ohio2007]

8. Pak (sectarian) govt needs to invoke the mutual defense pact they signed with China

back in October,2001.
China will have to save their bacon (nukes)

This seems like a reasonable scenario "test" that the VP spoke of .

[cosmicone]

6. Pakistan founded, trained, armed and financed these people.

It is poetic justice that they are causing mayhem there. To me, better there than anywhere else in the world.

Pakistani nukes are really primitive impact-fission toys given by China and many countries have contingency plans to seize and neutralize them.

[ohio2007]

17. the hornets nest was there being built up by special interest groups all along.

The civilized people of Pakistan know it's the ISI monster comming to kick in their doors.

Soon the English translated Pak news sites may be forced to shut down......


Besides,
the world isn't watching anyway.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/talks-if-pakistan-willing-to-act-on-mumbai-manmohan--bi

let alone willing to connect the dots

[tclambert]

14. Pakistan is thought to have a few dozen atomic weapons,

none with a yield above 40 kilotons, many with sub-kiloton yields. They aren't very powerful compared to the multi-megaton H-bombs we have, but the Hiroshima and Nagasaki explosions were about 19-20 kilotons. A 10 kiloton Pakistani bomb could make quite a mess. As it is not known exactly how many they have, it would be very difficult to know if we could find and seize them all.

If the Taliban takes over the Pakistani government, we may have to assume the Taliban, and Al Qaeda have nukes. Even if we seize the existing ones, they would have control of the means of production, including A. Q. Khan.

[ohio2007]

20. LIHOP or MIHOP ?

it's time to choose up sides and offer up to the Taliban 'lambs'
:sarcasm"

[AndyTiedye]

23. What Does India Think of This? Those Nukes are Pointed at India

[ohio2007]

27. Pakistan asks India to share information on terror threat { ? don't they have the ISI }

It's like the ISI saying ; "If you uncover an operation, we will turn on those that failed to remain covert" . Of course, the usual 'damage control' must be taken care of before they spring into action.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has asked India to share with it the information that prompted its political leadership to express fears that the Taliban would try to carry out attacks during Lok Sabha elections later this month.
‘We have taken this accusation very seriously as it came from the highest level,’ Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik told reporters at a press briefing here on Saturday.

He recalled that the prime minister and the foreign minister of India had expressed fear of terrorist activities by the Pakistan-based Taliban.

Mr Malik said Indian authorities were being approached through diplomatic channels to pass on information so that joint measures could be taken to avert any terrorist attack.

He said such an attack might be launched by elements inimical to Pakistan to discredit and defame it. The adviser said Pakistan was committed to acting against terrorists if specific information was made available to it.

Sharing timely information will not only help avert any terrorist activity in India but it will also be a positive confidence-building measure in the aftermath of the Mumbai attack.’

Mr Malik termed terrorists common enemies of India and Pakistan and said this was high time for the two countries to work together to curb terrorism.

About the arrest of 11 Pakistani students in the United Kingdom, the adviser said the foreign ministry had been asked to seek details from London on an urgent basis so that antecedents of the arrested individuals could be verified.

He said the details being sought from the UK included the charges and evidence against the arrested students. He said if it turned out that the Pakistani students had links with al Qaeda, Pakistan would support attempts to bring them to justice.

In reply to a question, he said if they had done something wrong in the UK they should be tried in that country and should not be deported to Pakistan.

Asked to comment on the statement of the Lahore police chief that RAW was behind the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, Mr Malik said there was nothing on record as yet.

He said an arrested suspect belonged to Waziristan and his father had a wife in India as well. ‘This may be the reason for the statement,’ he remarked.

In reply to another question, he said parliament would start discussion on the Swat peace deal next week. He said the agreement was intact and the enactment of Nizam-i-Adl Regulation was still under process at the ministry of law.

He regretted that the other side did not comply with the terms of the agreement and said the government was closely monitoring the situation.

Mr Malik said the federal government expected the other side to respect the agreement. ‘They will have to give up arms and stop violence,’ he stressed.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/pakistan-ask-india-to-share-information-on-terror-threat+--bi< /div>

[bemildred]

25. Don't worry, it's not time for the helicopter yet.

[ohio2007]

28. Fat lady is warming up; "Goodnight Islamabad"

Billy Joel Live at Wembley 1984
Goodnight Saigon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkkr_xHjwEI&feature=related


meanwhile,


on a sour note;

Obama calls on Nato allies to raise game

STRASBOURG: US President Barack Obama urged the Nato allies to boost their own military strengths Friday and warned that Europe was more likely to fall victim to a terror attack than the United States.



http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/obama-afghan-plans-nato--qs

[bemildred]

29. Well, I think he is out of luck with the Yurpeans.

I actually think he'd have better luck with Russia, China, and India, who actually have an interest, but there would be a price to pay. I would think Iran would have and interest in keeping Pakistan together too, like they have an interest in keeping the Kurds part of Iraq, but I never read about that. Actually, I'm not so sure about India either. But anyway, in the meantime, it's definitely falling apart.

[Mind_your_head]

30. I wish it were possible to nominate a post.

If it were possible, I would nominate this one of yours.

[ohio2007]

31. won't happen. I'm on to many "ignore" lists

nobody wants to look at what I've noticed some time ago;
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11750709

Zardari’s grip on power uncertain: US media

He is politically weak, and sounds disinclined to push the military to wage war against the Pashtun tribes in the mountains,’ writes Matthew Kaminski.—Reuters/File
WASHINGTON: Asif Ali Zardari gives the overall impression of an accidental president who still has an uncertain grasp on power, writes a senior Washington Post writer David Ignatius who met the president in Islamabad last week along with a group of other senior American journalists.


snip
The fragile democratic government of Asif Ali Zardari … seems unwilling to admit the extent of the problem’ confronting Pakistan, writes Joe Klein of the Time magazine who was part of this group.

All three writers, however, also note that Mr Zardari appears ‘sincere’ and ‘convincing’ while talking about ‘the cancer of extremism,’ which caused the death of his wife, Benazir Bhutto.

‘But on some major security and intelligence issues, he claimed no knowledge or sought to shift blame to others,.......

snip

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/zardaris-grip-on-power-uncertain--bi


btw
;) thanx 4 noticing