The Nuclear Bible: Pakistan & World War III

Intro: While the United States arms Pakistan to the teeth with weapons, planes, and funding, they appear to be simultaneously
destabilizing the government and country with an onslaught of attacks consisting of false-flag terror attacks, suicide bombings, relentless drone attacks, hijackings, and the full power of the weather weapon HAARP. Readers unfamiliar with HAARP should research this mega weapon, whose cover is Global Warming/Climate Change. Should a nuclear terror attacks transpire, a raging Pakistan will be further scapegoated, charged, and retaliated against with nuclear weapons. Date: February 11, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Biden: Pakistan Is My Greatest Concern Abstract: US Vice President Joe Biden has expressed serious concerns over the growing militancy in Pakistan and the fate of that county's nuclear weapons. Biden said in an interview with CNN that his greatest concern is not Iraq or the standoff over Iran's nuclear energy program. The Vice President said he is most concerned about Pakistan, because it is a country that possesses nuclear weapons and has a significant radical minority. "I think it's a big country. It has nuclear weapons that are able to be deployed. It has a real significant minority of radicalized population." Biden added that Pakistan is not a completely functional democracy. "It is not a completely functional democracy in the sense we think about it, and so that's my greatest concern." His remarks came as the US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair reassured that the Pakistani military is aware of the consequences of its nuclear arsenal falling into the wrong hands. Senior officials in Washington have long accused elements in the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting extremists. President Barack Obama's administration has accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stem the flow of arms and support to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda across its borders. Analysts say the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has prompted militants to cross the border into Pakistan, turning the restive tribal belt between the two countries into scenes of deadly violence. Pakistan has also dismissed US concerns, saying its armed forces have full control over the country's nuclear installations (Press TV, 2010). Date: March 10, 2010 Source: The Guardian, Associated Press Title/Headlie: Pakistan Attack Kills Aid Workers Abstract: Attackers armed with grenades bombed the offices of an international aid group in north-west Pakistan today, killing six people working for the organisation, police said. The attack targeted World Vision, a large Christian humanitarian group helping survivors of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Mansehra district. The dead were all Pakistanis and included two women, said a police official, Mohammad Sabir. "It was a brutal and senseless attack," said Dean Owen, World Vision spokesman in Seattle, Washington. "It was completely unexpected, unannounced and unprovoked." Islamists often target Christian groups, which they accuse of trying to convert Muslims. Another World Vision spokesman said the group, which was founded 60 years ago in the US and is one of the world's largest and most well-funded Christian aid organisations, had suspended operations across Pakistan as a result of the attack. Al-Qaida, the Taliban and allied groups are strong in north-western Pakistan, but Mansehra lies outside the tribal belt next to Afghanistan where the militants have their main bases. Extremists have killed other people working for foreign aid groups in Pakistan and issued statements saying such organisations are working against Islam. The attacks have greatly hampered efforts to raise living standards in the desperately poor region. Militants see the aid groups as a challenge to their authority. The aid groups often employ women and support women's rights initiatives, angering the extremists. Many foreign aid groups set up offices in Mansehra after the 2005 earthquake, which killed about 80,000 people. In 2008 militants in Mansehra killed four Pakistanis working for Plan International, a British-based charity that focuses on helping children (Guardian, 2010). Date: April 12, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: 200,000 Civilians Flee Pakistan Military Offensive. Abstract: More than 200,000 people have fled Pakistan's latest offensive against Taliban militants in the northwest, the United Nations said Monday, as fresh clashes in the remote region killed 41 insurgents and six soldiers. Elsewhere in the northwest, a suspected U.S. missile killed five alleged militants in a house in North Waziristan, the latest in a series of strikes in the region, Pakistani officials said. North Waziristan is home to al-Qaida and Taliban commanders, many of whom play a role in the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan. The military has pounded the Orakzai tribal region with airstrikes and artillery in an attempt to rout insurgents from the rugged, mountainous area near the Afghan border. Many Taliban fighters fled to Orakzai last year to escape a separate army offensive in their tribal stronghold of South Waziristan. The exodus of civilians from Orakzai adds to the more than 1.3 million people driven from their homes by fighting in the northwest and unable to return. The U.N. warned Monday it faces a severe shortfall in funding needed to aid those displaced, saying it has only received about $106 million, or 20 percent, of the $538

million appeal it launched in February for the next six months. Almost 210,000 people have fled Orakzai since the fighting first started at the end of last year, including nearly 50,000 people who left in the last month as the military has intensified its offensive in the area, said the U.N. The latest violence in Orakzai occurred Monday when dozens of militants armed with rockets and automatic weapons attacked two security checkpoints in the villages of Shireen Dara and Sangrana, local administrator Saaid. Security forces successfully repelled the attack, but six soldiers were killed and three others wounded, he said. "More than 100 militants attacked the security checkpoint in Shireen Dara," Khan said. "They fought a gunbattle for two hours and fired several rockets." After the battles subsided, authorities found the bodies of 15 militants around the two checkpoints, said two intelligence officials. Insurgents removed the bodies of at least 26 others who were killed, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. More than 300 suspected militants have been killed in Orakzai since mid-March, including 10 on Sunday when fighter jets destroyed three militant hide-outs in Sangram village, Khan said. Government reports are almost impossible to independently verify because journalists are prohibited from traveling to the country's semiautonomous tribal areas (Fox News, 2010). Date: April 16, 2010 Source: USA Today, Associated Press Title/Headline: Pakistan To Probe Bhutto Killing After U.N. Report Abstract: Pakistan said Friday police will launch a new probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto after a U.N. report blamed security forces for failing to protect her accusations dismissed as a "pack of lies" by an aide to ex-President Pervez Musharraf. Bhutto, a former prime minister, was killed in a Dec. 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack as she was leaving a rally in Rawalpindi city, where she was campaigning to return her Pakistan People's Party to power in elections after returning from nearly nine years in selfimposed exile. The slaying was the latest in a long line of high-profile political assassinations in Pakistan and convulsed the country, which was then ruled by unpopular military-backed ruler Musharraf and battered as now by al-Qaeda and Taliban violence. Supporters of Bhutto immediately hinted that Musharraf or his allies in the powerful and largely unaccountable security forces may have played a role. The three-member U.N. panel, which was not tasked with unmasking the killers, said Bhutto's death could have been avoided if Musharraf's government and security agencies had taken adequate measures. It also found that the probe into her death was deliberately hampered by intelligence agencies. The report, issued Thursday, was highly critical of a decision made within hours of the killing to hose down the crime scene and not to conduct an autopsy. The report was hailed by the PPP, which now governs Pakistan and is led by President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower. Zardari aide Farahnaz Ispahani said "the report will pave the way for a proper police investigation and possible penal proceedings." Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the report backed up the PPP's belief that Musharraf or his allies were responsible for Bhutto's death. But Musharraf aide Rashid Qureshi insisted the U.N. report was based on rumors and that Musharraf currently living abroad was not responsible. "This chief U.N. investigator was not the relative of Sherlock Homes," Qureshi told The Associated Press. "It is a pack of lies." He added that Bhutto exposed herself to the risk even after the head of the country's most powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, warned her not to attend the rally because of threats of an attack. Musharraf's government blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani militant commander with links to al-Qaeda. Officials at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency also reportedly said Mehsud, who was killed in a missile strike last August, was the chief suspect. Bhutto was a secular politician with strong links to Western governments and a vocal critic of Islamist militants. The U.N. commission said Musharraf's government, though tracking threats against Bhutto, did little more than pass them on to her and provincial authorities and did not act to neutralize them or ensure "that the security provided was commensurate with the threats." Bhutto's party provided extra security, but the arrangements "lacked leadership and were inadequate and poorly executed," it said. "Ms. Bhutto faced threats from a number of sources," the commission said. "These included al-Qaeda, the Taliban, local jihadi groups and potentially from elements in the Pakistani Establishment" the customary way people here refer to the country's powerful military and intelligence apparatus. The U.N. said the police probe lacked direction and commitment, and that it went after "lower level operatives," not higher-ups. The commission said Inter-Services Intelligence conducted parallel investigations, gathering evidence which was only selectively shared with the police. "The commission believes that the failure of the police to investigate effectively Ms. Bhutto's assassination was deliberate," the report said. "These officials, in part fearing intelligence agencies' involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew, as professionals, they should have taken." Five people have been accused by authorities of involvement in the assassination although they are not believed to be the masterminds. Officials have said a final charge-sheet against them would only be submitted in court after the U.N. report was examined. A hearing was scheduled for April 21 for the five, jail official Mohammed Zafar said. The commission urged Pakistani authorities to carry out a "serious, credible" criminal investigation that "determines who conceived, ordered and executed this heinous crime of historic proportions, and brings those responsible to justice." The U.N. secretary-general agreed to appoint a commission to assist Pakistan by determining the facts and circumstances of Bhutto's death and it began work on July 1, 2009, conducting more than 250 interviews and reviewing hundreds of documents, videos, photographs and documentary material. Under terms agreed to by the U.N. and the Pakistani government, Pakistani authorities would determine any criminal responsibility (USA Today, 2010). Date: April 16, 2010 Source: Reuters, Stephanie Nebehay Title/Headline: Hospital Blast Kills 10 In SW Pakistan Abstract: A suicide bomber killed 10 people, including a TV journalist and senior police officials, in a suspected attack against Sh'ite Muslims inside a hospital in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta on Friday. A member of parliament from the ruling Pakistan People's Party was among the scores wounded in the attack outside the emergency ward of the hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, officials said. "Ten people, including two senior police officials, were killed in the attack and another 47 wounded," provincial police chief Rehmatullah Niazi told reporters. Police said 15 kg (33 lb) of explosives were used in the

bomb that badly damaged the emergency ward building. Broken window glass and pools of blood marked the scene of the attack. Shi'ite Muslims are a minority in Pakistan, which is about 80 percent Sunni, and thousands of people have been killed in sectarian violence across the country in the past 30 years. Pakistan has seen a wave of suicide bomb attacks in the past three years -- most of them in the country's northwest where troops are battling Pakistani Taliban militants, who are Sunni Muslims. Pakistani security forces have largely cleared militants from at least three of their strongholds -- Swat, the tribal regions of South Waziristan and Bajaur on the Afghan border -- in offensives launched last year (Nebehay, 2010). Date: May 8, 2010 Source: France 24, Asif Ali Zardari Title/Headline: "The [Pakistani] Presidents Absence Gives Fundamentalist Groups The Opportunity To Infiltrate The Region" Abstract: One of our Observers in Pakistan condemns Zardaris tour of France and Britain, asserting that the lack of civilian leadership in overseeing flood relief efforts is allowing militants to infiltrate the region and recruit new members. The flooding in the northern regions of Pakistan have killed around 15,000 people and left several thousand homeless. The people of northern Pakistan are awaiting much-needed aid whilst their president is on a diplomatic tour in Europe. Meanwhile, charitable organisations affiliated with militant groups, notably Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, are distributing aid. Sana Saleem is a prominent blogger and social activist from Karachi. The Presidents absence is very symbolic - the people in the northern region feel abandoned. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the governments disaster management is abysmal and gives fundamentalist groups the opportunity to infiltrate the region. NGOs are always the first to arrive because the governments civil response is so slow; this means that the conditions are ideal for the fundamentalist groups to recruit new people. I dont blame the people - they are desperate. They were affected by the earthquake in 2005 (although aid and media attention was biased towards Kashmir), then by army clashes with the Taliban insurgents. On each occasion the militants have infiltrated the civilian population. Already they feel neglected in that region as there is so little infrastructure - for many of the children, the only way to get an education is through the madrasas. What choice do these people have if the government abandons them and doesnt do what it is supposed to? Zardaris actions are foolish and people here are angry. Although technically Pakistan is a democracy, the fact that the president is out of the country, the militants are dealing with the relief efforts, and the government response is not civilian but military speaks volumes about the state of our democracy. Who is running the country? Zardari should come back and his priority should be getting aid to the people who need it, because if the situation is not tackled soon then this could be a huge security problem in the future (Zardari, 2010). Date: May 11, 2010 Source: New York Times, Jane Perlez, Pir Zubair Shah Title/Headline: Drone Strikes Pound Western Pakistan Abstract: American drone aircraft fired 18 missiles at militants in Pakistans North Waziristan tribal region on Tuesday, killing at least 14 fighters and wounding 4, a security official and a resident of the area said. The missiles struck a region known as Datta Khel on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where Taliban and Qaeda fighters prepare for operations against United States and NATO troops in Afghanistan. The unusually intense drone attack was the third since a failed car bombing in Times Square 10 days ago. Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-American charged in the attempted attack, has told American investigators that he visited North Waziristan to train with the Pakistani Taliban. There was no indication that the strikes on Tuesday were retaliation for the bombing attempt. The attack by the American drones, operated by the C.I.A., appeared to be a continuation of the air campaign to degrade the capabilities of Al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban fighters now working together in North Waziristan (Perlez & Shah, 2010). Date: May 19, 2010 Source: Telegraph, Rob Crilly Title/Headline: Facebook Blocked In Pakistan Over Prophet Mohammed Cartoon Row Abstract: Plans for the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" contest drew an angry reaction, provoking street demonstrations in the Muslim majority country. On Wednesday, Lahore High Court responded to a petition by the Muslim Lawyers Movement, ordering Pakistan's internet regulator to block the entire site. Users lost access to Facebook about two hours later. Rai Bashir, a lawyer involved in the case, said the site was blasphemous. "There are so many insults to the Prophet on the internet and that's why we felt we had to bring this case," he said. "All Muslims in Pakistan and the world will be supporting us." It is widely considered offensive to visually depict the Muslim prophet. The Koran does not explicitly forbid images of Mohammed, but a number of hadith, or interpretations of the Islamic holy book, forbid figural representations. The court in Lahore ordered Facebook to be blocked until May 31 after the date of the contest when a longer hearing is expected. The contest was based on an idea by Seattle-based artist Molly Norris, who posted a cartoon on her website of a chair, cotton reel, cherry and other items each claiming to be Mohammed. However, she said her idea was only ever a spoof. It was meant as a protest against censorship of the television show South Park, she said. The US cartoon recently featured the Muslim prophet dressed in a bear suit. She added that she was horrified that her satire had been turned into a Facebook competition. It is not the first time Pakistanis have reacted angrily to depictions of the Prophet Mohammed. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in 2006 when cartoons, which had originally been published in a Danish newspaper, were reprinted around the world. Five people died when the demonstrations turned violent. Lawyers for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority had argued that only the offending page be removed, but Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry ordered the whole social networking site to be barred on Wednesday (Crilly, 2010).

Date: May 28, 2010 Source: Fox News Title/Headline: Suspected Militants Kill 80 At Minority Sect's Mosques In Eastern Pakistan Abstract: Islamist gunmen and a suicide squad lobbed grenades, sprayed bullets from atop a minaret and took hostages Friday in attacks on two mosques packed with worshippers from a minority sect in Pakistan. At least 80 people were killed and dozens wounded. The strikes the deadliest against the Ahmadi community highlight the threat to minority religious groups by the same militants who have repeatedly attacked Pakistan's U.S.-allied government and threatened to destabilize the nuclear-armed nation. The tactics echoed those militants have used against government, foreign and security targets in Pakistan, but they had never before been directed against a religious minority. Two teams of heavily armed attackers seven men in total staged the raids minutes apart, seizing hostages and apparently planning to fight to the death. Three died when they detonated their suicide vests. Two were captured. "It was like a war going on around me. The cries I heard sent chills down my spine," said Luqman Ahmad, a survivor. Shiite Muslims have borne the brunt of individual suicide bombings and targeted killings for years in Sunni-majority Pakistan, though Christians and Ahmadis have also faced violence. The long-standing sectarian violence in the country has been exacerbated by the rise of the Sunni extremist Taliban and al-Qaida movements. The attacks Friday took place in the Model Town and Garhi Shahu neighborhoods of Lahore. The eastern city is Pakistan's second-largest. It is a key political, military, and cultural center and has been the scene of some of the most spectacular militant attacks in the country over the past year. The assault at Model Town lasted about an hour, and involved four attackers spraying worshippers with bullets before exploding hand grenades, said Sajjad Bhutta, Lahore's deputy commissioner. Two attackers were caught and one was treated for his wounds, Punjab province police chief Tariq Saleem Dogar said. The fate of the two other gunmen was unclear. One of the detained suspects was from southern Punjab, but had studied at a religious school in the port city of Karachi, a major militant crossroads, Punjab's Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said (Fox News, 2010).

Date: June 9, 2010 Source: The Washington Times, Associated Press, Bahauddin Khan Title/Headline: Militants Attack NATO Convoy In Pakistan; 7 Killed Abstract: Militants attacked dozens of trucks ferrying vehicles for Western troops in Afghanistan early Wednesday near the Pakistani capital, a bold assault that killed seven people and illustrated the vulnerability of a crucial U.S. supply line. Militants and ordinary criminals have often attacks. NATO and U.S. supply convoys over the past two years, but Wednesday's strike was the first so close to the well-protected capital, something likely to cause particular unease. Much of the fuel and supplies for Western troops in Afghanistan travels through Pakistan after arriving in the port city of Karachi. An Associated Press photographer saw around 60 containers damaged at a truck depot on the main road leading to the border with Afghanistan, about six miles (10 kilometers) from Islamabad. Many carried military vehicles such as Humvees. Charred shells of the trucks were jumbled together at the depot, and firefighters were dousing small blazes. The pungent smell of smoke gripped the air as officials surveyed the damage. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said about 30 trucks contracted to transport supplies for NATO were damaged in the attack in Tarnol and the matter was under investigation by Pakistani authorities. A group of around 15 suspected militants first opened fire with automatic weapons and grenades before torching the trucks, police officer Kalim Imam said. Police official Shah Nawaz said Wednesday afternoon that seven people died. The victims' identities were not known, but they were believed to be Pakistanis employed as drivers or assistants. Seven people were also wounded. The convoy attacks have added impetus to American efforts to open new supply lines into Afghanistan, but commanders say they have not affected operations there. Guns, bombs and ammunition are not believed to be transported in the trucks, thousands of which make the journey each week. The attack near Islamabad followed clashes between the Pakistani military and insurgents in the northwest tribal belt bordering Afghanistan that killed 54 people, including eight soldiers, officials said. One clash occurred in Orakzai tribal region when dozens of militants attacked a security convoy, sparking a battle that killed six soldiers and 40 militants, government administrator Samiullah Khan said. The army had declared Orakzai cleared of insurgents earlier this month. Also Wednesday, government official Maqsood Khan said militants attacked two security checkpoints in Mohmand, another part of the tribal belt that has endured army operations. The overnight attack sparked gunbattles that killed two soldiers and six insurgents and wounded several from both sides. Information from the tribal areas is nearly impossible to verify independently because they are remote and dangerous, and access is severely restricted (Khan, 2010).

Date: June 26, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: US Delivers New F-16s To Pakistan Abstract: The US has delivered the first batch of eighteen F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters, branded new, to Pakistan as the two countries strengthen their military ties. According to the US Department of Defense, three F-16s were scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Saturday. Fifteen more will be delivered later in 2010 and 2011. "This is the most visible part of a strong and growing relationship between the two air forces that will benefit us both near-term and long-term," the department's website quoted as saying Air Force Maj. Todd Robbins, a senior official coordinating military ties between Washington and Islamabad. Pakistan is paying $1.4 billion for the new aircraft, in addition to $1.3 billion in upgrades to its existing F-16 fleet. Delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan was troubled in 1990 when the White House imposed sanctions on the country for its pursuit of nuclear arms. The sanctions failed to stop Islamabad. Washington was previously opposed to the deal, citing high tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in the volatile South Asian region. The US says the aircraft will give the Pakistani Air Force an advantage against militancy. The new fighter is reportedly able to target precisely in all weather conditions, day and night. The developments come at a time when the Pakistani military says it has launched a series of operations against Pakistani militants. Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border remains a safe haven for militants, who have fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Pakistan has suffered a wave of violence since the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led war on terror following the 9/11 attacks (Press TV, 2010). Date July 1, 2010 Source: Fox News Title/Headline: After Twin Suicide Bombs Kill 42 At A Sufi Shrine, Some Pakistanis Blame United States Abstract: Pakistanis lashed out Friday at the U.S., blaming its alliance with their government and its presence in Afghanistan for spurring two suicide bombers to kill 42 people at the country's most important Sufi shrine. The reactions showed the challenge facing Washington and the Pakistani government when it comes to rallying public support against the Islamist extremism that has scarred the South Asian nation, even after an audacious attack on the moderate, Sufi-influenced Islam most Pakistanis practice. Thousands of people had gathered late Thursday at the green-domed Data Darbar shrine in Lahore when bombs went off minutes apart. The blasts ripped concrete from the walls and left the white marble floor awash with blood. There was no claim of responsibility, but Islamist extremists consider Sufism a mystical strand of Islam to be heretical. But on Friday, few Pakistanis interviewed saw militants at the root of the problem. "America is killing Muslims in Afghanistan and in our tribal areas (with missile strikes), and militants are attacking Pakistan to express anger against the government for supporting America," said Zahid Umar, 25, who frequently visits the shrine, where 180 people were also wounded. Pakistanis are suffering because of American policies and aggression in the region, said Mohammed Asif, 34, who runs an auto workshop in Lahore. He and others said the attacks would end if the U.S. would pull out of Afghanistan. Several other Pakistanis interviewed blamed the Ahmadis, a minority sect that has long faced discrimination in Pakistan. On May 28 in Lahore, gunmen and a suicide squad targeted two Ahmadi mosques, massacring at least 93 people, and some Pakistanis claimed the sect must have been seeking revenge. Others cast about for additional villains though America's hand was seen there, too. Washington "is encouraging Indians and Jews to carry out attacks" in Pakistan, said Arifa Moen, 32, a teacher in the central city of Multan. Pakistani officials condemned the bombings, using language they have frequently used to try to convince the population that the fight against militancy is not one they can ignore. "Those who still pretend that we are not a nation at war are complicit in these deaths," said Farahnaz Ispahani, a spokeswoman for Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Friday condemning the attack and saying it "demonstrates the terrorists' blatant disregard for the lives of the Pakistani people and the future of this country." The targeted shrine is that of Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri, who lived hundreds of years ago and traveled throughout the region spreading a message of peace and love. Some recent attacks in Punjab have been blamed on the "Punjabi Taliban." The group is a relatively new network of al-Qaida-linked militants who have split off from other local insurgent groups but also has ties to the Pakistani Taliban, which has its bases in the northwest tribal regions (Fox News, 2010) Date: July 13, 2010 Source: The Times Of India Title/Headline: 29 Pakistani Lawmakers Have Fake Degrees: Probe Abstract: At least 29 Pakistani lawmakers submitted fake degrees along with their nomination papers during the 2008 elections, a probe by country's main educational authority has established. The Supreme Court and parliament's standing committee on education directed the Higher Education Commission to verify the academic qualifications of members of provincial and national assemblies after over a dozen lawmakers were found in possession of fake degrees. "We received 1,065 degrees of the lawmakers and verification of 511 degrees has been completed so far. Twenty-nine degrees were found to be fake," Mahmood Raza, Advisor to the Higher Education Commission, told a news conference. Raza refused to name the lawmakers who submitted fake certificates in order to qualify for the 2008 elections to the provincial and national assemblies. He said the commission will present its final report to the parliamentary panel and the Election Commission on July 16. The move to verify the degrees of lawmakers had sparked speculation about mid-term polls being held if action is taken against legislators and parliamentarians with fake degrees. Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf had made it mandatory for persons contesting elections to hold a bachelor's degree. The condition was waived by President Asif Ali Zardari's

government. Legal experts have said any lawmaker whose degree is found to be fake will be unseated and a bye-election held to replace him (The Times Of India, 2010).

Date: July 17, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: 11,000 NATO Containers Go Missing Abstract: Reports say more than 11,000 containers bound for the US-led forces in Afghanistan have mysteriously gone missing over the past two years in Pakistan. The containers filled with food and military equipment worth USD 220 billion have been illegally unloaded in Pakistan, sources said on Friday. However, Pakistani officials put the number of missing containers at only 40 and blame corrupt customs department officials for the scam. Reports say several Pakistani officials have been arrested over the missing containers. Many fear the items have been handed over the militants. Pakistan, a US ally in the so-called war on terror, remains the main transit route for the NATO forces stationed in neighboring Afghanistan. Trucks carrying supplies for foreign forces in Afghanistan frequently come under attack in Pakistan. The developments also come after months after the disclosure that thousands of US weapons went missing in Afghanistan. US military officials failed to keep proper records on about 87,000 rifles, pistols, mortars and other weapons sent to Afghanistan between December 2004 and June 2008. Analysts say the weapons may have fallen in the hands of militants linked to the Taliban or Al-Qaeda (Press TV, 2010). The missing NATO containers are sure to carry weapons and equipment that will be used in the nuclear terror attack against America. Date: July 24, 2010 Source: The Guardian, Munir Ahmed Title/Headline: US Missiles Kill 16 Militants In NW Pakistan Abstract: U.S. missiles hit a suspected militant hide-out, killing 16 insurgents in a troubled Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border before dawn Saturday, intelligence officials said. The strike came as the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, met with top military officials in Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the battle against Islamist extremists. The six missiles struck a compound in the Nazai Narai area of South Waziristan. The hide-out was known to be frequented by foreign fighters who were among the dead, two intelligence officials said. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to go on the record, said agents were trying to get more details about the identities and nationalities of the dead (Ahmed, 2010). Date: July 25, 2010 Source: New York Times, Mark Mazzetti, Jane Perlez, Eric Schmitt, Andrew W. Lehren Title/Headline: Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert Abstract: The documents, made available by an organization called WikiLeaks, suggest that Pakistan, an ostensible ally of the United States, allows representatives of its spy service to meet directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders. Taken together, the reports indicate that American soldiers on the ground are inundated with accounts of a network of Pakistani assets and collaborators that runs from the Pakistani tribal belt along the Afghan border, through southern Afghanistan, and all the way to the capital, Kabul. Much of the information raw intelligence and threat assessments gathered from the field in Afghanistan cannot be verified and likely comes from sources aligned with Afghan intelligence, which considers Pakistan an enemy, and paid informants. Some describe plots for attacks that do not appear to have taken place. But many of the reports rely on sources that the military rated as reliable. While current and former American officials interviewed could not corroborate individual reports, they said that the portrait of the spy agencys collaboration with the Afghan insurgency was broadly consistent with other classified intelligence. Some of the reports describe Pakistani intelligence working alongside Al Qaeda to plan attacks. Experts cautioned that although Pakistans militant groups and Al Qaeda work together, directly linking the Pakistani spy agency, the Directora te for InterServices Intelligence, or ISI, with Al Qaeda is difficult. The records also contain firsthand accounts of American anger at Pakistans unwillingness to confront insurgents who launched attacks near Pakistani border posts, moved openly by the truckload across the frontier, and retreated to Pakistani territory for safety. The behind-the-scenes frustrations of soldiers on the ground and glimpses of what appear to be Pakistani skullduggery contrast sharply with the frequently rosy public pronouncements of Pakistan as an ally by American officials, looking to sustain a drone campaign over parts of Pakistani territory to strike at Qaeda havens. Administration officials also want to keep nuclear-armed Pakistan on their side to safeguard NATO supplies flowing on routes that cross Pakistan to Afghanistan. This month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in one of the frequent visits by American officials to Islamabad, announced $500 mil lion in assistance and called the United States and Pakistan partners joined in common cause. The reports suggest, however, that the Pakistani military has acted as both ally and enemy, as its spy agency runs what American officials have long suspected is a double game appeasing certain American demands for cooperation while angling to exert influence in Afghanistan through many of the same insurgent networks that the Americans are fighting to eliminate. Behind the scenes, both Bush and Obama administration officials as well as top American commanders have confronted top Pakistani military officers

with accusations of ISI complicity in attacks in Afghanistan, and even presented top Pakistani officials with lists of ISI and military operatives believed to be working with militants. Benjamin Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said that Pakistan had been an important ally in the battle against militant groups, and that Pakistani soldiers and intelligence officials had worked alongside the United States to capture or kill Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Still, he said that the status quo is not acceptable, and that the havens for militants in Pakistan pose an intolerable threat that Pakistan must do more to address. The Paki stani government and Pakistans military and intelligence services must continue their strategic shift against violent extremist groups within their borders, he said. American military support to Pakistan would continue, he said. Several Congressional officials said that despite repeated requests over the years for information about Pakistani support for militant groups, they usually receive vague and inconclusive briefings from the Pentagon and C.I.A. Nonetheless, senior lawmakers say they have no doubt that Pakistan is aiding insurgent groups. The burden of proof is on the government of Pakistan and the ISI to show they dont have ongoing contacts, said Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Armed Services Committee who visited Pakistan this month and said he and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee chairman, confronted Pakistans prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, yet again over the allegations. Such accusations are usually met with angry denials, particularly by the Pakistani military, which insists that the ISI severed its remaining ties to the groups years ago. An ISI spokesman in Islamabad said Sunday that the agency would have no comment until it saw the documents. Pakistans ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said, The documents circulated by WikiLeaks do not reflect the current on-ground realities. The man the United States has depended on for cooperation in fighting the militants and who holds most power in Pakistan, the head of the army, Gen. Parvez Ashfaq Kayani, ran the ISI from 2004 to 2007, a period from which many of the reports are drawn. American officials have frequently praised General Kayani for what they say are his efforts to purge the military of officers with ties to militants. American officials have described Pakistans spy service as a rigidly hierarchical organization that has little tolerance for rogue activity. But Pakistani military officials give the spy services S Wing which runs external operations against the Afghan government and India broad autonomy, a buffer that allows top military officials deniability. American officials have rarely uncovered definitive evidence of direct ISI involvement in a major attack. But in July 2008, the C.I.A.s deputy director, Stephen R. Kappes, confronted Pakistani officials with evidence that the ISI helped plan the deadly suicide bombing of Indias Embassy in Kabul. From the current trove, one report shows that Polish intelligence warned of a complex attack against the Indian Embassy a week before that bombing, though the attackers and their methods differed. The ISI was not named in the report warning of the attack. Another, dated August 2008, identifies a colonel in the ISI plotting with a Taliban official to assassinate President Hamid Karzai. The report says there was no information about how or when this would be carried out. The account could not be verified. General Linked To Militants: Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul ran the ISI from 1987 to 1989, a time when Pakistani spies and the C.I.A. joined forces to run guns and money to Afghan militias who were battling Soviet troops in Afghanistan. After the fighting stopped, he maintained his contacts with the former mujahedeen, who would eventually transform themselves into the Taliban. And more than two decades later, it appears that General Gul is still at work. The documents indicate that he has worked tirelessly to reactivate his old networks, employing familiar allies like Jaluluddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose networks of thousands of fighters are responsible for waves of violence in Afghanistan. General Gul is mentioned so many times in the reports, if they are to be believed, that it seems unlikely that Pakistans current military and intelligence officials could not know of at least some of his wide-ranging activities. For example, one intelligence report describes him meeting with a group of militants in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, in January 2009. There, he met with three senior Afghan insurgent commanders and three older Arab men, presumably representatives of Al Qaeda, who the report suggests were important because they had a large security contingent with them. The gathering was designed to hatch a plan to avenge the death of Zamarai, the nom de guerre of Osama al -Kini, who had been killed days earlier by a C.I.A. drone attack. Mr. Kini had directed Qaeda operations in Pakistan and had spearheaded some of the groups most devastating attacks. The plot hatched in Wana that day, according to the report, involved driving a dark blue Mazda truck rigged with explosives from South Waziristan to Afghanistans Paktika Province, a route well known to be used by the insurgen ts to move weapons, suicide bombers and fighters from Pakistan. In a show of strength, the Taliban leaders approved a plan to send 50 Arab and 50 Waziri fighters to Ghazni Province in Afghanistan, the report said. General Gul urged the Taliban commanders to focus their operations inside Afghanistan in exchange for Pakistan turning a blind eye to their presence in Pakistans tribal areas. It was unclear whether the attack was ever executed. The United States has pushed the United Nations to put General Gul on a list of international terrorists, and top American officials said they believed he was an important link between active-duty Pakistani officers and militant groups. General Gul, who says he is retired and lives on his pension, dismissed the allegations as absolute nonsense, speaking by telephone from his home in Rawalpindi, where the Pakistani Army keeps its headquarters. I have had no hand in it. He added, American intelligence is pulling cotton wool over your eyes. Senior Pakistani officials consistently deny that General Gul still works at the ISIs behest, though several years ago, after mounting American complaints, Pakistans preside nt at the time, Pervez Musharraf, was forced publicly to acknowledge the possibility that former ISI officials were assisting the Afghan insurgency. Despite his denials, General Gul keeps close ties to his former employers. When a reporter visited General Gul this spring for an interview at his home, the former spy master canceled the appointment. According to his son, he had to attend meetings at army headquarters. Suicide Bomber Network: The reports also chronicle efforts by ISI officers to run the networks of suicide bombers that emerged as a sudden, terrible force in Afghanistan in 2006. The detailed reports indicate that American officials had a relatively clear understanding of how the suicide networks presumably functioned, even if some of the threats did not materialize. It is impossible to know why the attacks never came off either they were thwarted, the attackers shifted targets, or the reports were deliberately planted as Taliban disinformation. One report, from Dec. 18, 2006, describes a cyclical process to develop the suicide bombers. First, the suicide attacker is recruited and trained in Pakistan. Then, reconnaissance and operational planning gets under way, including scouting to find a place for hosting the suicide bomber near the target before carrying out the attack. The network, it says, receives help from the Afghan police and the Ministry of Interior. In many cases, the reports are complete with names and ages of bombers, as well as

license plate numbers, but the Americans gathering the intelligence struggle to accurately portray many other details, introducing sometimes comical renderings of places and Taliban commanders. In one case, a report rated by the American military as credible states that a gray Toyota Corolla had been loaded with explosives between the Afghan border and Landik Hotel, in Pakistan, apparently a mangled reference to Landi Kotal, in Pakistans tribal areas. The target of the plot, however, is a real hotel in downtown Kabul, the Ariana. It is likely that ISI may be involved as supporter of this attack, reads a comment in the report. Several of the reports de scribe current and former ISI operatives, including General Gul, visiting madrasas near the city of Peshawar, a gateway to the tribal areas, to recruit new fodder for suicide bombings. One report, labeled a real threat warning because of its detail and the reliability of its source, described how commanders of Mr. Hekmatyars insurgent group, Hezb -i-Islami, ordered the delivery of a suicide bomber from the Hashimiye madrasa, run by Afghans. The boy was to be used in an attack on American or NATO vehicles in Kabul during the Muslim Festival of Sacrifices that opened Dec. 31, 2006. According to the report, the boy was taken to the Afghan city of Jalalabad to buy a car for the bombing, and was later brought to Kabul. It was unclear whether the attack took place. The documents indicate that these types of activities continued throughout last year. From July to October 2009, nine threat reports detailed movements by suicide bombers from Pakistan into populated areas of Afghanistan, including Kandahar, Kunduz and Kabul. Some of the bombers were sent to disrupt Afghanistans presidential elections, held last August. In other instances, American intelligence learned that the Haqqani network sent bombers at the ISIs behest to strike Indian officials, development workers and engineers in Afghanistan. O ther plots were aimed at the Afghan government. Sometimes the intelligence documents twin seemingly credible detail with plots that seem fantastical or utterly implausible assertions. For instance, one report describes an ISI plan to use a remote-controlled bomb disguised as a golden Koran to assassinate Afghan government officials. Another report documents an alleged plot by the ISI and Taliban to ship poisoned alcoholic beverages to Afghanistan to kill American troops. But the reports also charge that the ISI directly helped organize Taliban offensives at key junctures of the war. On June 19, 2006, ISI operatives allegedly met with the Taliban leaders in Quetta, the city in southern Pakistan where American and other Western officials have long believed top Taliban leaders have been given refuge by the Pakistani authorities. At the meeting, according to the report, they pressed the Taliban to mount attacks on Maruf, a district of Kandahar that lies along the Pakistani border. The planned offensive would be carried out primarily by Arabs and Pakistanis, the report said, and a Taliban commander, Akhtar Mansoor, warned that the men should be prepared for heavy losses. The foreigners agr eed to this operation and have assembled 20 4x4 trucks to carry the fighte rs into areas in question, it said. While the specifics about the foreign fighters and the ISI are difficult to verify, the Taliban did indeed mount an offensive to seize control in Maruf in 2006. Afghan government officials and Taliban fighters have widely acknowledged that the offensive was led by the Taliban commander Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, who was then the Taliban shadow governor of Kandahar. Mullah Mansour tried to claw out a base for himself inside Afghanistan, but just as the report quotes him predicting, the Taliban suffered heavy losses and eventually pulled back. Another report goes on to describe detailed plans for a large-scale assault, timed for September 2007, aimed at the American forward operating base in Managi, in Kunar Province. It will be a five-pronged attack consisting of 83-millimeter artillery, rockets, foot soldiers, and multiple suicide bombers, it says. It is not clear that the attack ever came off, but its planning foreshadowed another, sem inal attack that came months later, in July 2008. At that time, about 200 Taliban insurgents nearly overran an American base in Wanat, in Nuristan, killing nine American soldiers. For the Americans, it was one of the highest single-day tolls of the war. Tensions With Pakistan: The flood of reports of Pakistani complicity in the insurgency has at times led to barely disguised tensions between American and Pakistani officers on the ground. Meetings at border outposts set up to develop common strategies to seal the frontier and disrupt Taliban movements reveal deep distrust among the Americans of their Pakistani counterparts. On Feb. 7, 2007, American officers met with Pakistani troops on a dry riverbed to discuss the borderlands surrounding Afghanistans Khost Prov ince. According to notes from the meeting, the Pakistanis portrayed their soldiers as conducting around-the-clock patrols. Asked if he expected a violent spring, a man identified in the report as Lt. Col. Bilal, the Pakistani officer in charge, said no. His troops were in firm control. The Americans were incredulous. Their record noted that there had been a 300 percent increase in militant activity in Khost before the meeting. This comment alone shows how disconnected this particular group of leadership is from what is going on in reality, the notes said. The Pakistanis told the Americans to contact them if they spotted insurgent activity along the border. I doubt this would do any good, the American author of the report wrote, because PAKMIL/ISI is likely involved with the border crossings. PAKMIL refers to the Pakistani military. A year earlier, the Americans became so frustrated at the increase in roadside bombs in Afghanistan that they hand-delivered folders with names, locations, aerial photographs and map coordinates to help the Pakistani military hunt down the militants the Americans believed were responsible. Nothing happened, wrote Col. Barry Shapiro, an American military liaison officer with experience in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, after an Oct. 13, 2006, meeting. Despite the number of reports and information detailing the concerns, Colonel Shapiro wrote, we continue to see no change in the cross -border activity and continue to see little to no initiative along the PAK border by Pakistan troops. The Pakistani Army will only react when asked to do so by U.S. forces, he concluded (Mazzetti, Perlez, Schmitt, & Lehren, 2010). Date: July 25, 2010 Source: The Guardian, Declan Walsh Title/Headline: Afghanistan War Logs: Clandestine Aid For Taliban Bears Pakistan's Fingerprints Abstract: A stream of US military intelligence reports accuse Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency of arming, training and financing the Taliban insurgency since 2004, the war logs reveal, bringing fresh scrutiny on one of the war's most contentious issues. At least 180 files contain allegations of dirty tricks by the powerful agency with accounts of undercover agents training suicide bombers, bundles of money slipping across the border and covert support for a range of sensational plots including the assassination of President Hamid Karzai, attacks on Nato warplanes and even poisoning western troops' beer supply. They also link the ISI to some of the war's most notorious commanders. In April 2007 for instance, the ISI is alleged to have sent 1,000 motorbikes to the warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani for suicide attacks in Khost and Logar provinces. But for all their eye-popping details, the intelligence files, which are mostly collated by junior officers relying on informants and Afghan officials, fail to provide a convincing

smoking gun for ISI complicity. Most of the reports are vague, filled with incongruent detail, or crudely fabricated. The same characters famous Taliban commanders, well-known ISI officials and scenarios repeatedly pop up. And few of the events predicted in the reports subsequently occurred. A retired senior American officer said ground-level reports were considered to be a mixture of "rumours, bullshit and second-hand information" and were weeded out as they passed up the chain of command. "As someone who had to sift through thousands of these reports, I can say that the chances of finding any real information are pretty slim," said the officer, who has years of experience in the region. If anything, the jumble of allegations highlights the perils of collecting accurate intelligence in a complex arena where all sides have an interest in distorting the truth. "The fog of war is particularly dense in Afghanistan," said Michael Semple, a former deputy head of the EU mission there. "A barrage of false information is being passed off as intelligence and anyone who wants to operate there needs to be able to sift through it. The opportunities to be misled are innumerable." The shaky intelligence does not mean the US does not believe the ISI is supporting the Taliban. The spy agency nurtured the Taliban in the 1990s and, although it purported to sever its ties after 9/11, is believed to maintain the relationship. The British and US governments have repeatedly urged Pakistan to root out the Taliban from their sanctuary inside the border, with little effect. In July 2008 the deputy head of the CIA, Stephen Kappes, flew to Islamabad to reportedly confront the ISI with evidence that the agency orchestrated a suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul that month which killed 54 people including the Indian defence attache. The CIA claimed to have intercepted phone conversations between ISI officers and the militants who carried out the attack. Pakistani strategists see the Taliban as a useful proxy to marginalise the influence of arch-rival India. Indeed plots to attack Indian facilities in Afghanistan provide some of the most plausible allegations in the files. One report from November 2007 said the ISI was plotting an attack on the Indian consulate in Jalalabad; another, titled "ISI order murder and kidnappings", has the agency offering between $15,000 and $30,000 for the assassination of Indian road workers. But many of the 180 reports appear to betray as much about the motivation of the sources than those of the alleged foreign puppet-masters. Some US officers were aware of this. One report from 2006 notes that an informant "divulges information for monetary remuneration and likely fabricated or exaggerated the above report for just that reason". Some of the most striking claims come from the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's foremost spy agency and a bitter rival to the ISI. In July and August 2008 the NDS passed information to the US that three Pakistan-trained militants plotting to kill Karzai had been groomed by a named ISI officer and had trained at the Zarb Momen camp outside Karachi. The attackers were Palestinian and Arab, the report said, and intended to strike during a visit by Karzai to a Kabul mosque or the luxury Serena hotel. But the report's strong assertions fade under retrospective scrutiny. The predicted assault on Karzai never took place (the last reported attempt was in April 2008, four months earlier), and there is no known militant camp called Zarb Momen in Karachi, a city with hundreds of hardline madrasas. The al-Rashid Trust, a charity with militant links, publishes a magazine by the same name, said Amir Rana, an Islamabad-based militancy expert. The miltiary's grading system offers one way of sifting the ISI file. Some 27 of the 180 reports are graded as C3 and above, meaning they come from a "fairly reliable source" and are "possibly true". But many such reports appear highly implausible. In February 2007 the ISI and insurgents planned "to buy alcoholic drinks from markets in Miranshah [in Pakistan's tribal belt] and Peshawar [in order to] mix them with poison and use them for poisoning ANSF and ISAF troops" according to a C3 report. The Karzai plot is assessed to be "probably true". Apparently more credible reports of ISI skulduggery are marked SEWOC, or Signals Intelligence Electronic Warfare Operations Centre, signifying they come from intercepted communications. One SEWOC report, in December 2007, accused the ISI of deploying children as suicide bombers. But the military source said that such intelligence was also prone to distortion, and that its value depended on whose conversation was being eavesdropped. "If we ever found out anything that the ISI or Pakistani military were somehow complicit in the insurgency, it never came from these sources. Never," he said. One name that frequently surfaces is that of General Hamid Gul, director general of the ISI between 1987 and 1989, who is referenced in eight reports. One has him smuggling magnetic mines into Afghanistan to attack Nato troops; in another he is plotting to kidnap United Nations staff to bargain for imprisoned Pakistani militants. A report from January 2009 has Gul meeting Arab militants in Pakistan's tribal belt to send suicide vehicles into Afghanistan. "It was not known whether Hamid Gul was acting with the knowledge or consent of the ISI," the report states. But while Gul, 73, is a well-known fundamentalist ideologue in Pakistan, experts say he is unlikely to play a frontline role in the fighting. Afghan informers may have used his name he is notorious in Afghanistan to spice up their stories, said Semple. "There's a pattern of using a dramatis personae of famous ISI officers and Afghan commanders, and recurring reports of dramatic developments such as the delivery of surface-to-air missiles, to give these reports credibility," he said. "But most of them are simply fabricated." Afghanistan has a long history of intelligence intrigues that stretches back to the early 19th century. Afghans have learned to use intelligence as a tool to influence the foreign powers occupying their land. In the past quarter century it has become a lucrative source of income in a country with few employment opportunities. Since 2001 intelligence has become a tool to influence US policymakers, who enjoy the greatest military clout in the region but are poorly informed about its intricacies. The retired US officer said some NDS officials "wanted to create the impression that Pakistani complicity was a threat to the US". And more broadly speaking, "there's an Afghan prejudice that wants to see an ISI agent under every rock". US generals are aware of the problem. In January Major General Michael Flynn said foreign newspaper articles about Afghanistan were more useful than the information collected by his own soldiers in the field. The huge intelligence apparatus in Afghanistan was "only marginally relevant" to Nato's overall war plan, he said. "We're no more than fingernail-deep in our understanding of the environment (Walsh, 2010). Date: July 28, 2010 Source: Telegraph Title/Headline: Wikileaks Afghanistan: Former Pakistani General Blames US For War Leak Abstract: Hamid Gul, a former Pakistan general accused of helping the Taliban, says United States orchestrated the mass leak of war files to scapegoat him for its imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan. The former chief of the ISI intelligence agency was accused in several of the leaked documents of regularly meeting al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders to order suicide attacks. Gen Gul, 74, told the Financial Times that the US had a hidden role in the publication of thousands of classified reports through the WikiLeaks website. He told the newspaper: I am a very favourite whipping boy of America. They cant imagine the Afghans can win wars on their own. It would be an abiding shame that a 74-year-old general living a retired life manipulating the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan

results in the defeat of America. What are they going to do to the history books for their own posterity? The files also link active and retired ISI officers to some of the conflict's most notorious leaders. According to the reports, in 2007, they sent also 1,000 motorbikes for use in suicide attacks. The Financial Times said Mr Guls name appears in about 10 of roughly 180 classified US files that allege Pakistans intelligence service supported Afghan militants fighting Nato forces. Mr Gul told the newspaper his main occupatio n in retirement was spending time with his grandchildren and pursuing his horticultural hobby of refining mango and peach species. He said the US had lost the war in Afghanistan, and that the leak of the documents would help the Obama administration deflect blame by suggesting that Pakistan was responsible. His comments are unlikely to be taken seriously in Washington, which has long suspected Gen Gul of being a dangerous influence in Pakistan politics, but there is concern in Islamabad that the early withdrawal of American and British troops starting next summer might destabilise the region's politics. July has fuelled concerns in Pakistan that a rapid US withdrawal will sow further turmoil in its neighbour (Telegraph, 2010). Date: July 28, 2010 Source: BBC Title/Headline: No Survivors As Pakistan Plane Crash Kills 152 Abstract: The plane, a domestic flight from Karachi operated by the private company Airblue, came down in hills just north of the city as it was about to land. There is no word on the cause of the crash. At the time the area was shrouded in fog. Pakistani TV showed images of smouldering wreckage on a foggy hillside, with helicopters overhead. The government has declared Thursday a day of national mourning for the victims. Imtiaz Elahi, chairman of the Capital Development Authority, which deals with emergencies, said the crash was "heartbreaking". "It is a great tragedy, and I confirm it with pain that there are no survivors," he told the Associated Press news agency. The plane, reported to be an Airbus A321 with 146 passengers and six crew on board, is thought to have left Karachi at 0750 (0350 GMT). Two Americans were among the victims, a US embassy spokesman said, but gave no further details. Pakistan's interior ministry initially said at least five survivors had been taken to hospital, but local officials later said those reports were wrong. The flight data recorder has been found. Recovery operations are being hampered by bad weather and the crash site, on a steep hill, has no roads. The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Islamabad says helicopters found it hard to land in the midst of heavy fog, and smoke rising from the fire of the wreckage. Aamir Ali Ahmed, a senior city government official, told Reuters news agency: "It's a very difficult operation because of the rain. Most of the bodies are charred." Rescue worker Dawar Adnan told Associated Press from the crash site: "I'm seeing only body parts. This is a very horrible scene." Express 24/7 television journalist Sabur Ali Sayed said: " The plane is totally destroyed, the pieces and parts scattered over a large distance." It is the deadliest air disaster in Pakistan's history. Airblue spokesman Raheel Ahmed told reporters that the crash was "an extremely tragic incident", adding that an investigation had been launched. The plane had no history of technical problems, he added. It was leased by Airblue in January 2006 and had accumulated about 34,000 flight hours. The BBC's Haroon Rashid in Islamabad saw the plane flying low over the capital. "I was surprised to see the plane, because the area where I live is called a no-fly zone as it is close to some of Islamabad's most important official buildings, including President House and parliament," he said. Other witnesses saw the plane flying towards the hills, and shortly after that heard a loud explosion and smoke billowing into the air. Express 24/7 TV reporter Anjum Rahman said she saw the plane flying over the rooftops of houses where she lives. " I wondered why the plane wasn't flying higher as it was flying towards the hill. Then within three or four minutes I heard a loud explosion," she told the channel. Initial reports said the flight had originated in Turkey. But officials later said it was a domestic flight (BBC, 2010). Date: July 31, 2010 Source: The Guardian, Riaz Khan Title/Headline: UN Says Deadly Floods Affect 1 Million Pakistanis Abstract: Rescuers trying to reach thousands of Pakistani flood victims were hampered by deluged roads and damaged bridges Saturday, though there were signs that waters were receding in parts of the country. Floods killed more than 430 people in one week, left some 400,000 people stranded in far-flung villages and severely damaged the nation's already-weak infrastructure. The U.N. estimated Saturday that some 1 million people were affected, though it didn't specify exactly what that meant. In the northwest, the hardest-hit region, it was the worst flooding since 1929. People clung to fences and each other as water gushed over their heads, TV footage showed. Scores of men, women and children sat on roofs. "There are very bad conditions," said Amjad Ali, a rescue worker in the Nowshera area. "They have no water, no food." Rescuers were using army helicopters, heavy trucks and boats to try reaching flood-hit areas, the U.N. said. It reported that thousands of homes and roads were destroyed, and at least 45 bridges across the northwest were damaged. The destruction is slowing the rescue effort, said Luther Rehman, a government official in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, the northwest province. Floodwaters were receding in some areas in the northwest, he said. "Our priority is to transport flood-affected people to safer places. We are carrying out this rescue operation despite limited resources," he said, adding they needed more helicopters and boats (Khan, 2010). Date: July 31, 2010 Source: The Guardian, Amy Fallon Title/Headline: Pakistan Security Officers Cancel UK Visit Abstract: Talks between ISI officials and UK security experts called off after David Cameron accused Pakistan of exporting terrorism. Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency has cancelled planned talks with British security experts in protest at David Cameron's comments that elements within the country are responsible for exporting terrorism abroad, it was reported last night. ISI officers were due in London for discussions on counter-terrorism co-operation with British security services. But the talks have been scrapped after the prime minister's remarks while on a visit to India on Wednesday, the Times reported . "The visit has been cancelled in reaction to the comments made by the British prime minister against Pakistan," an ISI spokesman was quoted as saying. "Such irresponsible

statements could affect our co-operation with Britain." Cameron sparked outrage in Islamabad when he said: "We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India, whether to Afghanistan, or to anywhere else in the world." The comments were made during a visit to Delhi. Neither Downing Street nor the Foreign Office would comment on the reported decision by the ISI, which also comes days before a UK visit by the Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari. He is expected to stay with Cameron at his country retreat, Chequers. Last night, officials said that Zardari's visit was still expected to take place. "Our understanding is that the visit is on," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. Following Cameron's remarks, Pakistani politicians pointed to the country's offensive against militants on the border with Afghanistan and the many victims of terrorist bombs in Pakistan. Cameron defended his comments a day later, saying: "I don't think the British taxpayer wants me to go around the world saying what people want to hear (Fallon, 2010).

11th Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Date: July 31, 2010 Source: New York Times, Mohammed Hanif Title/Headline: In Pakistan, Echoes of American Betrayal Abstract: Pakistans premier intelligence agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, has been accused of many bad things in its own country. It has been held responsible for rigging elections, sponsoring violent sectarian groups and running torture chambers for political dissidents. More recently, it has been accused of abducting Pakistanis and handing them over to the United States for cash. But last week after thousands of classified United States Army documents were released by WikiLeaks, and American and British officials and pundits accused the ISI of double-dealing in Afghanistan the Pakistani news media were very vocal in their defense of their spies. On talk show after talk show, the ISIs accusers in the West were criticized for short -sightedness and shifting the blame to Pakistan for their doomed campaign in Afghanistan. Suddenly, the distinction between the state and the state within the state was blurred. It is our ISI that is being accused, we felt. How, we wondered, can the Americans have fallen for raw intelligence provided by paid informants and, in many cases, Afghan intelligence? And why shouldnt Pakistan, asked the pundits, keep its options open for a post American Afghanistan? More generally, the WikiLeaks fallout brought back ugly memories, reminding Pakistanis what happens whenever we get involved with the Americans. In fact, one person at the center of the document dump is our primary object lesson for staying away from Americas foreign adventures. Hamid Gul, now a retired general, led the ISI during the end years of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and together with his C.I.A. friends unwittingly in the 1990s spurred the mujahedeen to turn Kabul the city they had set out to liberate into rubble. According to the newly released documents, Mr. Gul met with Qaeda operatives in Pakistan in 2006 and told them to make the snow warm in Kabul ... set Kabul aflame. This would seem highly sinister except that, today, Hamid Gul is nothing more than a glorified television evangelist and, as the columnist Nadir Hassan noted, known only for being on half a dozen talk shows simultaneously. He is also, for Pakistanis, a throwback to the lost years of our American-backed military dictatorships, a stark reminder of why we distrust the United States. The ISI and the C.I.A. have colluded twice in the destruction of Afghanistan. Their complicity has brought war to Pakistans cities. After every round of cloak-and-dagger games, they behave like a squabbling couple who keep getting back together and telling the world that they are doing it for the childrens sake. But whenever these two reunite, a lot of childrens lives are wrecked. In the West, the ISI is often described as ideologically allied to the Taliban. But Pakistans militarysecurity establishment has only one ideology, and its not Islamism. Its spelled I -N-D-I-A. It will do anybodys bidding if its occasionally allowed to show India a bit of muscle. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani Army chief, has just been given an unexpected three-year extension in his office, due in large part, it is said, to American pressure on Islamabad. Yet General Kayani headed the ISI during the period that the WikiLeaks documents cover. Since he became the head of the Pakistan Army and a frequent host to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the number of drone attacks on Pakistani territory have increased substantially. It seems he has found a way to overcome his ISI past . While he generally keeps a low profile, General Kayani in February gave an off-the-record presentation to Pakistani journalists. His point was clear: Pakistans military remains India -centric. His explanation was simple: we go by the enemys capacity, not its immediate intentions. This came in a year when Pakistan lost more civilians and soldiers than it has in any war with India. Yet it has become very clear that an overwhelming majority of Pakistani people do not share the armys India obsession or its yearning for strategic depth that is, a continuing deadly muddle in Afghanistan. They want a peaceful settlement with India over the disputed territory of Kashmir and a safer neighborhood. None of the leading parties in Parliament made a big deal about India, Afghanistan or jihad in their election campaigns. They were elected on promises of justice, transparency and reasonably priced electricity. Lately, Americans seem to have woken up to the fact that there is something called a Parliament and a civil society in Pakistan. But even so, it seems that Americans are courting the same ruling class the military elites civilian cousins that has thrived on American aid and obviously wants an even closer relationship with Washington. A popular TV presenter who interviewed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit later jibed, What kind of close relationship is this? I dont even get invited to Chelseas wedding? Pakistans military and civil elite should take a good look around before they pitch another marquee and invite their American friends over for tea and war talk. There are a lot of hungry people looking in, and the strung lights are sucking up electricity that could run a small factory, or illuminate a village. Besides, theyre not likely to kno w what WikiLeaks is theyve been too busy cleaning up after their masters guests (Hanif, 2010).

Date: August 1, 2010 Source: Telegraph, Dean Nelson, Javed Siddiq Title/Headline: Pakistan Army 'Encouraging Cameron Protests' Abstract: Allies of Pakistans president have accused the Army of encouraging street protests, in which effigies of David Cameron were burned by Islamic militants, as part of a campaign to sabotage his planned visit to Britain this week. Friends of Asif Zardari said he has come under intense pressure from military chiefs to cancel his visit since British Prime Minister David Cameron accused Islamabad of promoting international terrorism during a trip to India last week . Mr Cameron won many friends in India, when he said Pakistan could not be allowed to look both ways in the war on terrorism or promote the export of terror to other countries. But his comments caused widespread anger in Pakistan where conservative Islamic political parties led public protests and the prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani complained he had overlooked Pakistans sacrifices in the fight against Taliban militants. Sources close to Mr Zardari said Mr Camerons comments had sparked a campaign by senior army figures who want him to cancel his visit to meet the Prime Minister at Chequers next week. The head of the ISI intelligence agency Lt. Gen Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, had earlier cancelled a delegation of senior officials to meet their security counterparts in London. The ISI cancellation is a signal of their displeasure and that they do not want him [Zardari] to go, said a friend of the president. The army sends these signals and then the demonstrators are on the streets. Mr Zardari has appeared increasingly isolated over his determination to press ahead with the visit amid calls from both opposition leaders and his own coalition allies to cancel. Shabbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab province and a leader of the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was joined by Altaf Hussein, the leader of the coalitions MQM party in urging the president to abandon the visit. Mt Camerons comments, and the fact that they were made during his visit to region al enemy India had weakened President Zardaris position and strengthened the hand of Islamic militants, said the source. It gave a boost to the Taliban and all these militant organisations. They say it shows that these countries, Britain and America, are not our friends, that they are harming rather than helping. Having suffered so much in the war against terrorism, civilian and military casualties, and on top of that we get this kick up the backside from Cameron, he added. Despite intense pressure from his army chiefs, opponents and coalition partners, President Zardari is going ahead with the planned visit, which aides said he will now use to explain Paki stans position and seek an expression of appreciation for the countrys sacrifices. Retired Lt Col Talat Masood said the armys dignity had been offended by Mr Camerons comments, but that while it feels obliged to cancel the visit of its ISI leaders to register its anger, long -term co-operation in the fight against terrorism will continue. He said: The interests of both countries are so intertwined that this cant continue for more than a short period, things will normalise after they apply some balm (Nelson & Siddiq, 2010). Date: August 2, 2009 Source: The Guardian, The Observer, Ben Quinn Title/Headline: Six Christians Burned Alive In Pakistan Riots Abstract: Six Christians were burned alive in Pakistan yesterday when hundreds of Muslims attacked and looted their homes, sparked by rumours that pages from the Qur'an had been desecrated. The dead, including four women and a child, were killed when Christian homes were torched by hundreds of supporters of a banned Muslim organisation in the Punjabi village of Gojra, in eastern Pakistan. Tensions have been running high between the two communities over allegations that Christians had defiled pages from the Muslim holy book, despite authorities insisting that the rumours were unfounded. Television footage from the area showed houses burning and streets strewn with debris and blackened furniture as mobs ran at each other. There were reports in the local media of exchanges of gunfire between Christian and Muslim communities and that rioters had blocked a railway line. Pakistani authorities named the Muslim group involved in the violence as Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been accused of launching attacks against security forces and carrying out bomb attacks in public places in recent years. Rana Sanaullah, Punjab's law minister, said that an investigation had been carried out into allegations made during the week that a copy of the Qur'an had been defaced but that no such incident was found to have taken place. Although the situation had calmed down by Friday, he said yesterday that "some miscreants and extremists entered the city [on Saturday] and pushed people toward armed clashes". Pakistan's federal minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, said he had visited Gojra on Friday and asked police to provide protection for Christians who were facing threats, but accused them of ignoring his efforts. Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim nation although religious minorities, including Christians, account for about 4% of its population of 170 million. The communities generally live peacefully alongside one another, but Muslim militants have periodically targeted Christians and churches in recent years (Quinn, 2009).

Date: August 3, 2010 Source: Forbes, Associated Press, Ashrak Khan Title/Headline: Officials: 37 Gunned Down In Pakistan's Karachi Abstract: Gunmen killed at least 37 people in Pakistan's largest city after the assassination of a lawmaker, officials said Tuesday . Dozens of vehicles and shops were set on fire as security forces struggled to gain control of Karachi. The southern city of more than 16 million has a history of political, ethnic and religious violence, and has long been a hide-out for al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

Its stability is important for Pakistan because it is the country's main commercial hub. The latest unrest came after Raza Haider, a provincial lawmaker, was shot dead along with his bodyguard in a mosque in Nazimabad area while preparing to offer prayers Monday. Haider was a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the political party that runs the city and represents mainly descendants of migrants from India who settled in Pakistan when it was created in 1947. The MQM's main nemesis is the Awami National Party, a secular nationalist party whose main power center is Pakistan's northwest and whose base is the ethnic Pashtun community. Independent analysts say followers of all political parties in Karachi are heavily involved in criminal activities such as protection rackets and illegal land dealings. In certain neigborboods, armed men linked to political parties stand guard at checkpoints. Officials from different hospitals put the total death toll by Tuesday morning at 37. Some 80 additional people had suffered gunshot wounds, they said. A furniture market was among the places set ablaze. Sindh province spokesman Jamil Soomro said at least 10 people were arrested, and police and Army Rangers were dispatched throughout the city to impose order. But gunfire could still be heard Tuesday morning, and fires were still being set in some areas. Schools and colleges in Karachi and other urban centers in the province were ordered to stay closed by the government Tuesday. Some officials blamed unspecified "invisible hands" for the violence. "It is very sad, and we believe that it is the work of those forces who want to destabilize the elected government," Soomro said (Khan, 2010). Date: August 4, 2010 Source: Bloomberg, Farhan Sharif, Khurrum Anis Title/Headline: Karachi Streets Grow Calmer After 63 Gunned Down Over Two Nights Of Riots Abstract: Karachi shops and businesses began reopening as calm returned to the streets of Pakistans commercial capital after two nights of killings triggered by the shooting of a Muslim Shiite politician. The death toll climbed to 63 overnight as protesters burned cars and shops and gunned people down as police and paramilitary troops sought to restore order, hospital officials said. The violence comes on top of floods across much of Pakistan that left more than 1,500 dead and millions stranded. Karachi, a city of 18 million people, is home to the nations stock exchange and contributes more than 70 percent of Pakistans tax revenue, according to the local government. The shootings broke out after Raza Haider, a lawmaker with the citys main party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was assassinated at a mosque on Aug. 2. About a quarter of the citys factories and markets opened today and some public transpor t services were restored, Abdul Majeed, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said by telephone. Losses to the local economy today may amount to 7 billion rupees ($82 million) down from 10 billion rupees yesterday, he said. Several gas stations, schools and colleges have reopened. Trading at the Karachi Stock Exchange will close at the normal time of 3:30 p.m. after ending an hour early yesterday, Haroon Askari, manager of operations, said by telephone. The benchmark Karachi stock exchange 100 index rose 0.9 percent to 10,478.17 at 11:14 a.m. local time after turnover was less than half this years average yesterday. Seventeen more bodies were brought to three major hospitals overnight. Judging by the bullet wounds were seeing, these are trained shooters, said Aftab Ahmed Channar, an official at the Civil Hospital in Karachi, who is a retired army captain. They are using very few bullets and th eir aim is deadly. Interior Minister Rehman Malik accused a banned militant group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, of killing Haider as part of its campaign of violence against members of the minority Shiite sect, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported yesterday. Haiders killing was the latest in a series of attacks in Karachi this year against Shiites, who compris e as much as 15 percent of Pakistans population. Political and communal killings have escalated this year in Karachi, which is used as a hiding place by militants fleeing army attacks on the Taliban in the countrys northwest. Members of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, the MQM and the Awami National Party have died in multiple gun battles in the city since the start of the year (Sharif & Anis, 2010).

Date: August 6, 2010 Source: Pakalert Press Title/Headline: Pakistan Flood: HAARP Used In Pakistan? Urgent Abstract: All started suddenly and thousands died, millions displaced, hundreds of villages vanished in the matter of just 4 days! Strangely there were no weather warnings, no alarms. None of the global met offices was able to predict torrential downpours that precipitated the worst floods in Pakistans history. Was HAARP involved? We have investigated this matter and concluded that HAARP is being used in Pakistan and of course how can we ignore Indias Baglihar & Kabuls Sarobi Dams contribution in this perfect plan! This Flood Disaster is More Manmade than Natural . The choice of starting point was perfect.. all the flood is going in downstream i.e. Khyber (Hills) to Karachi (Sea) it is designed to submerge entire Pakistan and bring up the worst crises and chaos ever happened.. they know they cant win a war with Nuclear armed Pakistan it would be a mutual destruction, so they have other ways to do it! Andrei Areshev a renowned Russian Scholar and the deputy head of the Strategic Culture Foundation warns that the current devastating fires raging throughout Russia could have been triggered by American weather weapons what is now becoming the infamous HAARP Technology. It isnt just conspiracy theorists who are concerned about HAARP. The European Union called the project a global concern and passed a resolution calling for more information on its health and environmental risks. Despite those concerns, officials at HAARP insist the project is nothing more sinister than a radio science research facility. ~Quote from a TV-documentary on HAARP by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is a little-known, yet critically important U.S. military defense program which has generated quite a bit of controversy over the years in certain circles . Though denied by HAARP officials, some respected researchers allege that secret electromagnetic warfare capabilities of HAARP are designed to forward the US militarys stated goal of achieving full-spectrum dominance by the year 2020. Others go so far as to claim that HAARP can and has been used for weather modification, to cause earthquakes and tsunamis, to disrupt global communications systems, and more. I have noticed a trend. Now, many skeptics will come in here and make gratuitous claims that what we are experiencing weather wise is simply mother nature, and others will claim that global warming is taking its affect. I am under a different impression. For instance, has anyone noticed that almost every other year there is a new weather crisis that stays focused merely on that particular phenomenon ? For instance, in 2005, the only thing that was occurring was Hurricanes. You didnt hear about tornadoes, mudslides, tsunamis or volcanoesit was simply Hurricanes. Lets take a look at some of this stuffshall we? 2005: We had Hurricane Katrina, Dennis, Emily, Rita and Wilma. Hurricane Katrina was especially strange since it was the only Hurricane on record EVER to sit for 2 days inland without any movement. This is an anomaly since it takes movement in order to keep the storm active. Not only was this the most active season in recorded history, but, it also had two of the strongest measured Hurricanes in recorded history. 2004 marked the year of the Tsunami. Remember the non-stop media coverage? It was as if nothing else existed, and the only real weather was tsunami weather. 2007 brought one of the worst flood seasons in the history of mankind. No one was discussing Hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakesthis year was all about floods. 2008 brought the most and deadliest tornadoes in the past decade. There were no floods that year. There werent any Hurricanes happening, and if there were, no one cared because Tornadoes were the main topic of interest. In almost every place in the Midwest, there were tornadoes popping up in every back alley crevice you could find. The media was all over it, and these storms were steadily increasing in power. Now lets look at the end of 2009 into 2010. EARTH QUAKES. This seems to be a fad like no other. Not only are they increasing in power, but, they are also increasing in frequency. Chicago as well as Indiana, Chile (twice), Haiti, Turkey, Afghanistan, China, Okinawa, etc., etc. Now, skeptics will tell youNo big deal. Earthquakes happen all the time.and, for all intents and purposes, theyre right. But, there arent too many average people out there who havent noticed that there seems to be a weird trend with all of these earthquakes that just keep popping up. Soheres my point. Weve been through all this before in many threads discussing the possibilities of whether there are governments who have the capabilities of weather control. After looking at these trends that continue to occur, it seems that every year, or every other year, a new phenomenon of weather jumps out, and consistently pounds the earth until another one takes its place. You could look at this as something that is merely seasonal and that, indeed, there are natural weather changes that are taking place on the planet that are increasingly getting worse (some love this idea and grip to it as if it were the only possibility), or, you could look at it as someone playing with a toy that they are trying to perfect. And each year they pick a new disaster to play with until theyve honed it into a finely tuned instrument. Now, if you havent noticed these trends, or put them together in this sort of order and fashion, you might want to entertain the possibility that there are things being manipulated right in front of your very eyes. Folksthere was purple snow in Russia. PURPLE. We recently had a never before seen sky spiral in Norway on the day Obama accepted the peace prize, and I dont care how you try to rationalize it, that was pret ty screwed up. There was a tetrahedron floating above the Kremlin on the same day, although the favorite thing to say isHOAX!!! People in Chile saw the sky changing colors in the middle of the night as the earthquake destroyed their cityit was 3am out there, so in the blackness of night, they were watching the sky change colors where there is an absence of color (Black). The same thing was viewed about 20-30 minutes before the earthquake in China. In Antarctica right now, there is some sort of microbe that is giving the landscape the appearance as if it were bleeding. (And the rivers shall turn red with blood) But, Im sure someone is going to try to tell me that its perfectly normal. A bunch of birds, 100 exactly, recently were flying in a flock together and somehow, they died in the same place in the sky, and then fell in the same yard, within the same space, curled up and with blood leaking from their beaks and nasal passages. There is something going on folks. Heres a brief list: HAARP PATENTS (Assigned to APTI, Inc.): U.S. Patent 4686605: Method And Apparatus For Altering A Region In The Earths Atmosphere, Ionosphere, And/Or Magnetosphere Inventors: Eastlund; Bernard J., Spring, TX Assignees: APTI, Inc., Los Angeles, CA Issued: Aug. 11, 1987 Filed: Jan. 10, 1985 U.S. Patent 5038664: Method For Producing A Shell Of Relativistic Particles At An Altitude Above The Earths Surface Inventors: Eastlund; Bernard J., Spring, TX Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: Aug. 13, 1991 Filed: Jan. 10, 1985

U.S. Patent 4712155: Method And Apparatus For Creating An Artificial Electron Cyclotron Heating Region Of Plasma Inventors: Eastlund; Bernard J., Spring, TX Ramo; Simon, Beverly Hills, CA Assignees: APTI, Inc., Los Angeles, CA Issued: Dec. 8, 1987 Filed: Jan. 28, 1985 U.S. Patent 5068669: Power Beaming System Inventors: Koert; Peter, Washington, DC Cha; James T., Fairfax, VA Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: Nov. 26, 1991 Filed: Sep. 1, 1988 U.S. Patent 5218374: Power Beaming System With Printer Circuit Radiating Elements Having Resonating Cavities Inventors: Koert; Peter, Washington, DC Cha; James T., Fairfax, VA Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: June 8, 1993 Filed: Oct. 10, 1989 U.S. Patent 5293176: Folded Cross Grid Dipole Antenna Element Inventors: Elliot; Paul G., Vienna, VA Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: Mar. 8, 1994 Filed: Nov. 18, 1991 U.S. Patent 5202689: Lightweight Focusing Reflector For Space Inventors: Bussard; Robert W., Manassas, VA Wallace; Thomas H., Gainesville, FL Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: Apr. 13, 1993 Filed: Aug. 23, 1991 U.S. Patent 5041834: Artificial Ionospheric Mirror Composed Of A Plasma Layer Which Can Be Tilted Inventors: Koert; Peter, Washington, DC Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: Aug. 20, 1991 Filed: May. 17, 1990 U.S. Patent 4999637: Creation Of Artificial Ionization Clouds Above The Earth Inventors: Bass; Ronald M., Houston, TX Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: Mar. 12, 1991 Filed: May. 14, 1987 U.S. Patent 4954709: High Resolution Directional Gamma Ray Detector Inventors: Zigler; Arie, Rishon Le Zion, Israel Eisen; Yosset, Rishon Le Zion, Israel Assignees: APTI, Inc., Washington, DC Issued: Sep. 4, 1990 Filed: Aug. 16, 1989

U.S. Patent 4873928: Nuclear-Sized Explosions Without Radiation Inventors: Lowther; Frank E., Plano, TX Assignees: APTI, Inc., Los Angeles, CA Issued: Oct. 17, 1989 Filed: June 15, 1988 And, William Cohen, ex-secretary of the DOD, made a specific statement about electromagnetic weapons that could be used for weather terrorism. In April 1997, the then U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen publicly discussed the dangers of HAARP-like technology, saying others are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations Its real, and thats the reason why we have to intensify our efforts (Pakalert Press, 2010). Date: August 17, 2010 Source: Infowars, Steve Watson Title/Headline: Former Pakistani Intel Chief Fears World War Three Is Imminent Abstract: Former Pakistani General and intelligence chief Hamid Gul appeared on the Alex Jones Show yesterday for a full hour in what turned out to be a fascinating extended interview, addressing the major geopolitical issues that are shaping modern history. Gul, who served as the director general of Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence during 1987-89 and worked with the CIA in the covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, is a wealth of knowledge on the so called war on terror. Gul spoke on a host of issues, beginning with his version of events surrounding the recent Wikileaks expose of US and Afghan military intelligence. My version (of events) is not going out to America, Ive been denied the visa to travel to America. These people will not let me into America because they are afraid that I will speak the truth. People will listen to the truth Gul stated in response to the claims that he is personally quarter backing attacks on US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Fareed Zakaria (of CNN), he recorded me for twenty minutes and he put out only six minutes of my version. Gul continued. That is not fair, because I was informed, and especially the things I said which were stark realities, and he wanted obviously to keep the American people in dark about these things. Gul asserted that Afghan intelligence is still infested by the old Communist die hards, who have an axe to grind against him, owing to his role in ousting the Sovie t Union from the region. Gul added that it is a ridiculous notion to believe that he, at 74 years of age and retired, has any role in the military failures of the US in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speak the truth, you have failed because your own policy makers have not come up with the recipe that was required. Your own Generals were not up to the tasks which were given to them, so why dont you accept the failure rather than rub the blame on someone else? he said. This is diabolical nonsense, and if this is the kind of intelligence that America is basing its policies on in this region, then God help America . This is false, it is totally fabricated and Ill tell you who are the elements involved in it. Gul said. The retired General blamed the fact that the military is heavily dependent on private contractors, even for intelligence gathering contractors who only have an incentive to expand the wars and further profit from them. How can they be so foolish, the CIA, the FBI, and to top it all there is this Task Force 373, which has been indulging in massive civilian casualties. They have been killing people left right and centre. Every time they are given the information, they have bombed wedding parties, they have bombed funeral processions, they have bombed innocents, and they have even bombed the hospitals. So you can imagine that the intelligence based on the information provided by security contractors has resulted in this massive violation of human rights, it has been anti-human, it has destroyed everything that the American people and the American Constitution ever stood for. Gul urged. They think that anyone criticizing their policy is the enemy. This is totally wrong, this is a misconception. We work togeth er with the CIA, we work together with the Americans, I have a lot of friends there, I respect them and my advice could also be useful. Gul said. The former ISI chief, who trained with British intelligence officers, spoke of an ultra -Imperial club of British, Israeli and Indian intelligence that is leading American policy making by the nose and does not want America to flourish inside their hearts. The American people are exploited for this dark agenda. It is only a handful of people, they a clique only by my assessment, who are indulging in this exercise. Gul added. Gul also noted that the real agenda in the middle east is multifaceted. Gul says the global cliques war on terror on one hand allows for the corporate empire that now controls America to establish itself in the centre of the region to tap the Caspian oil basin. Secondly, Gul believes it is an operation to prevent China from moving into the region. Thirdly, it functions to prevent any new power from emerging in the region based on the Islamic principles of egalitarianism, equality and freedom. If these principles are adopted then Imperial powers will really have no place to hide. Gul stated. And finally, it seeks to provide a security shie ld to the State of Israel by promoting destabilization inside neighbouring countries. This is going to hurt them more than it is going to hurt us. Gul said, speaking of how the actions of the global cabal are running against the grain of ancient codes of honour for the people of the region. This evokes even stronger sentiments than the religion, Gul stated. Therefore these people are not going to forgive all this, and Im afraid that we will have lost this region forever to America, to the West and this struggle is going to end with a very big disaster for American reputation, for their honour, for their self respect, and we dont want to have this done, I can assure you I am gen uinely telling you this. Gul added. If they get embroiled in Pakistan they will keep on staying here for a long time. If the y expand this war, a fight is going to be put up against America, whether in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran. The larger the area of conflict and the longer the period of conflict, the established power, the one that is equipped with more firepower, cannot win this is a lesson from history it is immutable. My fear is that if Pakistan is put to the corner and pushed against the wall Pakistan being an Islamic state could also declare international jihad. Gul noted with great trepidation. Now if that Islamic state declares international jihad, it becomes binding on the muslims of the rest of the world to come out in support of jihad. It will change modern history altogether if that call is given. They would have us believe that Iran is our enemy. Iran is not our enemy. There has been no hostility between Iran and Pakistan This is an utter lie, it is only to malign Iran. But I tell you Israel is hell bent to draw America into a wider war attacking Iran. If they go in unilaterally to attack some targets, even drop a few bombs here and there, I think it will flare up a conflict that it will not be able to control. Gul stated, following up with a harrowing prediction of what will follow. America is

likely to get sucked into this war, and this may turn out to be the third world war. It would be a disaster of the first order, it must be avoided at all costs. I dont know if Russia or China could be held back. This could be an inferno that would consume so many things, and corporate America would be the biggest sufferer where are they going to sell their gold and how are they going to pick up the oil? Gul stated. The General urged that if the world is to avoid such devastating conflict, people everywhere must not accept the propaganda being thrown at them by the elite clique attempting to shape global affairs. There is no clash of civilizations, this is a mindset that has been created unfortunately. As far as Islam is concerned, why is it being looked upon as an enemy, as an adversary? Islam encompasses Christianity and Judaism, it is not an entity in itself, but actually it encompasses all the three religions of the book, so there has to be amicable peace among us. There is no need for the dark impulse in the American system. I wont say the American people, because they are so good, it is in the American system that the dark impulse has to be removed and it can only be removed by the American people. Gul previously appeared on the Alex Jones show to share his contention that the 9/11 attack was an inside job, laying out details that were censored during a CNN interview on the same week. Gul reiterated his stance on the 9/11 attacks, that it was a black operation to be used as a pretext for entering Afghanistan and using it as a launch pad to enter Pakistan and dominate the region. Gul also spoke about the evidence that the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks were a Western controlled intelligence operation that was to be blamed on Pakistan, a claim he made shortly after the attacks which has since been vindicated by mainstream reports that US and Indian undercover agents were involved in the attacks. The General also spoke on the death of former Pakistan leader Benazir Bhutto, reasserting his previous analysis that Bhutto was eliminated by a neocon controlled assassination squad after she became rebellious toward globalist interests (Watson, 2010). Date: August 18, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Pakistan President, Kerry Warn Militants Could Exploit Flooding Chaos Abstract: Islamist terrorists may exploit the chaos and misery caused by the floods in Pakistan to gain new recruits, the country's president warned Thursday remarks echoed by a leading U.S. senator who said America would stand by its vital wartime ally during the crisis. The floods have affected 20 million people and about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory, straining its civilian government as it also struggles against al-Qaida and Taliban violence. Aid groups and the United Nations have complained that foreign donors have not been quick or generous enough given the scale of the disaster. "All these catastrophes give strength to forces who do not want a state structure," President Asif Ali Zardari said during a press conference with John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after the two visited some of the country's hardest-hit areas and a relief camp. "There is a possibility that the negative forces would exploit the situation," Zardari said. "Like they would take the babies who have been made orphans and take them to their camps and train them as the terrorists of tomorrow." Zardari's government has been criticized for failing to respond quickly enough, and Islamist charities at least one of which has alleged links to terrorism have been active in the flood-hit areas. Islamist terrorists may exploit the chaos and misery caused by the floods in Pakistan to gain new recruits, the country's president warned Thursday remarks echoed by a leading U.S. senator who said America would stand by its vital wartime ally during the crisis. The floods have affected 20 million people and about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory, straining its civilian government as it also struggles against al-Qaida and Taliban violence. Aid groups and the United Nations have complained that foreign donors have not been quick or generous enough given the scale of the disaster. "All these catastrophes give strength to forces who do not want a state structure," President Asif Ali Zardari said during a press conference with John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after the two visited some of the country's hardest-hit areas and a relief camp. "There is a possibility that the negative forces would exploit the situation," Zardari said. "Like they would take the babies who have been made orphans and take them to their camps and train them as the terrorists of tomorrow." Zardari's government has been criticized for failing to respond quickly enough, and Islamist charities at least one of which has alleged links to terrorism have been active in the flood-hit areas (Fox News, 2010) Date: August 29, 2010 Source: Financial Times, Michael Peel, Ben Fenton, Amer Malik Title/Headline: Pakistan Cricket Hit By Betting Scandal Abstract: The Pakistani cricket team and the sports governing authorities were on Sunday struggling to deal with new corruption allegations that have echoes of the worst match-fixing scandals of the previous decade. British police were questioning a man suspected of conspiring to defraud bookmakers through a scheme involving Pakistani players deliberately bowling no-balls illegal deliveries during a Test match against England in London that ended on Sunday. The allegations will add to concerns that corruption remains a serious problem at a time when cricket is becoming more lucrative as tournaments such as the Indian Premier League tap into the large fanbase in south Asia. Police made the detention after a sting operation in which reporters from the News of the World newspaper allegedly paid a middle-man 150,000 ($231,000, 187,500) in return for details of three occasions when Pakistani players would deliberately bowl no-balls by overstepping a white line on the pitch. Detectives interviewed four Pakistani players Salman Butt, the captain, Mohammed Amir and Mohammed Asif, both bowlers, and Kamran Akmal, the wicketkeeper according to Yawar Saeed, Pakistan team manager. He told Sky television that police had taken mobile phones belonging to the captain and the two bowlers. Asked about his alleged role in the affair, Mr Butt told a press conference : These are just allegations and anybody can stand out and say anything about you. It doesnt make them true. The International Cricket Council, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board said no players or team officials had been arrested. Scotland Yard, which the News of the World and the ICC said had arrested the middle man, could not be reached by phone. The ICC declined to make further comment. The alleged scam would have hit bookmakers in south Asia, where so-called spot-betting is common and wagers can be placed on all aspects of the game, including timings and frequencies of no-balls. Andrew Strauss, Englands cricket captain, said the allegations had taken the gloss off the comprehensive win his side achieved on Sunday against Pakistan in the Test match at Lords. He told the BBC: We have seen things that put cricket on the front pages for the wrong reasons before and nobody likes it. The matchs closing ceremony af ter

Pakistans heaviest defeat in Test history took place behind closed doors, emphasising both the gravity of the alle gations and their potential impact on the game (Peel, Fenton, & Malik, 2010). Date: August 31, 2010 Source: Seattle Times, Associated Press Title/Headline: Pakistan Army Cancels US Trip Amid Search Dispute Abstract: Pakistan's military canceled a trip by officers to an annual meeting at U.S. Central Command after they were taken off a plane and subjected to "unwarranted security checks" at Dulles International Airport in Washington, a spokesman said Wednesday. The row appeared to be a sign of the mistrust between the U.S. and Pakistani militaries, which are nominally allies in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaida but have long had an uneasy relationship. The nine-member delegation was headed by a two-star Navy rear admiral. Its members were awaiting take off on a United Airlines flight to Tampa, Fla. - where Central Command is based - when the incident took place Monday, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. The delegation was taken off the plane and subjected to "unwarranted security checks" that resulted in them missing their flight. They called military authorities in Pakistan who instructed them to return home, Abbas said. United Airlines officials were not immediately available for comment. Dawn newspaper reported that the delegation was taken off the plane after a passenger voiced concerns they may have posed a security threat. Increased airport checks at U.S. airports in response to the threat from Islamist militants after the Sept. 11 attacks are a sensitive issue for many Pakistanis, who frequently complain they are being unfairly singled out. A group of Pakistani lawmakers on a State Department sponsored visit to the United States in March returned home early after complaining of excessive security checks and were hailed as heroes by sections of the media on their return (Seattle Times, 2010).

Date: September 4, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Pakistan Bombing Death Toll Hits 65 Abstract: The death toll from a bombing at a Shia Muslim rally in southwestern Pakistan has reached 65, after several seriously injured individuals passed away overnight at hospitals. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 53 with nearly 200 injured. The Friday attack came as thousands of people were attending a rally in Quetta in support of the Palestinian cause, marking the international Quds day. According to the medics, over a dozen people succumbed to their injuries overnight at hospitals across the city on Saturday. The death toll is expected to rise further as some of the injured are reported in critical condition. The attack was the second assault against Pakistani Shia Muslims in three days. Three bombs went off in quick succession during a crowded mourning procession in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday. Nearly 40 people were killed and 300 more were injured in the carnage. The attacks came as Shia Muslims were marking the martyrdom of the first Shia Imam, Ali Ibn-Abi Taleb (PBUH). Pro-Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for both of these attacks which have also killed several children. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in the sectarian-related incidents in Pakistan (Press TV, 2010). Date: September 18, 2010 Source: Tehran Times Title/Headline: Karachi Shuts Down After Politician Killed In London Abstract: Pakistan's financial hub and largest city, Karachi, shut down Friday after the killing in London of a leading figure in a regional Pakistani political party. Police in the British capital said a major investigation had been launched into the murder of Imran Farooq, who was found with stab wounds and head injuries outside his London home late Thursday. However, police said it was 'too soon' to say whether the attack was a 'politically-motivated crime.' Farooq, a senior member of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), had been living in London since 1999 after leaving Pakistan when he was charged with criminal offences in connection with the alleged strong-arm tactics of the party he co-founded in Karachi (Tehran Times, 2010). Date: September 23, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Girl Schools Blown Up In NW Pakistan Abstract: Unknown assailants have blown up two girls' school on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. Suspected Taliban-linked militants destroyed two government-run girls' primary and high schools late on Wednesday by detonating explosives in the Budhbir area of Shoora Kheel village, The Nation daily newspaper reported. The explosion ripped through the schools, leveling both buildings. There were no reported casualties since the schools were empty at the time, local officials said. Taliban-linked militants have opposed female education in the northwest Pakistan valley of Swat, depriving more than 40,000 girls of schooling. In the past several years, the Taliban have destroyed many schools, especially in the areas of Swat Valley and the North-West Frontier Province as part of their radical campaign that most Muslims have censured as anti-Islamic terrorism (Press TV, 2010).

Date: September 24, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Massive Anti-US Rallies Held In Pakistan Abstract: Thousands of people have held anti-US demonstrations across Pakistan to protest an American court's verdict against a female Pakistani scientist. The protests on Friday come after a New York court sentenced 38-year-old Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison. Hundreds of police officers were deployed across the capital Islamabad to stop angry protesters from marching into the US Embassy. In Siddiqui's hometown of Karachi, police fired tear gas to prevent protesters from moving towards the US consulate. In Multan, scores of activists including lawyers blocked traffic. Siddiqui has been found guilty of allegedly trying to kill FBI agents and US military service members in Afghanistan. Human rights groups argue that she was kidnapped and held in secret US prisons abroad. Political activists and Siddiqui's relatives have strongly criticized the US justice system for its handling of the case . The Islamabad government says it will petition Washington to secure the repatriation of the mother of three on humanitarian grounds (Press TV, 2010). Date: September 24, 2010 Source: Fox News (Australian), Associated Press (U.S.) Title/Headline: Pakistan United In Outrage At Sentencing Of Neuroscientist For Attacking US Agents Abstract: The country's leaders were quick to show their outrage at the sentence handed down to a Pakistani woman convicted of attacking U.S. agents, as were opposition politicians. By the time weekly prayers rolled round, protesters were battling police and the Pakistani Taliban had offered its support. The sentencing of Aafia Siddique to 86 years in an American jail left enemies and political opponents reading from the same script Friday, riding a wave of anger on behalf of a woman widely believed to be an innocent victim of a vengeful, post 9/11 American justice system. The reaction was a reminder of the deep mistrust many Pakistanis have of the United States nine years after the two countries formed an uncomfortable alliance in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. While Washington tries to impress on the country it is a long-term partner, many Pakistanis persist on seeing it as a threat. Siddique, a 38-year-old American-educated neuroscientist, was detained in Afghanistan in 2008 by Afghan authorities. She was convicted of seizing an M4 rifle weapon from one of her U.S. interrogators there and attempting to kill them. She was severely wounded in the incidents. Siddique and her defense lawyers deny she ever fired a weapon. Her family and supporters say she disappeared along with her three children five years before she turned up in Afghanistan and allege she was either held in a secret jail by American authorities or Pakistan's spy agency. U.S. and Pakistani officials have denied that, and there has been little evidence to support their claims. But they have been repeated so often they are taken as the standard version by many of her supporters and much of the media, which has largely rallied in her defense. The claims of secret detention have resonance because Pakistani security forces have rounded up many terror suspects and handed them over to the United States in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Under a military ruler at the time, its government has never admitted how many people it arrested at the behest of Washington. Such is the perceived force of public opinion, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other leading officials have had to stress their efforts over the last three years to try and get her back to Pakistan. The government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to give her quality legal representation in New York. Gilani said he had lobbied U.S. officials for Siddique's release to "improve the U.S. image in Pakistan." "We all are united, and we want the daughter of the nation to come back to Pakistan," he told parliament, which unanimously adopted a resolution demanding Siddique's repatriation after her sentencing Thursday. "I fought for her, my lawyer fought for her and now I will take up this matter on a political level." Despite his remarks, there is little the government can do to get bring Siddique home. Islamabad has no agreement with the United States that allows Pakistanis convicted of crimes there to serve part of their sentences at home. A presidential pardon for Siddique looks very unlikely. Much of the criticism over the last 24 hours has been directed at the government, which is already unpopular in many circles because of its failure to improve the economy, its alliance with the United States and faltering efforts to respond to this summer's floods . "Due to the shameless rulers of Pakistan, the United States got the courage to take Aafia to the United States and punish there," said Munawar Hassan, the chief of Jamat-i-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party, in a rally attended by around 8,000 people in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Fauzia Siddique, Aafia's sister, has led a tireless and vocal campaign for her release since 2008 and looked after two of her children. "This verdict is a test for the Muslim global community and the Pakistanis," Fauzia told a gathering of Jamat-i-Islami female activists in Karachi. "It is mandatory on all Muslims to get the daughter of the Muslims free from the prison of the infidels." Before her arrest in Afghanistan, Siddique had been accused by the U.S. of links to al-Qaida. Prosecutors said they found her carrying notes referencing a "mass casualty attack" on New York City landmarks and a stash of sodium cyanide. But she was only ever tried in relation to the attack on her captors in Afghanistan. Her loudest supporters have been Pakistan's Islamist political parties and groups, which have embraced the opportunity to be seen defending a Pakistan Muslim woman as well as accusing the government of collaborating in her arrest and trial. In Karachi, police fired tear gas to disburse rock-throwing protesters trying to march to the U.S. Consulate. At least five people were arrested. In Islamabad, 100 people attempting to reach the U.S. Embassy scuffled with police near a five-star hotel, witnesses said. "Down with America! Jihad, Jihad!" the protesters shouted. The Pakistani Taliban, which is waging war against the Pakistani government and has killed scores of innocent men, women and children in bombings over the last three years, also spoke out in support of Aafia. "We will not appeal or beg to America for the release of Aafia Siddique," said Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq by phone from an undisclosed location. "We will bring her back by using the power of the gun (Fox News, 2010). Date: September 25, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Bomb Scare Interrupts Flight Carrying 273 People, But May Have Been A Hoax Abstract: Canadian police are investigating whether a phoned-in hoax caused a Pakistani jet to be diverted to Stockholm for several hours Saturday for fear that one of its passengers was carrying explosives. Police evacuated 273 people from the jet, and briefly detained a Canadian man, after an anonymous caller in Canada tipped-off authorities that the suspect was carrying explosives. However, no explosives were found on the man, who was released after questioning by police, or on the Boeing 777 from Pakistan

International Airlines, which had been bound from Toronto to Karachi, Pakistan. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it was investigating whether the incident was a "terrorism hoax." "If the information is deemed to be a hoax, the person who passed along that information can be charged for public mischief," said spokeswoman Sgt. Julie Gagnon in Ottawa. All passengers except the suspect were allowed back on the plane at Stockholm's Arlanda airport nine hours later. It took off for Manchester, England, from where the passengers would continue their journey to Karachi, said Jan Lindqvist, a spokesman for airport operator Swedavia. Swedish police described the suspect as a Canadian citizen born in 1982. Initially they said he was of Pakistani background but later said they were not sure. A spokesman for the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines said the suspect was a 25-year-old Canadian national. A prosecutor decided to release the man after questioning, and police were trying to help him continue his journey to Karachi either late Saturday or Sunday, police spokesman Erik Widstrand said, adding the man had cooperated with investigators. "He was calm but irritated," Widstrand said. The pilot asked to land the plane in Stockholm after Canadian authorities said they received a tip-off by phone the man was carrying explosives. Passengers were told there was a technical problem with the aircraft and didn't find out the real reason until they were on the ground, Widstrand said. A SWAT team detained the suspect as he was evacuated from the aircraft along with the other passengers. An Associated Press reporter at the airport saw the passengers boarding yellow airport buses parked near the aircraft. The tip was "called in by a woman in Canada," police operation leader Stefan Radman said, adding that Swedish police took the threat seriously. Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Sgt. Marc LaPorte said an anonymous caller called twice Friday saying a man on the flight had explosives. "The first call provided vague information. It did lay out that there was an individual on that specific flight in possession of explosives and then the second call provided more details with regards to the identity of the person," LaPorte said. He declined to elaborate on the caller, saying there was potentially a criminal offense involved. "On its face" it appears someone had an ax to grind against the man, LaPorte said, but couldn't elaborate on the motive. "If the Swedish authorities are saying that they released him and there is no investigation on their end, we will obviously pursue this as a hoax," LaPorte said, adding there could be a terrorism hoax charge as well as a public mischief charge. In Washington, the FBI was assisting Swedish and Canadian authorities in their investigation, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said Saturday. Swedish police said the man was not on any international no-fly lists and had cleared a security check in Canada. He didn't resist when the SWAT team took him into custody. In Pakistan, a spokesman for state-run PIA confirmed the incident involved Flight PK782 to Karachi. The passengers waited at the "international holding area" at the airport as they and their luggage were scanned and searched, airline spokesman Sultan Hasan said. Pakistani diplomats were at the airport to coordinate with the security officials. PIA said there were 255 passengers and 18 crew members on the plane. Of the passengers, 102 were Canadian nationals, 139 Pakistanis, eight U.S. citizens, three Indians and one each from Japan, Malaysia and Bangladesh. The Canadian Embassy in Stockholm was in contact with local authorities to gather additional information, Foreign Affairs spokesman Alain Cacchione said (Fox News, 2010). Date: September 25, 2010 Source: Telegraph Title/Headline: Pervez Musharraf To Return From Exile In Britain As 'Saviour' Of Pakistan Abstract: Pakistan's former military leader, Pervez Musharraf, tells Colin Freeman why his country needs him again - and why British troops must stay the course in Afghanistan. For the last two years he has earned a lucrative living on the global lecture circuit, enlightening select audiences on what it was like to have a ringside seat in the war on terror. As the military ruler of Pakistan in the turbulent period after 9/11, former president Pervez Musharraf has no shortage of ideas on how to fight extremists and pacify both his homeland and neighbouring Afghanistan. Now the former general is about put his theories to the test - quitting his comfortable retirement pad in London, where he has lived since stepping down in 2008, and returning to Pakistan to launch his own political party. The All Pakistan Muslim League will have its opening manifesto launch in London on Friday, aiming for nothing less than to "change the political culture" of his home nation, where last month's devastating floods have added to already crippling problems with terrorism and weak government. Indeed, given the scale of the challenges he now plans to grapple with, it is perhaps no surprise to learn that the public speaking firm to which Mr Musharraf is signed with, the elite Harry Walker agency, also has anti-poverty campaigner Bono, climate change guru Al Gore and several other stars of the "how-to-save-the-world" school of motivational speaking on its books. "I am very comfortable travelling around the world on lectures, but I am going into politics for the greater cause of Pakistan," Mr Musharraf told The Sunday Telegraph in an interview last week. "The people have reached the end of their hopes, and I want to try to rekindle their faith in both themselves and Pakistan itself. It would be better to try and fail rather than not to try at all." The former special forces soldier was also vocal on the military challenges in neighbouring Afghanistan, saying that the escalating bodycount of British, US and other Nato soldiers should be no excuse for an early pull-out. US-led plans to start drawing down troops by the middle of next year would, he warned, lead to the region becoming a "nexus for terrorists" all over the Muslim world. "I am not trying to portray a domesday scenario unnecessarily, but the implications would be very serious for Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of world," he said. "It would encourage and strengthen the Taliban and al-Qaeda, giving them a country to fall back on. Quitting cannot be time related, it has to be effect related." In a blunt comment on what he called "bring the boys home" sentiment in Britain, he added that soldiers should not sign up for military service if they did not expect to face combat. "I don't understand why there is this issue when an army suffers casualties. Of course you try to keep them to a minimum, and I offer my deep condolences to the family of any soldier is killed, but I would also ask their parents: 'Why was it that they joined the army? All voluntary armies face occasions where they have to maybe fight for their country and sacrifice their lives." Mr Musharraf, 67, was speaking at his flat off London's Edgware Road, where he lives in a smart three-bedroom apartment in London's Arab district. Handy for the smart restaurants of nearby Mayfair, where he and his wife are regular faces, it is also close to reminders of the turbulence in his homeland. Nearby Edgware Road tube station was among those hit by the July 7 bombers, carried by British-born Pakistani radicals, while last week, a few miles away in Edgware itself, Imran Farooq, the exiled leader of Pakistan's MQM party, was murdered in what may have been a turf war linked to events in Karachi. Mr Musharraf, who receives occasional Scotland Yard protection himself, declined to speculate on the motive for the killing, but said: "It is terrible that such an assassination could happen in a place like London." His self-rebranding as his homeland's civilian saviour is in marked contrast to how his political career began in 1999, when he became the latest in a long line of Pakistani military leaders to seize power from a civilian government seen as incompetent and corrupt. As the title of his recent biography In the

Line of Fire suggests, he then came under huge US pressure to clamp down on the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the wake of 9-11, much to the fury of religious hardliners in his own country. His star faded further as he clung to power for a further seven years, culminating in calls from political rivals for him to face criminal charges when he finally stepped down. Since then, though, his reputation has recovered somewhat, not least because the civilian administration of President Ali Asif Zardari, who was elected in late 2008, is seen to have done little better. Widespread public anger at his government's lacklustre response to the floods, which have left 12 million in need of emergency food aid, could well prove a filip to Mr Musharraf's new party. While he declined to comment on Mr Zardari's performance, Mr Musharraf said: "There is a hell of a lot of disappointment among the people over the way the flood relief was tackled." He added: "What is required is unity of thought and action between three elements; the political forces, the army and the bureaucracy. They need an individual who can get them to think and act alike." Whether Mr Musharraf will find politics as easy in civilian clothes remains to be seen though. His fledgling party may struggle against the more established political groupings like Mr Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party, which has enjoyed a mass following for several decades. He is, however, looking forward to one advantage that he lacked during his previous stints in power - legitimacy. "Personally I never saw myself as a dictator, even though people called me that, but now when I come back I will be a politician on normal terms. I am also a born optimist, which helps. We have everything going in Pakistan - the failure is only of leadership, not the people (Telegraph, 2010). Date: September 27, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: NATO Forces Kill More Than 50 Insurgents In 2 Airstrikes In Pakistan Abstract: NATO helicopters based in Afghanistan carried out at least two airstrikes in Pakistan that killed more than 50 militants after the insurgents attacked a small Afghan security outpost near the border, spokesmen said Monday. NATO justified the strikes based on "the right of self-defense." Pakistan is sensitive about attacks on its territory, but U.S. officials have said they have an agreement that allows aircraft to cross a few miles into Pakistani airspace if they are in hot pursuit of a target. The first strike took place Saturday after insurgents based in Pakistan attacked an Afghan outpost in Khost province, which is located right across the border from Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, said U.S. Capt. Ryan Donald, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. "The ISAF helicopters did cross into Pakistan territory to engage the insurgents," said Donald. "ISAF maintains the right to self-defense, and that's why they crossed the Pakistan border." The strike killed 49 militants , said U.S. Maj. Michael Johnson, another ISAF spokesman. The second attack occurred when helicopters returned to the border area and were attacked by insurgents based in Pakistan, said Donald. "The helicopters returned to the scene and they received direct small arms fire and, once again operating in self-defense, they engaged the insurgents," said Donald. The strike killed at least four militants, said Johnson. The tribal area where the strikes took place is largely controlled by militants who regularly carry out attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. rarely uses manned aircraft to carry out strikes in North Waziristan and instead relies on drone attacks that American officials refuse to acknowledge publicly. Pakistani intelligence officials said two NATO helicopters carried out a third strike inside Pakistani territory on Monday morning, killing five militants and wounding nine others. The strike occurred in the village of Mata Sanger in the Kurram tribal area, which is directly across the border from the Afghan provinces of Paktia and Nangarhar, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media (Fox News, 2010).

Date: September 30, 2010 Source: Telegraph, Damien McElroy Title/Headline: Gen Musharraf Warns Of Pakistan Coup After Crisis Meeting In London Abstract: Gen Musharraf warns of Pakistan coup after crisis meeting in London. Pakistan's former military dictator has warned of a new army-led coup against the government as he prepared to launch a new political party in London on Friday. Gen Pervez Musharraf said the army should be given a constitutional role in the government of the Muslim state. Pakistan's former military dictator has warned of a new army-led coup against the government as he prepared to launch a new political party in London on Friday. Gen Musharraf warns of Pakistan coup after crisis meeting in London. "The situation in Pakistan can only be solved when the military has some role," he said. "If you want stability, checks and balances in the democratic structure of Pakistan, the military ought to have some sort of role." Rumours of an imminent coup have swept through Pakistan since an angry confrontation between the unpopular president and the army chief earlier this week. Gen Ashfaq Kayani, the hand-picked successor of Gen Musharraf, criticised President Asif Ali Zardari and Yusuf Gilani, the prime minister, for the government's response to the floods that devastated the country in July, leaving at least 2,000 dead and millions displaced. Gen Musharraf said the circumstances that forced him to launch a coup against the civilian government in 1999 had reemerged. "In that one year, Pakistan was going down and a number of people, including politicians, women, men came to me, telling me 'Why are you not acting? Are you going to act for Pakistan's good?' "You see the photographs of the meeting with the president and the prime minister and I can assure you they were not discussing the weather," he said. "There was a serious discussion of some kind or other and certainly at this moment all kinds of pressures must be on this army chief." The 67-year-old former president, who was forced out of office in 2008, will launch the All Pakistan Muslim League, in Whitehall on Friday as he looks to contest the next elections in 2013 as a civilian. Mr Gilani said Gen Musharraf would face trial in front of Pakistan's supreme court on corruption charges if he returned to Pakistan from his London exile (McElroy, 2010).

Date: October 3, 2010 Source: Telegraph, Toby Harnden Title/Headline: US Secretly Shifts Armed Drones To Fight Terrorists In Pakistan Abstract: Predator and Reaper drones have been lent by the US military to the CIA as part of a shift in strategy that underlines the Obama administration's view that Pakistan is unable or unwilling to target Islamist sanctuaries on its own soil. Tensions between the US and Pakistan have flared after a key route used to supply American troops in Afghanistan was shut after three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack by a Nato helicopter gunship. Predator and Reaper drones have been lent by the US military to the CIA as part of a shift in strategy that underlines the Obama administration's view that Pakistan is unable or unwilling to target Islamist sanctuaries on its own soil. Tensions between the US and Pakistan have flared after a key route used to supply American troops in Afghanistan was shut after three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack by a NATO helicopter gunship (Harnden, 2010). Date: October 5, 2010 Source: Fox News, The Wall Street Journal Title/Headline: U.S. Slams Pakistani Effort Against Militants Abstract: A new White House assessment steps up criticism of Pakistan's campaign against militants, stating bluntly that its government and military have been unwilling to take action against Al Qaeda and like-minded terrorists. The aggressive language of the reportwhich also criticizes the leadership of President Asif Ali Zardaricould further strain difficult relations with a key ally and undercut support in Congress for providing billions of dollars in aid to Islamabad. The report, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, also raises questions about the U.S.-led coalition's progress battling the Taliban and improving governance in Afghanistan two months before the White House will review its war strategy. The administration and Pentagon have until now tried to keep their harshest criticisms of Pakistan private to avoid a public rift, but the report shows growing U.S. frustration, officials said. "The report reflects that there are real challenges we have with Pakistan," said an Obama administration official. Officials at all levels are in talks with Pakistan to address these issues, the official added. President Barack Obama, in a letter to Congress accompanying the report, said he doesn't see the need for any adjustments in Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy "at this time." While administration officials have publicly played down the need for adjustments in strategy, they have made some changes, including a recently stepped-up campaign of strikes in Pakistan by Central Intelligence Agency drones against militants whom the U.S. sees Islamabad as unable or unwilling to attack. Pakistani officials have said they don't lack the will and that they have generally stepped up their efforts in response to U.S. requests, getting too little credit for it. But they say their army is already stretched thin a problem exacerbated when soldiers were diverted to respond this summer to the worst flooding in the country's history. "The Pakistan military continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or Al Qaeda forces in North Waziristan," the White House concludes, referring to the Pakistani tribal region that U.S. officials say is being used as a staging ground for attacks on troops in Afghanistan, as well as to plot attacks on targets in Europe (Fox News, 2010).

Date: October 6, 2010 Source: Fox News, The Wall Street Journal Title/Headline: Report: Pakistan Spy Agency Urging Taliban To Fight U.S. Abstract: Members of Pakistan's spy agency are pressing Taliban field commanders to fight the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, U.S. officials and Afghan militants have told The Wall Street Journal, a development that undercuts a key element of the Pentagon's strategy for ending the war. The explosive accusation is the strongest yet in a series of U.S. criticisms of Pakistan, and shows a deteriorating relationship with an essential ally in the Afghan campaign. The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and development aid to Pakistan for its support. The U.S. and Afghanistan have sought to persuade midlevel Taliban commanders to lay down their weapons in exchange for jobs or cash. The most recent Afghan effort at starting a peace process took place this week in Kabul. But few Taliban have given up the fight, officials say. Some Taliban commanders and U.S. officials say militant leaders are being pressured by officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency not to surrender. "The ISI wants to arrest commanders who are not obeying [ISI] orders," said a Taliban commander in Kunar province. U.S. officials say they have heard similar reports from captured militants and those negotiating to lay down their arms. A senior Pakistani official dismissed the allegation, insisting Islamabad is fighting militants, not aiding them. "Whenever anything goes wrong in Afghanistan, ISI is to be blamed," said the senior Pakistani official. "Honestly, they see ISI agents behind every bush in Afghanistan." The Taliban commander in Kunar, like others interviewed in recent days, said he remained opposed to the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and had no plans to stop fighting them. But "the ISI wants us to kill everyonepolicemen, soldiers, engineers, teachers, civiliansjust to intimidate people," the commander said (Fox News, 2010). Date: October 6, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: US Blames Pakistan For Afghan Failure Abstract: A new White House report says the Pakistani military is avoiding "direct conflict" with militants near its border with

neighboring Afghanistan. The report, sent to Congress by President Barack Obama, accuses the Pakistani army of pursuing its own interests in the volatile region. "The Pakistani military continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or al-Qaeda forces in North Waziristan," the report read. The report comes as a non-UN-sanctioned US strike killed at least six people and wounded several others in the country's troubled northwestern tribal region on Wednesday. The US has stepped up its non-UN-sanctioned drone attacks on Pakistani soil in recent days resulting in significant civilian casualties. The development coincides with Islamabad shutting a major crossing along the border with Afghanistan in reaction to a NATO incursion into its territory. Experts say the US is looking for scapegoats and shifting blames on regional countries for its failure in the Afghan war. The rising number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and the failure of foreign forces to subdue the Taliban and restore peace and security in the country have resulted in public outrage in the US and NATO member states. The US led the invasion of Afghanistan allegedly to eradicate terrorism; nine years on, however, it has yet to ameliorate the situation (Press TV, 2010). Date: October 6, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Unauthorized US Attack Kills 6 Pakistanis Abstract: A non-UN-sanctioned US strike has killed at least six people and wounded several others in Pakistan's troubled northwestern tribal region. Local officials say an unmanned plane has fired two missiles into a residential compound in North Waziristan. The attack has triggered fire in the building; its smoke was seen from as far as a half a kilometer away. The death toll is expected to rise as some of the injured are reported to be in critical condition. Unauthorized airstrikes in Pakistan, initiated by former US president George W. Bush, have continued under President Barack Obama, contributing to the death of hundreds of Pakistani civilians. While Washington says the attacks target militants, reports show that mostly civilians bear the brunt. The US military has launched record numbers of such attacks this year. The attacks have turned into a source of tension between Islamabad and Washington. Islamabad has condemned the airstrikes, describing them as a violation of its sovereignty. In retaliation to the surge in cross-border attacks, Pakistan has closed its borders with Afghanistan to NATO supply trucks. The recent Pakistani move against the US-led forces has not stopped the US military from carrying out such attacks inside Pakistani territory (Press TV, 2010). Date: October 6, 2010 Source: USA Today Title/Headline: U.S. Apologizes For Attack On Pakistani Soldiers Abstract: The U.S. apologized Wednesday for a recent helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border, saying American pilots mistook the soldiers for insurgents they were pursuing . The apology, which came after a joint investigation, could pave the way for Pakistan to reopen a key border crossing that NATO uses to ship goods into landlocked Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the crossing to NATO supply convoys in apparent reaction to the Sept. 30 incident. Suspected militants have taken advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against stranded or rerouted trucks, including two Wednesday where gunmen torched at least 55 fuel tankers and killed a driver. "We extend our deepest apology to Pakistan and the families of the Frontier Scouts who were killed and injured," said the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson. Pakistan initially reported that three soldiers were killed and three wounded in the attack, but one of the soldiers who was critically injured and initially reported dead ended up surviving, said Maj. Fazlur Rehman, the spokesman for the Frontier Corps. Pakistani soldiers fired at the two U.S. helicopters prior to the attack, a move the investigation team said was likely meant to notify the aircraft of their presence after they passed into Pakistani airspace several times. "We believe the Pakistani border guard was simply firing warning shots after hearing the nearby engagement and hearing the helicopters flying nearby," said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Tim Zadalis, NATO's director for air plans in Afghanistan who led the investigation. "This tragic event could have been avoided with better coalition force coordination with the Pakistan military. The head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, also expressed his condolences, saying in a statement that "we deeply regret this tragic loss of life and will continue to work with the Pakistan military and government to ensure this doesn't happen again." Pakistan moved swiftly after the attack to close the Torkham border crossing that connects northwestern Pakistan with Afghanistan through the famed Khyber Pass. The closure has left hundreds of trucks stranded alongside the country's highways and bottlenecked traffic heading to the one route into Afghanistan from the south that has remained open. There have been seven attacks on NATO supply convoys since Pakistan closed Torkham, including those Wednesday . NATO officials have insisted that neither the attacks nor the border closure have caused supply problems for NATO troops since hundreds of trucks still cross into Afghanistan each day through the Chaman crossing in southwestern Pakistan and via Central Asian states. But reopening Torkham is definitely a priority for NATO because it is the main crossing in Pakistan, the country through which NATO ships the majority of its supplies into Afghanistan. Other routes are more expensive and logistically difficult. Both U.S. and Pakistani officials have predicted Torkham would reopen soon, and the apologies issued Wednesday could provide Pakistan with a face-saving way to back down. Reopening the border could reduce the frequency with which militants have attacked NATO supply convoys in recent days, although such attacks occurred regularly even before Torkham was closed. The first attack Wednesday came early in the morning when an unidentified number of gunmen in two vehicles attacked trucks as they sat in the parking lot of a roadside hotel on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. They were making their way to the Chaman crossing. One driver was killed in the attack and at least 25 trucks were destroyed by fire that spread quickly from vehicle to vehicle, senior police official Hamid Shakil said . On Wednesday night, suspected militants armed with assault rifles opened fire on oil tankers parked along the road in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as they were making their way to Torkham. At least 30 tankers were engulfed in flames, said local police officer Nisar Khan. It was unclear if there were any casualties. Of the seven attacks on convoys bringing supplies in from the port city of Karachi since the Torkham closure, five were on trucks heading to that crossing and two were on their way to Chaman. The convoys bring fuel, military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan. It was unclear who was behind the latest attacks, but the Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for similar assaults on NATO supplies. The helicopter attack and the border closure have exposed the frequent strains in the alliance between Pakistan and the United States. But Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell downplayed

the possibility of any lasting effects. "There are incidents which create misunderstandings, there are setbacks, but that does not mean the relationship this crucial relationship to us is in any way derailed," Morrell said Tuesday. Even if the border is reopened, underlying tensions will remain in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, especially over Pakistan's unwillingness to go after Afghan Taliban militants on its territory with whom it has strong historical ties and who generally focus their attacks on Western troops, not Pakistani targets. (USA Today, 2010).

Date: October 6, 2010 Source: BBC, Riaz Sohail Title/Headline: Nato Contractors 'Attacking Own Vehicles' In Pakistan Abstract: Nato supply convoys travelling through Pakistan to Afghanistan have regularly come under attack in the past, but following Pakistan's decision to block their route through the Khyber Pass, they now face an even bigger security threat. Hundreds of tankers and trucks have been left stranded on highways and depots across Pakistan, with little or no security. Taliban militants have regularly been targeting the convoys, even when they are heavily protected. But many believe it is not just the militants who pose a security threat to the convoys. The owners of oil tankers being used to supply fuel to Nato in Afghanistan say some of the attacks on their convoys are suspicious. They say there is evidence to suggest that bombs have been planted in many of vehicles by the "Nato contractors" - individuals or companies who have been contracted by Nato to supply fuel and goods to forces in Afghanistan. The contractors subsequently hire the transporters who then carry the goods. Dost Mohammad, an oil tanker owner from Nowshera district, said a Nato contractor had recently been caught trying to plant a bomb in an oil tanker. Contractors say there is little of no security for the supply convoys. "This happened in the area of Paiyee, when he was putting the bomb under the vehicle." "At that time, a few men also opened fire on the tankers. The deputy later told the police that he had been told to plant the bomb by the contractor." Dost Mohammad said the contractor had apparently sold off the fuel first. "Only 2,000 litres from the original 50,000 litres had been left in the tanker to cover up the crime," he said. Dost Mohammad said it is a win-win situation for the contractors. "If an old vehicle is burnt, Nato gives them money for a new vehicle. In addition, they receive compensation for all the fuel lost as well." We are very scared at the moment - we are an open target for the militants said Israrullah Shinwari of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association. But the Deputy Minister for Interior, Tasneem Ahmed, dismissed the transporters' claims. "We have no such information that the Nato contractors are themselves setting the tankers on fire," he told the BBC. "No such complaints have been lodged, to my knowledge." The BBC also spoke to a Nato contractor, who was similarly dismissive of the allegations. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Nato insured all the goods being transported and the vehicles carrying them. " Nato pays the premium and bears the relevant charges with the local companies who provide the schemes. The transporters are then reimbursed on the basis of their actual losses," he said. But he said the policies were only valid within Pakistan. But Nowshera's police chief, Nisar Tanoli, had a different account of events. Khyber Pass: 1) Up to 80% of Nato supplies for Afghanistan pass through Pakistan 2) Majority are driven 1,200 miles (1,931km) from port of Karachi to Kabul via Khyber Pass 3) 1,000 container lorries and tankers travel daily through the pass to Kabul 4) Khyber Pass is 53km long (33 miles) and up to a height of 1,070m (3,444ft) 5) About 150 lorries go via the southern supply route through Chaman to Kandahar Talking to the BBC, he confirmed that at least two attempts to blow up oil tankers had taken place in the district. "One took place in Paiyee, and the other in the area of Watak near Akora Khattak," he said . "In both incidents the tankers were parked in the area for a couple of days. During this time, bombs were made in nearby houses and then used on the tankers." He said the contractors were "in a hurry" to get a copy of the initial police reports into the incident and were "not interest in prolonging the investigations". "The insurance agents also showed up a few days later," he said. Mr Tanoli says the police carried on their investigations and the facts eventually came to light. "We have now arrested some drivers and their helpers," he said. "The people behind them are not residents in the district, but we have issued warrants for their arrest." He added that there have been incidents in which fuel for aircraft has been sold off. "The contractors later said it had leaked, or the tanker caught fire." All, then, is not as straight forward as it seems, as far as the threat to the Nato supply route is concerned. Pakistan's intelligence and security apparatus may be encouraging the attacks by looking the other way said a Security analyst. But despite these additional concerns, the main danger continues to come from the Tal iban. "We are very scared at the moment - we are an open target for the militants," said Israrullah Shinwari, a spokesman for the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association. "Since the blockade was enforced, we have 3,000 tankers stranded across Pakistan." "The blockade itself has cost us tens of millions of rupees in losses. This does not include the damages suffered in the attacks. "The Taliban have openly declared they will target the tankers, but we have been provided with no security." Since 2007, the militants have destroyed or captured dozens of Nato transport vehicles, especially in the Khyber tribal region. But a security analyst said the latest move was "tantamount to encouraging the militants to have a real go at the convoys". "The fact that government ministers are calling the attack an expression of public anger shows that some may just be payback," he said. "Pakistan's intelligence and security apparatus may be encouraging the attacks by looking the other way. In fact, there are suggestions that agencies may themselves be behind some themselves" (Sohail, 2010).

Date: October 7, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Alleged Suicide Bombs Kill 8 At Pakistan Sufi Site Abstract: Two suspected suicide bombers have attacked the most beloved Sufi shrine in Pakistan's largest city, killing at least eight people, wounding 65 others, and sending a stark reminder of the threat posed by Islamist militants to this U.S.-allied nation. Angry mobs burned tires and torched buses in the aftermath of the bombings in Karachi late Thursday. The attack came amid tensions between Washington and Islamabad over NATO helicopter incursions that have led Pakistan to close a key border crossing used to ferry supplies to Western troops in Afghanistan. Despite U.S. apologies over the incursions, one of which left two Pakistani soldiers dead, Islamabad said Thursday it had yet to decide when to reopen the crossing. The explosions at the Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine in southern port city of Karachi happened at the busiest time of the week when thousands typically visit to pray, distribute food to the poor and toss rose petals on the grave of the saint. The dead included two children . Ghazi was an 8th century saint credited with bringing Islam to the region along the coast. Local legend has it that his shrine protects Karachi from cyclones and other sea-related disasters. Pakistani Sufi sites have frequently been the target of Islamist militant groups, whose hardline interpretations of the religion leave no room for the more mystical Sufi practices that are common in this Sunni Muslim-majority nation of 175 million. The first explosion took place as the suspected bomber was going through the metal detector before a long staircase leading to the main shrine area, said Babar Khattak, the top police official in Sindh province. The second blast took place about 10 seconds later, farther ahead of the metal detector, he said. In the aftermath, an Associated Press reporter saw blood, flesh and shoes splattered at the shrine compound. Mohibullah Khan, a 38-year-old manual laborer, was about to visit the shrine after evening prayers at a nearby mosque when the explosions occurred . "I heard a huge bang and smoke billowed from there," Khan said. "I ran back toward the mosque and seconds after heard another big explosion. Then I moved to help the wounded and put six or seven of the crying ones in ambulances and police vehicles. "Gunshots could be heard throughout the chaotic city of 16 million-plus after the attack, while angry mobs torched at least two buses in the downtown area and burned tires on some roads. Sindh province Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza said all city shrines were being sealed off. Condemnations poured in from Pakistani leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, who was staying elsewhere in the city at the time. "We remain committed to fighting these murderers and expelling them from our land," Zardari aide Farahnaz Ispahani said in an e-mail. In July, twin suicide bombers in the eastern city of Lahore attacked Data Darbar, Pakistan's most revered Sufi shrine, killing 47 people and wounding 180 (Fox News, 2010).

Date: October 8, 2010 Source: Telegraph, Decan Walsh Title/Headline: Pakistan To Investigate Execution Video Abstract: Pakistan's army chief orders inquiry into mobile phone footage that purports to show soldiers shooting dead blindfolded men. Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, has ordered an inquiry into a video that purports to show a group of soldiers gunning down six blindfolded men in the country's troubled north-west. The video, which has been circulating on the internet for weeks has renewed long-standing concerns about military human rights violations during operations against the Taliban. If authenticated it could jeopardise $2bn (1.2bn) in US military subsidies to Pakistan, under a law that prohibits funding of foreign armies with a record of gross human rights abuses. Announcing the board of inquiry this morning, Kayani said it would determine the veracity of the video, including the identity of the executioners wearing Pakistani army soldiers' uniforms. Appearing to take a tough stance, he said: "It is not expected of a professional army to engage in excesses against the people whom it is trying to guard against the scourge of terrorism," he said. But he added that in the past Pakistani militants have posed as soldiers. In the graphic five-and-a-half minute video, a group of soldiers wearing flak jackets line up six blindfolded men wearing salwar kameez, some apparently teenagers, before a wall in a wooded area. A bearded helmet-less soldier, his hands in his pockets, strolls up to the men and addresses them individually. Moments later a shooting squad of at least six soldiers, standing in a rough line, unleashes a volley of automatic gunfire. The detainees fall to the ground, some moaning in pain. Two soldiers approach and open fire at close range, apparently finishing them off. A state department spokesman last week described the images as "horrifying". One Pakistani website claimed the video, which appears to have been shot on a mobile phone, had been recorded in the Swat valley, where Pakistan conducted a sweeping military operation in 2009. However, the video contains no proof of this, and others have suggested it was recorded in the Orakzai Agency tribal area. There is also no information about when the video was recorded, or the identity of those killed. The film quality is grainy but some soldiers' faces are identifiable. They appear to be carrying G3 rifles, the standard issue Pakistani military weapon. The video first surfaced on jihadist websites, where they were being touted as a militant recruiting tool, and was later picked up by the US-based Search for international terrorist entities (Site) Intelligence Group that monitors extremist websites. News of the inquiry received a cautious welcome from human rights activists who have long accused the army of illegal detention, torture and execution during operations in the Swat valley and the tribal belt. "While we welcome the announcement from Gen Kayani it remains to be seen whether this inquiry will be meaningful or is just a sop to the international community," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch. Hasan said he could not confirm the Swat video but that in general terms "credible grounds exist for the Leahy amendment to be invoked", referring to the 1997 US law that prohibiting funding of armed forces with a record of human rights abuse. "The fact is that HRW and others have documented scores of executions, collective punishment and other abuses by the Pakistani military in Swat. To date nobody in the Pakistani military has been held accountable." The US has previously used the Leahy amendment to sanction Colombia and Indonesia.

But the Bush administration refused to apply its provisions to Iraqi military units implicated in human rights abuses after 2003. Pakistan's army, a difficult but essential partner in the fight against Islamist extremism, may also find a way of avoiding sanctions. A senior Pakistani official said that if the tape is verified the inquiry will probably shift blame on to the individual unit involved, shirking any institutional responsibility (Walsh, 2010). Date: October 8, 2010 Source: The Independent, Patrick Cockburn Title/Headline: Is Pakistan Falling Apart Abstract: Is Pakistan disintegrating? Are the state and society coming apart under the impact of successive political and natural disasters? The country swirls with rumours about the fall of the civilian government or even a military coup. The great Indus flood has disappeared from the headlines at home and abroad, though millions of farmers are squatting in the ruins of their villages. The US is launching its heaviest-ever drone attacks on targets in the west of the country, and Pakistan closed the main US and Nato supply route through the Khyber Pass after US helicopters crossed the border and killed Pakistani soldiers . Pakistan is undoubtedly in a bad way, but it is also a country with more than 170 million people, a population greater than Russia's, and is capable of absorbing a lot of punishment. It is a place of lop-sided development. It possesses nuclear weapons but children were suffering from malnutrition even before the floods. Electricity supply is intermittent so industrialists owning textile mills in Punjab complain that they have to use their own generators to stay in business. Highways linking cities are impressive, but the driver who turns off the road may soon find himself bumping along a farmer's track. The 617,000-strong army is one of the strongest in the world, but the government has failed to eliminate polio or malaria. Everybody agrees that higher education must be improved if Pakistan is to compete in the modern world, but the universities have been on strike because their budgets had been cut and they could not pay their staff. The problem for Pakistan is not that the country is going to implode or sink into anarchy, but that successive crises do not produce revolutionary or radical change. A dysfunctional and corrupt state, part-controlled by the army, staggers on and continues to misgovern the country. The merry-goround of open or veiled military rule alternates with feeble civilian governments. But power stays in the hands of an English-speaking lite that inherited from the British rulers of the Raj a sense of superiority over the rest of the population. The present government might just squeak through the post-flood crisis because of its weakness rather than its strength. The military has no reason to replace it formally since the generals already control security policy at home and abroad, as well as foreign policy and anything else they deem important to their interests. The ambition of the Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, in the next few weeks is to try to fight off the demand by the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, that the legal immunity of President Asif Ali Zardari should be lifted. Mr Zardari, who owes his position to having been the husband of Benazir Bhutto, assassinated in 2007, has a well-established (though unproven) reputation for corruption during his pre-presidential days. Whatever the outcome of the struggle with the Supreme Court, Mr Zardari is scarcely in a position to stand up to the military leaders who may find it convenient to have such a discredited civilian leader nominally in power. The military have ruled Pakistan for more than half the time since independence in 1947, but their control has never been quite absolute. The soldiers have never managed to put the politicians and the political parties permanently out of business, so the balance between military and non-military still counts. But there is no doubt about which way the struggle is going. A decisive moment came on 24 July this year when General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief of staff, was reappointed for another three-year term. The US embassy in Islamabad is said by foreign diplomats and Pakistani officials to have protested vigorously but unavailingly to Washington. It said that keeping General Kayani in place would inflict a fatal wound on democracy and demonstrate that the civilian government could not get rid of its own army commander. In the event, Washington, always a crucial influence in Islamabad, decided that it would prefer to deal with a single powerful figure able to deliver in negotiations over Afghanistan. This was in keeping with US policy towards Pakistan since the 1950s. "We were put under intense pressure to keep Kayani," said an aide of President Zardari's. "We were left with no choice." In one sense, the army never really left power after the fall of General Pervez Musharraf in 2008. It has continued to allocate to itself an extraordinarily high proportion of Pakistan's limited resources. Military bases all over the country look spruce and well cared-for, while just outside their razor-wire defences are broken roads and slum housing. At the entrance of a base just west of Islamabad last week was an elderly but effective-looking tank as a monument, the ground around it parade-ground clean. A few hundred yards away, a yellow bulldozer was driving through thick mud to make a flood-damaged road passable two months after the deluge, while a side street nearby was closed by a pool of stagnant grey-coloured water. At the other end of the country in northern Sindh, a local leader, who like many critics of the Pakistani military did not want his name published, pointed to a wide canal. He said: " This canal is not meant to be taking water from the Indus, but it is allowed to operate because it irrigates land owned by army officers." The army projects a messianic image of itself in which it selflessly takes power to save the nation. It likes to contrast its soldierly virtues of incorruptibility and efficiency with the crookedness and ineptitude of civilians. "The army is very good at claiming to be the solution to problems which it has itself created," complained a local politician in Punjab. "It is also good at ascribing all failures to civilian governments, which cannot act because the army monopolises resources." He added caustically that in his area, the floods had arrived on 6 August and the first army assistance on 26 August. Politicians and journalists criticising the army often employ code words where more is implied than stated. But last month, a government minister made a pungent attack on the army that astonished listening journalists. The minister for defence production, Abdul Qayyum Jatoi, directly accused the army of being behind the killing of the opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, in 2007, and the revered Baluchi leader Nawab Bugti, a year earlier. "We did not provide the army with uniforms and boots to kill their own countrymen, " Mr Jatoi said bluntly, suggesting that the army leaders do their duty by going to defend Pakistan's frontiers and end rumours of a coup. He added : "Not only politicians should be blamed for corruption, rather [army] generals and judges should be held responsible." Mr Jatoi's words reflect what Pakistanis say about the army in private, but seldom dare do so in public. He paid a price for his forthrightness, since Mr Gilani promptly sacked him and he is being accused of high treason in a petition before the courts. He says he does not miss his job very much because all the important decisions in his ministry were in any case taken by the military. Pakistanis are unhappy because every week seems to bring another piece of bad news. The country is highly politicised with millions of people observing with acute interest the struggles for power at the central and local level. Taxi drivers discuss the make-up of the Supreme Court and its future composition. When it comes to open and lively political disputes, Pakistan is more like Lebanon, with its tradition of weak government but free expression of opinion, than Russia or

Egypt with their supine and intimidated populations. Political parties in Pakistan are powerful and, given an ineffectual and corrupt administrative apparatus, everybody believes he or she needs somebody of influence to protect their interests. The army likes to denigrate civilian politicians as "feudalists", but in practice, big landowners have limited political power. Politicians gain influence through helping "clients" who need their support and that of their parties. "All politics here is really about jobs," says National Assembly member Mir Dost Muhammad Mazari. Pakistan may not be falling apart, but the floods and the economic crisis the government is bankrupt and inflation is at 18-20 per cent means that every Pakistani I meet, be they small farmers, generals, industrialists or tribal leaders, is gloomy about the future. Each negative incident is interpreted as a sign of Pakistan's decline and a menacing omen of worse to come. Two recent scandals, both filmed as they happened and shown on as many as 26 cable television news channels, appear to confirm that the country is saturated with corruption and violence. This explosion of news channels has happened only in the past few years and makes it far more difficult to censor information. One scandal was the notorious allegation of match-fixing in return for bribes made against Pakistani cricketers touring England. Commentators noted acidly that it was typical of the political system that the highly unpopular head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt, could not be dismissed by the defence minister, Ahmad Mukhtar, because he is the latter's brother-in-law. The scandal was peculiarly damaging because it broke in August just as the government was trying to persuade the world to give it large sums of money for flood relief. A second scandal, which may have horrified Pakistanis even more than the bribery case in England, took place a few days earlier. News out of Pakistan at the time was all about the devastating floods and it received little international attention, but the gory events were again played endlessly on television. They took place on 15 August in the city of Sialkot, north of Lahore, where two wholly innocent teenagers called Hafiz Sajjad, 18, and Mohammed Muneeb Sajjad, 15, were misidentified as robbers and lynched by a crowd in the middle of a city street. Uniformed police stood nonchalantly by as men with iron rods and sticks took turns over a period of hours to beat the boys to death. Their mangled bodies were finally hung upside down in the market and the case only became know because a courageous television reporter had accidentally witnessed and secretly filmed what happened. The Sialkot lynching shows Pakistani society at its worst. It also illustrates what happens when there is a breakdown in the administration of justice. In this case, the local police are reported to have routinely killed alleged criminals or handed them over to lynch mobs. This breakdown in the administration of justice is general. I asked Pashtun tribal elders in a town near Lakki Marwat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province what they most needed. They all said governance: some form of effective local government administration. In south Punjab I went to a tribal court where 100 tough-looking Baluchi tribesmen had submitted a land dispute to a respected leader of their tribe. It was a complicated case involving a grandfather's will written in 1985 that left 12 acres of land unequally to the sons of his two marriages. The will was not very precise but nobody cared at first because the land was in the desert. But then one member of the family started to irrigate it and made it productive, leading to a rancorous dispute about ownership. The claimants to the land had chosen binding arbitration by a respected local leader, because a decision would be swift and free. They said that if they went through the state courts, the case could take years and the judges and police could be bribed. But incidents such as the Sialkot lynching do not mean that the country is slipping into primal anarchy like Somalia. The Western world looks at Pakistan primarily in relation to Afghanistan, the Taliban, extreme jihadi Islam and the "war on terror". In a country of 170 million people there are always episodes that can be used as evidence to illustrate any trend, such as the belief that Pakistan is filled with bloodthirsty Islamic militants bent on holy war. Earlier this year, Foreign Policy magazine in Washington, which compiles an annual list of failed states, placed Pakistan 10th on the list, claiming that it showed more signs of state failure than Haiti and Yemen, and is only slightly more stable than Somalia and Yemen. The country's high ranking in the survey tells one more about the paranoid state of mind of Washington post-9/11 than what is actually happening. There is no incentive to play down the "Islamic threat to Pakistan" on the part of any journalist who wants his or her story to be published, think-tankers who need a grant, or diplomats who seek promotion. The influence and prospects for growth of small jihadi organisations are systematically exaggerated . Over-attentive reading of the Koran is seen as the first step on the road to Islamic terrorism. Overstated claims about their activities by fundamentalist Islamic groups are happily lapped up and repeated. Stories acquire a life of their own, regardless of their factual basis. During the recent floods, the foreign media reported on how militant Islamic groups were prominent and energetic in distributing aid to victims, the suggestion being that they will use their enhanced status to recruit more young men for holy war. This is supposedly what they did during the Kashmir earthquake of 2005, which killed 75,000 people whom it was difficult to reach because they lived high in the mountains. Christine Fair, an expert on Pakistan at Georgetown University in Washington, eloquently demolishes this and other spurious stories about the growth of militant Islam in Pakistan. She cites a survey of 28,000 households in 126 villages in Kashmir in which onequarter of the inhabitants said they had received aid from international agencies, 7 per cent from non-militant Islamic charities, and just 1 per cent from the Islamic militant groups. Of course, the militantly religious of all kinds are likely to be to the front in helping survivors of any disaster, because most faiths adjure their adherents to help others in a crisis. The only person I met during a visit to flooded areas who could in any way be described as a religious militant engaged in relief work was an amiable German Pentecostalist waiting for a flight in Lahore airport. Another hardy-perennial story about Pakistan claims that because of the undoubted inadequacy of the Pakistani public education system, madrasahs, or religious schools, provide free education to the needy. Once enrolled, the children are supposedly brainwashed to turn them into the future foot soldiers of jihadi Islam. In reality, Pakistani educational specialists say that just 1.3 per cent of children in school go the madrasahs, 65 per cent to public schools, and 34 per cent to non-religious private schools. In recent years, it is the small and affordable private schools that have expanded fastest, mainly because jobs in them are open to educated women prepared to accept low pay. Most jihadis turn out to have been educated at public schools. Extreme Islamists have seldom done well in elections in Pakistan. Widespread popular support for the Afghan Taliban stems primarily from the conviction that they are essentially a Pashtun national liberation movement fighting a foreign occupation. The Pakistani Taliban was once said to be "60 miles from Islamabad", but such scaremongering ignored the fact that there were three mountain ranges and one of the world's most powerful armies in between the Taliban's rag-tag fighters and the capital. The Pakistani state may not function very well but it is not failing, and a pity current crises may not even change it very much (Cockburn 2010).

Date: October 9, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Gunmen Torch 29 More NATO Oil Tankers In Pakistan Abstract: Gunmen armed with a rocket torched 29 NATO oil tankers in southwestern Pakistan before dawn Saturday, the latest attack on the supply line for international troops in Afghanistan since Pakistani authorities closed a key border crossing amid a dispute with the United States. Two responding police officers were wounded. Local government official Abdul Mateen said Saturday's attack occurred in the area of Mithri, about 120 miles east of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. He said the attackers used guns and fired a rocket to destroy the tankers. "We are facing problems in extinguishing the fire, " he said. At least 10 gunmen were involved in the attack, police official Jamil Khan said. The oil tankers were parked near a roadside restaurant. When local police responded, the gunmen fired on them before fleeing. One officer was wounded by a bullet, while another suffered slight burns as he tried to stop the blaze, Mateen said. Pakistan shuttered the border in Torkham on Sept. 30, following a NATO helicopter strike that killed two Pakistani border guards. Since then, there have been several attacks on supply convoys, including two in which militants torched 70 fuel tankers and killed a driver. The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for such previous attacks and have demanded that the government permanently bar NATO and the U.S. from using its soil to transport supplies to Afghanistan. The U.S. has apologized for the cross-border helicopter strike, but Islamabad has yet to open the border crossing at Torkham. Still, officials believe it could be reopened next week. A smaller crossing in the southwest has stayed open (Fox News, 2010). Date: October 14, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Pakistan Arrests 7 Militants, Foil Plot To Kill PM Abstract: Pakistani police said Thursday they have foiled a plot to kill the country's prime minister, foreign minister and other senior police, army and government officials by arresting a group of seven militants in central Pakistan. Senior police official Abid Qadri said authorities learned about the plot during an initial interrogation of militants, who were arrested late Wednesday after a shootout near a village in central Pakistan. The militants opened fire when police tried to pull the suspects' car over for a routine check, Qadri said. Nobody was wounded or killed in the shooting, but two men managed to escape , he said. "We have averted several high-profile attacks by arresting these terrorists," he told The Associated Press. The men are all part of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is a banned Sunni Muslim militant group linked to both the Taliban and al-Qaida, Qadri said. The group has been blamed for attacking minority Shiite worship places and killing Shiites across Pakistan. Some of the suspects arrested Wednesday are believed to have taken part in last year's attack on the main Pakistani spy agency in the central city of Multan that killed 12 people, Qadri said. He did not say how far along the men were in their alleged plot to kill Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the others. Qadri said the suspects also had plans to attack a key dam, a bridge and military installations (Fox News, 2010). Date: October 21, 2009 Source: Telegraph Title/Headline: Pictured: The Gaping Hole Left By Suicide Blasts At Pakistan University That Killed Eight Abstract: Two suicide bombers targeted the Islamic International University today at 3 15 pm killing 6 and injuring 15 according to initial reports. Both the bombers detonated explosive simultaneously. One bomber exploded himself at the University Women Cafeteria while the other attacked the Faculty of Shariat Building. 2 women are among the dead. The Interior Minister visited hospitals to inquire about those injured in the blast but had to cut short his visit to the university because of the presence of protesting students who pelted his motorcade with stones. It merits a mention here that almost all of the educational Institutions were already closed due to security threats but some Universities including Islamic University didn't close down their campuse s (Telegraph, 2009). Date: October 22, 2010 Source: CBS News, Associated Press Title/Headline: U.S. Cuts Funding for Pakistan Military Units: About 6 Army Units Linked to Alleged Extrajudicial Killings, Torture Will Lose American Cash-Flow Abstract: The Obama administration is withholding assistance to some Pakistani military units over concerns they may have been involved in human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and torture, a senior U.S. official said Thursday. The official said aid to a handful of Pakistani units believed to have committed, encouraged or tolerated abuses had been suspended under 1997 legislation championed by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy. The so-called Leahy Amendment bars U.S. military assistance from going to foreign armed forces suspected of committing atrocities. "In accordance with the Leahy Amendment, we have withheld assistance from a small number of units linked to gross human rights violations," the official said. "At the same time, we have encouraged Pakistan to improve its human rights training, and it is taking steps in that direction." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. It was not immediately clear when the decision to withhold the assistance was first taken or exactly how many Pakistani military units were affected. The New York Times first reported the withholding of aid late Thursday. The news comes just several days after India claimed Pakistan's intelligence agency was deeply involved in planning the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, and even funded reconnaissance missions to the Indian city. Grainy video showing alleged atrocities by Pakistani soldiers was first posted about three weeks ago on a jihadist web forum. CBS News' Khaled Wassef, who found the videos, says the story likely started gaining traction in Pakistan after al Qaeda's media operation, as-Sahab, included clips apparently showing Pakistani troops shooting to death at least six men in civilian clothes in a video production highlighting alleged atrocities committed by Pakistani forces. As-Sahab disseminated the material to Pakistani media outlets, raising the profile of the alleged killings and likely

helping to prompt the official Pakistani military investigation into the videos, says Wassef. The person who posted the clips in question claimed the footage was from Pakistan's Swat Valley, the scene of a major army offensive against Taliban militants in 2009. The Pakistani army has been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings in Swat ever since launching the offensive in May 2009 - allegations it denies. Halting assistance to certain units will not affect broader U.S. support for Pakistan's military, which is considered key to counterterrorism efforts in the region. On Friday, the U.S. announced a new military aid package for Pakistan worth about $2 billion over the next five years as it presses the country to do more to fight extremists there and in neighboring Afghanistan. That announcement is planned at the end of three days of high-level strategic talks in Washington between top U.S. and Pakistani officials, including Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Kayani has pledged to improve the Pakistani military's human rights record in numerous discussions with U.S. officials. "As General Kayani has said repeatedly in public and in private, professional standards and enforcement of those standards are the hallmark of a modern and successful military," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement. "These issues are part of our conversations with all militaries around the world with whom we work" (CBS News, 2010). Date: October 22, 2010 Source: France 24, AFP Title/Headline: US Offers Pakistan 2 Billion-Dollar Military Package Abstract: The United States on Friday pledged two billion dollars in military aid to Pakistan and hailed its efforts to battle extremists, seeking to bolster an uneasy alliance with the frontline nation. The five-year assistance plan, which replaces an earlier package that expired, meets a key request of Pakistan's leaders but comes amid signals the United States will deny aid to units accused of human rights violations. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US administration would ask Congress to approve two billion dollars in military aid from 2012 to 2016 as part of the United States' "enduring commitment to help Pakistan plan for its defense needs." "The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counter-terrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan," Clinton said at high-level, three-day talks between the two nations. The military package would be in addition to 7.5 billion dollars which Congress last year committed over five years in civilian aid, including building schools and roads, in a bid to dent the allure of extremists. Pakistan, which had been the main backer of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, dumped its support overnight after the September 11, 2001 attacks and became the pivotal US partner offering access into its northwestern neighbor. US officials have long questioned whether Pakistan has fully cut off ties to Afghanistan's Taliban or acted against extremists at home. But Pakistan last year launched a major offensive on homegrown Taliban, who moved perilously close to the nuclear power's capital Islamabad. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is accompanied by the army chief to the strategic dialogue in Washington, denounced criticism of his country's efforts against extremism. "There are still tongue-in-cheek comments, even in this capital, about Pakistan's heart not really being in this fight. I do not know what greater evidence to offer than the blood of our people," Qureshi said, sitting next to Clinton. "Prophets of doom are back in business painting doomsday scenarios about our alliance. They are dead wrong," he said. But a White House report to Congress this month faulted Pakistan for not working against Afghanistan's Taliban, in what experts say is an attempt by Islamabad to preserve influence in its neighbor if and when US troops leave. The United States has also been alarmed by reports of summary executions by Pakistani troops and, in accordance with US law, is said to be looking at barring training for some units involved in abuses. The United States and India have also said that Pakistan should do more to rein in fervently anti-Indian groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for orchestrating the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai (France 24, 2010). Date: October 22, 2010 Source: Global Times Title/Headline: 43 Taliban Suspects Arrested In SW Pakistan Abstract: Pakistani police arrested at least 43 suspects on charges of keeping connection with Taliban militants in the southwest Balochistan province, police sources told Xinhua. The arrest had been made by security forces on Thursday evening during a raid in Kuchlak, an outskirt of provincial capital Quetta, in an attempt to ensure security in the province plagued by insurgency and terrorism. The suspects were allegedly involved in extortion, land mafia and other petty crimes, and they are being questioned, an official said. A senior police officer confirmed that majority of the detained are Afghan refugees. Balochistan shares a long border with Afghanistan and Iran. Similar search operations are also underway in different parts of northwest tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which is the frontline in the war against terror (Global Times, 2010). Date: November 2, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Pakistan PM Sees No Chance Of Military Coup Abstract: Pakistan's prime minister on Tuesday rejected calls by opposition politicians for midterm elections and said there was no chance of the country's powerful army seizing power as it has often done in the past. The government of President Asif Ali Zardari is unpopular among many Pakistanis and is under pressure from the Supreme Court over corruption allegations. It has been dogged by speculation and rumors that it is on its way out almost from the day it took office. Zardari, the husband of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, insists he will see out his five-year term until it ends in 2013. His supporters note that his party has a majority in parliament, meaning there is no constitutional way of ending it early. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said in parliament on Tuesday that the army was "pro-democracy" and would not impose martial law. He said those calling for the dissolution of parliament and fresh elections were trying to break up the country. The army has seized power from civilian governments several times before in Pakistan's turbulent history, but many commentators say it does not currently have the appetite to stage a coup. However, it remains a powerful political force that would have to endorse any move to get rid of Zardari. Zardari is head of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, of which Gilani is also a member. Opposition spokesman Sadiqul Farooq said the government had failed to improve the economy,

restore peace and provide even basic facilities to the people. "The government will not survive. You will see midterm elections soon," he predicted. Despite Farooq's remarks, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has so far avoided directly calling for Zardari to step down or actively leading a campaign to destabilize the government. Many analyst say Sharif is well positioned to win the next elections but is no rush to take power, especially given the perilous state of the country. He may prefer to see the government limp along to 2013 and win those polls, untainted by charges of bringing down an elected government midterm (Fox News, 2010). Date: November 21, 2010 Source: Los Angeles Times, Alex Rodriguez Title/Headline: Pakistan Rejects U.S. Drone Expansion Abstract: Pakistan has rejected a request from the United States to expand its drone missile campaign against Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, a decision that limits Washington's use of one of its most effective tools against insurgents hiding out in the country's northwest. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said the government would not allow the U.S. to carry out drone strikes outside the tribal belt along the Afghan border and repeated Islamabad's request that Washington abandon its use of drones in Pakistan on the grounds that the program violates the nation's sovereignty. Basit did not say which additional areas the U.S. wanted to target. However, the Washington Post reported Saturday that the request focused on areas outside the southern city of Quetta, in Baluchistan province, where Afghan Taliban leaders have hideouts. "We are allies of the United States in the war against terror," Basit said. "However, Pakistan will not compromise on sovereignty." Islamabad's refusal comes as little surprise, given the animosity among Pakistanis that the drone campaign has stirred for years, but even as the government publicly condemns the drone program, it tacitly allows the missile strikes to take place. Pakistan even provides intelligence to facilitate the targeting of the strikes. The drone missions are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, where they are viewed as an illustration of President Asif Ali Zardari's willingness to acquiesce to most of Washington's demands. Allowing an expansion of the drone program could further aggravate the vulnerability of Zardari's government, already weakened by its mishandling of this summer's catastrophic floods and the country's economic troubles. Any expansion of the drone campaign into Baluchistan would also be a dramatic departure in policy for Islamabad because it is not part of the semiautonomous tribal region where the strikes are permitted. In addition, the Quetta region is heavily populated; the city has a population of 900,000. The core leadership of the Afghan Taliban insurgency, known as the Quetta Shura and is headed by Mullah Muhammad Omar, has used Quetta and its outlying regions as a sanctuary for years. The U.S. has dramatically stepped up its use of drone strikes in the tribal areas. So far this year, it has carried out 101 drone missile strikes in northwest Pakistan, compared with 53 in 2009. The attacks have focused largely on North Waziristan, a primary stronghold of militants and commanders with the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban wing regarded by the U.S. as one of the biggest threats facing coalition forces in Afghanistan. According to the Long War Journal website, which keeps track of drone missile strike statistics, 92 of the attacks this year occurred in North Waziristan (Rodriguez, 2010). Date: November 22, 2010 Source: Newsweek, Pervez Musharraf Title/Headline: Don't Mess With Pakistan Abstract: The world is watching Pakistan and rightfully so. It's a happening place. Pakistan is at the center of geostrategic revolution and realignments. The economic, social, and political aspirations of China, Afghanistan, Iran, and India turn on securing peace, prosperity, and stability in Pakistan. Our country can be an agent of positive change, one that creates unique economic interdependencies between central, west and south Asian countries and the Middle East through trade and energy partnerships. Or there's the other option: the borderless militancy Pakistan is battling could take down the whole region. Recently, terrorists on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have plotted, unsuccessfully, to unleash terror as far away as Copenhagen and New York City. Pakistan's role for a safe, secure world cannot be overemphasized. To appreciate the complex history of Pakistan's internal and external challenges is to understand how the 21st century could well play out for the world. Our country was born of violence, in August 1947. Just months after the partition of the subcontinent and the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan, we were at war with India over Kashmir. Pakistan and India's mutual animosity and history of confrontation remain powerful forces in South Asia to this day. Because of its sense of having been wronged by Indiaand feeling that it faced an existential threat from that countryPakistan cast its lot with the West. We became a strategic partner of the U.S. during the Cold War, signing on to the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in the 1950s, while India tilted toward the Soviet Union. As part of our inalienable right to self-preservation, we formulated a "minimum defensive deterrence" strategy to maintain Army, Navy and Air Force numbers at levels proportional to India's. In 1965 we again went to war over Kashmir, and in 1971 over East Pakistan (I fought in both). Our suspicions about India were proved right when it became clear that the creation of Bangladesh was only made possible through Indian military and intelligence support. Among Pakistanis in general, and the Army in particular, attitudes against India hardened. The adversarial relationship between our Inter Services Intelligence and their Research and Analysis Wing worsened, both exploiting any opportunity to inflict harm on the other. India's "Smiling Buddha" nuclear tests in 1974 changed everything. Pakistan was forced to resort to unconventional means to compensate for the new imbalance of power. Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto initiated Pakistan's atomic program, and thus began the nuclearization of the subcontinent . India's pursuit of nuclear weapons was an effort to project power beyond its borders; Pakistan's was an existential and defensive imperative . The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 presented Pakistan with a security threat from two directions: Soviets to the west, who wanted access to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan, and Indians to the east. Once again Pakistan joined hands with the United States to fight Moscow. We called it jihad by design, this effort to attract mujahideen from all over the Muslim world. And from Morocco to Indonesia, some 25,000 of them came. We trained and armed Taliban from the madrassahs of the then North West Frontier Province, and pushed them into Afghanistan. By this time, the liberal and intellectual Afghan elite had left for the safer climes of Europe and the U.S., leaving behind a largely poor, religious-minded population to fight the 10-year jihad. WePakistan, the U.S., the West, and Saudi Arabiaare equally responsible for nourishing the militancy that defeated the Soviet Union in 1989, and which seeks now to defeat us all. The Soviets

quit Kabul, and the Americans abandoned Islamabad. Washington rewarded its once indispensable ally by invoking the Pressler Amendment and imposing military sanctions, and by choosing to foster a strategic relationship with India. Pakistan was left alone to deal with the nearly 4 million Afghans who had streamed into our country and became the world's largest refugee population. The people of Pakistan felt betrayed and used. For Pakistan, the decade of disaster had begun. No efforts were made to deprogram, rehabilitate, and resettle the mujahideen or redevelop and build back war-ravaged Afghanistan. This shortsightedness led to ethnic fighting, warlordism, and Afghanistan's dive into darkness. The mujahideen coagulated into Al Qaeda. The Taliban, who would emerge as a force in 1996, eventually would occupy 90 percent of the country, ramming through their obscurantist medievalism. It was also in 1989 that the freedom struggle reignited in India-administered Kashmir. This started out as a purely indigenous and peaceful uprising against Indian state repression. The people who led this first intifada were radicalized by the Indian Army's fierce and indiscriminate crackdowns on locals. The Kashmir cause is a rallying cry for Muslims around the world. It is more so for Pakistanis. The plight of Kashmiri Muslims inspired the creation of new mujahideen groups within Pakistan who then sent thousands of volunteer fighters to the troubled territory . In terms of identity politics, the boundaries were clearer: the mujahideen set their sights on India; Al Qaeda and the Taliban were focused largely on Afghanistan. With the Taliban to our west and the mujahideen in the north, this arc of anger rent our social fabric. Pakistan found itself awash in guns and drugs. Nine years later, there was bad news from Pokhran. In May 1998, India again tested its bomb . Almost two weeks later, Pakistan responded by "turning the mountain white" at Chaghai. For Pakistanis, our own tests became a symbol of our power in the world, a testament to our resolve and innovation in the face of adversity, and a source of unmitigated pride in our streets. We became a nuclear power and an international pariah at the same time, but furthering and harnessing our nuclear potential remains and must remain our singular national interest. Of course, the U.S. views India's nuclear program differently from Pakistan's. Even our pursuit of nuclear power for civilian purposes, for electricity generation, is viewed negatively. India's pursuit is assisted by the U.S. In Pakistan, people see this as yet another instance of American partiality, even hostility . Many even believe that the U.S. wants to denuclearize Pakistan by force if necessarybecause it fears the weapons could come into the hands of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or any of the myriad militant organizations who have loosed mayhem in Pakisan. Our nuclear weapons are secure. Pakistan was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan. We did this because of our ethnic, historical, and geographical affinity with Afghan Pashtuns who comprised the Taliban. In 2000, when I led Pakistan, I had suggested to the U.S. and other countries that they, too, should recognize the Taliban government and collectively engage Kabul in order to achieve moderation there through exposure and exchange. This was shot down . Continued diplomatic isolation of the Taliban regime pushed it into the embrace of the Arab-peopled Al Qaeda. Had the Taliban government been recognized, the world could have saved the Bamiyan Buddhas, and unknotted the Osama bin Laden problem thereby preventing the spate of Al Qaeda-orchestrated attacks around the world including on September 11, 2001, in the U.S. When America decided to retaliate, we joined the international coalition against Kabul by choice so we could safeguard and promote our own national interests. Nobody in Islamabad was in favor of the religious and governmental philosophy of the Taliban. By joining the coalition, we also prevented India from gaining an upper hand in Afghanistan from where it could then machinate against Pakistan. The Taliban and Al Qaeda were defeated in 2001 with the help of the Northern Alliance, which was composed of Uzbeks, Hazarans, and Tajiks all ethnic minorities. The Pashtuns and Arabs of Afghanistan fled to the mountains and fanned out across Pakistan. This was the serious downside of joining the global coalition: the mujahideen who were fighting for Kashmir formed an unholy nexus with the Afghan and Pakistani Talibanand turned their guns on us. While I was president, they made at least four attempts on my life. In 2002, the allies installed a largely Pashtun-free government in Afghanistan that lacked legitimacy because it did not represent 50 percent of the Afghan population, Pashtuns. This should not have happened. All Taliban are Pashtun, but not all Pashtuns are Taliban. Pashtuns were thus isolated, blocked from the mainstream, and pushed toward the Taliban, who made a resurgence in 2004. Today, the Taliban rule the roost in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are ensconced in our tribal agencies, plotting and launching attacks against us and others . The twin scourge of radicalism and militarism has infected settled districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and beyond. Mujahideen groups are operating in Indiaadministered Kashmir and seem to have public support in Pakistan. After nine long years, and a longer war for the U.S. than Vietnam, the world wants to negotiate with "moderate" elements in the Talibanand from a position of apparent weakness. Before the coalition abandons Afghanistan again, it must at least ensure the election of a legitimate Pashtun-led government. Pakistan, which has lost at least 30,000 of its citizens in the war on terror, should be forgiven for wondering whether it was all worth it. Pakistanis should not be left to feel that it was not (Musharraf, 2010). Date: November 28, 2010 Source: CNN, Reza Sayah Title/Headline: 12 Dead After Cargo Plane Crashes In Pakistan Abstract: The death toll from a plane crash Sunday in Karachi, Pakistan, rose to 12 after an official confirmed the deaths of four people who were on the ground. The four laborers were sleeping in an under-construction building that the plane crashed into, said Pervez George, a spokesman for Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority. Additionally, a man on a motorcycle was critically injured when the plane crashed, George said. The plane crashed early Sunday in the southern port city, killing eight Russian nationals on board and sending flames shooting through the sky, a Pakistani official said. The cargo plane took off at 1:45 a.m. (3:45 p.m. Saturday ET) from the Jinnah Karachi International Airport for Khartoum, Sudan, and went down a few minutes later in the Gulistan-e Johar section of Karachi, an area where many Pakistani naval officers live. The plane appeared to hit several buildings that were under construction. The pilot appeared to deliberately bring the plane down in a less densely populated residential area in order to save lives , Masood Raza, a Karachi district government official, told CNN affiliate GEO News in Pakistan. "If the plane would have crashed in a (more crowded) residential area, it would have been a very big disaster for the city of Karachi," Raza said. The Russian-made cargo plane was carrying relief supplies, including tents, to Africa before it went down. The plane arrived in Karachi on Saturday from Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, George said. A witness told CNN that he saw fire on one of the plane's wings before it crashed. Firefighters, rescue personnel and area residents rushed to the scene, with jet fuel fanning the large flames and huge plumes of smoke. The blaze was put out by 4 a.m., according to George, but rescue personnel continued to comb through the rubble looking for other people possibly killed or hurt. Bystander Mohammed Raees told GEO News that he was injured after flaming parts of a building hit him and the

motorcyle he was preparing to ride. Hospital sources told the CNN affiliate that Raees had burns over 60 percent of his body (CNN, 2010). Date: November 29, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Pakistani To Sue CIA Over Drone Attacks Abstract: A Pakistani tribesman says he will sue President Barack Obama's administration and CIA officials for killing his son and brother in a non-UN-sanctioned strike. Karim Khan's relatives were slain in an unsanctioned US drone attack in North Waziristan tribal district, back in 2009. Now, he says he will file a lawsuit and ask for compensation. " That drone attack killed my son, my brother and a local man. We are not terrorists, we are common citizens," Khan told a news conference in Islamabad. "According to Islamic law the punishment for blood is blood. If I have the means, I will take revenge for this attack," AFP quoted Khan as saying. "We need justice. We are innocent people." His lawyer Mirza Shehzad Akbar says he will file a lawsuit in Pakistan and, if necessary, one with the International Court of Justice based at The Hague. According to Associated Press, the lawyer is expected to sue CIA director Leon Panetta, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and CIA station chief in Islamabad for "wrongful death. Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt is often targeted by unauthorized US drone attacks. Over 250 people have been killed in such attacks since September. Washington claims its air raids target militants, who cross the border into Afghanistan, but civilians are the main victims of such attacks. Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the strikes as violations of its sovereignty. The issue of civilian casualties has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington with the Pakistani government repeatedly voicing its objection to the attacks . "We have repeatedly said the drone attacks are counter productive," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says. The United Nations says the US-operated drone strikes in Pakistan pose a growing challenge to the international rule of law. Philip Alston, UN special envoy on extrajudicial killings, said in a report in late October that the attacks were undermining the rules designed to protect the right of life. Alston also said he feared that the drone killings by the US Central Intelligence Agency could develop a "playstation" mentality (Press TV, 2010). Date: December 3, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Pakistan Still In Dire Need Of Aid: UN Abstract: The United Nations says more than one million displaced people are still in need of emergency aid in the flood-stricken regions of Pakistan. The UN chief of humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, made the remarks on Friday during a visit to displaced families living in camps in Sehwan, 230 kilometers (144 miles) northeast of Karachi. She reiterated warnings that the crisis could drag on well into 2011. "It could take about six to seven months until the water recedes and homeless people go to their native areas to rebuild their homes and plant their crops," AFP quoted Amos as saying. Amos noted that the UN was making efforts to avert any future health crisis among the homeless people in the worst stricken areas. The world body says millions of people have been left without food, water, shelter and other basic necessities in Pakistan as the result of the July-August flooding. A Press TV correspondent reported that thousands of flood victims are leading miserable lives in several districts of southern Sindh Province. The United Nations has launched several appeals for funding the aid initiative to help the victims of the worst natural disaster in the history of Pakistan. Some 2,000 people have lost their lives and 21 million others were displaced due to the weeks-long floods that engulfed an area the size of England. Winter, cold and hunger are also threats looming over millions of people still without basic necessities (Press TV, 2010). Date: December 5, 2010 Source: Press TV Title/Headline: Pakistanis Hold Massive Anti-US Rally Abstract: Thousands of angry Pakistani demonstrators have taken to the streets of Islamabad to protests their government's alliance with the United States. Protesters gathered near the parliament house amid heavy police presence on Sunday. They demanded Islamabad cut all ties with Washington. The Pakistani Jamaat-e-Islami activists shouted anti-US slogans during a rally in the capital city. They also demanded the release of Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui. A US federal court has sentenced Siddiqui to 86 years in prison for allegedly shooting at her American interrogators in Afghanistan. Siddiqui vanished in Karachi, Pakistan with her three children on March 30, 2003. The following day, local newspapers reported that she had been taken into US custody on terrorism charges. Human rights groups say that Siddiqui had secretly been transferred to the US base in Bagram, north of Kabul, and tortured for five years prior to the alleged 2008 incident. Siddiqui's relatives and political activists have strongly criticized the US justice system for its handling of the case. Meanwhile, some protesters were there to warn the government against a military operation in the North Waziristan tribal region. They said such a move would trigger a new wave of unrest. The US has been asking Pakistan to launch a major ground offensive into the northern tribal region to crush militancy. The Pakistani army has launched several operations in the restive northwest in order to flush the militants out of tribal areas. Hundreds of Pakistanis have lost their lives since the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led so-called war on terror following the 9/11 attacks. Militant attacks, unsanctioned drone strikes and political unrest have claimed the lives of over 4,000 people throughout Pakistan since 2007 (Press TV, 2010). Date: December 6, 2010 Source: Fox News, Associated Presss Title/Headline: Homicide Bombers Kill 50 People In Pakistan Abstract: Two homicide attackers wearing police uniforms and jackets packed with explosives and bullets blew themselves up at a gathering of tribesmen to discuss the formation of an anti-Taliban militia in northwest Pakistan Monday, killing 50 people, officials said. The meeting was being held at the main government compound in Mohmand, part of Pakistan's militant-infested tribal region. It was

the latest strike against local tribesmen who have been encouraged by the government to take up arms against the Taliban. More than 100 people were wounded, many of them critically, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Also Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials said missiles fired from a U.S. drone killed seven people in Khushali village in North Waziristan, near the border with Afghanistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media. Both of the bombers were disguised in tribal police uniforms, said Khan. One of them was caught at the gate of the compound, but he was able to detonate his explosives, he said. The dead and wounded included tribal elders, police, political officials and other civilians. Two of the dead were local TV journalists who were at the compound reporting, said Shakirullah Jan, president of the Mohmand press club. The Pakistani army has carried out operations in Mohmand to battle Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in the area, but it has been unable to defeat the militants. The military has encouraged local tribesmen to form militias to oppose the militants. These groups have had varying degrees of success and have often been targeted in deadly attacks. A homicide bomber attacked a mosque in northwestern Pakistan in early November that was frequented by elders opposed to the Pakistani Taliban, killing 67 people. The attack occurred in the town of Darra Adam Khel, a militant stronghold on the edge of the tribal region . "We are not scared of such attacks and will keep on taking these enemies of humanity to task until they disappear from society," said Hussain, the information minister (Fox News, 2010). Date: December 17, 2010 Source: CNN, Pam Benson Title/Headline: Top U.S. Spy Pulled From Pakistan After Terror Threats Abstract: The CIA has recalled its top spy in Pakistan out of concern for his safety after terrorist threats against him, a U.S. intelligence official said. The station chief, the highest-ranking U.S. intelligence officer in Pakistan, operates covertly and his identity is considered classified. He had recently been named in a lawsuit filed by a Pakistani man seeking $500 million for the death of his son and brother, who the man alleges were killed in a U.S. drone strike. The spy's name then appeared in Pakistani media stories about the lawsuit. The threats "were of such a serious nature that it would be imprudent not to act," the intelligence official said, describing the decision to pull him from the country. A spokesman for the CIA declined to speak about any details of the situation in Pakistan but said in general that protecting CIA personnel is a top priority. "Our station chiefs routinely encounter major risk as they work to keep America safe, and they've been targeted by terrorists in the past," CIA spokesman George Little said. "Their security is obviously a top priority for the CIA, especially when there's an imminent threat." The station chief oversees all intelligence operations in Pakistan including managing the drone program, which the U.S. government does not publicly acknowledge, and coordinates with the country's intelligence office (Benson, 2010). Date: December 1, 2010 Source: CNN, Tim Lister Title/Headline: WikiLeaks: Pakistan Quietly Approved Drone Attacks, U.S. Special Units Abstract: On the record, Pakistan has persistently criticized the United States' use of unmanned drones to attack militant hideouts in its mountainous border region. But diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks reveal that in private the Pakistani government was not unhappy about the strikes and secretly allowed small groups of U.S. Special Operations units to operate on its soil. In a cable sent in August 2008, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan at the time, Anne Patterson, recounted a meeting with Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. It coincided with a military operation in one of the restive frontier territories (CNN, 2010) Date: December 22, 2010 Source: The Independent, Rupert Cornwell Title/Headline: US Military Pushes Obama To Allow More Pakistan Raids Abstract: In a move that would stir intense Pakistani anger, US military chiefs in Afghanistan are pushing the Obama administration to expand cross-border commando raids against Taliban and al-Qa'ida militants hiding in Pakistan's remote tribal areas. The plan, if implemented, would be a significant escalation in the nine-year war, and a bold gamble to create conditions that would allow US combat forces to leave Afghanistan by the target date of 2014, with an initial draw-down starting next summer. But it also would place a heavy new strain on Washington's delicate and sometimes fraught relations with Pakistan. Officially, Islamabad is the vital ally of the US if the conflict is to be brought to a successful end but it also has longstanding unofficial ties with the Taliban, and is deeply resentful of anything that suggests it is not master of its territory. Word of the proposals, first reported in The New York Times yesterday, comes less than a week after the White House released its latest policy review for Afghanistan. The report declared that Pakistan was "central" to US success in Afghanistan but noted that ties between Washington and Islamabad remained "uneven". Unpublished US intelligence reports are said to strike a still gloomier note. They warned that the war could not be won unless Pakistan stopped the insurgents from launching attacks against allied and Afghan government forces from their sanctuaries in the tribal areas. The plan to step up special operations raids by US and Afghan units into these areas above all North Waziristan, base of the al-Qa'ida affiliated Haqqani network would signify the US had concluded that Pakistan was either unable or unwilling to do it and was taking matters into its own hands. But, experts here say, that could be a very high risk strategy especially if it is publicly acknowledged. The Pakistan government is weak at the best of times, not least because of its public alignment with the US, highly unpopular among the ordinary population. It would be weakened further if the US were seen to be treating supposedly sovereign Pakistan territory as its own. In a sign of the issue's sensitivity, Islamabad recently shut a key border crossing into Afghanistan for 10 days, in retaliation against a Nato helicopter foray in which two Pakistai soldiers were killed. The closure stranded Nato supply convoys and almost 150 trucks were destroyed in raids by militants. In fact the Obama administration has sharply increased the number of unmanned cross-border drone attacks against suspected Taliban targets in the tribal areas. But it refuses to give any

details for fear of offending the Pakistan government whose support it so badly needs. Yesterday, perhaps for the same reason, officials in both Washington and Kabul flatly denied the plan outlined in The New York Times. There was "absolutely no truth" to reports that US forces are planning to conduct ground operations into Pakistan, said Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a top Nato spokesman. A Pentagon official also said the alleged proposals were not true. At the same time Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, said his country's security forces were perfectly capable of handling the militant threat inside its borders. The "material support" of allies, especially the US, was appreciated, he said, but "we will not accept foreign troops on our soil a position that is well known." Ostensibly, that remains the view of the US as well. Last week, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the Pakistani military could close down the Taliban sanctuaries, and that he was "encouraged" by actions it had already taken against the militants. Unofficially though, the approaching deadlines appear to be hardening US determination to extract itself from an unpopular war that is costing an annual $113bn (73bn) that the country can ill afford. "Come hell or highwater, American troops will be out of Afghanistan by 2014," Vice President Joe Biden said at the weekend. Washington still seeks an accommodation with at least moderate elements of the Taliban. On cable TV , Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor to President Carter, said some such deal was essential if the US was to disengage as it hoped. "We have to face the fact that Pakistan has a vital interest in a pro-Pakistan Afghanistan." Unless Washington accepted that reality, a solution would be impossible, he said (Cornwell, 2010). Date: January 2, 2011 Source: Uruknet.Info Title/Headline: US Drones Killed 2,043 People, Mostly Civilians, In Pak During Last Five Years Abstract: As many as 2,043 people, mostly civilians, were killed in US drone attacks in northwestern parts of Pakistan during the last five years, a research has revealed. The yearly report of Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC) has termed the CIA drone strikes as an 'assassination campaign turning out to be revenge campaign', and showed that 2010 was the deadliest year ever of causalities resulted in drone-hits in Pakistan. According to the report, 134 drone attacks were reported in Pakistan's FATA region in 2010 alone, inflicting 929 causalities. December 17 was the deadliest day of 2010 when three drone attacks killed 54 people in Khyber Agency. Regarding civilian causalities and attacks on women and children, the report said: "People in the tribal belt usually carry guns and ammunition as a tradition. US drone will identify anyone carrying a gun as a militant and subsequently he will be killed." "Many times, people involved in rescue activities also come under attack. The assumption that these people are supporters of militants is quite wrong," The Nation quoted the CMC report, as stating. The document cited the Brooking Institute's research, which suggested that with every militant killed, nearly ten civilians also died. It also mentioned a related research report of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), which underlined that at least 2,100 civilians were killed and various others injured during 2009, in the ongoing war on terror and drone attacks. "It is unclear whether CIA counter-checks human intelligence with other available sources or not. Because in Afghanistan and Pakistani tribal belt people use to settle their personal enmity by accusing their opponent as militant and passing wrong information to US forces," it stated. The CMC report also revealed that Pakistan and US were deliberately concealing civilian deaths, and that they lacked any proper mechanism to ascertain civilian deaths, and it also accused the FATA Secretariat for overlooking civilian causalities. "Civilian casualties were deliberately overlooked to avert the public reaction," the report said (Uruknet.Info, 2010). Date: January 3, 2011 Source: CBS News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Pakistan Faces Ruling Coalition Collapse Abstract: The collapse of Pakistan's ruling coalition after a key party's defection complicates efforts to tackle problems facing this nuclear-armed nation already grappling with widespread poverty and insurgent attacks. The renewed political turmoil bodes ill for military action against Muslim extremists that the U.S. believes is key to success in neighboring Afghanistan, analysts said. Pakistan's powerful army could use the lack of political consensus to avoid operations that clash with its perceived strategic interests. The crisis also all but guarantees that lawmakers will not make progress anytime soon on fixing Pakistan's deep-seated problems in areas like education, health care and infrastructure that have contributed to economic decline and rising militancy. "There is no electricity, no gas, no jobs and they are fighting one another," said Arif Fasiullah, 35, of the central city of Multan. "They do not pass any legislation. They just do dirty politics." Pakistan, with a population of more than 180 million, faces chronic power outages that can last up to 16 hours per day in some areas during the scorching summer, and up to a third of its people lack access to clean drinking water. Average income per capita is less than $3,000, and the average adult has fewer than five years of schooling. The International Monetary Fund, which has provided Pakistan with billions of dollars in loans to keep its economy afloat, has demanded the country implement significant reforms, including deep cuts to its deficit. The assistance took on added importance after last year's massive floods that affected some 20 million people. But the economic reforms, notably a revised general sales tax, are unpopular and have given the opposition and other parties a focus for their complaints. The second-largest partner in Pakistan's governing coalition, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, said Sunday it was joining the opposition because of fuel price hikes and the generally poor performance of the ruling Pakistan People's Party. The government announced rises in gas and heating oil prices on New Year's Eve that the MQM called a "petrol bomb" dropped on the Pakistani people. The shift in the political landscape, which ended the coalition's majority in parliament, was not expected to lead to the fragile government's imminent collapse. But analysts warned that Pakistan's army may use the crisis as yet another reason to delay launching an operation against militants in the country's North Waziristan tribal area who regularly attack foreign troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. believes cutting the militants off from North Waziristan and other sanctuaries inside Pakistan is critical for any sustainable victory in Afghanistan. "It will give the army chief the excuse to say that he does not have the political consensus needed to go into North Waziristan," said Mosharraf Zaidi, an independent political analyst and columnist in Islamabad. The army, considered the most powerful institution in Pakistan, has deflected demands for a North Waziristan operation in the

past, saying its troops are stretched too thin in other areas along the Afghan border. But many analysts believe the army is reluctant to target militant groups with which it has historical ties and could be useful proxies in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw. That outlook is unlikely to change regardless of which party is running the government, said Zaidi. "There is nothing that can happen to change Pakistan's calculus," he said. The army could not be reached for comment. In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Obama administration is following developments but considers the situation to be a matter for the Pakistan government to work out. "This is about internal politics within Pakistan," Crowley said, adding that Washington will continue to work with Islamabad in pursuit of common interests. He said he would not conclude that the loss of MQM in the coalition is necessarily a distraction from the struggle against extremism. "We're focused on our long-term partnership with Pakistan," Crowley said. The Pakistan People's Party took power in February 2008 in elections that brought Pakistan out of nearly a decade of military rule. It rode to power on a wave of sympathy after its leader, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated. But its popularity has slipped as Pakistan has grappled with severe economic problems and frequent militant attacks. The inflation rate in Pakistan is above 15 percent, according to government statistics, and the poorest are feeling the pain most (CBS News, 2011). Date: January 4, 2011 Source: The Telegraph, Rob Crilly, Title/Headline: Pakistan Governor Assassinated Over Blasphemy Laws Campaign Abstract: One of Pakistan's most outspoken politicians was shot dead in Islamabad on Tuesday by one of his own guards in a killing that police are linking to his controversial campaign to reform the country's blasphemy laws. Witnesses said Salman Taseer, 56, the governor of Punjab province, was killed by a gunman in a police uniform at a small market close to his home in the capital. His death is the most high-profile political assassination since the murder of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, in December 2007. Last night the government appealed for calm as members of Taseer's Pakistan People's Party staged demonstrations in the Punjab city of Multan. The country's government is already on the brink of collapse, following the defection of a key coalition ally, and further unrest would deepen the sense of political crisis. Eyewitnesses said Taseer was a familiar figure at Kohsar Market, an arcade popular with expat aid workers, diplomats and journalists (Crilly, 2011) Date: January 10, 2011 Source: Telegraph Title/Headline: Pakistani Men See White Girls As 'Easy Meat', Claims Jack Straw Abstract: Former Home Secretary Jack Straw has accused some Pakistani men in Britain of seeing young white women as "easy meat" for sexual abuse. The Blackburn MP has called on the Pakistani community to be "more open" about the issue after describing about a "specific problem" involving young Pakistani men's attitudes towards white girls . He was speaking after two Asian men were jailed after subjecting a series of vulnerable girls to rapes and sexual assaults. Abid Mohammed Saddique, 27, was jailed for a minimum of 11 years at Nottingham Crown Court and Mohammed Romaan Liaqat, 28, was told he must serve at least eight years before being considered for release. The men were the ring leaders of a gang that befriended girls aged from 12 to 18 in the Derby area and groomed them for sex. Thirteen men were charged in relation to Operation Retriever, which Derbyshire Police set up, and 11 stood trial charged with offences relating to 26 alleged victims. Out of the original 13, a total of nine swere convicted of sexual offences. Speaking to the BBC's Newsnight programme, Mr Straw said: "Pakistanis, let's be clear, are not the only people who commit sexual offences, and overwhelmingly the sex offenders' wings of prisons are full of white sex offenders. "But there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men ... who target vulnerable young white girls. "We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way." The judge said he did not believe the crimes were "racially aggravated", but Mr Straw said he thought vulnerable white girls were at risk of being targeted by some Asian men. "These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they're fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically," he said. "So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care ... who they think are easy meat. "And because they're vulnerable they ply them with gifts, they give them drugs, and then of course they're trapped." Police in Derbyshire have insisted that the sexual abuse case should not be treated as a racial issue. The sentencing of Saddique and Romaan came a day after Prime Minister David Cameron said "cultural sensitivities" should not hinder police action in such cases. Speaking on Friday to The Times during a visit to Oldham, Mr Cameron said: "We should not be put off by cultural sensitivities or anything like that. Pursue the evidence, pursue criminality wherever it leads" (The Telegraph, 2011). Date: January 12, 2011 Source: Fox News, Title/Headline: Bomb Attack At Pakistan Police Station Leaves 20 Dead Abstract: At least 20 people are dead, and several others injured, as authorities say a suicide car bomb targeted a police station in northwest Pakistan. Police officer Ghulam Hussain says some of the victims of the attack Wednesday were praying at a mosque adjoining the station in Bannu district, which was damaged in the blast. Islamist militants have carried out scores of attacks on Pakistani police and army targets over the last three years as part of a campaign to topple the country's U.S.-allied government (Fox News, 2011).

Date: January 15, 2011 Source: The Guardian, Amy Fallon Title/Headline: Pakistan Shootings And Tanker Attacks Fuel Crisis Fears Abstract: Violence blamed on political rivalry and Taliban as at least 17 shot dead in Karachi and 14 fuel tankers for Nato torched. A television journalist was among the dead after the attack in the country's commercial hub. "At least 17 people have died in the past three days by firing by unknown gunmen in several parts of Karachi," the city police chief, Fayyaz Leghari, said. After hundreds of killings last year, there are concerns that violence in Pakistan could escalate and create a new crisis for the US-backed government. Analysts and security officials blame much of the trouble on the rivalry between the two main parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and the Awami National party, both part of the ruling coalition. The MQM represents the interests of majority Urdu-speaking mohajirs, while the ANP is linked to the growing Pashtun minority. Conflicty between party members is partly fuelled by ethnic tension. The Pakistani government also faces a Taliban insurgency. Eight gunmen in the south-west of the country have torched 14 tankers carrying fuel for US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. A driver was wounded during the latest attack, which occurred in the Dera Murad Jamali area of Balochistan province, government official Fatteh Mohammed said. The tankers were parked at a roadside restaurant when the attack occurred. Such attacks by Islamic militants and criminals on supplies, which usually arrive in the port city of Karachi and travel overland to Afghanistan through two main border crossings, have become common. As a result, the US has been relying on other supply routes through countries north of Afghanistan (Fallon, 2011). Date: January 16, 2011 Source: Fox News, Associated Press Title/Headline: Explosion On Bus In NW Pakistan Kills 18 Abstract: An explosion ripped through a minibus traveling in a militant-infested area of northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing 18 people, police said. There were conflicting reports of whether the blast was caused by a bomb or by the gas cylinder used to power the vehicle. The bus was traveling between the cities of Hangu and Kohat, which are located close to Pakistan's lawless tribal region. The explosion tore apart the vehicle, killing all 17 people on board, and tipped over a second bus nearby, said Hangu police chief Abdur Rasheed. One person on the bus that tipped over was killed and 11 others were wounded , he said. Rasheed said the blast occurred when the gas cylinder on board malfunctioned. But the top police official in the region said explosives were used to trigger the explosion. Islamist militants frequently carry out attacks in the area against both civilians and security forces . Local television footage showed the twisted carcass of the first bus laying beside the road with little left except its wheels and undercarriage. The second bus was on its side with its windows blown out and blood splattered across the outside (Fox News, 2011). Date: January 16, 2011 Source: Newsweek, Jonathan Alter, Christopher Dickey Title/Headline: Richard Holbrookes Lonely Mission Abstract: The late diplomat never lost his passion for peacemaking, but it turned out that some of his toughest adversaries were on his own side. he memorial service at Washingtons Kennedy Center last week had the trappings of a state funeral. President Barack Obama was there, former president Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan flew in for the occasion, as did scores of other dignitaries. The man they came to honor, Richard Holbrooke, had been a diplomat on and off for more than 40 years when he died last month at the age of 69. He might have been secretary of state, but never was, and may well have deserved a Nobel Prize for bringing the Bosnian war to an end in 1995, but never got it. Never mind. A s Obama said in his tribute, By the time I came to know Richard, his place in history was assured. Holbrooke would have gotten a chuckle out of it all, especial ly listening to the president paying such homage. He could have used some more of that support when he was still on the job. Richard Holbrookes last official title was special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, or SRAP in D.C. speak, and even his eulogizers last week acknowledged it was the toughest assignment of his life. Holbrooke was the diplomatic point man supposed to be sorting out the most complicated, most costly, and most dangerous of the wars that the United States is fighting. It involves so much more than Taliban bombs by the side of the road, or boots on the ground, or poppies raised for opium in Afghan valleys. At bottom, its about nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is sometimes an ally, sometimes an enemy, of the American effort in Afghanistan. If there are limits to murderous fanaticism, Pakistan is still trying to find them. In recent weeks, it has started to look like a society sliding toward madness. A treacherous young bodyguard guns down the distinguished governor of Punjab for objecting to the death sentence on a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. Mobsand even a group of young lawyershail the killer as a hero. This was the kind of crisis where Holbrookes insights and his capacity for action could be hugely helpful, and in which hes sorely missed. I loved the guy because he could doand doing in diplomacy saves lives, said Bill Clinton. What Holbrooke did, however, he did not always do gently, or subtly, or deferentially. He was famously arrogant and abrasive. When Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a very close friend of Holbrookes, spoke, he called him the quintessential Washington know -it-all. Bill Clinton said he was a hurricane of eloquence and energy and force, but hed scream and claw and scratch and make you feel like you had a double -digit IQ if you didnt agree with him. On another occasion, a colleague observed: His friends were amused by his antics. But if you werent a friend, you found it hard to take. Holbrookes critics suggest (off the record, because they dont want to sound churlish now that hes gone) that he w as his own worst enemy. But thats misleading. Interviews with those who knew Holbrooke in Kabul, Islamabad,

New York, Brussels, and Washington make clear he had a great many adversaries. Afghanistans President Hamid Karzai treated h im with paranoid fury. Pakistans leaders sometimes lied to him, and about him. The Taliban tried to take him out with sniper fire and suicide bombers. And among those who worked to undermine the man, even to the detriment of his vital mission, were at least a few people in the White House who understood neither the man nor, indeed, his mission. Dick Holbrooke would have been Obamas best ally, lamented Council on Foreign Relations president emeritus Leslie Gelb, one of his contemporaries and closest friends. Obama h ad just the right hammer he needed in Dick for dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Obamas failure to see thatand his staffs failure to see thatreally cost him and our country. What in Gods name would make you not make full use of Dick Holbrooke? Whats striking is how little substantive difference there was between what Holbrooke was trying to do in Afghanistan and Pakistan and what Obama wanted done. Both believed in the primacy of politics and diplomacy over military solutions. Both wanted to find exits without scrambling for them. I tell you something, says Gelb , Dick was very supportive of Obama despite all the rejection. Instead, the timing worked in Holbrookes favor: ironically, the very No-Drama Obama style that he chafed against saved his job. The administrations deliberations stretched on messily. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new commander on the ground, pushed for more troops. Eikenberry (a retired general and former U.S. commander in Afghanistan) argued that a surge would only make things worse. Details of the debate were front-page news. The last thing Obama wanted at that moment was the dramatic disruption that would be caused by firing the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. But his rivals, thinking Holbrookes days were numbered, piled on the pressure. Stories multiplied about Holbrookes supposedly cringeworthy behavior. Some were exaggerated or even invented. At a breakfast with Pakistani politicians in January 2010, for instance, local papers claimed Holbrooke flew into a rage about criticism of the United States, which was about to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan. But two of the Pakistani politicians who were at that breakfast in Islamabads opulent Serena Hotel have told NEWSWEEK that there was no rage, no shouting, nothing of the kind. By this time Karzai was cleverly making a show of warming up toward Al Qaeda, which sent the Americans jostling to curry favor with him again. This didnt play to Holbrookes strengths. In February 2010, in what was supposed to be a personal note, Jones reportedly told Ambassador Eikenberry in Kabul not to worry too much about Holbrooke because he wasnt going to be around much longer. The contents of the note wound up circulating all over Foggy Bottom. Even though Dick knew how Jones felt, that note, and its being distributed all over the department, was just devastating, remembers one of Holbrookes close friends. The following month, Holbrooke was left out of Obamas entourage on the presidents quick visit to Kabul. Some of this is just sheer personality, says an official who was on the trip. Who do you want as your traveling companion? Its a small group. Youre starting to run out of seats at the table. Then the music stops. But few reporters failed to note the slight. Then, in April, the Jones letter leaked to the pressand the effect wasnt what might have been expected. As Holbrooke kept working, organizing, travel ing, and building vital bridges in Pakistan, it was Jones who looked disruptive. In November, a frustrated Obama decided to change his national-security adviser. In early December, on a visit to the White House, Holbrooke couldnt resist telling one of the presidents aides, Youll notice that I am still here and Jones isnt. Richard Holbrooke, always famous for persistence, had learned the lessons of patience. If his relations with Karzai remained cool, he still met with him formally and frequently. In Pakistan, when enormous floods devastated the country last summer, Holbrooke was like a force of nature battling the water, as his friend Galbraith puts i t. The United States took the lead in delivering relief and, for a change, got some credit from the Pakistani public. Last fall, Islamabad and Kabul signed an unprecedented transit and trade agreement, which was one of Holbrookes key goals. We are quite sad on his sudden death, says Haji Adeel, a prominent Pashtun member of Pakistans Parliament. He didnt complete his mission. Perhaps not. But when the music stopped, Richard Holbrooke was still at the table (Alter & Dickey, 2011).

Conclusion: Pakistan has been under attack since 9/11 and it will likely climax with a nuclear attack by the Obama administration.
The key diplomat to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, appears to have been murdered and his funeral a potential staging conference for the upcoming war between the U.S. and Pakistan. While these assumptions are pure speculation, Holbrooke appears to have been the only rational mind in a rogue Obama White House, hell bent on a Pakistani nuclear holocaust.