Musharraf Assassination Attempts update

In a contrast to that, is this an exceedingly clever move to flush Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, or just bone-headed? You be the judge

Earlier I reported on the Musharraf Assassination attempts, now we probably know why they happened.

 

From the Frontier Post:

14 jihadi training camps wound up

By Aqeel Yousafzai PESHAWAR: The government has snapped all links with the 17 organisations of the AJK-based Jihad Council, an alliance wedded to the cause of Indian-held Kashmir’s liberation. “Fourteen training camps of various jihadi outfits have been wound up and intelligence agencies are trying to widen the gulf between these organizations,” a knowledgeable source said on Sunday. In an angry reaction to “the U-turn,” the Jihad Council comprising Harkatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Jihad-i-Islami and Jaish-i-Muhammad have decided to support activities against the activities. “Not these organisations have parted ways with the Establishment, they have also declared any move against the Musharraf-led government will be deemed legitimate,” an official told The Frontier Post. Requesting not to be named because of the sensitive nature of his job, the official said the government had withdrawn incentives to 14 training camps, with a history spanning almost 40 years. Apparently, he believed, the decision on closing down the facilities had been taken under mounting pressure on Islamabad from the United States and India to stop cross-border incursions into Indian-occupied Kashmir. Camps run by Hezbul Mujahideen (Khewra), al-Badr (Ugi), Harkatul Mujahideen (Batrasi), Jaish-i-Muhammad (Attar Sheesha), al-Barq (RawlaKot), Lashkar-i-Taiba (Batrali), Tehreekul Mujahideen (Muzaffarabad), Harkatul Jihad-i-Islami (Kotli), Harkarul Jihad Islami (Plandri), Hezb-i-Islami (Gulpur, Kotli) and Hezbul Momineen (Muzaffarabad) have been shut. According to the source, these camps enjoyed government’s patronage up until the first quarter of the current year and various cells were working to strengthen them. A recent survey shows Hezb-i-Islami, a pro-Jamaat-i-Islami organisation, received Rs.15 million a month besides other incentives like daily allowances and operation costs. Special Operation Intelligence Unit (SOIU) and Refugees Management Cell (RMC), responsible for extending financial, logistic, arms and training assistance to the camps, were dealing with the jihadi organisations. RMC recently withdrew vehicles from these outfits and huge funds – meant for daily allowances of the commanders and fighters – were frozen. Protesting the unexpected twist in government’s policy, several jihadi organisations recently staged a sit-in and chanted anti-government slogans in front of the RMC Headquarters near Kana Pul. Until 2002, different retired army officers headed the RMC. After the government abolished the 14 training camps, the source said, freedom fighters shifted their ammunition to safer places.

In a contrast to that, is this an exceedingly clever move to flush Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, or just bone-headed? You be the judge:

Lieutenant-General David Richards, commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, will plead with President Pervez Musharraf for an end to Pakistan’s alleged support to Taliban insurgents. The British general, due to arrive in Pakistan today, will give Musharraf proofs of Taliban operations inside Pakistan, a British weekly reported here on Sunday. David Richards would meet Musharraf in the southeastern city of Quetta, the Sunday Times said, adding fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Omar was said to be living openly in the Balochistan capital. The Afghanistan-based NATO commander, besides demanding the arrest of Mullah Omar, will also to try to persuade the Pakistani president to rein in his military intelligence service. David Richards, the weekly in its report datelined Kabul said, believed Pakistan’s military intelligence personnel were training Taliban fighters to attack British forces. “Among the evidence amassed is the address of the Taliban’s leader in a Pakistani city. He will request that key Taliban leaders living in Pakistan be arrested.” It said the proofs gathered by US, NATO and Afghan intelligence includes satellite pictures and videos of training camps for Taliban and suicide bombers inside Pakistan. Arrested militants and failed suicide bombers have admitted receiving training from the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence. “The information includes an address in Quetta where Mullah Omar is said to be living.” The NATO commander told the weekly: “We’ve got to accept that the Pakistan government is not omnipotent and it isn’t easy but it has to be done and we’re working very hard on it. I’m very confident that the Pakistan government’s intent is clear and they will be delivering on it.”

Interesting update from Pak Tribune:

RAWALPINDI, Oct 9 (Online): Law enforcement agencies arrested a suspect from the Bhoosa Mandi (Hay-market) residential area located near the Rawalpindi Railways Station in connection to involvement in the rockets found near important buildings in the capital and the Ayub Park blasts. The suspect a Fourth Year student of a local college and resident of Miran Jaffer village Golra, Nadeem s/o Muhammad Yousaf was arrested on the night between Sunday and Monday. Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Federal Minister for Interior on the investigations said that important development has taken place in the investigations but refused to give out the details . As per sources Nadeem is a fourth year student at a local college and hails from a religious family. There are reports that during the raid personnel of law enforcement agencies recovered a brief case and some important things