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US-CIA-Xe Jihad: US drone kills 7 in Pakistan
Terrorism by proxy? - 23.02.2011 19:17
US drone strike kills seven in Pakistan
Attack in South Waziristan is first since arrest of Raymond Davis, the US embassy employee who shot two Pakistanis
 http://indymedia.nl/nl/2011/02/74006.shtml
Monday 21 February 2011 08.50 GMT
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/2/21/1298278149319/US-national-Raymond-Davis-007.jpg
US embassy employee Raymond Davis, who is accused of killing two Pakistanis in Lahore in late January. Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images
A US drone attack has killed seven alleged militants, including some thought to be of Arab origin, in a Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The strike was the first since the arrest of Raymond Davis, a US embassy employee who shot two Pakistanis in late January. There had been speculation that Washington had suspended the use of drones as it wrestled with Pakistan over whether the American has diplomatic immunity and should be freed.
According to the Pakistani intelligence officials, three missiles hit a house overnight in the village of Kaza Panga in the South Waziristan tribal region. Arabs and Turkmen were believed to be among the dead, they said.
Pakistan's tribal regions are key hideouts for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, including many from other countries. While Pakistan's military has waged offensives in various parts of the north-west, the US has also used drone-fired missiles to target insurgents there.
The frequency of the missile strikes – often more than one a week – dropped to zero after Davis was detained for shooting two Pakistanis in the eastern city of Lahore on 27 January. The US has demanded his release, arguing Davis was acting in self-defence against robbers and has diplomatic immunity from prosecution because he works for the US embassy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/us-drone-strike-pakistan
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| Read more about: anti-fascisme / racisme antimilitarisme vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten | | supplements | | wie | o wie - 23.02.2011 22:03
Wie is dat toch die hier steeds de boel volflikkert met wat kennelijk lezenswaardige stukjes van her en der?
Indymedia, je gaat nog eens kapot aan dat open-publishing concept, voor zover je dat al niet hebt gedaan.
| | R. Davis worked for private security firm XE | D. Walsh & E. MacAskill - 24.02.2011 00:15
Monday 21 February 2011 21.48 GMT - Ewen MacAskill and Declan Walsh
US gives fresh details of CIA agent who killed two men in Pakistan shootout
US reveals that CIA agent Raymond Davis worked for private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater
US officials have provided fresh details about Raymond Davis, the CIA agent at the centre of a diplomatic stand-off in Pakistan, including confirmation that he had worked for the private security contractor Xe, formerly known as Blackwater. They also disclosed for the first time that he had been providing security for a CIA team tracking militants.
Davis was attached to the CIA's Global Response Staff, whose duties include protecting case officers when they meet with sources. He was familiarising himself with a sensitive area of Lahore on the day he shot dead two Pakistanis.
The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and other media outlets reported for the first time that Davis is a CIA employee. They said they had been aware of his status but kept it under wraps at the request of US officials who said they feared for his safety if involvement with the spy agency was to come out. The officials claimed that he is at risk in the prison in Lahore. The officials released them from their obligation after the Guardian on Sunday reported that Davis was a CIA agent.
Davis shot dead two Pakistanis in Lahore last month who he says had been trying to rob him. A third Pakistani man was killed by a car driven by Americans apparently on their way to rescue Davis.
Confirmation that he worked for Xe could prove even more problematic than working for the CIA, given the extent of hatred towards Blackwater, whose staff have gained a reputation in Pakistan as trigger-happy. For Pakistanis the word "Blackwater" has become a byword for covert American operations targeting the country's nuclear capability. Newspaper reports have been filled with lurid reports of lawless operatives roaming the country.
US officials have reiterated their concern about Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail where Davis is being held, saying he had been moved to a separate section of the prison, that the guards' guns had been taken away from for fear they might kill him, and that detainees had been previously killed by guards. They are also concerned about protesters storming the prison or that he might be poisoned, and that dogs were being used to taste or smell the food for poison.
However, the authorities in Pakistan stressed the stringent measures they have put in place to protect Davis in Kot Lakhpat following angry public rallies in which his effigy was burned and threats from extremist clerics.
PJ Crowley, the US state department spokesman, said: "Obviously, we are concerned about his safety. We have had multiple conversations with the government of Pakistan regarding his current surroundings. They have told us that he is in the safest possible location in Lahore. And clearly, we hold the government of Pakistan fully responsible for his safety."
Surveillance cameras are trained on his cell in an isolation wing, and a ring of paramilitary troops are posted outside. About 25 jihadi prisoners have been transferred to other facilities.
The revelations about Davis will complicate further the impasse between the US and Pakistan. Washington says he has diplomatic immunity and should be released but the Pakistan government is in a bind, facing the danger of a public backlash if it complies.
Until Sunday, the US had said Davis was a diplomat, doing technical and administrative work at the embassy. It says that because he has diplomatic immunity, he should be released immediately.
The Pakistani prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, told parliament on Monday he would safeguard the country's "sovereignty and dignity" as it sought to resolve the diplomatic impasse with the US. "We are firmly resolved to adopt a course that accords with the dictates of justice and the rule of law. My government will not compromise on Pakistan's sovereignty and dignity," said Gilani.
The Obama administration is exerting fierce pressure on Pakistan to release Davis. But President Asif Ali Zardari's government, faced with a wave of public outrage, has prevaricated on the issue, and says it cannot decide on immunity issue until 14 March. For many Pakistanis the case has come to represent their difficult relationship with the US, in which multibillion dollar aid packages are mingled with covert activities targeting Islamist extremists.
Davis is currently on Pakistan's "exit control list", meaning he cannot leave the country without permission. But the two men who came to his rescue in a jeep that knocked over and killed a motorcyclist are believed to have already fled the country. Davis claimed to be acting in self-defence, firing on a pair of suspected robbers. But eyebrows were raised when it emerged that he shot the men 10 times, one as he fled the scene.
Pakistani prosecutors say Davis used excessive force and have charged him with two counts of murder and one of illegal possession of a Glock 9mm pistol. There have also been claims that the dead men were working for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, with orders to follow Davis.
The military spy agency cooperates with the CIA in its tribal belt drone programme, but resents US intelligence collection elsewhere in the country.In spite of the lurid conspiracy tales in Pakistan about Blackwater, US officials say that in reality Blackwater has had two major contracts in Pakistan - loading missiles onto CIA drones at the secret Shamsi airbase in Balochistan, and supervising the construction of a police training facility in Peshawar. The Davis furore has not, however, stopped the controversial drone strike programme. News emerged of a fresh attack on a militant target in South Waziristan, the first in nearly one month. Pakistani intelligence officials told AP that foreigners were among the dead including three people from Turkmenistan and two Arabs.
Rocky relations
The CIA and Pakistan's ISI have long had a rocky relationship. It started in the 1980s jihad, when the ISI funnelled billions of dollars in CIA-funded weapons to anti-Soviet rebels in Afghanistan.
But the two fell out in 2001 over CIA accusations that the ISI was playing a "double game" – attacking some Islamist militants while secretly supporting others.
In August 2008 the CIA deputy chief, Stephen Kappes, flew to Islamabad with evidence suggesting the ISI plotted the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed 54 people. The ISI, in turn, complained that the US came with unrealistic expectations and an aggressive attitude.
Yet at the same time the agencies co-operated closely, mostly on the CIA drone campaign against al-Qaida militants along the Afghan border.
In 2009 the ISI praised the CIA for killing the Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. But recently things soured again. Last December the CIA station chief was forced to quit Pakistan after being publicly identified (US officials blamed an ISI leak); while Pakistani spies were angered that their chief, General Shuja Pasha, was named in a US lawsuit brought in a New York court by victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/raymond-davis-pakistan-cia-blackwater
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A CIA spy, a hail of bullets, three killed and a US-Pakistan diplomatic row
Barack Obama weighs in to Raymond Davis row as Pakistani anger grows over CIA agent blamed for civilian deaths in Lahore
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/cia-agent-lahore-civilian-deaths?intcmp=239
Sunday 20 February 2011 21.28 GMT
American who sparked diplomatic crisis over Lahore shooting was CIA spy
• Raymond Davis employed by CIA 'beyond shadow of doubt'
• Former soldier charged with murder over deaths of two men
• Davis accused of shooting one man twice in the back as he fled
• Special report: A CIA spy and a diplomatic whirlwind
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/us-raymond-davis-lahore-cia?INTCMP=SRCH
Sunday 20 February 2011 19.38 GMT
| | Two CIA contractors spirited out of Pakistan | Mark Hosenball - 24.02.2011 01:01
Mark Hosenball - Reuters
Washington | Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:15am IST
Two CIA contractors spirited out of Pakistan
Two U.S. citizens with diplomatic status were quietly withdrawn from Pakistan after being involved in a fatal car accident last month while trying to help Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor being held by Pakistani authorities on murder charges.
Two officials familiar with U.S. government activities in Pakistan said the two Americans who left the country worked for the CIA under contract as protective officers. This means they were employed as highly skilled bodyguards, like Davis, for CIA operations officers serving in Pakistan.
The two Americans who left Pakistan have not been otherwise identified by U.S. or Pakistani authorities. The CIA declined to comment.
According to a translated Pakistani police statement obtained by Reuters, the two Americans got into the car crash while trying to go to the aid of Davis, who U.S. sources say claims he shot dead two Pakistanis on a motorcycle when they tried to rob him at gunpoint as he was driving in Lahore.
The police report says the vehicle used by the unidentified Americans, a Landcruiser belonging to the U.S. consulate in Lahore, drove the wrong way down a one-way street.
It struck and killed a motorcyclist named Muhammad Ibad-ur-Rehman, the report said, and "fled from the scene of the incident."
The two U.S. officials confirmed media reports the two men involved in the fatal accident were working and living in the same building in Lahore as Davis. They said all three men were working on similar security assignments for the CIA.
Pakistani officials and news reports have said items recovered from Davis included a telescope, a 9mm pistol and a camera containing pictures of bridges and religious schools known as madrassas.
Current and former U.S. national security officials familiar with the role of CIA "protective officer" contractors say it would be routine for them to do reconnaissance missions to chart safe travel routes and spot security threats.
U.S. officials deny media reports that Davis was involved in some kind of undercover counter-terrorism operations.
They also deny reports from Pakistan suggesting that Davis' assailants had some link to the Inter Services Intelligence directorate, Pakistan's principal intelligence agency.
Elements of the ISI have been involved in secretly supporting U.S. counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan, including a long-running campaign to attack suspected militant camps using missiles fired from unmanned drone aircraft.
(Additional reporting by Mubasher Bokhari in Lahore; Editing by John O'Callaghan and Philip Barbara)
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/02/23/idINIndia-55107720110223
| | Presence of Blackwater / Xe in Pakistan | Asif Haroon Raja - 24.02.2011 22:53
Sun, 2010-02-07 01:35 — Asif Haroon Raja
Grave concerns over presence of Blackwater in Pakistan
A private and secretive outfit named Blackwater under Erik Prince propped up in North Carolina in mid 1990s with its HQ spread over 7000 acres of land.
It trains tens of thousands of law enforcement officials a year from the US and other nations. It has grown into a private army and has become so powerful that it can topple a government. It has over 2300 soldiers deployed in nine countries. It maintains a data base of 21000 Special Forces troops and retired police for its use.
Jeremy Scahill revealed in his book “Rise of the world’s most powerful mercenary army”, that Pentagon has made private contractors an integral part of operations. Infamous private security firm Blackwater had been put to use in Iraq as hired killers. Largest ever private contractors totalling 100,000 were employed having a ratio of 1:1 to American soldiers. Paul Bremer initially used security guards of this private firm for his personal protection and subsequently expanded its role to avoid US casualties. Rs one lac was paid to a security guard per day. It changed its name to Xe Worldwide or Xe Services after earning bad name in Iraq where it was extensively employed by US military.
This role is now being performed in Afghanistan particularly after US war casualties started to rise in 2009. Most of clandestine work in Afghanistan is being done by Blackwater. Reportedly, Blackwater/Xe in Afghanistan is training and equipping Afghan troops who then fire on US soldiers during joint operations. Two such incidents took place in 2009 and this practice is aimed at justifying troop surge.
Gordon Duff, a senior editor of Veterans Today has disclosed that the CIA has outsourced its most secret projects to Blackwater, a mercenary group with worst reputation of any firm the US has ever done business with. It plans and executes terrorist acts against civilian targets, military installations, intelligence agencies and resorts to target killings. It maintains contacts with terrorist leaders and organizes revolutionary groups. Disregarding US laws, CIA has expanded the role of private contractors including Blackwater like raids, operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Somalia and now in Yemen. This was disclosed by four former US military and intelligence officers to ABL News.
There is mounting evidence that Pentagon and CIA are engaged in a war against Pakistan population involving death squads, disappearances and torture. These infamous practices were employed in Vietnam and Al Salvador. One of the chief executives of Blackwater Robert Richer was head of CIA’s Near East and South Asia from1999 to 2004 and ran clandestine operations throughout Middle East and South Asia. Gen Petraeus in August 2009 announced plans to launch an intelligence training centre in coordination with others to train military officers, covert agents and analysts who agree to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan for up to a decade. In the same month, it was announced that Pentagon was reassigning its 3rd Special Forces Group presently deployed in Africa and Caribbean to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The CIA also uses credentialed journalists to engage in counter-intelligence. Individuals working as subcontractors to CIA have links to Blackwater CIA-approved operations in targeted countries of the region. Blackwater comes in the guise of contractors, investors, business partners and economic advisers. According to Tim Shorrock, Washington obtained $42 billion annually on private intelligence contractors, up from $17.5 in 2000. It implies 70% intelligence budget going to private companies. Private contractors have been involved in Guantanamo Bay, Bagram and Abu Garib prisons. Blackwater not only serves CIA but also private interests for money. Blackwater elements used extensively by CIA and US military to minimize hazards of combat to US troops have come under intense censure and scrutiny in Iraq and Pakistan due to which their liberty of action has curtailed.
Controversial Blackwater firm which is an extension of US military and CIA is associated with Christian rights and is anti-Islam. Its head Eric Prince is right wing Christian. He has been engaged in uniting conservative Catholics, evangelicals, and neoconservatives in a common Theo-conservative holy war to eliminate Muslims and Islam globally. Blackwater acts as the armed wing of the movement. Blackwater is reportedly running a covert recruitment drive through its website in Pakistan; http://www.blackwaterUSA.com . It can only be accessed through four company executives’ references. It seeks candidates who can speak Punjabi and Urdu. $ one billion has been allocated for Blackwater which is above law and accountability. Not even home country law is applicable to this outfit. Not a single private contractor involved in gruesome murders has been prosecuted.
Presence of elements of notorious Black water in Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta and now in Karachi has created ripples in Pakistan and has become a cause of serious concern for all Pakistanis. In Peshawar, they are operating from office of CA11 on Chinar Road, University Town. In-charge of this set up Craig Davis was caught red handed in Peshawar indulging in objectionable activities and having links with Afghanistan. He was identified as an operative of Creative Associates International Inc; a Washington based US firm, one of the wings of Blackwater. Craig was arrested and deported to USA. He and several other deported persons were returned to Pakistan after receiving visas from Pak Embassy in Washington and security cleared by interior ministry and Craig resumed his official activities. Ambassador Hussain Haqqani issued 360 visas to American nationals in one month without consulting Islamabad. This dangerous practice would have continued had the ISI not put its foot down. Consequent to this setback, this suspicious company changed its name and shifted to Karachi.
Several incidents of Americans carrying prohibited bore weapons and grenades roaming the streets of Islamabad during ungodly hours took place. Two incidents happened in Lahore and five Americans were caught under suspicious conditions from Sargodha. Glen Greinwad disclosed that there is ample evidence that the US pays a number of groups within Iran to commit acts of terrorism. If so, there is likelihood that CIA must be indulging in such like activities in Pakistan as well. Blackwater has been actively involved in assassinating pro-government Maliks, clerics and notables in FATA, religious scholars in NWFP, political figures, and target killings in Quetta and in Karachi and in drone attacks. It had a role in organised terrorist attacks against military and police targets in Lahore and Rawalpindi. It provides surveillance and support to terrorist groups such as BLA and BRA in Balochistan and Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan in FATA and Swat.
Reportedly, the US has purchased 16 acres land from CDA in Islamabad. Over $ 1 billion has been earmarked for the expansion of US Embassy in Islamabad, part of which would stretch up to PM Secretariat and Presidency. Offices of Marines, Blackwater security consultants along with residences will be constructed. The new Embassy would be designed to make it bomb proof and to be able to eavesdrop all our high powered secret meetings taking place in parliament, Presidency and PM Secretariat. Rumors are afloat that 1000 to 7000 US Marines together with APCs are planned to be stationed within the confines of new embassy in Islamabad with licence to move about anywhere in Pakistan. 400 houses have been hired in Islamabad by US Embassy.
The intended expanded US Embassy in Islamabad will be the largest in the world. $ 115 million have been earmarked for it and made part of Kerry-Lugar Bill (KLB) package for Pakistan. It includes $5 million for Marines quarters, $53.5 million for housing infrastructure; $18 million for general services and office area; $36 million for temporary duty quarters and community staff facilities. All told $4 billion will be required for the ambitious project. $800 million had been allocated for the protection of enlarged and fortified Embassy through private security contractor DynCorp.
Some say it is being made into a military base while others say a cantonment is being built. Expansion of US Embassy in Islamabad is being justified under the plea that greater number of officials would be required to disburse promised $1.5 billion aid per annum from USA and Friends of Pakistan. If this is the criteria, India with which USA has strategic cooperation in defence and economic fields which is twenty times more in volume, USA should need half of New Delhi to accommodate coordinating and disbursement staff. US Ambassador has sought sanction for 800 vehicles which will be in addition to existing fleet of 1100 private cars in use by Embassy staff in Islamabad. It is said that the fortified US Embassy close to PM secretariat will counter balance Rawalpindi based 111 Brigade. Under the garb of KLB, which is a step towards neo-colonisation of Pakistan, it is intended to enhance presence of US military contractors, immune from prosecution.
The US has purchased a large chunk of land in Sihala and has seemingly established a secret military training camp adjacent to police academy just a few km away from Islamabad and from Kahuta. It is being used to recruit retired army personnel preferably ex SSG at handsome salaries to work for US military. Monthly salaries range from $200 to $1200. Commandant of the Academy or any other person belonging to law enforcing agency could not enter the prohibited area. Sensitive instruments were implanted to monitor KRL and to gain intelligence on nuclear assets. It has now come to light that this unchecked facility was given to USA in 2003 under an unwritten agreement by Gen Musharraf to train the police.
A security firm has a warehouse in Islamabad which was involved in illegal arm trade. The warehouse, Kestral Logistics, worked as a sub contractor of Xe World. It imported heavy arms and ammunition for US Company for its illicit operation in Pakistan. The US rejected news on warehouse for storing arms. US Ambassador Anne Patterson and Richard Holbrooke too denied presence of Blackwater.
In 2006, Pakistan had signed an agreement with the US authorising Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to enter Pakistan to hunt Osama bin Laden. At that time Gen McChrystal was head of JSOC. It was learnt in 2008 that the US had acquired huge chunk of land near Tarbela with a view to build a military base. Some reports say that 300 US military advisers are lodged in Tarbela and drones are also controlled from there. US Special Forces have been conducting joint exercises with our commandoes apart from imparting advanced training.
US military trainers favour tactics adopted by JSOC and are imparting training to Frontier Corps in Fort Balhissar Peshawar and in Warsak. On 23 February 2009, Pentagon revealed that over 70 American military advisers had been secretly working in Pakistan since long. It has now transpired that 100-member strong Special Forces unit is stationed in NWFP since 2008 to train FC in counter terrorism. Three US trainers died in a suicide attack in Lower Dir on 3 February 2010. TTP claimed responsibility and claimed that the killed foreigners belonged to Xe Worldwide.
Reportedly, US opened a JSOC in Balochistan where Marines are coming in via Islamabad. Marines as well as heavy contingent of Blackwater elements to the tune of 11000 have also been spotted in Balochistan, who in collaboration with BLA and BRA are mostly carrying out target killings. Four air bases in Balochistan had been leased to US military in September 2001 and these bases at Jacobabad, Pasni, Dalbaldin and Shamsi are still in their use. It is now an open secret that Shamsi airbase is under use by US drones where Blackwater was hired for loading hellfire missiles and 500 lbs laser guided bombs on Predators. Similar job is being performed at Jalalabad air base to strike targets in Pakistan. In the wake of intense pressure from people of Pakistan, CIA terminated the contract of terrorist group Blackwater Worldwide employed at Shamsi Base but is still using it in Balochistan under the name of Xe Services.
Blackwater has now spread its tentacles to Karachi under a different name. It has hired seven private houses in defence area and acquired hundreds of acres of land near Pataro in Sindh to launch agricultural research institute. There were reports of secret construction of operational facilities in Gharo in Sindh to serve as a base for 200 Marines and that sizeable numbers of American armoured carriers had arrived at Port Qasim, with 3000 Hummvies awaiting dispatch.
Jeremy Scahill has revealed about a covert forward operation base run by JSOC in Karachi in which Blackwater is actively involved in planning and executing target assassination of suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The outfit also helps in gathering intelligence and in drone attacks. Reportedly the militant wing of MQM has joined hands with Blackwater and former is making full use of it to serve its political ends.
Seymour M. Hersh suggested that it is easier and safer to remove separately stored arming system of nuclear systems from the soil of Pakistan. US intelligence agencies in various guises like Xe worldwide are reportedly developing techniques to disable arming system. Blackwater has begun to make diagrammatical drawings and video films of nuclear installations as well as available routes to help execute US plan to hijack nukes in one go.
While every second Pakistani is expressing its grave concern over presence of Blackwater, and even Robert Gates admitted its presence, ironically the Interior Minister is adamant that there is none and wants documentary proof. It is generally believed that while Musharraf regime allowed setting up of DynCorp in Islamabad, Hussain Haqqani and Rehman Malik are instrumental in facilitating entry of Blackwater in Pakistan.
- Asian Tribune -
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/02/07/grave-concerns-over-presence-blackwater-pakistan
| | Pakistan: Balochistan atrocities on the rise | AI UK - 25.02.2011 09:16
Pakistan: Balochistan atrocities on the rise
Posted: 24 February 2011
The government of Pakistan must address the alarming number of killings and abductions in Balochistan attributed to government forces in recent months, Amnesty International said today.
Amnesty International also called on Baloch armed groups to avoid attacks that target or endanger civilians, in the face of escalating attacks on government workers and non-Baloch residents of the province.
In the last four months, at least 90 Baloch activists, teachers, journalists and lawyers have disappeared or been murdered, many in ‘kill and dump’ operations, according to information compiled by Amnesty International. Their bullet-ridden bodies, most bearing torture marks, have been recovered across Balochistan.
Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director, said:
“Since October, every month has seen an increase in cases of alleged disappearance and unlawful killings.
“These atrocities are carried out with flagrant impunity. Credible investigations into these incidents – resulting in prosecutions – are absolutely necessary to establish some trust between the Baloch people and the government.”
The victims’ relatives and Baloch groups blame the ‘kill and dump’ incidents on Pakistani security forces, particularly the Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies. Many of the victims were abducted by uniformed Frontier Corps soldiers, often accompanying men in plain clothes, in front of multiple witnesses.
Security forces deny the charges, claiming that the deaths were a result of rivalry between various Baloch militant groups.
Sam Zarifi, said:
“The human rights crisis in Balochistan has largely been ignored, even inside Pakistan, but thousands of people are not only suffering from extreme deprivation, but discrimination, insecurity and human rights abuses on a massive scale.
“Human rights abuses attributed to the security agencies have created a climate of fear for the families of the disappeared. They are terrified to speak out in fear that security agents will kill their loved ones or abduct other family members in reprisal.”
Armed Baloch groups have also been implicated in a surge in targeted killings of non-Baloch civilians and government employees, including teachers at government education institutions. Hundreds of teachers have fled the province as a result of these killings, bringing the education system to breaking point.
Baloch armed groups have claimed responsibility for a series of bombings on gas infrastructure causing a desperate shortage of fuel for cooking and heating throughout the province during the coldest period of the year. Sectarian targeted killings have also increased, and Balochistan’s Hazara Shi’a community claims that Taleban and Sunni extremists have murdered hundreds of their members since 2004.
Sam Zarifi Said:
“Baloch armed groups must also avoid endangering civilians.
“The apparent targeting of civilians, teachers and government officials by Baloch groups, has forced many of them to flee the province, which only worsens conditions for the already poorly-served Baloch people.”
In November 2009, the Pakistan Government attempted to address long-running Baloch grievances about economic and political disenfranchisement and human rights abuses with a package of laws called the Aghaz Huqooq-i-Balochistan (“the Beginning of Rights of Balochistan”). However, according to a recent report in the Dawn newspaper, only a quarter of the proposed measures have been implemented thus far.
Amnesty International calls on the Pakistan government to:
·Investigate all alleged human rights abuses, including all “disappearances” recorded by the judicial Commission of Inquiry for Missing Persons;
· Bring all perpetrators of abuses to justice, whether they belong to security forces or non-state armed groups; and
· Ensure that all individuals brought to justice receive a fair trial and are not subjected to torture or other abuse in detention.
Sam Zarifi, said:
“Pakistan’s foreign allies should ensure military assistance is not linked to human rights abuses in Balochistan.
“As Pakistan’s most significant international allies, Amnesty International calls on the United States and China to ensure their support for security forces in Balochistan does not assist human rights abusers.”
Background
Balochistan has a long history of civil and armed unrest since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, with ethnic Baloch groups advocating greater autonomy within the state or complete separation.
Balochistan holds the largest single source of domestic energy reserves in Pakistan, but Baloch groups argue these resources disproportionately benefit other provinces and ethnic communities.
The Baloch people remain one of the poorest communities within Pakistan with some of the lowest literacy and employment rates and life expectancies.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19284
| | US Psy-Ops to Sway Lawmakers on Afghan War | Indy UK - 25.02.2011 09:29
U.S. Army Ordered Psy-Ops to Sway Lawmakers on Backing Afghan War
Democracy Now! | 25.02.2011 02:13 | Anti-militarism | History | Terror War | Sheffield | World
The U.S. military is facing allegations of illegally ordering a "psychological operations" campaign to convince Senate members to increase support for the war in Afghanistan.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, members of a military unit in Afghanistan were instructed to use psychological tactics deployed in warfare to manipulate visiting senators and other dignitaries. The order came from Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, who oversees the U.S. Army’s training of Afghan troops. Among those selected for targeting include John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin, Admiral Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a number of other lawmakers, foreign officials and think-tank analysts. The unit’s leader, Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes, says he was ordered to formulate "pressure points we could use to leverage the [visiting] delegation for more funds." Holmes also says he was asked to consider: "How do we get these guys to give us more people? What do I have to plant inside their heads?" Holmes says he was targeted for retribution after resisting Caldwell’s demands, believing he was being asked to violate U.S. law.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/24/headlines
Democracy Now!
Homepage: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/another-runaway-general-army-deploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223
| | US military investigate claim psy-ops team | Rajiv Chandrasekaran - 25.02.2011 10:11
Rajiv Chandrasekaran - Washington Post - Thursday, February 24, 2011; 9:46 PM
Military to investigate claim that psy-ops team was used to influence U.S. senators
The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan intends to order an investigation into whether a three-star general responsible for training Afghan security forces inappropriately used members of a psychological operations team to influence visiting U.S. senators into providing more funding for the war.
The U.S. command in Kabul issued a statement Thursday saying Gen. David H. Petraeus "is preparing to order an investigation to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding the issue."
The investigation stems from an article published early Thursday on the Web site of Rolling Stone magazine alleging that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the head of the U.S. and NATO training operation for Afghan forces, used an "information operations" team to "manipulate visiting American senators" and other visitors, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen.
The article is based on the claims of a lieutenant colonel who served on a psychological operations team in Afghanistan last year and who alleges he was subjected to retribution when he resisted the assignment.
A spokesman for Caldwell denied that he had done anything improper. U.S. military officials in Afghanistan declined to comment on the matter, citing the impending investigation.
Among the senators allegedly targeted by the team were John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. All four have been long-standing supporters of more funding for training Afghan security forces.
Levin said in a statement that he was "confident that the chain of command will review any allegation that information operations have been improperly used in Afghanistan." But he also noted that he did not need to be swayed on the matter of training.
"For years, I have strongly and repeatedly advocated for building up Afghan military capability because I believe only the Afghans can truly secure their nation's future," Levin said in a statement. "I have never needed any convincing on this point. Quite the opposite, my efforts have been aimed at convincing others of the need for larger, more capable Afghan security forces, and that we and NATO should send more trainers to Afghanistan, rather than more combat troops."
The lieutenant colonel, Michael Holmes, who was assigned to Caldwell's headquarters last year, said in the article that he was asked by the general's chief of staff to find ways to manipulate the lawmakers. Holmes claims he was asked: "How do we get these guys to give us more people? What do I have to plant inside their heads?"
Holmes said he objected. "My job in psy-ops is to play with people's heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave," Holmes is quoted as saying. "When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you're crossing a line."
The article did not cite evidence of false or misleading information being provided to the senators and other visitors.
The U.S. command in Kabul has a team of officers who coordinate visits by members of Congress and other high-ranking officials. It is common for them to provide information to top commanders about the backgrounds and interests of the visitors. That work typically does not involve personnel involved in psychological or information operations.
Traditional lines between public affairs personnel, who deal with the news media, and psychological operations soldiers have blurred in Iraq and Afghanistan as commanders have sought ways to influence the local media and counter enemy propaganda. But the efforts of psy-ops teams are supposed to be dedicated exclusively toward foreign - not American - audiences.
Two military officials said the use of psychological operations teams to influence Americans could violate U.S. military regulations, but the use of those personnel to perform other tasks, such as compiling information about visitors, probably is not inappropriate.
"Was the action the individuals were asked to do appropriate under law and policy?" one of the officials said. "It's more about what they were asked to do as opposed to who they are."
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), another of those alleged to have been targeted by the information operations team, said in a statement that he had been briefed on the war by Caldwell and several others on a trip to Afghanistan in January 2010.
"While the briefings provided me with a helpful update on what was happening on the ground, I knew that I would have to cross-check their assessment by talking to other military officials, diplomatic officials, outside experts and troops in the field, and I always raise skeptical questions when discussing this topic," Franken said.
Reed told MSNBC on Thursday that the accusations were "very serious and disturbing." McCain's office declined to comment on the article.
 chandrasek@washpost.com Staff writers Felicia Sonmez and Paul Kane contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/24/AR2011022405327.html?hpid=moreheadlines
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/24/AR2011022405327_2.html?hpid=moreheadlines
| | Four die as NATO tankers attacked in Pakistan | AFP - 25.02.2011 10:29
25 FEBRUARY 2011 - 08H30 - AFP
Four die as NATO tankers attacked in Pakistan
Militants in northwest Pakistan blew up at least 11 tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan Friday and shot dead four people, police said.
The rebels struck at a terminal on the outskirts of the city of Peshawar, which runs into Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.
"More than two dozen militants entered the terminal and planted timed devices on 12 out of a total 18 fuel tankers parked at the terminal," senior police official Imtiaz Shah told AFP.
He said 11 tankers were blown up while the device planted on one vehicle did not explode. The militants shot dead two guards and two drivers who resisted them, he said.
He said that another six people including five drivers and one of their assistants were hurt.
"Those who attacked the terminal were all militants but we don't know yet which group they belong to," Shah said.
Another senior police official, Muhammad Ejaz, said the militants fled after the attack.
Roman Khan, 25, an assistant, who was admitted to hospital with multiple burn injuries, told AFP that he was asleep in the cabin of one tanker when militants attacked the terminal.
"Some of them had covered their faces with masks. They ordered all drivers to get down and began planting some gadgets, which I could not recognize," Khan said, also confirming the militants shot dead two drivers who tried to resist.
"They shouted that the tankers were supplying fuel to America, which is our enemy, and warned us to leave the tankers, which are being blown up."
An AFP reporter at the scene said the massive fire destroyed the 11 tankers. Empty shells from Kalashnikov rifles and blood could be seen inside the terminal.
No group has claimed responsibility but the Taliban has claimed such attacks in the past. The bulk of supplies and equipment required by foreign troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan.
Pakistan shut its main northwestern border-crossing to NATO supply vehicles for 11 days last September after a cross-border NATO helicopter assault killed two Pakistani soldiers.
Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants frequently launch attacks across northwestern Pakistan and the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border, which Washington has branded the most dangerous place in the world.
Under US pressure to crack down on Islamist havens on the border, Pakistan has in the past two years stepped up military operations against largely homegrown militants in the tribal regions.
Islamabad launched its most ambitious military offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan in 2009, expanding the campaign to many of the other seven semi-autonomous tribal districts along the border.
Washington says wiping out the militant threat in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt is vital to winning the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and defeating Al-Qaeda.
http://www.france24.com/en/20110225-four-die-nato-tankers-attacked-pakistan
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