Pakistan caught in terror
tit-for-tat By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The Bush administration believes that
it is an "interesting" idea, but Saudi Arabia's proposal
to send an all-Muslim security force to Iraq is fraught
with danger for any country that participates in such a
force, and especially Pakistan.
The Saudi
proposal, made by Crown Prince Abdullah to visiting US
Secretary of State Colin Powell this week, envisages
troop contributions from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen and Bahrain, as well
as former Soviet Union states. Iraqi officials have said
they do not want nations that border Iraq to contribute,
ruling out Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, Syria and
Jordan.
Powell called the proposal "an
interesting idea" and suggested that a Muslim force
could provide security for facilities, but it was not
spelled out how the force would operate or to whom it
would answer.
Powell's comments were preceded by
the killing in Iraq of two Pakistani contract workers at
the hands of militants, sending off alarm bells in
Islamabad, and followed by a graphic warning from a
terrorist group that "swords will be drawn" against
anyone cooperating "with the Jews and the Christians".
Pakistanis Raja Azad, an engineer, and driver
Mohammed Naeem, both working in Iraq, were confirmed as
killed on Wednesday by a militant group calling itself
the Islamic Army.
On Thursday, in a statement
posted on an Islamic Internet site known to carry
messages from militant groups, the Jamaat al-Tawhid
al-Islamiya Omar el-Mukhtar Brigade - the main title
means Group of Islamic Monotheism - warned of attacks
against any Islamic or Arab nation that contributed
troops to the Saudi-proposed Muslim force.
"Our
swords will be drawn in the face of anyone who
cooperates with the Jews and the Christians. We will
strike with an iron fist all the traitors from the Arab
governments who cooperate with the Zionists secretly or
openly."
Omar el-Mukhtar is the name of a Libyan
nationalist who fought against the Italian occupation
and who was hanged by the colonial authorities in 1931.
A top Pakistani security official told Asia
Times Online that the administration of President
General Pervez Musharraf was taking the threat extremely
seriously, so much so that almost all official functions
have been canceled and the country's leaders are lying
low.
The authorities are also mindful of the
case of Amjad Hafeez, a Pakistani who was abducted in
Iraq. He was released, and in his debriefing in
Rawalpindi he said that as a Muslim and a Pakistani he
had been treated very well, but the only reason he had
been freed was to convey the message to the Musharraf
administration that should it even try to send troops to
Iraq, militants will target Pakistani interests all over
the world.
Another official in Pakistan's
Intelligence Bureau said that the Pakistani consul in
Saudi Arabia was constantly sending alarming reports on
the security situation in that country, predicting a
highly volatile situation in the days ahead. The
intelligence reports warn that there is a major problem
within the Saudi security apparatus, as well as among
clerics who are fiercely anti-US. They support the Iraqi
insurgency and oppose the House of Saud for supporting
the US-led "war on terror".
Both Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia, though, are under strong US pressure to
toe the Washington line, especially Pakistan, as a
frontline state in the "war on terror". The fact that
the two Pakistanis were killed is attributed to
Islamabad not coming out and clearly saying that it will
not send troops to Iraq, as the men's hostage-takers had
demanded.
Trouble after trouble
Sindh province's authorities have declared a red alert in
the volatile southern port city of Karachi after
credible information that gangs of suicide attackers
have been activated. Two separate gangs are led by
sisters Arafa and Sofia Baloch. All routes to the US
Consulate have been sealed off, and helicopters patrol
the skies over military offices, while security on the
ground is tight.
In the Pakistani tribal belt,
meanwhile, a permanent night curfew has been imposed in
South Waziristan, scene of two recent major military
operations to capture foreign militants. Asia Times
Online contacts in in the area maintain that the
Pakistani army has virtually been confined to barracks by
Islamabad, yet troops are under frequent attack from
insurgents.
Closer to military headquarters, the
establishment has been rocked by news that an official
of the Inter-Services Intelligence in Karachi has been
arrested in connection with the recent assassination
attempt on the commander of V Corps in the city, in
which a number of army personnel died. The official has
been taken to Rawalpindi for interrogation, but
questions remain about the loyalty of others within the
establishment.
Al-Qaeda
arrest Intelligence operators have had some
successes, though. They have broken the Jundullah
militant network in Karachi and their associates in
other parts of the country.
And on Thursday,
the US confirmed the capture in Gujrat, a town in
Punjab province, Pakistan, of Tanzanian al-Qaeda suspect
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. He is on the US Federal Bureau
of Investigation's list of 22 most-wanted terrorists,
with a reward of US$5 million on his head. He has
been indicted for his role in the 1998 East Africa
bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed
more than 200 people. Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal
Saleh Hayat confirmed that Ghailani was among a group of
alleged terrorists arrested last Sunday.
Despite
these breakthroughs, though, the latest arrests might
only be the tip of the iceberg of terror suspects in the
country, and further, retaliation is always a threat.
Asia Times Online has learned that the twin cities of
Rawalpindi and Islamabad could be the targets of groups
believed to be active in the insurgency in South
Waziristan.
The Saudi call on Muslims to take up
arms merely adds to Pakistan's mounting problems.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is bureau chief
Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached atsaleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
.
(Copyright 2004
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
