Opinion The old ways of terror
A little-known terror outfit has claimed responsibility for ramming an explosive-laden truck into the hotel blast...
A little-known terror outfit has claimed responsibility for ramming an explosive-laden truck into the hotel blast in Peshawar. The News reported on June 10: An organisation which calls itself Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade has claimed responsibility. Dawns June 11 editorial says,The devastating strike against the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar is another sobering reminder that the terrorists are continually adapting their modus operandi and probing gaps in security arrangements in what should be high-security areas. The attacks on the FIA centre in Lahore in March 2008 and the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September introduced the devastation of truck-bombing to Pakistan.
Taliban isolated
The tide seems to have turned against the Taliban leadership,who are being taken on by the locals who once deified them. As Daily Times puts it in its June 10 editorial: The chief of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Baitullah Mehsud is under pressure… Disenchantment is setting in among the latter-day Taliban who joined Baitullahs enterprise simply to fulfill their dreams of a pure Islam to transform society into some sort of imagined utopia. After perceiving that the Taliban were on the run,a Taliban chief in Peshawar has also denounced Baitullahs policies: Whatever Baitullah Mehsud and his associates are doing in the name of Islam is not a jihad,and in fact it is rioting and terrorism. The News reported on June 8: Intensifying the offensive against the Taliban,the armed villagers in Dir Upper,backed by other villages,besieged the militants from all sides,killing six more of them……Negotiations were out of the question as the people were infuriated over the mosque attack and mass killings.
US Puff-Pak policy
The US House of Representatives has cleared the hyped $7.5 billion aid bill potentially a shot in the arm for cash-starved Pakistan. Dawn,on June 12,reports an interesting rider in the bill stating: In the process,we lay down an important marker that Congress will no longer provide a blank check, which led an irked Hussain Haqqani,Pakistans ambassador to the US,to retort: Some conditional language that has been included in the aid bill is not conducive to promoting the objectives of counterterrorism cooperation, adding he hoped the Senate would remove those terms when they complete passage of the aid package.
In another story,Dawn on June 12 quoted United News of Indias (UNI) unnamed sources saying the US had asked India to close or prune down its consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan following allegations by Pakistan that Indian consulates were fomenting trouble in NWFP and Balochistan. Daily Times played up US under secretary of state for political affairs,William Burns statement on Kashmir: The US said it wants the Kashmir issue resolved in line with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir a statement that reflects Pakistans stance on the long-standing dispute.
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