Tag: Pakistan Army

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Pakistan Army targets critical journalists

 After registering nine cases of intimidation of Pakistani journalists by army-related agencies since Shehbaz Sharif took over as Prime Minister in late April, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has cautioned the army high command against further harassment of the media, which would seriously undermine Pakistani democracy.

“The many cases of harassment that RSF has registered in the past two months have one thing in common – all the journalists concerned had, in one way or another, criticised the army’s role in Pakistani politics,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

“It is clear from the data that the armed forces have launched a major campaign to intimidate critical journalists. This kind of interference, which is absolutely intolerable, must stop at once or else the Chief of the Army Staff, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, will be held directly responsible for the decline in press freedom in Pakistan.”

The latest case of violence registered by RSF was on July 9, when BOL News anchor Sami Ibrahim was attacked by three people outside the TV channel’s studios in Melody, a district in Islamabad, the capital.

In a video, Ibrahim said they were waiting for him outside the TV channel in order to harass him while filming the scene. They then left in a car with green licence plates, the sign of a state-owned vehicle.

The incident comes six weeks after judicial proceedings were opened against Ibrahim under articles 499, 505 and 131 of the penal code, which penalise defamation, statements conducive to public mischief and “abetting mutiny”, respectively. The latter charge carries a possible life sentence.

By way of mutiny, Ibrahim simply questioned the internal mechanisms of the Pakistani state apparatus and, in particular, the army’s role in politics. The proceedings were initiated as a result of complaints filed with the police in Attock, a city in Punjab province that is 70 km west of Islamabad

It was in Attock that another well-known TV journalist, Express News TV anchor Imran Riaz Khan, was intercepted and arrested by a dozen policemen accompanied by members of a Punjab special elite force on the evening of July 5 at a toll plaza on the road to Islamabad, where he had planned to obtain pre-arrest bail to avoid the arrest he knew was imminent if he remained in Punjab.

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Pak Army’s ‘No dollars, No Jihad’ Policy

Pic credits Wikipedia

Many secrets of the corrupt ways of Pakistan’s military rulers during the decade-long United States-led Jihad in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 remain buried, but those revealed are shocking, more so because, it would appear, the holy war against the Soviets could not proceed without the allowance of unfettered freedom to Pak Generals, to collect dollars. That is, no dollars, no Jihad … writes Samuel Baid

The war was against the Soviet troops’ invasion into Afghanistan. Pakistan’s military dictator Gen Zia ul Haq had benefited from this war in at least three ways: (1) the US blessings to his illegal power, (2) US connivance at Pakistan’s clandestine nuclear activity, and (3) maintaining a holy face while poisoning with drudge his own country, the US and other benefactors.

An organisation called “the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has quoted a South Asian intelligence source to say that during Gen Zia’s dictatorship, his close friend, then ISI Chief Akhtar Abdur Rehman Khan, was responsible for laying a network of madarsas with CIA funding to fight Soviet troops in Afghanistan. The CIA took control of American and the Middle Eastern equal donations in dollars and put them in its Swiss bank account. The CIA trusted Khan with millions of dollars which he used for filling his own pockets. He siphoned off lot of money from the Afghan war into his account.

According OCCRP, a second account was opened in 1986 in Khan’s name. It was worth more than $ 9.2 million. Khan died along with his master Gen Zia in an air crash in August 1988.

Pic credits Wikipedia

Gen Zia, although engaged in supposedly a holy war, was not a holy man himself. The Pakistan people’s Party (PPP)’s Urdu Daily Musawwat wrote that before going to United Nations, he carried lamps to be gifted to important people in New York. The empty bottoms of the lamps hid ‘unholy stuffs’.\

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The blast in the Ojhri Camp in 1988 badly exposed General’s gun running activities. Then Zia’s hand-picked Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo, a follower of Pir of Pagaro, was worked up. He ordered an inquiry into the blast and found out that Generals hid for selling in black market the weapons given to Pakistan by the US to fight the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. When Junejo was going to make this report public, Zia dismissed him as Prime Minister. The dismissal was very cruel and humiliating. Junejo was still on the plane at the Islamabad Airport on return from East Asia (where he told his hosts democracy had taken roots in Pakistan) when General called all journalists from the Airport for an important announcement.  He told them that he had dismissed the Prime Minister. Junejo alighted from the plane without knowing he was no more Prime Minister. This cruel joke showed how sensitive were Generals to the Ojhri Camp inquiry.

Pic credits Wikipedia

Among the political parties Jamaat-i-Islami was the dearest to Zia. The Chief of this party Miantufail Mohammad was said to be his Mamoo (mother’s borther). Zia allowed his party to travel abroad to collect money for the Afghan’s jihad.

The Jamaat-i-Islami was not bound to give accounts of its collection of money to any authority so they filled their own coffers like Generals were doing. Afghans, who participated in the Jihad were angry with the Jamaat. They came to Peshawar to expose it to the Press. But it did not affect the Jamaat. It became a rich party. Its members who could hardly travel by train or inter-province buses earlier, now frequently travelled by air.

Now the question is: could the Americans fight this Jihad in Afghanistan had they not overlooked Pakistani Army Generals’ looting the dollars meant for jihad? Or, had Gen Akhtar Abdur Rehaman Khan taken interest in laying the networks of madarsas if he did not have the unrestricted freedom to fill his bank accounts?

Though then US President Ronald Reagan wondered in 1985 where all the money was going, the Americans never showed the courage to expose these Generals. As a result, they suffered more after Oct 2001 when they took Pakistan as a coalition partner in the war against global terrorism in Afghanistan.

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Pakistan Army entered ‘secret deal’ with Taliban over Durand

Durand Line

The deal is likely to face a tough challenge as the tribes inhabiting the border areas have greater stake in keeping the border free of any fencing and patrolling by Pakistan.

The Pakistan Army is believed to have entered into a secret deal with friendly groups within the Afghan Taliban ruling Afghanistan over the Durand Line fencing project.

The army wants to extend Pakistan’s territory on the Durand Line towards Afghanistan. This is being done discreetly with the knowledge of the Taliban. In all probability, Pakistan’s plan is to create an additional safe zone inside the Afghan border for an effective supervision of the border. The Taliban government has been kept in the know of this new approach to border fencing.

It will not be first time that a surreptitious land transfer has taken place between the Taliban and Pakistan. Before the Taliban came to power in Kabul in 1996, the Bab-e-Dosti (Door of Friendship) at Chaman border on the Durand Line was around 1 km inside Pakistan. But during the Taliban rule, it was extended to about 1.5 kms inside Afghanistan. In 2017, Pakistan had infiltrated into areas of Qala Luqman and Qala Jahangir despite protests by Afghan officials.

The 2,670-km long Durand Line on the border cuts through the lands inhabited by the tribes of the Salarzai, Mamund, Mohmand, Afridi, Shinwari, Turi, Bangash, Wazir, Mehsud, Dawar, and Aurkazai. The Achekzai, Nurzai and Kakar tribes live almost equally on both sides of the border. The British-marked border line has been a persistent sore point between the two countries with Afghanistan strongly opposing any border that cuts through the Pashtun land.

Pakistani Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa (Photo: Twitter/@iamCOAS)

In the last few weeks, Pakistan and Afghan forces have been exchanging fire at Durand Line over the border fencing being constructed by Pakistan since 2017 despite intense opposition from Afghanistan. The project includes the construction of border posts and forts and raising of new wings of Frontier Corps, the paramilitary force that guards the border. The opposition to the fencing has been so strong that scores of border skirmishes had happened between the two armed forces during the Ghani regime.

After the Taliban took over Kabul with its help in August last, Pakistan wanted the new government to stop opposing the project. When the Taliban government showed no interest in helping Pakistan, it put pressure on the Afghan Taliban in various ways, including through its key allies in the government. But in October last year when the Taliban spokesman made clear Kabul’s opposition to the border fencing, Pakistan hit back with a crippling blockade at the Chaman border post. Chaman is the second largest border checkpoint with thousands of trucks and men traveling across the highway every day. The crossing is a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped Taliban government. With border disruptions at Torkham and withdrawal of PIA flights from Kabul, Pakistan sent a strong message to the Taliban government to fall in line or face consequences.

In the last week of December, matters came to a head when the border forces of both the countries fired at each other after the Taliban disrupted the border fencing activities. The exchange of fire continued for over half an hour before matters were brought under control. There were reports of minor skirmishes later.

The 2,670-km long Durand Line on the border cuts through the lands inhabited by several tribes.

These border clashes sent alarms ringing in Rawalpindi and the Generals called for an immediate meeting with the Taliban emissaries. The secret deal was agreed upon at these meetings. Officially it was stated that border fencing work would continue through consensus. The Pak army spokesperson on January 5, 2022 said the remaining six per cent of border fencing work would continue as planned.

But the deal is likely to face a tough challenge as the tribes inhabiting the border areas have greater stake in keeping the border free of any fencing and patrolling by Pakistan. The complex tribal dynamics could undo the Pakistani plan. Noorzai and Achakzai tribes are settled in Chaman and Kandhar and are fiercely against any border dividing the Pashtun nation. Likewise, Shinwaris who are settled in Nangarhar province have cross-border property and trade links. Tribes in Dasmar, Shortan, Marwara, Sarkanu and Knuar are also seriously affected as their cross border businesses have collapsed due to the new fence along the border. In a village in Afghanistan’s Qala MazI people have Pakistan ID cards and even use electricity provided from Pakistan.

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India to hold military drill with China and Pakistan

The Indian Army will be conducting air reconnaissance and protecting facilities during the joint drills with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the Pakistan Army, reports Asian Lite News

As India makes efforts to thwart threats at its borders from China and Pakistan, troops from the three countries are set to take part in a mega anti-terror drill of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Russia aimed at expanding cooperation to deal with the growing menace of terrorism and extremism.

As part of the SCO initiative, the Peace Mission Exercise is conducted for member states.

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Peace Mission-2021 is an anti-terrorist command and staff exercise of member countries. More than 3,000 soldiers are expected to participate in the drill.

The Indian Army will be conducting air reconnaissance and protecting facilities during the joint drills with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the Pakistan Army.

The joint exercise will be conducted by the Central Military Commission of Russia from September 11 to September 25 at the Donguzsky training ground in the Orenburg region in Urals.

The drill will involve tactical-level operations in an international counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism environment under the SCO Charter. The joint exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices among the armed forces of the SCO nations.

India became a full member of the SCO in June 2017. The SCO was established in Shanghai in 2001, with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as its founding members.

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Sources said the Indian contingent will have 200 personnel, primarily comprising troops from the infantry, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.

Last year, India had withdrawn from a multilateral war game as its troops were engaged in a bitter standoff with the Chinese PLA in several areas along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh, while Pakistan was in continuous violation of the ceasefire agreement.

At first, India had agreed but later it withdrew from the multi-lateral exercise last year. No reason was cited officially as to why India had reversed its decision.

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