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This is an archive article published on October 17, 2009
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Opinion Troubled south

A register of reports and views from the Pakistan press....

indianexpress

Ruchika Talwar

October 17, 2009 02:44 AM IST First published on: Oct 17, 2009 at 02:44 AM IST

On October 12,Daily Times traced the source of the brazen attack on the army GHQ in an editorial: “Again,it was South Punjab which was in focus and,against all assertions to the contrary,this time counter-intelligence was clearly effective against the terrorists. How else can one judge counter-intelligence if not from this forewarning that even named the outfits? If this tip-off was ignored,it can only mean that there is ‘denial’ somewhere of there being terrorist trouble in South Punjab. Most attacks in and around Islamabad,including the one on Marriott Hotel,have been traced to South Punjab. Today,in the so-called Seraiki Belt,no one dare speak against the erstwhile jihadi organisation now clearly aligned with Al Qaeda. The government stance is the leader of Jaish-e-Muhammad,Maulana Masood Azhar,is not to be found,but the foreign press has reported his presence in Bahawalpur with new training facilities for his terrorists in the nearby desert. Interior Minister Rehman Malik says the deed is done by terrorists aligned with Al Qaeda,but he also adds some other connections that introduce breaches of logic that only he can understand. He says the terrorists are working for their foreign masters against the integrity of Pakistan. ‘Foreign masters’ have been named by others as India and the US. Unless explained more fully,this means India and the US are paying Al Qaeda — which Mr Malik says runs the TTP — to wreck Pakistan.”

Under siege

Just a day earlier,a Dawn editorial held: “The attack has highlighted the threat not just from the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan,but from those based in Punjab. Security officials said some of the militants involved in the attack in the city of Rawalpindi,next door to the capital,Islamabad,appeared to have links to Punjab. ‘South Punjab has become the hub of jihadism,’ Pakistani analyst Ayesha Siddiqa wrote in a magazine article last month.” An interesting aside to this major event was reported in The News on October 12: “The GHQ attack saved,at least,two top players of the present set-up from being sacked for creating misunderstanding between the Army and the President House. It was decided in a high-level meeting on Friday (last week) that these two men,considered close to the president,would be sacked from their jobs.”

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The country’s security was challenged yet again when armed men attacked Lahore’s security bodies on October 15. Daily Times reported a worrying component of the attack on October 16: “Top security sources have said offices of private TV channels,the National Press Club in Islamabad,other press clubs across the country and offices of the print media are likely to be the next target of terrorists. Meanwhile,a Taliban group also sent two letters to the Lahore Press Club,one on October 12 and the other on October 14,warning that if the media “does not stop portraying us as terrorists … we will blow up offices of journalists and media organisations”.

Third hand

The Daily Times on October 12 commented on the clause in the Kerry-Lugar Bill that connects military aid to dismantling jihadi networks inside Pakistan,: “There are clauses that appear to be the handiwork of the Indian embassy in Washington D.C.,and Indian lobbyists. These include the ones dealing with the dismantling of terrorist bases of operation in Pakistan; preventing terrorist groups,such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad,from operating in Pakistani territory and carrying out cross-border attacks on neighbouring countries. ”