<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" version="2.0"><channel>
                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
                        <atom:link href="https://tribune.com.pk/feed/navyattack" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
                        <link>https://tribune.com.pk/feed/navyattack</link>
                        <description>The Express Tribune keeps you up to date with all the latest happenings from Pakistan and across the world!</description>
                        <lastBuildDate>Sun, 31 May 26 17:40:04 +0500</lastBuildDate>
                        <language>en-US</language>
                        <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
                        <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
                        <generator>https://laravel.com/</generator><item>
			<title>Conversations with serving armed forces personnel provide insights</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180896/conversations-with-serving-armed-forces-personnel-provide-insights</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180896/conversations-with-serving-armed-forces-personnel-provide-insights#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jun 11 10:52:35 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[taha.siddiqui]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Magazine]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=180896</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA['It has to be the Indians' is the view inside most military circles about PNS Mehran base attack.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[“It has to be the Indians, I tell you,” he said. “Look at the details of this attack: the target inside the base was a technology specifically designed to counter the Indian forces.” 

This is the view inside most military circles — the argument I heard most often when I visited Islamabad this month, arriving on the same night as the PNS Mehran Base attack. My conversations with military officials centered around terrorism, and these discussions brought to light the concept of Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW).

A research paper at the National Defense University focusing on 4GW contends that Pakistan is facing a war on a front most of us can’t even analyse correctly. According to the paper, war theorists all over the world say that warfare has entered into a new phase where “an evolved form of insurgency uses all available networks — political, economic, social and military — to convince the enemy’s decision makers that their strategic goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived benefit.” It characterises 4GW as a scenario where the distinction between war and peace is blurred so that war becomes non-linear, possibly to the point of having no definable battlefields or fronts.

Though military circles say they understand this and are preparing for it, they feel that winning 4GW requires an integrated approach and that unity is missing in Pakistan. With the increase in urban centre attacks on the military, there is a growing need for the civilian leadership to understand the changing dynamics of warfare and come forward to develop a national security policy. The military circles in Islamabad believe that there is a need to revisit the counter-terrorism strategy but they complain that political circles lack the initiative and do not want to take responsibility in case something goes wrong.

Uniformed personnel in our country are frustrated with what they see as the failure of the civilian leadership to formulate a strategic response. Moreover, they believe that political rifts between the elected leadership are so wide that it is delaying consensus on how to respond to the threat Pakistan faces today. An instance that a military friend quoted was the absence of the Defence Minister from the Defence Cabinet Committee meeting on 25th May 2011. Another example of the parliament’s lack of interest can be seen in the government’s inability to make the National Counter-terrorism Authority (NACTA) — which has been waiting approval since 2009 — functional.

Nevertheless, in the minds of citizens, terrorist attacks raise concerns primarily about military strengths, not the political leadership. Many in the military agree that the military needs to revisit its security policies but strongly feel that it is not possible to achieve success in counter-terrorism without support from the civilian setup. An official complained that the military is blamed for failing to stop attacks, but the security apparatus of the civilian government is not also blamed . If the ISI and MI failed, they ask, what about the  police, special branch and intelligence bureau?

The military feels that non state violent actors (NSVAs) do exist on Pakistani soil and are being manipulated by enemy forces to achieve strategic goals. These enemy forces are neither individuals nor groups but ‘countries’ that are capitalising on internal conflict keeping alive the NSVAs. According to them strengthening security on military bases alone is not the solution. NSVAs will continue to be exploited until the political leadership takes the initiative to wipe out the enabling environment and external threat will continue to translate into internal threats that we see today.

According to the research paper mentioned earlier, the proponents of counter-terrorism strategies in the face of fourth generation warfare feel that providing economic prosperity is the foremost way of eradicating this brand of war. To effectively fight the current war on terror, decision-makers in Pakistan need non-military means: we need to understand that terrorism is simply a tactic, not an enemy in itself, and so requires a counter-tactic, instead of a strategy to physically kill the terrorists.

So how do we defeat these terrorists? The research paper highlights that ideology is the strongest element of 4G warriors’ power instead of military power, so their most powerful weapon of indoctrination can only be defeated through education and awareness in the region. Military officials feel that success will only come if the nation has a political leadership that strengthens the socio-economic conditions of people in the affected areas, sincerely works on raising literacy levels and activates its own security apparatus. On the other hand, there is a need for the military to acknowledge its own lapses and errors, and also recognise that the enemy may well be within its own ranks. Simply playing the blame game will only result in failure on all fronts.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 5th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/army-operation1111-180896/army-operation1111-180896.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Evaluating the PNS Mehran attack: Talking heads</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180914/evaluating-the-pns-mehran-attack-talking-heads</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180914/evaluating-the-pns-mehran-attack-talking-heads#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jun 11 10:50:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[hamna.zubair]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=180914</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The attack on PNS Mehran got everyone talking - whether any questions were answered is another matter.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Following what was said in the media immediately after the attack on PNS Mehran was exhausting if you were looking for a consistent account of the operation. 

The morning after the attack, the English daily Dawn reported that six attackers had entered PNS Mehran and said that four had been killed and two had fled, The Express Tribune said the same; The News differed and said there were only four attackers and all of them had been killed, and Pakistan Today claimed that 10-15 militants had stormed the base. Of course, the matter was further confused a few days later when the FIR filed by navy personnel said there could have been as many as 10-12 attackers. Speculations about who was behind the attack were equally numerous with as many as ten possible backers mentioned in half as many sources — the TTP, Jaish e Mohammad, Baloch Separatists, RAW, the CIA, and ‘elements within the armed forces’ were just some of the names being bandied about.

But what has been most interesting about coverage of the attack on PNS Mehran is the range of opinion it has generated in a short span of time, more so than the May 2 raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. Most news sources and media persons stayed firmly in their usual corners — with government-bashing taking a backseat to military-bashing, for the most part – except when it came to talking about the commandoes, navy officers, firemen and security personnel who lost their lives in the attack. The morning of the operation, readers of The News were greeted by the headline “Four terrorists mocked government might for 16 hours.” An editorial in the same paper mocked the establishment’s attempts to secure peace, but praised lower-level officers for giving their lives for their country. In contrast, Dawn’s editorial after the attacks was more tempered, stating that we needed to “face facts once and for all and stop living in denial ... It is unfortunate, but not surprising given the staggeringly delusional outlook of many in this country, that the deadly assault on the PNS Mehran airbase in Karachi has engendered a plethora of conspiracy theories even before the matter has been fully investigated.”

Indeed, conspiracy theories were the order of the day, and there was no better place to air them than the television. The difference being that after this attack, which specifically targeted strategic military assets with cold-blooded precision, even those who usually dismissed conspiracy theories were shaken, and were heard reassessing their positions. At such a time, when Zaid Hamid appeared on Mehr Bokhari’s show on Dunya TV and said the attack was part of a greater Western conspiracy, there can be no doubt that more than a few people watching felt that he had been on the right track all along. “After 9/11, a new war was started to reshape the Middle East ...” Hamid railed. “The US and Nato are looking for a new supply route to Afghanistan, an alternate supply route within Pakistan. Just like they have done in Libya, they want to take over the Gwadar port in Pakistan. That is why it is critical for them to incapacitate the Pakistan Navy ... In the 21st century, whoever controls the Indian Ocean will control the whole world.”

Similar views were repeated in the Urdu press, with Ikram Sehgal writing in Jang, “The US supported us when they needed a buffer against communism, but after that, didn’t consider us important enough to do anything but pay lip service to us... America has never stuck by its policies regarding Pakistan.” In another publication on the same day, Sehgal pointed a finger at Indian Intelligence agency RAW, as well. The Daily Express, in its editorial the day after the attacks, pointed a finger at elements within the country that could be responsible, even saying that “terrorists have infiltrated the media, too.”

During this time, while the nation was either obsessed with self-flagellation or was busy pointing at ‘external’ elements, foreign reactions were equally interesting. While the foreign press came down hard on Pakistan, Western political leadership softened its stance. UK Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Obama solemnly pledged that Pakistan was not alone in the fight against terrorism, and veteran policymakers like Henry Kissinger said, “We should stop beating up on Pakistan.” Even Indian Defence Minister AK Antony’s response was measured, as he said “Our services are taking all precautions and are ready around the clock ... but at the same time we don’t want to overreact.”

It was then left to the foreign press to question the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, and much was made of the massive security lapse at PNS Mehran. An article in the Associated Press by Chris Brummitt said, “A serious breach of the security perimeter could lead to calls for a unilateral American move to secure the Muslim world’s only nuclear weapons ... while that is unlikely, a scenario that includes more attacks on Pakistani security installations, possibly nuclear ones, is not.” Similarly, articles in The Guardian and The Los Angeles Times talked of how the raid had embarrassed the Pakistani Army.

With all this sombre talk dominating the airwaves and the newspapers, one felt that only a look at the blogosphere could help lighten the debate. Pakistani bloggers didn’t disappoint, with KalaKawa announcing: “I will now present a list of excuses that would have flown better than the one actually used by the PAF ... like this — The PAF is acutely aware of the shortage of electricity in our nation. As part of the energy conservation movement we have decided to keep all radars off between 9 pm and 9 am. A replacement plan has been devised though. The Ruet-e-Hilal Committee has been hired all year long now to keep an eye on any intruding vehicles.” The folks at Cafe Pyala threw in their own observations, pointing out that a ‘Colonel
Sahib’ once informed them that the guards posted outside PAF Masroor Base “are not soldiers, just chowkidars ... somebody has just given them some uniforms.”

The funniest jokes that
circulated after the attacks, however, mostly had to do with a certain sci-fi trilogy starring a short man with an abysmally loose grasp on sentence structure — perhaps the best we can hope for, then, is that the force be with us all.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 5th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/paper/paper.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>The art of war</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180882/the-art-of-war</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180882/the-art-of-war#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jun 11 10:47:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zarrar.khuhro]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Magazine]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=180882</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Brigadier (retd) Javed Hussain warns top brass that unless it gets its tactics right, its strategy is bound to fail.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Brigadier (retd) Javed Hussain, a veteran of the Special Services Group and the armoured corp, warns the top brass that unless it gets its tactics right, its strategy is bound to fail.
In your experience, how much planning would have gone into the attack on the PNS Mehran?

Any attack is basically a battle between the attackers’ plan and the defenders’ plan.  Before any operation, there has to be adequate intelligence to infiltrate the base and destroy assigned targets. That can only be done if the team has adequate information about that area. Now PNS Mehran is a vulnerable area (VA), and inside it are vulnerable points (VPs) like the hangars in which the Orion aircraft are parked, and the hangars where the helicopters were parked, along with other aircraft. The other VP is the PAF airstrip where the C-130s were parked. The planner would need to know everything about the base, including the perimeter defence (number of searchlights etc), and the number of perimeter defenders. Second, they need to know the internal defence of the base and third, whether the targets are actually in the base at the time of the attack. All this requires updated real-time intelligence. The attackers cannot overwhelm the defenders unless they know all there is to know about the defenders. If you know your enemy you will win.

 

Given what we saw in this attack, do you think the attackers were on a suicide mission, or was this a conventional guerrilla/commando raid?

They accomplished their primary mission within 2 hours. At that point they could have gotten away, but I believe they were under an oath to fight to the death, as in a classic fedayeen mission.

When people say there were only four or five attackers, I think they are correct. Had there been more, they would have divided into two teams, with one team going for the Orions while the second team waited. Once the Orions were destroyed, the second team would rush in, destroy the C-130s and exfiltrate, but since they were four, they went straight for the Orions, which were clearly their primary targets.  They then opted to fight to the death, marking this clearly as a fedayeen mission. A regular special operations (spec ops) team would rarely be assigned suicide missions. It’s another thing if they get cornered and have to fight till the last, but a fedayeen mission being assigned to regular special forces is rare, if not entirely unheard of.

Given what we saw, were these attackers trained to a level that they could take on the SSG?

Training-wise they were at least as good, and they were assisted greatly by the sheer lack of security. The real test would have been if the security had been up to par, but they were certainly superior to the defenders in training, skill, and most of all, motivation. A valiant officer like Yasser Abbas of the rapid reaction force charged into battle, but how many others would have?

Apparently, the defenders were not trained in these contingencies and thus they were ambushed and pinned down by the enemy. The attackers were waiting when the Naval commandoes came and managed to kill some of them as well. Even less well trained attackers would have succeeded, as they were not up against commandoes initially, but base defenders. That’s why commando ops most often succeed — because of the mismatch between skills.

Would it be possible to know the layout and capabilities of the base so well without inside information?

That cannot be ruled out, because from experience I know that there are soldiers who, when they go back to their villages, come under the influence of the village mullahs’ sermons, and are then motivated to help the Jihadis. This kind of thinking now exists in the rank and file in all three services. They are ripe for recruitment, and the Jihadis know this.

Is it even possible to purge the ranks of people with a pro-Jihadi mindset?

There has to be a major campaign launched by all the commanders, starting from the top, with directives issued all the way down the line. The corps commanders, company commanders, brigade commanders etc must be on board and willing to acknowledge and deal with the problem. Here is where the intelligence agencies will play a crucial role. The way it has to be done is that intelligence officials join as fresh recruits and attempt to penetrate the networks. Then they can identify who the Jihadi elements or sympathetic elements are so they can be dealt with, or even lead to the ringleaders.

We have seen repeated cases highlighting the problem of radicalisation in the armed forces, why hasn’t such a purge been carried out?

The top brass seems to simply refuse to accept the reality that the military is faced with a serious internal threat. They think these people are an exception and a small exception at best. They are wrong.

In conversations with serving military officials, and looking at some of the rhetoric in the right wing press and from right wing commentators, fingers are being pointed at India etc, but if as you say this was a one-way fedayeen mission, does that not point towards jihadi elements?

There is no doubt that hostile intelligence agencies are operating in Pakistan, but what’s being overlooked by everyone is that we’re all talking too big. We talk of policies and strategies, instead of effective tactics and implementation. In the Mehran base attack the buck ultimately stops at the Naval chief, but the man on the spot was the commander of the base. High policy and strategy is no concern of his. He knows that his country is in a state of war with an internal enemy and therefore he is not concerned by whether his base is threatened by RAW, the CIA or Jihadis. His concern must be to secure the base. In order to do that he has to develop an effective security plan. Unfortunately as far as I know, that was simply not done.

How would it be done?

After the 1965 war, the air force chief Nur Khan decided to strengthen security at all air bases and asked the SSG to test the base security. We carried out separate operations against bases in Sargodha, Badin, Peshawar, Mauripur base the PAF Faisal base.

We penetrated Sargodha thrice, and each times we employed new tactics. Once we paradropped in the vicinity of the base, went through the main gate in air force uniforms and commandeered air force vehicles that were coming towards the gate after removing the drivers. The security was so lax that they let us in after only seeing our uniforms. We already knew where all the VAs were, from the fuel dumps to hangars to even the pilots’ restrooms, so we went straight for our targets. The air force learned a lot from these exercises.

The Mehran base commander, should have done the same, knowing that he was faced with a ruthless, highly trained, highly motivated enemy — far more motivated in fact than your own troops, because how many of those would undertake a fedayeen mission? You have to consider all the possibilities, then plan and resource your plans. Here the attackers’ plan succeeded and the defenders’ failed. It doesn’t matter if the handlers are in Waziristan, New Delhi, Tel Aviv or Washington, what matters is winning the battle between the minds of the attacking elements  and the defending elements.

Given the state of the Mehran base, how vulnerable are our other bases to similar attacks?

In the GHQ attack, they were defeated apparently by tribals from Waziristan, and it can happen again. The Chaklala base is also vulnerable. The way it works — and this was probably the case with Mehran — is that they have a number of people deployed for security, and they feel secure because they have 50 people at the gate. But what is the caliber of those people? Are they physically and mentally fit? If they are not — and in 99 per cent of cases they are not — then there is a problem, causing a total mismatch which means the attackers will always win. We have seen over 100 attacks on military and LEA installations in the past 7 years and each time the attackers have succeeded. They have to employ the thieves to make these places thief-proof. These people need to pause and think small. Strategy must come later because in the face of tactics, strategy submits.

When it is clear that the military is a major target, why haven’t these issues been addressed?

Just read the statement made by the Naval chief that there was no security lapse and that the attackers were well trained and equipped with ‘sophisticated’ weapons… like AK-47s, hand grenades and wire-cutters! These are the kind of minds we have directing this war. In the GHQ attack, the Military Intelligence directorate itself was occupied by the terrorists, but in a clear miscalculation, they decided not to blow up the building and instead use the hostages as bargaining tools. That gave the SSG time to go in and take them out. It’s not that the militants are so strong or skilled but that our own adaptive capabilities are weak.

How many of these failures are due to an unwillingness to coordinate and due to turf wars between the agencies?

In Mehran, there were were two groups of VPs in the base: the air force and the navy. The attackers entered from the air force side and went straight for the Naval VPs, so where was the air force? There was no coordination even within the base! We have countless agencies, but we need a body to coordinate their activities. For example, special branch warned GHQ of a possible attack six months before the strike, but they were ignored and written off as alarmists. A controlling and coordinating body needs to be set up under someone who must get daily reports, even if it’s an NTR (nothing to report), because if something happens he must be held accountable. The ISI itself should have suggested it, but the ISI thinks it is the mother of all agencies, and it doesn’t need a father.

MAPS FOR LOST TERRORISTS

 

Google Earth isn’t just used to navigate an unfamiliar part of the city — since at least 2007 there have been concerns about the use of its detailed imagery by terrorists.

In 2005, officials at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation called on the company to censor images of the plant, warning that they could be used by terrorists.

According to Wikileaks, since 2006, the Chinese government has been urging the US to “take action to get Google to reduce the resolution of the Google Earth images of China’s military, nuclear, space, energy and other sensitive government agency installations in order to deprive terrorists of potentially dangerous information”. It was also concerned about the ability of users to freely annotate specific locations on Google Earth imagery, which would provide information about important Chinese agencies and sensitive installations.

In late 2005, after seeing its bases on Google Earth, the Thai military wanted Google to censor not just important state buildings but also tourist attractions. Similarly, Mosnews reported that Russian generals raised the alarm over Google Earth in 2005, saying “terrorists will see all that they need to carry out an attack in any part of the world.” Security fears were also raised in South Korea where the Ministry of Defence said, “The satellite photos of Cheong Wa Dae and military bases released on the website ‘Google Earth’ might violate domestic security laws.”

In 2007, Khaled Jaabari of Palestine’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, admitted that the group was checking its own maps against Google Earth to identify vulnerabilities for rocket strikes in Israel. In early 2007, Google Earth images of British bases were found in the homes of insurgents in Iraq, with longitude and latitude coordinates written on the back. Reports that insurgents were buying CDs of Google Earth imagery in the markets of Basra, so as to better target their RPGs inside UK bases prompted pressure from the US and UK military. Subsequently, the most up-to-date Digital Globe imagery from Iraq was removed from Google Earth. Since 2007, there have been no new imagery updates for Iraq and Afghanistan in Google Earth.

India’s  President Abdul Kalam was one of the first to express concern over pictures of sensitive locations on Google Earth. After the Mumbai attack, police claimed that terrorists familiarised themselves with the target using satellite images with reports that Faheem Ahmed Ansari, a suspected militant, said he was shown maps of Indian locations on Google Earth by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 5th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/aero-plan/aero-plan.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Intelligence agencies: A failure to communicate</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180856/intelligence-agencies-a-failure-to-communicate</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/180856/intelligence-agencies-a-failure-to-communicate#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jun 11 10:42:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[quatrina.hosain]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Magazine]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=180856</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Whether Pakistan can win this war depends on how effectively its leadership can integrate intelligence.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Even as Pakistan finds itself in the midst of a conflagration that has killed at least 30,000 civilians and more than 5,000 soldiers and law enforcement officials, Pakistanis are still questioning whether it is our war on or not. Given that we are not sure if it is our war to begin with, it should come as no surprise that we are not sure who the enemy really is either.

The enemy is within the gates, not easily identifiable and growing increasingly capable of carrying out audacious and well-planned attacks. The latest was the 16-hour siege of the naval air base PNS Mehran in Karachi, similar in style and execution to the attack on the Pakistan Army’s General Head Quarters in 2009. The vulnerability of Pakistan’s armed forces has never been brought as sharply into focus.

The 48 hours of silence after Osama bin Laden’s killing in Abbotabad by the CIA and US Seals, from both the civilian and military authorities were deafening. Then came the recriminations, the parliamentary resolutions and the thundering and moaning on the airwaves about intelligence failures. But no substantive action was taken.

“We have no focal point,” says former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. “We have had no foreign minister in five months and the PM is occupied with other matters. The world cannot wait for you. They need action and reactions.”

It took the attack on PNS Mehran and murmurs about the safety — or lack thereof — of Pakistan’s nuclear installations to finally wake up the prime minister, and the Defence Committee of the Cabinet ordered law enforcement agencies to take all necessary action to combat domestic terrorism. So once again, we are going to rush into military action without taking the critical steps of gathering intelligence, analysing the data and proceeding with a coherent multi-pronged strategy. The PPP government’s inevitably short-sighted and kneejerk reactions are unlikely to establish any sense of direction.

“The position of the government is compromised,” says PML-N legislator and spokesman Ahsan Iqbal. “Because they sought US and UK assistance with the NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance), they have to follow their policies. We need indigenous solutions presented by a government that has the trust of the people.”

But an informed policy needs a strong foundation. The biggest loophole in prosecuting the war in Pakistan is the complete lack of a national security agenda, a key element of which is integrating intelligence information effectively. “Within the national security framework, intelligence is crucial,” says former national security adviser General (retd) Mehmood Ali Durrani. “If you don’t have proper intelligence, other actions cannot take place.” The concept of integrating intelligence efforts, he says, has been missing for years. “We need this now in a complex world where national security needs to involve defence, foreign affairs, finance and internal security.”

And Pakistan has a gaping void when it comes to coordinating intelligence amongst different agencies. Pakistan’s largest intelligence gathering network is the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) whose primary function is to deal with external threats to the country. Maintaining internal stability is theoretically the purview of the civilian agency known as the Intelligence Bureau (IB). However, there are several other intelligence agencies operating in the country, including Military Intelligence (MI) the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and provincial intelligence departments known as the Special Branch of the Central Intelligence Department. (see ‘The Agencies’)

“Every intelligence agency has a specific purpose,” says Durrani. And each agency jealously guards its turf.

Durrani held the critical position of national security adviser (NSA) for only seven months, during which time he says he sought to build up the level of the IB to the same as the ISI. Reporting directly to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Durrani soon ran into bureaucratic hurdles with one minister even questioning if Durrani was trying to create a ‘super ministry’. It’s not just the agencies who have turf wars.

“There is something we call an intelligence cycle ­— collection, collation, interpretation and dissemination,” says General Durrani. Former intelligence officials say every intelligence agency follows this cycle. But the inherent flaw is that without centralising the information either in raw data form or at the interpretation stage, key information is either not communicated up the chain of command or someone fails to connect the dots.

“We work in tight compartments and information is analysed before it can be presented as intelligence,” says a senior army official. He agrees that a centralised system is required, pointing out that the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) was envisioned with this goal in mind. “Having someone like General Durrani as national security adviser is also a workable solution,” the senior official says.

“Agencies work in vertical silos,” says Ahsan Iqbal. He argues for the need to coordinate data at the low, mid and senior levels for effectiveness.

But the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards this critical function can be gauged by the fact that the well-respected Tariq Pervez who was appointed as the first Chairman of Nacta resigned within the year and the organisation never got off the ground. “Nacta exists only on paper,” says Shah Mehmood Qureshi. “The interior minister seems preoccupied with other matters and is not focused on this issue.”

“Nacta should be activated,” says PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira. But he maintains the role of Nacta was in terms of combating terrorism and developing policy, not just coordinating intelligence. Whatever the rationale, the government in the midst of fighting a major war is without a national security adviser, a foreign minister or a system like Nacta.

The system itself is flawed in many respects, dependent on individuals to function adequately. According to Qureshi, when he was the foreign minister, there was no institutionalised system of sharing information or intelligence and he did not routinely get intelligence briefs. “At times, I had to take the initiative myself to get input and engage with the ISI. I personally had a good relationship with them and they were very cooperative. But there was no institutionalised mechanism.”

This virtually ensures that key information required to formulate policy is going to be ignored. A large amount of data is generated every day, says former IB chief Masood Sharif Khattak. “Data is focused into points of interest and this is filtered and developed into leads,” he explains. The military, he says, has mechanisms set in place but this is missing in the civilian administration. “There is nothing in the prime minister’s secretariat to deal with all the reports coming in and no assessment is done. The final picture should be presented to the boss but it doesn’t always happen. Systems need to be created.”

According to former president General Pervez Musharraf, when he was president and army chief, all intelligence coordination was handled by the Director General of the ISI. “The heads of the ISI, IB and MI would meet once a week, led by the DG ISI.  A fully developed factsheet with intelligence developed from confirmed information would be provided to me,” he says.

The system worked, says Musharraf. “I would even call up the heads of the ISI, IB and MI and call them in for meetings. The direction was clear from the top and there was unity of command.” But that worked when Gen. Musharraf wielded absolute power – the system was dependent on one man.

Masood Sharif Khattak agrees there was uniformity of command in the Musharraf years but there is a tendency by military rulers to treat civilian agencies with less respect. The military agrees there is a divide between the military intelligence apparatus and their civilian counterparts. Intelligence gathering has to be at the thana level, Khattak says. But the police needs to be handled better. “Political whims result in the appointment of IGPs. There is no merit or professionalism.”

The military agrees this is a problem. “We have to depoliticise the police,” says a military official. The army, he says is trained to deal with insurgents and countering terrorism in cities and towns is best handled by local law enforcement.

There seems to be a general consensus that Pakistan needs a national security adviser, Nacta or an organisation like Homeland Security. But just creating the office on paper will not be enough. The first Nacta chairman did not have any staff or resources to do his job. Durrani says his office was never properly established with the right mix of people. “The leadership didn’t understand this. They did not have the vision,” he says.

There are however differences of opinion on the constitution of an organisation such as Nacta. Musharraf argues that the system is ingrained and creating a supra-intelligence agency may be counterproductive. Ahsan Iqbal suggests that any such organisation should be a sub-committee of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet with a permanent secretariat. He points out there are no rules or framework for intelligence agencies at all.

But there are mixed opinions on civilian oversight of intelligence operations. While politicians believe civilian oversight is a must, much of that seems to be predicated on the fact that intelligence agencies have been drawn into spying on opposition politicians over the years and playing an unsavoury role in the political landscape. And the military is downright reluctant when it comes to civilian oversight. “Intelligence is secretive by nature. Our legislators have to be backed up by think tanks and given briefings. We cannot afford to have our assets compromised,” says a senior military official, pointing out that details of the in-camera session of Parliament in the wake of the bin Laden killing were being broadcast on national television even as the session was in progress.

Musharraf is even blunter. “Theoretically it is a good idea to have parliamentary oversight. But intelligence agencies lack confidence in Parliament. Confidentiality is not maintained and this is a problem.”

With or without civilian oversight, it is clear that the government needs to act fast on the intelligence front if it is going to tackle terrorism effectively. The military seems to be comfortable working with a civilian head of any such supra agency — such as Nacta — that reports to the prime minister. But it has a rigid mindset and the bureaucracy is just as set in its ways.

So the ball is now in the court of the political leadership to create not just an effective equivalent of a national security agency, that combines the efforts of the country’s myriad intelligence agencies, but also to staff it with people who can wargame unconventional strategies, offer solutions and work on breaking new ground in combating terrorism. Without it, we may find that this failure to communicate may lead to a failure of the state itself .

&nbsp;

The Agencies

There are at least a dozen intelligence agencies and federal investigation units operating in Pakistan.
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
Mandated to coordinate intelligence services and conduct counter-espionage, Pakistan’s most powerful spy network technically comes under the government’s ministry of defense headed by federal minister Ahmed Mukhtar. However, the ISI Director General Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha is widely believed to report directly to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani only.
Military Intelligence (MI)
The Directorate for Military Intelligence is mainly concerned with identifying threats and anti-state agents working to sabotage the armed forces. This intelligence agency theoretically reports to the Ministry of Defense, but is in fact answerable only to the Army chief. Air Intelligence, Army intelligence and Naval intelligence are all branches of the MI
Intelligence Bureau (IB)
This civilian intelligence agency comes under the Ministry of Interior’s direct control. Its mandate is limited to gathering intelligence and identifying internal threats to the country. It liaisons with the Pakistan police force and passes on critical security-related information to civilian law enforcers.
Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation, Inland Revenue
This is the Federal Board of Revenue’s intelligence wing, it gathers information on evasion of customs, federal excise duties, sales tax and smuggling of contraband
Financial Monitoring Unit
Also known as the Financial  Intelligence  Unit, this body assists domestic  law  enforcement  agencies and regulators in detection and prevention of threats emanating from money laundering and terrorist financing activities. It comes under the Ministry of Finance and is headed by a director general.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
The Federal Investigation Agency comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior. It deals with counter terrorism, anti-corruption, human smuggling and copyright infringement operations.
Crime Investigation Department (CID)
This is a specialised unit of the provincial police departments that investigates high profile terrorism and criminal cases. Each CID unit is headed by the provincial Inspector General of Police. Many urban centres also have a separate specialised unit apart from the CID that operates directly under the command of the Capital City Police Officer.
Anti Narcotics Force (ANF)
The Anti Narcotics Force comes under the Ministry of Defence and is headed by a senior military officer. Its main concern is drug trafficking, eradication of drug supply and trafficking and organising rehabilitation programmes.
Airport Security Force (ASF)
This is the first line of defence at airports throughout Pakistan and is handled by the Ministry of Defence.

&nbsp;

Coordinating intelligence

 
The United States – greater centralisation after 9/11
To counter what was seen as a massive intelligence failure in the US after 9/11, the Office of the The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was created in 2004. The DNI is now the leader of the United State’s large intelligence community. Before the office of the DNI was created, the intelligence community was led by the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), who was also the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA is now coordinated by the DNI, which reports directly to the President.

The agencies he coordinates are: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Defense (DOD) Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Security Agency (NSA), National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Air Force Intelligence, Marine Corps Intelligence, Army Intelligence, Naval Intelligence, Department of State, Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Treasury, United States Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DNI also oversees the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which is staffed by terrorism experts from the CIA, FBI, and the Pentagon; the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board; and the National Counter Proliferation Center.
The United Kingdom – ministerial oversight
The UK has three intelligence and security services, collectively known as the Agencies – the Secret Intelligence Service (better known as MI6), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Security Service, sometimes known as MI5.

The agencies operate under the immediate control of their respective heads who are personally responsible to ministers.

However, the Prime Minister has overall responsibility for intelligence and security matters and is supported in that capacity by the Secretary of the Cabinet. The Home Secretary is responsible for the Security Service; the Foreign Secretary for MI6 and GCHQ, and the Secretary of State for Defence for the DIS. There is also a Ministerial Committee on the Intelligence Services (CIS), whose Terms of Reference are: “to keep under review policy on the security and intelligence services”.

The Prime Minister is its chairman and the other members are the Deputy Prime Minister, Home, Defence and Foreign Secretaries and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Part of the Cabinet Office, the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), advises the government on priorities for intelligence gathering and for assessing its results. The JIC provides regular intelligence assessments on issues of national interests, like security, defence and foreign affairs. Intelligence reporting from the Agencies is also used to support field operations by the Armed Forces and by law enforcement agencies. Relationships between the Agencies and those who use their intelligence are close and as transparent as possible.
India – Executive control
In India, the National Security Council (NSC) looks into the country’s strategic concerns. The NSC comprises the Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board and a Secretariat represented by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). It is the JIC that is responsible for analysing intelligence data from India’s main intelligence units: the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing (commonly known as RAW), and the Directorates of Military, Naval and Air Intelligence. The JIC has its own Secretariat that works under the Cabinet Secretariat, and critics of the system say that because of this, the JIC is mostly not answerable to the Cabinet.

The Intelligence Bureau is responsible for internal intelligence, and RAW is responsible for external intelligence. In contrast to the British method of sharing intelligence, the structure and operations of RAW are said to be kept largely secret from Parliament, and the agency operates directly under the Prime Minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 5th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/secuirty/secuirty.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PEMRA issues notice to channels for 'provoking anti-national sentiments'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/181692/pemra-issues-notice-to-channels-for-provoking-anti-national-sentiments</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/181692/pemra-issues-notice-to-channels-for-provoking-anti-national-sentiments#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jun 11 15:45:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=181692</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Geo, Dawn, News one, and Dunya issued notices for violating section 20, rule 15 post-PNS Mehran attack.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Friday issued notices to four local television channels for "being irresponsible and provoking anti-national sentiments among viewers by sensitizing events unnecessarily."

According to a PEMRA press release, some of the talk shows and programmes of Geo News, Dawn News, News One and Dunya News violated Section 20 of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 read with Rule 15 of PEMRA Rules 2009 and clause (1) (d) (g) (h) of Code of Conduct set out in the Schedule-B of PEMRA Rules 2009.

According to the notice, after the PNS Mehran tragedy, it was observed that some news channels were not realising their journalistic responsibility and ethics towards society, institutions and country. Some news channels even went overboard in maligning the role of security agencies, armed forces and state institutions.

The press release cited Geo News’ televised interview of an alleged eye witness of PNS Mehran attack thereby creating undue sensation and hype without verifying facts and realising the grave repercussions that such "irresponsible journalism" could have on country. The eyewitness’s account later proved to be fake, the notice stated.

The release called on the media to exhibit their responsible side, pointing out that no media anywhere in the world undermines the reputation, respect, sovereignty or integrity of its nation, institutions or its forces or pass aspersions against them.  Instead, media in the world safeguard their national and strategic interests, said the press release.

Media in Pakistan has been given enormous freedom of expression and speech but a line must be drawn between desirable and undesirable information by the media on their own.  Media today has to understand their responsibility before it is too late, said the release.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PEMRA-logo-163922/PEMRA-logo-163922.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Al Qaeda had warned of Pakistan strike</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/181624/al-qaeda-had-warned-of-pakistan-strike</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/181624/al-qaeda-had-warned-of-pakistan-strike#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jun 11 08:26:54 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[syed.saleem.shahzad]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=181624</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Several weeks ago, naval intelligence traced an al Qaeda cell operating inside several navy bases in Karachi.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Al Qaeda carried out the brazen attack on PNS Mehran naval air station in Karachi on May 22 after talks failed between the navy and al Qaeda over the release of naval officials arrested on suspicion of al Qaeda links, an Asia Times Online investigation reveals. 

Pakistani security forces battled for 15 hours to clear the naval base after it had been stormed by a handful of well-armed militants.

At least 10 people were killed and two United States-made P3-C Orion surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft worth US$36 million each were destroyed before some of the attackers escaped through a cordon of thousands of armed forces.

An official statement placed the number of militants at six, with four killed and two escaping. Unofficial sources, though, claim there were 10 militants with six getting free. Asia Times Online contacts confirm that the attackers were from Ilyas Kashmiri's 313 Brigade, the operational arm of al Qaeda.

Three attacks on navy buses in which at least nine people were killed last month were warning shots for navy officials to accept al Qaeda's demands over the detained suspects.

The May 2 killing in Pakistan of Osama bin Laden spurred al Qaeda groups into developing a consensus for the attack in Karachi, in part as revenge for the death of their leader and also to deal a blow to Pakistan's surveillance capacity against the Indian navy.

The deeper underlying motive, though, was a reaction to massive internal crackdowns on al Qaeda affiliates within the navy.

Volcano of militancy

Several weeks ago, naval intelligence traced an al Qaeda cell operating inside several navy bases in Karachi, the country's largest city and key port.

"Islamic sentiments are common in the armed forces," a senior navy official told Asia Times Online on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"We never felt threatened by that. All armed forces around the world, whether American, British or Indian, take some inspiration from religion to motivate their cadre against the enemy. Pakistan came into existence on the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations and therefore no one can separate Islam and Islamic sentiment from the armed forces of Pakistan," the official said.

"Nonetheless, we observed an uneasy grouping on different naval bases in Karachi. While nobody can obstruct armed forces personnel for rendering religious rituals or studying Islam, the grouping [we observed] was against the discipline of the armed forces. That was the beginning of an intelligence operation in the navy to check for unscrupulous activities."

The official explained the grouping was against the leadership of the armed forces and opposed to its nexus with the United States against Islamic militancy. When some messages were intercepted hinting at attacks on visiting American officials, intelligence had good reason to take action and after careful evaluation at least 10 people - mostly from the lower cadre - were arrested in a series of operations.

"That was the beginning of huge trouble," the official said.

Those arrested were held in a naval intelligence office behind the chief minister's residence in Karachi, but before proper interrogation could begin, the in-charge of the investigation received direct threats from militants who made it clear they knew where the men were being detained.

The detainees were promptly moved to a safer location, but the threats continued. Officials involved in the case believe the militants feared interrogation would lead to the arrest of more of their loyalists in the navy. The militants therefore made it clear that if those detained were not released, naval installations would be attacked.

It was clear the militants were receiving good inside information as they always knew where the suspects were being detained, indicating sizeable al Qaeda infiltration within the navy's ranks. A senior-level naval conference was called at which an intelligence official insisted that the matter be handled with great care, otherwise the consequences could be disastrous. Everybody present agreed, and it was decided to open a line of communication with al Qaeda.

Abdul Samad Mansoori, a former student union activist and now part of 313 brigade, who originally hailed from Karachi but now lives in the North Waziristan tribal area was approached and talks begun. Al Qaeda demanded the immediate release of the officials without further interrogation. This was rejected.

The detainees were allowed to speak to their families and were well treated, but officials were desperate to interrogate them fully to get an idea of the strength of al Qaeda's penetration. The militants were told that once interrogation was completed, the men would be discharged from the service and freed.

Al Qaeda rejected these terms and expressed its displeasure with the attacks on the navy buses in April.

These incidents pointed to more than the one al Qaeda cell intelligence had tracked in the navy. The fear now was that if the problem was not addressed, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supply lines could face a new threat. NATO convoys are routinely attacked once they begin the journey from Karachi to Afghanistan; now they could be at risk in Karachi port. Americans who often visit naval facilities in the city would also be in danger.

Therefore, another crackdown was conducted and more people were arrested. Those seized had different ethnic backgrounds. One naval commando came from South Waziristan's Mehsud tribe and was believed to have received direct instructions from Hakeemullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban). Others were from Punjab province and Karachi, the capital of Sindh province.

After Bin Laden was killed by American Navy Seals in Abbottabad, 60 kilometers north of Islamabad, militants decided the time was ripe for major action.

Within a week, insiders at PNS Mehran provided maps, pictures of different exit and entry routes taken in daylight and at night, the location of hangers and details of likely reaction from external security forces.

As a result, the militants were able to enter the heavily guarded facility where one group targeted the aircraft, a second group took on the first strike force and a third finally escaped with the others providing covering fire. Those who stayed behind were killed.

This article featured in Asia Times Online on May 27, 2011 has been republished online with the permission of the publication. The original article can be viewed here.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/orion/orion.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Navy top brass quizzed on Mehran base attack</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179985/navy-top-brass-quizzed-on-mehran-base-attack</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179985/navy-top-brass-quizzed-on-mehran-base-attack#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 11 03:02:59 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zahid.gishkori]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=179985</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Tough questions were asked during in-camera session of Senate panel.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The involvement of foreign agencies in the PNS Mehran attack on Tuesday remained the central point of an in-camera session of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production, which directed Rear Admiral Shafqat Javed to present its preliminary investigation report to the committee by next week.


The committee, which met under the chair of Senator Lt Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi was briefed by top navy officials regarding the security arrangements on the perimeters of the Mehran Naval Base and the causes of a failure to detect the intrusion.

After the meeting, members of the committee denied rumours that they had expressed annoyance at the absence of the naval chief during the meeting.

“We never summoned the naval chief for the briefing on the PNS Mehran attack,” a member told The Express Tribune.

Committee members were seeking answers to questions like: “Who was involved in conducting such attacks which destroyed two P-3C Orion aircraft and detonating explosives at the naval base.” These aircraft were crucial for Pakistan’s maritime surveillance capabilities, the committee members added.

They directed Rear Admiral Javed to investigate the attack in detail, focussing on the above-mentioned queries. Although the panel chief refused to brief the media officials familiar with the talks told The Express Tribune that lawmakers expressed their concerns as to why the navy officials took 16 hours to clear the base.  “How were the terrorists able to reach the hangars and parking areas of the naval base,” questioned a lawmaker during the meeting.

The Senate committee may call Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir to brief lawmakers regarding the reasons behind an inordinate delay in clearing the base from a very small number of intruders, they said. During the in-camera session senators raised questions regarding the nationality of the four terrorists killed during the fight. They also sought details of the commercial activities in the marriage hall located on the base and the extent to which it impinged the security of the base, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast23-640x480-use/PNS-Merhan-Blast23-640x480-use.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Saleem Shahzad: Missing journalist found dead</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179484/hrcp-expresses-grave-concern-over-journalists-disappearance</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179484/hrcp-expresses-grave-concern-over-journalists-disappearance#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 11 02:09:16 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.nangiana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=179484</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Saleem Shahza­d’s body bore tortur­e marks.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Investigative journalist Saleem Shahzad was found dead near the Head Rasul area in Mandi Bahauddin, nearly 130 kilometres from Islamabad, after going missing from Islamabad over the weekend.


Police sources said Shahzad’s post-mortem report showed multiple injuries throughout his body. “Liver failure and ruptured lungs could have caused his death,” said an official, confirming there were as many as 15 visible wounds on his body. His ribs were also broken.

The wounds suggested Shahzad was subjected to severe torture which might have caused his death, said a police official who had seen the post-mortem report.

A relative of Shahzad, accompanied by capital police team, confirmed his identity and arrangements were being made to exhume and transport his body back to Islamabad till the filing of this report.

Earlier, his car was recovered from the Serai Alamgir in Jhelum, about six miles from where his body was found.

On Sunday night, Shahzad, Bureau Chief for the Hong Kong-basedAsia Times Online and correspondent for an Italian wire agency, had gone missing after leaving his home for a television interview. His brother-in-law, Hamza Ameer, had lodged a complaint about his disappearance with Margalla police, maintaining that Shahzad had never arrived at his intended destination.

The next day, capital police were informed by the Serai Alamgir SHO that a car containing Shahzad’s identity documents was found parked near Serai Alamgir. The Mandi Bahauddin police had conducted a post-mortem on a body fished out from a canal near Head Rasul, which ultimately turned out to be Shahzad’s, before handing it over to Edhi for temporary burial.

“From the description given by the Mandi police and the recovery of his ID card, Islamabad police were certain it was Shahzad’s body. However, the police wanted his family to confirm his identity,” said an Islamabad police official. Hamza Ameer accompanied the police team to Mandi Bahauddin where he was shown the photographs the police had taken before the burial.

Shahzad’s family officially applied for permission to exhume and claim his body, which was granted late on Tuesday night.

A few days before his death, Shahzad wrote a story for Asia Times Online, which claimed that militants attacked PNS Mehran after their demand for the release of certain suspects was rejected.

Saleem Shahzad is survived by his wife and three children.

According to AFP, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered an inquiry into the kidnapping and murder, pledging that the culprits would be “brought to book”.

In 2006, he was kidnapped by the Taliban in Helmand in southern Afghanistan. Then, his kidnappers accused him of being a spy but set him free after seven days.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had earlier Monday expressed alarm about Shahzad’s disappearance and described as “exceedingly disturbing” reports that he might have been abducted by a state agency.

 

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/saleem/saleem.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Who killed Saleem Shahzad?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179576/who-killed-saleem-shahzad</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179576/who-killed-saleem-shahzad#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 May 11 20:18:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=179576</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[This incident must not be allowed to become just another number on the list of dead journalists.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In what seems to a despicable attack on freedom of expression, journalist Saleem Shahzad has been brutally killed. According to his family, the Asia Times Online and Adnkronos International reporter had been missing since the evening of May 29 when he left his house to go to the office of a TV channel to appear in a show. The journalist was picked up just days after he wrote his last report, in which he made some explosive allegations regarding the PNS Mehran attack. He had claimed that the attack had been carried out by the 313 Brigade of al Qaeda, headed by Ilyas Kashmiri, and was in retaliation for detention of navy personnel for alleged terrorist links. He had also claimed that it followed a breakdown in contact between the navy and al Qaeda over this issue.

Following the disappearance, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that through its own channels it had been able to establish that Shahzad had been picked up by intelligence agencies. While it may be too early to speculate on those responsible for the reporter’s death, it is worth pointing out that he had over the years reported on the terror war, jihadi and extremist organizations and related topics normally deemed ‘sensitive’ in the Pakistani media.  According to HRW, some months ago, following a story that he did on Mullah Baradar’s arrest and apparent release, he said that he had been questioned by officials of an intelligence agency who were keen to know the sources of his reports.  The reporter is not the first to be killed in such circumstances. In 2006, Fata journalist Hayatullah Khan was killed after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen, and the case remains unsolved to this day. He had prior to his death reported on a drone strike and had taken pictures of remnants of a missile.

Clearly, Pakistan is a very dangerous country for journalists, especially those who cover issues such as terrorism. This involves mediating the terrain between the various jihadi outfits on one hand and the security and intelligence apparatus on the other. This incident must not be allowed to become just another number on the list of dead journalists. An independent commission drawn from the government, civil society and media should investigate it and make the findings public.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/saleem2/saleem2.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran: Navy chief absent from Defence Committee briefing</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179473/pns-mehran-navy-chief-absent-from-defence-committee-briefing</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179473/pns-mehran-navy-chief-absent-from-defence-committee-briefing#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 May 11 12:09:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=179473</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Navy officials briefing Senate's Standing Committee on Defence on PNS Mehran attack.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir and other senior officials of Pakistan Navy are not attending the meeting of the Senate's Standing Committee on Defence , Express 24/7 reported on Tuesday.

The committee, meeting in Islamabad with Senator Javed Ashraf Qazi in the chair, is being briefed by navy officials on the PNS Mehran attack.

Members of the committee expressed their annoyance at the absence of Bashir and top officials of the Navy.

During the meeting, the members expressed concern over inadequate security arrangements at the naval airbase and said that these arrangements had resulted in the loss of lives and material during the attack.

The Senate body has also expressed surprise that a few terrorists had occupied the base and kept security officials engaged for over 16 hours.

Four new charges added to FIR

Police have added four new charges to the FIR report against the terrorists who attacked PNS Mehran.

Three new charges have been filed on possession of illegal weapons and one on possession of illegal explosive material. Fresh charges were added after police found weapons and explosive material from the terrorist killed in the operation.

A group of between four and six militants had besieged the base for 16 hours and destroyed two P-3C Orion aircraft from the Unites States, crucial for Pakistan's maritime surveillance capabilities.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban, which is allied to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack on the base.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Navy-base-Reuters-176343-179404-179473/Navy-base-Reuters-176343-179404-179473.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran probe: Navy to present report this week</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179404/pns-mehran-probe-navy-to-present-report-this-week</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/179404/pns-mehran-probe-navy-to-present-report-this-week#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 May 11 06:52:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=179404</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Navy said the team investigating the PNS Mehran attack will present its report in a few days.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Navy said the team investigating the PNS Mehran attack will present its report in a few days.

This was announced during a briefing to the media at the PNS Mehran base.
The navy spokesperson also gave details of equipment that was not damaged during the raid.
He said two Orion surveillance aircraft and several important helicopters had been taken to safer places immediately after the attack.
He also said it is premature to comment on the findings of the investigation team. He said the media must wait for the investigation report.
Charges added to initial FIR
Karachi Police added four additional charges in the FIR filed  against the terrorists who attacked PNS Mehran.
SHO of Shahra-e-Faisal police station said three charges pertaining to  illegal weapons and one about possessing illegal explosive material have been  added to the FIR.
The fresh charges were added after police recovered weapons and explosive  material from the terrorists killed in the operation.
Ten security personnel were killed and 21 injured during the  attack at PNS Mehran Base on May 22.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Navy-base-Reuters-176343-179404/Navy-base-Reuters-176343-179404.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Mehran Attack Probe: Former navy commando, three others detained</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178747/pns-mehran-investigation-former-navy-commander-arrested-in-lahore</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178747/pns-mehran-investigation-former-navy-commander-arrested-in-lahore#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 May 11 02:24:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Salman Siddiqui]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178747</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Arrested suspects say former commando Kamran Malik provided maps of base and other information.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Security officials have detained a former commando of the Pakistan Navy and his brother in connection with last week’s militant attack on the PNS Mehran airbase, intelligence officials and relatives said on Monday.


Intelligence agencies detained Kamran Ahmed Malik and Zaman Malik from Lahore on Friday, five days after the attack in Karachi. Two “visitors” were also picked up from Abdullah Engineering workshop, which the brothers had rented.

Sources said that Kamran was court-martialled 10 years ago for assaulting a senior officer. He was subsequently admitted to the Combined Military Hospital and upon release went on to work as a seller of prize bonds. During his service, Malik had worked at the PNS Mehran and PNS Iqbal naval bases.

After his removal, he remained jobless for a few years and reportedly had developed “psychological problems”.

According to Reuters news agency, an earlier arrest of a suspect in the PNS Mehran attack led to the arrest of the Malik brothers. “The suspect arrested earlier said Ahmed provided information about the base to a militant network, which carried out the attack,” an intelligence official said.

According to a local resident, Kamran was considered a “normal, religious person”.

Aamir Faheem, the owner of the Abdullah Engineering workshop, said that Kamran had rented the shop a month ago. Kamran would sit in the shop for his prize bond business and in the evening he and his brother Zaman’s brother-in-laws would use the shop as a tuition centre.

Faheem said that at 10am on Friday, 10 people riding in three vehicles – including a white Corolla and a blue and black four-wheeler – stormed the workshop. One of the persons of the raiding party was in a police uniform and some were armed.

Faheem said the team shortly emerged from the first floor of the shop with the three men. Later, they also detained Zaman who was present near the workshop, he said.

Family pleads innocence

Kamran’s family claimed that he has had no links with the navy since his court-martial. His father Sadruddin said that accusations were false and a judicial investigation should be conducted.

Kamran’s mother Shamshad Bibi told The Express Tribune that when they contacted their sons’ phones after they were detained, an unidentified person attended the call and informed the family that Kamran had been picked up but did not give further details. Later, both phones were switched off and no official of police or any agency has contacted the family for three days.

Kamran’s uncle Qamaruddin said the agencies had picked up his nephew without fulfilling legal obligations. He went on to declare the incident “extra-judicial”. He demanded the chief justice of Pakistan to immediately intervene.

Air force guards were told to stay ‘on their side’

Although Pakistan Rangers personnel were allowed to enter the area under the jurisdiction of PNS Mehran airbase on the night it was attacked, gunmen from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) were not.

“Our Rapid Action Force had responded within minutes and navy Special Services Group commandos also arrived immediately. We did not want any confusion or injuries caused by friendly fire in the middle of the commando operation,” a senior navy official told reporters on Monday at a special briefing on the incident.

PAF gunmen were restricted to the runway’s other side, which falls under the jurisdiction of the PAF Faisal Base.

Although navy officials insisted that responsibility will only be fixed once investigators complete their report, their presentation repeatedly mentioned that at 10:15pm, the four terrorists scaled the perimeter fence on the PAF’s side, walked down 800 metres and circumvented the common runway strip used by aviation wings of all forces.

Junior navy guards spotted the attackers but by the time the response force was alerted, terrorists had attacked the P-3C Orion with at least seven RPG rockets.

Another navy official, who gave a tour of PNS Mehran, said that during the attack there were around 200 navy personnel present. About 30 to 40 of them were armed.

Two more check posts, manned by two gunmen each, have been set up near the runway.

Target

Even after a week of the assault, carcasses of the Pakistan Navy’s prized assets and targets of the attack – the American-manufactured P-3C Orion – stood scattered on the tarmac near the runway.

Reporters were told about the unsung heroes of the night of May 22, the ‘Tiger group’ of fire-fighters, who attempted to save the aircraft. Three of them died in the attack.

Four aircraft were parked on the tarmac when rockets were fired, destroying two planes. The other two planes were towed to safety.

Navy officials suspect that foreigners present at the airbase were also on the terrorists’ hit list. The attackers split into pairs after blowing up the aircraft. One pair hid in the bushes near the tarmac while the other headed towards the building of the 27 Squadron Fokker Line where they remained holed up until they were killed.

Bullet holes and damage caused to the building by RPG rockets were still visible. The Chinese were staying in a building next to the 27 Squadron’s, where an attacker also blew himself up. A senior navy official confirmed that some Chinese engineers, who were being evacuated in a bulletproof Land Cruiser, had had a very narrow escape. “One of the attackers stood right in front of the vehicle and fired a volley of machine gunfire head on. Our navy driver kept his nerve and tried to ram into him but the attacker kept firing at point blank range and dived just seconds before the vehicle got close enough,” he said. The Americans were housed at a distance and remained safe.

Officials did not say if any suspects were arrested or whether any terrorist had managed to escape. However, privately they admitted that the attack couldn’t have taken place unless someone within the navy had given precise information.

ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM REUTERS

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/kamran-ahmed-navy-attack-REUTERS/kamran-ahmed-navy-attack-REUTERS.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Mehran, through the glass darkly</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178851/mehran-through-the-glass-darkly</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178851/mehran-through-the-glass-darkly#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 11 22:06:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tanvir.ahmad.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178851</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[By design or through characteristic recklessness, the delicate strategic balance in the region has been disturbed.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Within three weeks, Pakistan has been tested twice and found wanting: On May 2, by the most powerful military in history and then on May 22, by a small unit of commandos, made up of non-state actors, challenging the state of Pakistan. The American raid to take out Osama bin Laden plunged the country into deep anxiety, first, about the cause of the attack — incompetence or complicity in Osama’s oft-denied presence — and then, secondly, by the utter disdain shown for Pakistan’s sovereignty. The low-tech assault by a ‘fedayeen’ squad, instantly claimed by the TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) as its own, on the PNS Mehran, left the nation stunned. That both the incursions accomplished their mission led to much demoralisation.
There are several questions about Abbottabad that have not been answered and may never be answered. In the case of the Mehran base, there is no fog of high technology: The truth shall have to be dug up from wherever necessary. In a self-assured state, there would never be any doubt that investigations would be comprehensive and credible. Unfortunately, there is now a touch of a witch-hunt raging in public debate, which creates motive to brush facts under the carpet. There is glee in some quarters at the military’s increasing discomfiture. Furthermore, apprehensive that its traditional insouciance about national tragedies would not be prudent this time, the political government is combining inane statements by the top leadership, with more substantive civil-military consultations, to project an image of full engagement. The two points revealed by the media after the meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet are that it has authorised pre-emptive strikes against terrorists and permitted the use of all possible means against them. Considering the allegations of retaliatory excesses by security forces in Balochistan, Fata and Swat, the resort to ‘all means’ needs clarification that is would not validate extrajudicial violence.

On TV screens, conspiracy theories multiply by the hour. No doubt, India is the main beneficiary of the destruction of the P-3C Orion aircraft, but do we not need more evidence before implicating it? And did Washington provide us with seven such aircraft, only to have them destroyed by hired guns from among the Taliban? This does not, however, mean that Washington would hesitate to use this incident to rub in the vulnerability of Pakistan’s nuclear assets.

The attack did seem to be driven by a specific mission to cripple the navy’s air arm. The argument that the TTP, or other insurgents, had nothing against the navy is simply not true. It is an important component of the multi-nation Combined Task Force — which its officers have commanded in rotation. Apart from playing a crucial role in India-specific air surveillance, the destroyed aircraft were expected to watch any seaborne activities of al Qaeda and its allies. The repeated attacks on naval personnel, suggest a particular terrorist animus against the Pakistan Navy.

By design or through characteristic recklessness, the al Qaeda-TTP commando has disturbed the delicate strategic balance in the region. It took the Pakistan Navy more time than its Indian counterpart, to gain recognition of its needs from the ultimate decision-makers. Once New Delhi embraced the concept of a ‘blue water navy’, with its projected regional role and global aspirations, the Indian Navy got what it takes to project power in the region. The construction of the huge naval base, INS Kadamba, near Karwar for the Western Command, the expected induction of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov from Russia) and the nuclear submarine Arihant in 2011/12, are major milestones in this quest for power projection. The Pakistani Navy wisely invested in submarines, a cruise missile, air patrol and surveillance aircraft to build up reasonable deterrence. While intensifying diplomatic efforts to improve relations with India, Pakistan must also ponder over the dilemma of making up the navy’s loss. 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Tanvir-Ahmad-Khan-Ne_1735627004/Tanvir-Ahmad-Khan-Ne_1735627004.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran: ISPR releases new footage</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178721/pns-mehran-ispr-releases-new-footage</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178721/pns-mehran-ispr-releases-new-footage#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 11 06:20:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178721</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Video shows the commandos fighting the terrorists and the building where they took refuge.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) released a new footage of the PNS Mehran Airbase after it was attacked by terrorists in Karachi.

The video shows the places where the navy commandos killed the terrorists and red flags have been hoisted to mark those places.

It also shows how the commandos fought the terrorists and reveals the building in which the miscreants took refuge.

A vehicle is also shown in the video which was attacked by the terrorists. Reportedly, it is the same vehicle which was used to evacuate the foreigners when the airbase was attacked.

The ISPR said that the driver of the vehicle managed to escape during the firing.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast42-174406-178721/PNS-Merhan-Blast42-174406-178721.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran attack: Sindh constitutes joint interrogation team</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178236/yet-another-team-to-probe-pns-mehran-attack</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178236/yet-another-team-to-probe-pns-mehran-attack#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 11 04:09:35 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hafeez Tunio]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178236</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Investigators to submit report to Sindh CM in 15 days.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Sindh government has constituted a joint interrogation team to probe into the PNS Mehran base attack, which marks it first week today (Monday).


The team will include members from police, rangers and Pakistan Navy as well as intelligence agencies, including the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and the Federal Investigation Agency. The committee has been formed following orders from the interior ministry and, within 15 days, submit a report to Sindh police chief before presenting its findings to Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah.

Sindh home department officials said that eight members of the team will record the statements of all navy and air force officials who were present at the PAF and PNS Mehran bases at the time of attack.

“The team can conduct raids with the help of police and law enforcement agencies to apprehend suspects. It can also interrogate foreigners who witnessed the attack,” sources said.

Adviser to the provincial home department Sharfuddin Memon told The Express Tribune that initial reports had been submitted by agencies already investigating the attack and this team will try to determine the losses incurred in the attack. Memon said the team’s preliminary role will be to gather details of people posted at the bases. “We have devised a comprehensive strategy to look into the matter but it cannot be shared at this time,” he said.

He said that officials of the Sindh police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) and Special Investigation Unit (SIU) are also part of the team.

Official sources said the team will acquire telephone records of the officials witness to the attack and examine their incoming and outgoing calls for at least one month.

CID and SIU officials have been tasked to interrogate militants in various jails in the province. Sources said some raids have been conducted on information provided by militants under arrest.

Sources said that police investigators had also forwarded a report to the interior ministry according to which the attack was conducted by four terrorists, who had information that foreigners were inside the base. The report said that navy personnel had informed the police soon after the attack and officials from District East rushed to the spot. The report confirms that two P-3C Orion aircraft had been damaged while one was partially affected. It also confirms that ten navy and rangers personnel were killed while 15 were injured and four terrorists were killed on the spot.

According to the report, four sub-machine guns, two rocket launchers, seven RPG rockets, 12 hand-grenades, one walkie-talkie set, two suicide jackets and two ladders were found from the spot.

Suspect released

Meanwhile, a suspect taken into custody in Faisalabad has been released by law enforcement agencies after interrogation.

Qari Qaisar, 30, runs a religious seminary in a village in Satiana, about 40 kilometres from Faisalabad. A joint police and intelligence team took him into custody two days ago and shifted him to an undisclosed place for interrogation. Sources said that Qari Qaisar, who hails from Dera Ghazi Khan, was arrested as he had received a suspect phone call on the day and time of attack.

On Sunday, May 29, Qari Qaisar reached his madressah in Satiana and told residents and students that he was taken to an undeclared location for interrogation and was released after investigators found him “innocent”.

He said that he was handed Rs300 and thrown in a deserted place near Lahore from where he travelled to Faisalabad by bus.
Additional reporting by Shamsul Islam in Faisalabad

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast23-640x480-use/PNS-Merhan-Blast23-640x480-use.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Pakistani proposal: US considering joint action against high-value targets</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178639/pakistani-proposal-us-considering-joint-action-against-high-value-targets</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178639/pakistani-proposal-us-considering-joint-action-against-high-value-targets#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 11 03:06:59 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178639</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rehman Malik advises Sharif brothers not to make a political spectacle of the PNS Mehran issue.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Discounting the possibility of a security lapse in the PNS Mehran episode, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said it was a case of negligence and advised the Sharif brothers not to use the matter to gain political mileage.


He said the government was negotiating with the US on the issue of carrying out joint action against high-value targets inside Pakistan, adding that the US leadership was seriously considering Pakistan’s proposal.

Talking to media persons on his visit to condole with the parents of Lieutenant Yasir Abbas in Lahore on Sunday, he announced that the government will pay Rs5 million to anyone providing valuable information about the naval base attack.

Reminding his audience that even the US agencies, which have better spying tools, had failed to stop the execution of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Malik said that people involved in the elaborate assault on America had gotten training in the United States, bought weapons over there and moved from one city to another without any let or hindrance.

He said that PNS Mehran was the result of security negligence not outright security failure.

He said that the Sharif brothers (PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif) should not play politics on this issue.

Rejecting the possibility of eliminating terrorism by staging sit-ins and long marches, he said all political parties should consult with the prime minister if they really wanted to devise a joint strategy against terrorism. He invited all political parties to participate in a peace walk with the PPP against Taliban, drone attacks and terrorism to demonstrate national solidarity.

Highlighting Pakistan’s tremendous sacrifices in the war against terrorism, he said that the country had suffered the most and 36,000 Pakistanis, including 6,000 troops, had so far been killed.

He said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban considers both Pakistan and the US its top enemies, adding that people should try to understand the sophistication in planning and the motives behind the terrorist attack in which two navy aircraft were destroyed.

He said that Taliban, al Qaeda and other banned outfits such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for carrying out all attacks occurring in the country.

Malik reminded that when Taliban had “reached Swat and Malakand, everyone was declaring them to be the country’s worst enemy, but there were some people, especially from Punjab, who were even then declaring them to be ‘best of friends’”.

He said that now that Taliban were directly attacking the country’s integrity and sovereignty, all political parties should forge unity.

He said that terrorists had “inside support” during the attack on the PNS Mehran.

Clarifying his statement regarding the number of terrorists in which he said that there were four dead terrorists and people on the ground at that time said there were two more. He said that now, eyewitness accounts put the total number of terrorist to be six.

He said that when Navy mentioned the number of terrorists to be 12 in the FIR, he had inquired them about this discrepancy. However, he said that he “stands by the figure of six terrorists”.

He said that first he had recommended Tamgha-i-Basalat for Lt Yasir, but the prime minister had forwarded a request to the president for Nishan-i-Haider on the call of his mother.

He said that a resolution on the May 2 incident had been passed from during the joint session of parliament and according to its content an independent commission would be established.

He said that the government would not accept any deadline in this regard, adding that it would be formed in due course of time.

He said that the government was studying the PML-N’s list of names for the commission, adding that the government was in touch with other political parties as well.

Advising the PML-N to avoid point scoring on the issue, he said that PML-N should keep in mind that the joint resolution was not meant to comply with PML-N orders.

He said that political parties should mange the community briefings across the country in which the real face of terrorists should be highlighted.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Rehman-Malik1-128658_1735627004/Rehman-Malik1-128658_1735627004.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Business as usual: Maritime Museum to stay open despite series of attacks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178418/business-as-usual-maritime-museum-to-stay-open-despite-series-of-attacks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178418/business-as-usual-maritime-museum-to-stay-open-despite-series-of-attacks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 May 11 20:27:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178418</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PAF Museum stays closed in the meantime.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Despite the threat of terrorist attacks, the Pakistan Navy has kept the Maritime Museum open for the public but the Pakistan Air Force, taking a more cautious approach, has closed down the PAF Museum for an indefinite period.


The PAF Museum was closed the day after the attack on PNS Mehran, however, this fact was formally announced on Saturday.

“We know that the attacks on the navy have not ended,” a senior investigation officeer told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity. “Until all those terrorists involved in the attacks are arrested, the danger would only increase.

They are probably plotting another attack right now and we cannot afford any slip-ups.”

He added that the Maritime Museum could be one of the possible targets as well as its surrounding installations, including PNS Rahat hospital.

The Maritime Museum is located on main Karsaz road. PNS Rahat hospital, the Arena (a recreation) club and Kingri House of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Pir Pagaro are also located on Karsaz, which links up to Sharae Faisal.

“Initially, we considered closing down the museum,” Maritime Museum Director General Jamal Abdullah informed The Express Tribune. “But that would mean that we have accepted defeat and we don’t want to send such a message to the terrorists. Instead, we have to take measures that force them to accept defeat.

He said that there were no sensitive installations in the museum but that security has been increased with more barbed wiring, watch towers and closed-circuit cameras. “I cannot share the security measures which we have taken,” he said. “But I can assure you that they [terrorists] would not have the courage to carry out any attack here.”

The museum also has a library which is visited by scores of people every day. “People are not afraid of coming here.

They continue to come here as before,” Abdullah pointed out. “If people stop coming here out of fear, then we would close down the Museum.”

PAF Museum

A PAF spokesman, Nadeem Khan, announced the closure of the PAF Museum for the public for an indefinite period. This step was taken in the aftermath of the attack on the PNS Base Mehran. The museum is a popular one as a location for weddings, and its wedding lawn is reportedly booked till 2013. However, the PAF spokesman was unavailable to comment regarding this point.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PAF_Museum-PHOTO/PAF_Museum-PHOTO.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Life in the twilight zone</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178258/life-in-the-twilight-zone</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178258/life-in-the-twilight-zone#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 May 11 16:54:28 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[anwer.mooraj]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178258</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Today, every inhabitant of this blighted republic has his/her own idea on how the military should defend itself.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan is passing through what is probably the worst period in its 64-year history. In fact, things have never been as bad as they are today. Though the brew has been simmering on the flame of discontent for quite some time, it was the Abbottabad assault, followed by the daring attacks on the PAF base and on the naval establishment, that was the last straw. While it triggered off deep resentment, the usual dreary predictable collage of cliches and the inevitable conspiracy theories, it also exposed the vulnerability of the Pakistan military — an institution that has always been sacrosanct and seen as the only organisation in the country that was truly professional, organised and functional. In fact, no Pakistani journalist or citizen ever officially criticised the defenders of the nation who were seen as upright citizens of sterling character.

Today, almost every inhabitant of this blighted republic has his or her own private idea on how the military should defend itself. There have been so many lies, half truths and allusions, so many conspiracy theories, so many conflicting hypotheses and assumptions,  ‘proofs’ and whispered innuendos that one no longer knows just what to believe. Was  the unarmed guy with the flowing beard who was executed in Abbottabad  really Osama bin Laden, or did the al Qaeda chief peg down from natural causes in Tora Bora seven years ago?

We will never know, and frankly most Pakistanis whose relatives have been blown up in suicide bomb blasts don’t really care. But what we do know is that Pakistan has acquired the unique distinction of becoming a pariah of the western democracies. The western press finds it inconceivable that Osama bin Laden could have lived in an eyesore mega-compound in the shadow of multiple military installations in a key garrison town without anyone in the Pakistani security establishment knowing who was living there. An American journalist went so far as to suggest that the compound was custom built for Bin Laden as a gilded cage. What is really interesting, however, is, that in spite of the tension that still exists between Washington and Islamabad, many Pakistanis would still prefer to live in America.

The impression the western media has of Pakistan could not be more uncomplimentary and unflattering than it is today. The stereotype is echoed in that caustic passage from Anatol Lieven’s book; Pakistan: A Hard Country, (Allen Lane 1011). After going through a roll call of infirmities he describes the land of the pure as “divided, disorganised, economically backward, corrupt, violent, often savagely oppressive to the poor and women and home to extremely dangerous forms of extremism and terrorism.”

However, before the ultranationalist Pakistani college lad who has been brought up on a diet of male chauvinism and Perfidious Albion breaks into an apoplectic fit he should read on, especially the part where India also comes in for a bit of a drubbing. Like the time when it’s fanatically ideological government conducted nuclear tests, threatened its neighbour with all-out war and presided over the massacre of 2,000 members of a religious minority. It has also embattled against secessionist insurgencies on its western and eastern borders and now struggles to contain a militant movement in its heartland. The difference is that while Pakistan seems to have lost all control over its international narrative, India, which was long feared to be near collapse, and was once described by Galbraith as practicing ‘functional anarchy’, has revamped its old western image through what an American writer referred to as the most “successful national re-branding” and  ‘clever PR campaign.’

The US is still anxious to maintain a working relationship with Pakistan. But this time Prime Minister Gilani appears considerably more buoyant and there appears to be a new spring in his step. Could it be because China has officially put the US on notice that any attack by Washington on Pakistan will be interpreted as an act of aggression against Beijing? It is now blatantly obvious that China is Pakistan’s only real friend.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Anwer-Mooraj-New1111111111111111-178258/Anwer-Mooraj-New1111111111111111-178258.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran attack suspect released</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178284/pns-mehran-attack-suspect-released</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178284/pns-mehran-attack-suspect-released#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 May 11 15:29:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178284</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Qari Qaiser picked up following phone trace from PNS Mehran attackers' cell phones.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A suspect, who had been arrested from Faisalabad in connection with the PNS Mehran base attack, has been released after initial investigation.

Qari Qaiser, 30, hailing from Dera Ghazi Khan, had been picked up in Faisalabad on Friday by intelligence agencies investigating the PNS Mehran base attack. He had been traced via phone calls made to his number from cell phones recovered off the four attackers who were killed while attacking the naval base in Karachi.

Qaiser, who runs a madrassah in Satiana, near Faisalabad, had been taken to an undisclosed location by intelligence agents where he was interrogated about phone calls that he had received.

Qari Qaiser said that he was released on Sunday after unknown men gave him Rs300 for the bus fare home.

&nbsp;]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/bail-169884-170677-171971-178284/bail-169884-170677-171971-178284.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Pakistan Navy braces for a ‘wave of attacks’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177984/pakistan-navy-braces-for-a-%e2%80%98wave-of-attacks%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177984/pakistan-navy-braces-for-a-%e2%80%98wave-of-attacks%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 May 11 05:39:01 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Salman Siddiqui]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=177984</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Investigators make headway on alQaeda links.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Six days after the deadly PNS Mehran gun and bomb attack, investigators have made headway by determining the group behind the attack as a result of which the security agencies are cracking down on suspects throughout the country.


Forensic reports about the nature of explosives and weapons have been submitted to the investigation committee headed by Rear Admiral Tehseenullah Khan.

But amid these developments, the Pakistan Navy remains in a state of high alert as the threat of a new “wave of attacks” looms large, senior officials within the force tell The Express Tribune.

Al Qaeda involved

A senior navy official said it was true that al Qaeda’s Ilyas Kashmiri group was involved in the attacks. Security agencies have arrested a number of people throughout the country, including some in Karachi and Faisalabad from this international terrorist organisation.

One of them, Qari Qaiser, is said to have taken orders directly from Kashmiri. The official says that the truth is that there are many cells within the Ilyas Kashmiri group. Those who were arrested formed just the tip of the iceberg.

He said that the investigations have determined that al Qaeda militants had indeed managed to infiltrate the ranks of the navy and not only gained sympathisers, but also recruits. “We are still figuring out how many of these militants were in contact with our [navy] people,” he said.

The official said that although it was an unfortunate fact that people within their ranks have been found to be linked with extremists, “the navy too is a part of Pakistani society where extremism is breeding so it was just a matter of time when something like this would happen.”

This is not the first time that the navy has arrested extremists within its ranks. Last year, in March, around five people from the Pakistan Navy were nabbed and found to be associated with anti-state militant groups. They were caught before they could stage an attack and remain incarcerated, reportedly in Adiala jail, to this day.

The navy official confirmed last year’s arrest, which included junior commissioned officers and sons of officers of navy personnel. He insisted, however, that it remains to be seen whether last year’s arrest played a hand in the PNS Mehran case. “We’re also looking into possible collusion of these militants with a foreign intelligence agency,” he added.

The senior navy official said that since the attacks and arrests, the threat to the force had in fact increased manifold. A “wave of attacks” could hit not only the navy but also the airforce, army and security installations in the coming days.

Police access

When DIG East Tahir Naveed was asked whether police has been given access to the suspects caught by the agencies, he declined to comment specifically on the issue, saying that the investigation was still on-going. However, he said there was no truth in the reports that police was having a hard time gaining access to not only the suspects caught but also navy personnel who were present at the base at the time of attack. “We are gathering witness accounts from those present at the base and the people who suffered injuries in the attack unhindered,” he said.

Forensics

The Federal Investigation Agency’s mandate has been limited to establishing the forensics aspects of the case, which includes ballistics. When FIA Director Sindh Moazzam Jah was asked whether it was true that the attackers had used M16 rifles, Uzi submachine guns, Russian grenades and rocket launchers, he said, “This is privileged information and can only be disclosed to the chairman of the probe committee since it can help with tracking down other terrorists connected to the attackers”.  Sources say that the FIA has already submitted its report to the committee.

Bodies in the morgue

The remains of the four PNS Mehran terrorists are still being kept at the Edhi centre’s morgue. Edhi’s Anwar Kazmi says that usually they kept unclaimed bodies for three days and buried them in an unmarked grave if no relatives come forward. “But in this case, we will keep the remains until the authorities tell us to and will dispose them only when we get a letter from the navy and police that we can go ahead and bury them,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/navy-174334-177133-177984/navy-174334-177133-177984.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Access To Airbase: Probe team may quiz foreigners</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178148/access-to-airbase-probe-team-may-quiz-foreigners</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178148/access-to-airbase-probe-team-may-quiz-foreigners#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 May 11 04:27:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[faraz.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178148</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Inquiry committee to question foreigners present at the base at time of attack.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The inquiry committee formed to probe the terrorist attack on the PNS Mehran airbase may question the foreigners, who were present at the base when the terrorists entered, sources said.


So far, they said, the police have not been provided access to the naval base and there have been reports that a coordinator, in this regard, would be arranged. DG PR Irfanul Haq, meanwhile, denied the report while talking to The Express Tribune.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Museum on the other hand, has been closed for general public for an indefinite period, sources said. Quoting PAF spokesperson Nadeem Khan, sources told The Express Tribune that the museum has been closed for civilians as the intelligence agencies’ personnel are visiting the museum to conduct an inquiry into the PNS Mehran attack. The PAF spokesman, when contacted, was unavailable for comment as his cell phone was switched off.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast14-176318-178148/PNS-Merhan-Blast14-176318-178148.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran: 'Air force action could have saved navy assets'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178145/pns-mehran-air-force-action-could-have-saved-navy-assets</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/178145/pns-mehran-air-force-action-could-have-saved-navy-assets#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 May 11 04:20:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[adil.jawad]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=178145</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Inquiry committee says ‘inside job’ not just on navy’s part.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Had the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) engaged the attackers from the start, the damage to navy assets and the loss of lives could have been avoided, observed the board of inquiry established to investigate the PNS Mehran attack.


Not just that, but the entire incident raised questions about Pakistan’s ability to protect its sensitive installations, said the board on Saturday.

Members of the board suspect the ‘inside job’ may not necessarily just be on the navy’s part, but also the air force whose personnel visibly failed in keeping the attackers engaged.

Earlier reports claimed that the terrorists scaled the walls of the PAF Faisal base which is adjacent to PNS Mehran. Investigators are trying to figure out why the security personnel deployed by the PAF failed to keep the attackers sidetracked. They are also trying to determine how the C-130 aircraft was left unharmed.

Not a single shot was fired by PAF personnel which the board said was ‘shocking’. The terrorists travelled on foot between 600 and 800 metres within the territory, manned by the PAF guards, who apparently failed to spot them. It was also established that when the attackers fired six rockets at the P-3C Orion aircraft, they were in fact standing in the area that falls under the jurisdiction of the air force.

The attackers entered the PNS Mehran territory once the aircraft had gone up in flames.

In the wake of the first attack, the navy’s rapid response teams came into action within minutes. There were more than 10 aircraft, including helicopters, on the tarmac apart from the Orion. However, it was only because of the navy personnel response that further damage to assets was thwarted and 17 US and Chinese nationals were safely evacuated.

Navy spokesperson Commodore Irfanul Haq denied that Admiral Noman Bashir had claimed that there was no security lapse and that their naval chief had been misquoted. “If you hear the TV recordings of the press briefing again, you’ll see that all that he had said was that ‘one can define security lapse in whatever way one deems fit’.” He declined to comment on any part of the investigation until the board of inquiry submits its report.

The board is expected to present its final findings into the attack on June 5 to the high-ups in the military high command and senior government officials.

The inquiry board is headed by Rear Admiral Tehseenullah Khan and includes representatives of intelligence agencies, Pakistan Air Force, FIA and the police. A spokesperson for the air force, when contacted, declined to comment on the issue.

‘Arrests not in connection with PNS Mehran attack’

A Pakistan Navy spokesperson denied any knowledge of arrests made in Faisalabad or Karachi in connection with the PNS Mehran attack.

“The Pakistan Navy has not made any arrests. If any security agency has picked up these four so-called terrorists, they haven’t told us that arrests have been made in connection with the PNS Mehran attack,” he said. He added that the air force or the army could also be made target of this wave.

He said the four people picked up by security agencies, including one reportedly being a ringleader from Faisalabad, all belong to al Qaeda’s Ilyas Kashmiri group. One of the nabbed, Qari Qaiser, is said to be a hardcore militant who took direct orders from Ilyas Kashmiri.

The senior navy official said there are many active cells of the Ilyas Kashmiri group in the country and those arrested were just a tip of the iceberg.

He said the ongoing investigations have determined that the al Qaeda militants had indeed managed to infiltrate the ranks of the navy and not only gained sympathisers, but also recruits. “We are still figuring out how many of these militants were in contact with our (navy) people,” he said.

The official said that although it was unfortunate that people within their ranks had been found to have links with extremists. “The navy too is part of Pakistani society that is breeding extremism, so it was just a matter of time when something like this happened.”

The Pakistan Navy is not the only institution whose personnel were found to be involved in terrorism. A former Army male nurse-turned-jihadi played a key role in the 2009 GHQ attack, just like senior PAF officers, including one SSG commando who was found to be involved in the attack on then army chief Pervez Musharraf in 2004.

Two groups attacked

According to initial investigations, the terrorists attacked the navy installation in two groups.

One of the groups targeted the P-3C Orion aircraft, while the other entered the flight line building.

Security forces surrounded the building from three sides and an exchange of fire ensued. According to an investigation officer, one of the terrorists hiding inside the building was hit by a bullet and blew himself up, turning the building into rubble.

The base has now been cleared of the rubble. All necessary evidence has also been collected from the site.

According to details, security forces surrounded the building from three sides which is why the terrorists were unable to escape and got killed.

(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NADEEM KHAN IN KARACHI)

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Navy-base-Reuters-178145/Navy-base-Reuters-178145.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran: Investigation reveals terrorists attacked base in 2 groups</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177702/pns-mehran-investigation-reveals-terrorists-attacked-base-in-two-groups</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177702/pns-mehran-investigation-reveals-terrorists-attacked-base-in-two-groups#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 28 May 11 11:04:20 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=177702</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[One group targeted the P3C Orion aircraft, the other entered the flight line building.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Initial investigations into the terror attack on PNS Mehran in  Karachi revealed on Saturday that the terrorists attacked the navy installation in two  groups, Express 24/7 reported. 

One of the groups targeted P3C Orion aircraft while the other  entered the flight line building. Security forces surrounded that building from three sides and an  exchange of fire ensued.

According to an officer of the investigating team, one of the  terrorists, who was hiding inside the building, got injured by a bullet and blew  himself up, turning the building into rubble. The rubble has now been removed from the base. All necessary evidence  has also been collected from the site.

Earlier, five people were taken into custody for suspected  involvement in the attacks. One of the suspects was nabbed from Faisalabad while four others were  caught from various areas of Karachi.

One of the arrests resulted from traced phone calls from a terrorist cell phone, recovered after the 17-hour siege at PNS Mehran Base. Sunday’s assault was the worst on a military base since the army headquarters was besieged in October 2009.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Blast-PHOTO-REUTERS-175014-177702/PNS-Blast-PHOTO-REUTERS-175014-177702.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Traced calls yield arrest: Naval base attack suspect held in Faisalabad</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177133/pns-mehran-suspect-arrested-in-faisalabad</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177133/pns-mehran-suspect-arrested-in-faisalabad#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 28 May 11 04:35:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[adil.jawad]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=177133</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Suspects of major terrorist attacks to be questioned; police still on different pages.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Traced phone calls from a terrorist’s cell phone, recovered after the 17-hour siege at PNS Mehran Base, led to the arrest of a suspect in Satiana, about 32 kilometres from Faisalabad, on Friday.


According to sources, Qari Qaiser, 30, was arrested Friday morning and was shifted to an unknown location for further interrogation.

The accused, originally belonging to Dera Ghazi Khan, was reportedly running Zainil Abideen Madrassah in Chak No.383 in Satiana.

The suspect was reportedly in contact with the attackers of the naval base. Qaiser was already on the watch-list of various law enforcing agencies and was under surveillance.

He was earlier arrested after a blast in Faisalabad on March 8, which killed 25 people and injured over 130. However, he was released under mysterious circumstances.

Qaiser’s arrest has proven that investigators will have to broaden the scope of the inquiry across the country and not just limit it to Karachi.

Officers investigating the PNS Base Mehran attack are intent on questioning all the suspects who have been involved in major terrorist attacks across the country, such as the Rawalpindi GHQ siege and the assassination attempt on former president Pervez Musharraf.

The inquiry committee will submit its report to the naval chief within two weeks, officials told The Express Tribune.

“Investigators are moving suspects to unknown locations and are questioning them about their possible links. We may get some leads,” said an officer.

So far, authorities have been unable to match the fingerprints of the terrorists. One of the investigating officers said that the navy is questioning all its staff members.

Peeling off the layers

It has been established that the wall at the rear end, from where the terrorists entered the Pakistan Air Force Base Faisal, was a “blind spot” – an area not covered by closed-circuited television (CCTV) cameras installed along the boundary.

However, after travelling the 1.5 kilometres into PNS Base Mehran, the terrorists entered the navy area which is also covered by CCTV cameras, sources revealed. “We have asked for the CCTV footage from the navy, but have not received anything so far,” a civilian investigation officer told The Express Tribune.

The discrepancy between the information from the government and the navy surfaced soon after the operation was over when the navy registered the FIR against 12 people – twice the number cited by Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s post-attack press statement.

One navy source says that they found shoeprints that show signs of two people walking back towards the wall. However, the police said that they do not have such information.

Meticulous manoeuvring

According to the investigation officer, the terrorists were being led by someone with knowledge of the entire map of the base. The terrorists walked from the rear wall to the PNS Mehran in a line. “They were always in a line, following their ‘leader’ who got them through the area uncovered by the CCTVs.”

With them constantly moving in line, they only left a few sets of shoeprints and some prints were smudged by the others who followed.

“The leader knew exactly what he was doing. He knew what places to dodge and make his way into the base.”

With additional reporting by Faraz Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/navy-174334-177133/navy-174334-177133.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Hangu bombing</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177186/hangu-bombing</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/177186/hangu-bombing#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 27 May 11 17:13:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=177186</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[All these attacks point to one sobering truth: The militants are getting stronger than ever.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[With every passing day, it is becoming increasingly clear that the militants can now strike government installations almost at will. On May 26th, a suicide bomb attack at a police port near several government offices killed at least 30 people, including 10 police officers. This is the fifth attack on a sensitive location since the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. Nearly a hundred people were killed outside a police cadet training centre in Shabqadar on May 13th. A week later, a US consulate convoy in Peshawar was attacked using a remote-controlled bomb, killing one bystander. Then, on May 22nd, the audacious terrorist attack on PNS Mehran in Karachi took place. Nine people were killed in a suicide attack at a police station in Peshawar, close to the US Consulate just a day before the Hangu blast. All these attacks point to one sobering truth: The militants are getting stronger than ever while the government is incapable of protecting itself let alone the citizens it is supposed to serve.

As always, the Hangu attack leads us to ask the same questions. It would appear that the intelligence agencies are incompetent in that they do not seem to be able to prevent such attacks from taking place. It was obvious to everyone that in the aftermath of Bin Laden’s killing there would be revenge attacks, primarily targeting the government and the military. Yet, as the one on PNS Mehran and others showed, intelligence is missing and security inadequate. What’s worse is that we do not seem to be learning from our mistakes or doing things differently to ward off the expected spate of attacks.

Yes, suicide attacks may be very hard to defend against, and the terrorists are highly motivated and the attackers usually have the initiative. However, the murder and mayhem has been continuing for long enough for the security and intelligence agencies to come up with a suitably matching response. For instance, is any effort being made to penetrate the terror networks, to get at those who are financing and planning the attacks, indoctrinating and training the suicide bombers and providing them with the weapons and suicide vests. Surely, these groups have been around for long enough for our intelligence agencies to be able to succeed at least partially, if not wholly, in neutralising them.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Peshawar-Blast-06-176482-177186/Peshawar-Blast-06-176482-177186.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Pakistan’s day of infamy</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176496/pakistan%e2%80%99s-day-of-infamy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176496/pakistan%e2%80%99s-day-of-infamy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 20:13:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zahir.kazmi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176496</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[&quot;Afghanistan is a means to accomplish our top mission, which is to kill al Qaeda and secure Pakistan’s nukes.&quot;]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[We can pray that Bob Woodward made up the facts in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Obama’s Wars. He quoted Joe Biden’s conversation with Obama and other senior administration officials, “We can’t lose sight of Pakistan and stability there. The way I understand this, Afghanistan is a means to accomplish our top mission, which is to kill al Qaeda and secure Pakistan’s nukes. We must be making progress separately against al Qaeda and separately in Pakistan...” (Woodward: 328, Chapter 28).

Likewise, Mel Gibson’s 2010 film, The Edge of Darkness, may look Kafkaesque but carries grave implications. The US can make a dirty bomb by using traces from another country’s nuclear material, explode it on its own soil, give false proof in justification and then punish the target country. Or the US can transfer such a dirty bomb to the target country, non-state actors (NSAs) explode it, the state is declared unstable and the US ‘helps’ that country by securing its nuclear arsenal under a UNSC mandate. Can these scenarios be applied to Pakistan? The American leadership has repeatedly denied having any intention to secure Pakistan’s nukes. Yet, after the PNS Mehran attack, Pakistan is probably being driven to the edge of darkness.

On May 23rd, security forces ended a 17-hour standoff with NSAs at the naval base Mehran. The attack showed that the NSAs, have not only augmented their abilities, but have also enhanced these to the point that they can now operate far beyond Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. Who benefits from these attacks?

The May 22nd attack highlights the fact that NSAs have managed to permeate the security apparatus in a continuous war against the army and the ISI. Hence, the NSA’s have access to numerous targets in the military-intelligence complex. These NSAs cannot operate so effectively without external support.

Why would the CIA support NSAs? On the one hand, the US government expresses comfort with the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear programme and on the other, it points out that a weakening government and increased militancy makes them vulnerable.

Let’s take Woodward’s book and reputation seriously. If America’s aim is to secure Pakistan’s nukes, then the best approach is to create an environment in which Pakistan can be declared an unstable nuclear-armed state. The next logical step would be a UNSC resolution offering help to the people of Pakistan in securing their crown jewels.

The ISI has serious intelligence limitations against the NSAs. The latter have different requirements for survival. These ghosts are a hidden force, fighting a conspicuous one. The ISI’s cumbersome structure and bureaucratic mechanisms act slowly on information while the intelligence needs of the NSAs are more restricted. Hence, the ISI can only hope to succeed if it can penetrate the NSAs.

The army has engaged in generally, successful counter-insurgency operations in Swat, South Waziristan and other parts of the tribal belt. Yet, the NSAs continue to demonstrate the capability to attack hard and soft targets across the country. The military operations in 2009 and the killing of several NSA leaders did slow them down and the temporary calm before the recent storm was probably because the NSAs were flushed out of South Waziristan. Or the CIA-sponsored NSAs are increasing the momentum to accomplish their ultimate aim.

Why the focus on the navy? The raid on Abbottabad exposed the surveillance capability against the Isaf in Afghanistan but the Navy’s P-3C Orion aircraft have a credible capability against navies operating in the entire Indian Ocean. Extra-regional forces would find it difficult to operate in the Indian Ocean and secure Pakistan’s nukes so long as surveillance capability exists. What can Pakistan do? With all eyes on the safety and security of Pakistan’s nukes, the security apparatus must be entirely focused on defending the nukes. If Pakistan has evidence of Indian or US involvement, it must be exposed now. Pakistan must further reduce US presence in the country and the Shamsi base must come under its control. Remaining naval assets like submarines should be dispersed immediately, to avoid further damage. Lastly, Pakistan must find its spine, take a strong stand and ensure that it has the last laugh.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Zahir-Kazmi-New-again/Zahir-Kazmi-New-again.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Being ‘proactive’ against terrorism</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176494/being-%e2%80%98proactive%e2%80%99-against-terrorism</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176494/being-%e2%80%98proactive%e2%80%99-against-terrorism#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 18:03:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176494</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The new ‘pre-emptive’ or ‘proactive’ approach will put an end to the myth of a US-Indian-Israeli axis.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[On May 25, the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), presided over by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, decided to take ‘pre-emptive measures to eliminate terrorist hideouts across Pakistan through a coordinated effort involving all state institutions’ with an emphasis on diversifying the national approach to the menace of terrorism by adopting new anti-terrorist strategies. The prime minister set the tone for the new approach: Pakistan will give up its ‘reactive’ response to acts of terrorism which has proved singularly ineffective against suicide-bombing and fedayeen-led attacks like the one on PNS Mehran. It will now go after terrorist hideouts in such places as North Waziristan as well as runaway ‘foreign’ terrorists hiding from drone attacks in Kurram, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and places close to Islamabad. Given the shockingly ineffective response to earlier acts of terrorism, which have killed around 35,000 Pakistanis, it is obvious that the old strategies, if they exist, will have to be abandoned.

Nothing new can be ushered in without first defining what we have to abandon as ineffective policy or ‘non-policy’, i.e. absence of a policy. Therefore, the first task of the combined civil-military effort, as embodied in the DCC, should be to revisit what Pakistan has adopted as policy in the past against al Qaeda and its Pakistani and foreign affiliates. Unless an objective analysis is made of the ingredients and origins of the old failed policy nothing worthwhile would be obtained as new policy. Should the new strategy be populist? Should the state first read the barometer of public opinion and accordingly? Our view is that if we have to strike at the increasingly successful strategy of al Qaeda and its affiliates we must first abandon the isolationist passions whipped up in the past to operate an unsuccessful approach. The new ‘pre-emptive’ or ‘proactive’ approach will put an end to the myth of a US-Indian-Israeli axis and bring Pakistan’s policy in line with the rest of the world and thus ensure its success.

Our first realistic objection to an isolationist stance is that it converts a factual situation into an ideological one and accepts ‘nazarya’ (belief) as ‘nazar’ (observation). Secondly, it pits the nation and the state against impossible military and economic odds that cannot be overcome to ensure victory. It goes against all military wisdom of such successful states in the world as China, our closest friend. Thirdly, we must revisit the nature of ‘public response’ and separate from it the ‘internal’ collaborators because, unfortunately, the ideology of al Qaeda happens to be the same as that of Pakistan.

The ‘guiding’ light in moulding the new joint civil-military effort should not be merely a civilian acceptance of military thinking. This, in turn, could point us to the military’s focus so far on India as Pakistan’s designated enemy and lead to a possible review of this doctrine given that by most accounts, the biggest threat to Pakistan today comes from within. All normal strategies adopted by the state have to emanate from the elected civilian authority leaning in favour of a realistic assessment of the national economy and the changing kaleidoscope of international forces.

The foremost topic that must come up before the planners of the new policy should be the phenomenon of ‘inside collaboration’ and that should focus our mind on the jihadi militias which even the most conservative commentators of the current policy accept as creatures of the state in its old identity as an irredentist state against the Soviet Union and India. These ‘state-empowered’ stormtroopers rebelled, when the Musharraf regime changed the state’s jihad policy and started targeting the state of Pakistan instead.

This suspicion of ‘inside help’ has surfaced every time the state agencies and state officials have been targeted, especially in the attack on the GHQ, the perpetrators of which were arrested but have not been punished so far. Also worth revisiting is the whole culture of ‘impunity’ available to terrorists after they are apprehended but let off by the courts as witnesses usually ‘chicken out’. The state must not ignore the observation made by ex-president and army chief, Pervez Musharraf when he pointed to the possibility of ‘rogue’ elements inside state institutions — just because he is someone who is seen as discredited by many.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/al-qaeda-taliban-ter_1735627004/al-qaeda-taliban-ter_1735627004.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran Attack: ‘No discrepancy in militant numbers’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176280/pns-mehran-attack-%e2%80%98no-discrepancy-in-militant-numbers%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176280/pns-mehran-attack-%e2%80%98no-discrepancy-in-militant-numbers%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 12:48:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176280</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PM said the discrepancy has been created by the media.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[PM said there was no discrepancy in the number of attackers of PNS Mehran Base, while talking to the media in Karachi. The discrepancy has been created by the media, he said, adding that an inquiry commission has been constituted which will thoroughly investigate the incident and their reports will be made public. Gilani visited the Aga Khan University Hospital on Wednesday to inquire about the health of leader of PML-F Pir Pagara.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/News-in-brief-800x60_1735627004/News-in-brief-800x60_1735627004.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran: Joint committee begins investigations</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176461/pns-mehran-joint-committee-begins-investigations</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176461/pns-mehran-joint-committee-begins-investigations#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 11:08:19 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176461</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Navy, Air Force personnel at the base questioned. Ethnicity of attackers will be determined after DNA, autopsy.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The joint committee formed to probe the PNS Mehran attack in Karachi began investigations on Thursday.

The investigation committee, headed by Rear-Admiral Tehseenullah Khan, includes a commodore, two captains, a surgeon commodore, an air commodore and a group captain. Other members include personnel from rangers, police and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Navy and Air Force personnel serving at the base have been questioned so far. Cell phone records of all personnel on duty at the time of the attack are also being checked by the committee.

The committee has also verified that the attackers used night vision goggles and were able to target security forces with pin-point accuracy.

Authorities have failed to make any progress on identifying the attackers. The fingerprints have been sent to National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for verification.

Police have said the ethnicity of the attackers will be determined once the autopsy and DNA tests have been completed.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/pns-mehran-attack-afp-2-174961-176461/pns-mehran-attack-afp-2-174961-176461.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>India concerned over Pakistan’s nuke safety</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175643/india-concerned-for-safety-of-pakistan-nuclear-weapons</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175643/india-concerned-for-safety-of-pakistan-nuclear-weapons#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 04:08:08 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175643</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[India's defence minister says safety of Pakistan's nuclear assets is a concern for all countries.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[India has voiced concern over the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal following a militant siege at the country’s largest naval airbase PNS Mehran.


“Naturally it is a concern not only for us but for everybody,” Indian Defence Minister AK Antony was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

“Our services are taking all precautions ... but at the same time we don’t want to over react,” he said.

Sunday’s attack on the PNS Mehran base has raised fresh worry about the safety of Pakistan’s 70-100 nuclear weapons, and some analysts see it as a blueprint for a raid on a nuclear base.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/navy-174334-175643/navy-174334-175643.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran attack: Petitioner prays court to order judicial probe</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175766/pns-mehran-attack-petitioner-prays-court-to-order-judicial-probe</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175766/pns-mehran-attack-petitioner-prays-court-to-order-judicial-probe#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 03:26:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zeeshan.mujahid]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175766</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The people responsible need to be punished, maintains petitioner.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A constitutional petition was filed by Haji Gul Ahmed, the chief of the Anjuman-e-Islami Islah-bara-e-Moashira (Islamic Organisation for Social Reform) in the Sindh High Court on Wednesday, praying the court to start a judicial probe into the PNS Mehran attack.


The petitioner maintained that the incident was a complete “security failure” as the terrorists entered the naval base from the rear end of the Pakistan Air Force Base Faisal. Therefore, the air force is equally responsible for the breach, he argued.

Ahmed submitted that at the time of attack, six American officers and 11 Chinese naval personnel were present at the base and were evacuated during the operation. Interior Minister Rehman Malik gave the statement that there were six attackers and four were killed, while two escaped. But according to the Pakistan Navy’s official version, an authorised officer put the number of the attackers in the FIR as 12, he argued.

If this is the situation after militants jolt an entire military installation, one can imagine the government’s response if an enemy country attacks Pakistan, the petitioner stated. There seems to be no plan to counter the militants, he added.

Given the looming threats and no national policy to curb them, the incident may be probed into by a high-level judicial commission with a mandate to fix responsibility of the lapse and to recommend punishments to those who were at fault, the petitioner appealed to the court. The petition was admitted by the court’s office and is likely to be heard in a day or two.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/pns-mehran-175766/pns-mehran-175766.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Navy revises down the number of attackers</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176343/navy-revises-down-the-number-of-attackers</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176343/navy-revises-down-the-number-of-attackers#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 03:12:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[faraz.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176343</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The initial count of the terrorists stood at around 10 to 12, number now amended to four.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Navy on Wednesday retracted the number of Mehran base attackers that it cited in its First Information Report (FIR) lodged at the Shahrae Faisal police station on Tuesday.


The initial count of the terrorists provided by the navy personnel stood at around 10 to 12. However, on Wednesday they amended the number to four.

The new headcount is more in line with the one provided by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who said there were six terrorists who launched the assault on the PNS Mehran Airbase.

The police have started investigations into the attack.

According to sources, the police have recorded statements of eight navy and two Rangers’ personnel who were injured in the attack.

The sources said that the police were being forced into reducing the number of terrorists nominated in the FIR because the Pakistan Navy’s numbers largely contradicted those provided by the interior minister who had said that four of the attackers had been killed while two had managed to escape.

Shahrae Faisal senior investigation officer (SIO) Sajjad Ali, however, denied that the navy personnel were putting any sort of pressure on the police to reduce the number of nominated terrorists in the FIR. “It’s not true. We have no pressure from the navy.”

Responding to a query regarding the sudden decline in numbers, the SIO said, “We cannot rely solely on the FIR since it is just the initial report. What’s more important is the statements as they play a vital role in the investigation process.”

“None of them saw more than four terrorists. In fact some only saw three,” he added. Quoting some of the victims, the SIO said, “They [the terrorists] entered and began firing rockets, hurling hand grenades and then resorted to firing. The number of attackers was unclear, but we did not see more than three to four of them.”

He added that the police had recovered nearly one thousand empty casings, including seven rocket shells. He said they were unaware of the exact number of hand grenades that were lobbed.

The empty shells found from the site came from sub-machine guns, 222 rifles and G-3 guns.

The bodies of the terrorists who were killed in the operation are being kept at the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth. The police are waiting for the postmortem and DNA reports.

The SIO said that the fingerprints of the four terrorists had been gathered and they were seeking NADRA’s help in identifying the attackers.

He said the ladder used by the terrorists to climb over the walls to enter the base had not been provided to the police for examination.

Sources close to the investigation told The Express Tribune that the fingerprints of the terrorists had been compared against nearly 360,000 from the existing records, but there had been no matches so far.

However, SIO Ali said that the process was ongoing and nothing could be said for certain yet.

Terrorists’ cell-phone recovered

There were reports that the investigation committee has recovered one cell-phone from the naval base. According to reports, the cell-phone may belong to one of the terrorists who managed to escape during the 17-hour gun battle. Investigators, along with the help of NADRA, are trying to trace the ownership of the SIM recovered from the cell phone and locate the absconding terrorists and their network.

“I have no confirmation regarding the recovery of a cell-phone of the terrorists who managed to get away,” Navy DG PR Irfanul Haq told The Express Tribune. “A committee has been constituted and the investigation is under way. Everything will be shared with the media, but it will take some time,” he added.

Suspects detained over PNS Mehran attack

According to some unconfirmed reports, the intelligence and law enforcement agencies have detained at least three suspects in a raid carried out in Ghausia Colony, Shah Faisal Colony No 5, and also seized a house on the suspicion that the terrorists might have been staying there prior to the attack.

Ghausia Colony is located behind the naval base. However, no official confirmed any arrest in connection with Sunday’s attack. “There have been no arrests,” SIO Ali told The Express Tribune, adding: “No house has been sealed either.”

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Navy-base-Reuters-176343/Navy-base-Reuters-176343.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Security concerns: ‘Commercial activities of the PAF base are not a threat’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176169/security-concerns-%e2%80%98commercial-activities-of-the-paf-base-are-not-a-threat%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176169/security-concerns-%e2%80%98commercial-activities-of-the-paf-base-are-not-a-threat%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 02:56:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[faraz.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176169</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[However, police and other officials claim base is still insecure, open for surveillance.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[After the brazen terrorist attack on PNS Mehran base, there were concerns that commercial activities of the Pakistan Air Force Base Faisal - wedding ceremonies and the Pakistan Air Force Museum - will be a security threat. But navy officials overruled this argument.


A PAF official requesting anonymity said that everyone entering the museum is only allowed in after being thoroughly checked. Even their vehicles are checked and it is not possible for any terrorist to use the museum to get access to the bases, he added. The PAF Museum is open for public every day till 10 pm.

“From the museum gate at Sharae Faisal, the PNS Mehran is one-and-a-half kilometres away. If you walk through the museum, the distance increases. And the first thing you see when you reach is the base guardroom,” the official explained, reiterating that terrorists entering through the museum route is not plausible.

However, a senior police official told The Express Tribune that distance has no meaning in terrorism, adding that they are highly trained to cover long distances. “Taliban arrive in the cities from Waziristan and other tribal areas. They cover huge distances. So, how would covering a few kilometres to achieve their target be a problem for them?” In the naval base attack, the aircraft were parked at a distance, but the terrorists still got to them.

“Even if people attend weddings held here, they are properly checked,” the PAF official explained. Wedding ceremonies can only be held at the museum and the base area through a few contractors and caterers who are allowed to make arrangements. However, the Navy Public Relations director-general Irfanul Haq told The Express Tribune that no wedding ceremonies are being arranged in the naval base. He declined to comment if holding weddings and people entering the base was a threat.

Even on the day of the attack, a wedding ceremony was scheduled to be held at the PAF Museum that was affected. Another security concern is the residential area surrounding the base.  But investigators remained tight-lipped about internal security.

Easy ‘I Spy’

Surveillance seems to be pretty easy. Bridges, a railway track and other constructions make ‘keeping an eye’ on the base easy - which the terrorists are believed to have used to plan the siege.  The whole base is visible from the pedestrian crossing at Sharae Faisal. The media could see the operation clearly from that crossing. Overhead bridges, mainly the Drigh Road bridge, also has a good view of the PAF and PNS bases, which could be enough for terrorists to chalk out an attacking strategy.

Another navy official listed the Drigh Road residential area as well as the railway track along the boundary wall of the bases as potential surveillance or ‘spying’ points.

He also suggested that these could also serve as potential entry points to the bases. And there seems to be no solution. “We cannot remove the bridges, the railway track and the residential areas because of the base.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Army-PHOTO-REUTERS/Army-PHOTO-REUTERS.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Fighting the terrorists: Defence body looks to strike first policy</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176316/fighting-the-terrorists-defence-body-looks-to-strike-first-policy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176316/fighting-the-terrorists-defence-body-looks-to-strike-first-policy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 02:43:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[irfan.ghauri]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176316</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Meeting presided over by Gilani, decides to review pre-emptive strategy to avert terrorist attacks.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Faced with an intensified wave of terrorist attacks, the country’s top civilian and military authorities on Wednesday vowed to take pre-emptive measures to eliminate terrorist hideouts across Pakistan.


The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) - the highest national body on security-related issues that met for the second time this month, mandated the “security, defence and law enforcement agencies to use all necessary means” to eliminate terrorists and militants through a coordinated effort involving all state institutions.

“The DCC expressed full confidence in the ability and the capacity of the armed forces and law-enforcement and intelligence agencies in meeting all threats to national security,” said a statement issued after the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister’s House. The DCC, comprising chiefs of the three armed forces and some key cabinet members, was convened to discuss extraordinary security measures three days after terrorists attacked the country’s major naval airbase in Karachi. Sunday’s brazen attack on PNS Mehran left 10 people dead and two maritime reconnaissance aircraft destroyed.

A few hours before this meeting, another terrorist attack on a police investigation centre in Peshawar, left several policemen dead or injured.

The targeted police compound is located in a sensitive military area of Peshawar, close to the US consulate and the army airbase.

Sustained deadly attacks on important military installations are raising serious questions about the internal security measures at these locations.

The chief of naval staff and secretaries of defence, interior and foreign affairs briefed the DCC on the terrorist attack on PNS Mehran, internal security and the regional situation.

“National security is the foremost priority and all arms of the government will ensure that terrorists hideouts will be destroyed using all appropriate means” the statement said.

It added that national consensus on eliminating terrorism would be implemented through a well-coordinated and comprehensive strategy with the full support of the people and state institutions at all levels.

It was further decided that the DCC would continue to meet regularly to develop further, update and closely monitor the implementation of the counter-terrorism strategy.

Reviewing pre-emptive strategy

Earlier in his opening remarks, Prime Minister Gilani said the rapidly evolving national security paradigm has compelled the DCC to meet twice within a month.

“The diversity and the quantum of challenges to the national security demand that we make a departure from our conventional thinking and carve out alternative strategies,” he said.

“We are here to take a holistic review of the impending threats to our national security, to find answers and to put an end to the concerns being expressed regarding the country’s state of security,” Gilani said in his speech.

In the wake of the terrorist attack on PNS Mehran, serious concerns are being expressed about country’s ability to deal with the problems posed due to terrorism, he noted.

Gilani said a comprehensive investigation has been ordered on the PNS Mehran attack, adding that there was a need to revisit the steps required to avert and pre-empt such attacks.

Nuclear concerns

Concerns have also been expressed about the safety and security of our strategic assets, said Gilani, in an apparent reference to renewed concerns from some Western quarters on safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets.

“Under the National Command Authority, we have an effective command and control system for ensuring the safety and security of our nuclear weapons and related systems. These arrangements conform to the highest international standards and practices followed by other nuclear weapon states,” Gilani said.

He added that Pakistan is now entering another defining phase in the struggle against terrorism and for reconciliation and establishing peace in Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/gilani-AFP-170412-173151-173778-176316/gilani-AFP-170412-173151-173778-176316.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Navy officers suspect inside job in PNS Mehran</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176318/navy-officers-suspect-inside-job-in-pns-mehran</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/176318/navy-officers-suspect-inside-job-in-pns-mehran#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 May 11 02:36:01 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Salman Siddiqui]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=176318</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Attackers knew the base “inside out” and were well aware of the points where they would have an advantage.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Officials from Pakistan Navy suspect the May 22 naval airbase attack would not have been possible without inside help.


They, however, deny that the change in command at the PNS Mehran has anything to do with the attack and termed the transfer orders a ‘routine’ matter.

Inside job

When the attackers cut the barbed wire on the perimeter wall at the end of the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) Faisal base which is adjacent to the PNS Mehran, they had two options.

Instead of the naval base, they could have gone after the assets and personnel of the air force, but they chose not to, even though there were at least four American-made C-130 cargo planes on the PAF side.

“The attackers knew that the navy’s prized assets such as the Orion aircraft and the Chinese and American personnel were present on our base and they came specifically after them,” a senior navy officer said, admitting that no one on the outside could have known about it.

He said the attackers knew the base “inside out” and were well aware of the points where they would have “an advantage over the security forces” who would engage them.

He pointed out that three of the Special Service Group commandos, who were sent in to subdue the attackers, saying this was “no easy feat”.

The navy officials suspects the reconnaissance prior to the attack was carried out not only by someone taking visual footage of the base from the nearby Karsaz bridge, but also by someone from inside the sprawling base where, more than 500 personnel are deployed at any given time.

However, they denied that the attackers were provided weapons by some insider and insisted that the terrorists were equipped with their own Russian-made machine guns, grenades and rocket launchers.

“They are definitely some people suspected of involvement from within, but we’re still investigating exactly who was behind it,” he said.

“From a janitor to an officer at the base, everyone is a suspect at this point,” he said.

He said that previously there have been cases when clerics of local mosques at naval premises were found to be involved in ‘anti-state’ activities.

While the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have claimed responsibility for the attack, navy officials say that they are not ruling out the possibility of a “foreign country’s intelligence agency’s involvement in the incident”.

Rear-Admiral Tehseenullah Khan, who was the former director-general of the Maritime Security Agency, has been appointed as the head of the team probing the case.

Uzbek attackers?

Navy officials insist the attackers were “not Pakistanis, but foreigners”.

“When I saw the body, I immediately knew that the young man was (an) Uzbek,” a navy official said. He provided no forensic evidence to support his assertion.

However, doctors who conducted the autopsy on the bodies of the four terrorists contradicted the navy’s asertion and said they looked like “any other young Pakistani men” from northern areas.

Interestingly, the autopsy report says the terrorists were “Muslim males between the ages of 22 and 26”. When asked how they determined the religious leanings of the terrorists, the doctor said the autopsy revealed they were circumcised.

Meanwhile, security agencies on Wednesday took a new set of samples for DNA testing from the bodies of the four terrorists being kept at an Edhi morgue.

Change of command

Base commander Raja Tahir has been replaced by Commodore Khalid Pervez. Although the announcement of the change in command of the PNS Mehran has been made only two days after the attack, Pakistan Navy officials insist it is nothing out of the ordinary.

“There’s no truth that Tahir is being replaced as punishment since his replacement orders had been issued four months age and Commodore Pervez has been on the base for more than a week,” a navy official said.

A navy official says that even though they were being blamed for a massive security lapse, the fact is that the breach occurred on the side of the wall that comes under the air force’s jurisdiction.

“They have their own cameras and watchtowers there and failed to spot the attackers. So why blame us,” the official said. He added that there was no question about heads being rolled for the incident.

Rehman Malik

Navy officials are extremely upset with Rehman Malik’s statement that some attackers might have escaped the base and say their chief, Admiral Noman Bashir, had no alternative but to agree with the federal minister’s statement.

They also say it was peculiar that Malik came on air at 10:43pm on Sunday, claiming that around 10 to 15 attackers had not only infiltrated the PNS Mehran base, but also taken control.

“The attack began at 10:37pm. How could he claim to know all that when even we at the control room did not know the exact position,” they added. A navy officer admitted it was a mistake on their part for lodging an FIR which said there were more than 10 attackers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast14-176318/PNS-Merhan-Blast14-176318.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Our collective psychosis</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175853/our-collective-psychosis</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175853/our-collective-psychosis#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 19:22:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[raza.rumi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175853</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Our collective habit of finding bogeys and imagining enemies has turned into a deep psychosis.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan’s right wing has flourished on the crutches of a national security doctrine: A world view, which prioritises paranoia and ‘security’ of ideological and geographical frontiers. Never mind if the majority of Pakistanis have no access to water and sanitation or the public education and health systems have virtually collapsed. The events of May 2011 cast a long shadow over the merits of investing in security institutions and fuelling patriotism with conspiracies.

First, the poster-Shaikh of anti-Americanism has been ‘eliminated’ when the mighty guardians were asleep. The new round of WikiLeaks cables reveals anecdotal evidence of civil-military acquiescence to the grand designs of ‘evil’ America, including the nasty drones that kill civilians. And now, the latest attack on a well-guarded naval base and destruction of high-value military equipment has jolted us all.

During May, the militant networks ostensibly inspired by the nihilistic al Qaeda ideology have stepped up acts of terrorism across the country. Yet, the response of the Pakistani right remains locked in the folds of ‘foreign conspiracy’ and fails to review what really ails the polity. The enemy within is still far from being recognised. Even the politicians who are calling for military accountability have little to say about the jihadis waging war against Pakistanis.

It does not matter much when we find out through WikiLeaks that the brotherly countries — Saudia Arabia and United Arab Emirates — and their rich citizens finance terrorist networks. Worse, when the UAE proceeds to hire Blackwater for security, few ‘patriots’ complain. Until yesterday, Blackwater was responsible for all the terror attacks in Pakistan according to the media mujahideen. Even the former chief justice of the Lahore High Court directed the Punjab Police to investigate the role of Blackwater in perpetrating suicide attacks on the widely revered Data Darbar.

I guess Blackwater is kosher now, since a brotherly Arab country has hired its service. Our collective habit of finding bogeys and imagining enemies has turned into a deep psychosis. Many Pakistanis believe that Osama was not there in the Abbottabad compound. Urdu press and TV channels augment this world view and politicians play up the insecurity mantra. The parliamentary resolution of May 12 is another exercise in this collective search for sovereignty, glory and honour. Alas, these days glory is achieved through human development, through trade and investment and not empty rhetoric citing the glorious past of the Muslims.

It is therefore understandable that the oracles on TV sets are blaming the US-India-Israel axis for the attacks on the Mehran Naval Base by chanting the ‘who benefits’ mantra. Now, the Pakistani mind is convinced that the May events are a prelude to a forthcoming attack on our nuclear assets. We are gifted with too many assets: Dozens of militant groups, two Taliban streams and, of course, the nuclear weapons, which will have to be guarded. Never mind the people of this country. They are dispensable as long as honour is preserved. It is time to address the mythologies we have constructed and deal with ourselves before we ‘defeat’ the enemies.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Raza-Rumi11111111111_1735627004/Raza-Rumi11111111111_1735627004.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran — how many attackers?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175771/pns-mehran-%e2%80%94-how-many-attackers</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175771/pns-mehran-%e2%80%94-how-many-attackers#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 19:15:17 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175771</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[This discrepancy may seem minor, especially when compared to the massive intelligence failure.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The filing of the FIR by the Pakistan Navy in the PNS Mehran case seems to suggest that the civilian and military authorities are not on the same page regarding possibly the worst attack ever on our armed forces. While the government, through the interior minister, has said that terrorists were part of the attack, and of these two may have escaped, the FIR, filed in Karachi on May 24, states that between 10 to 12 people stormed the naval base, out of which only four were killed while the rest escaped. This discrepancy may seem minor, especially when compared to the massive intelligence failure that permitted such an attack to be successfully pulled off, but by now the authorities should have known how many people were involved in the attack, what their names were and where they lived, given that the attack wasn’t something that happened and was over in a flash but lasted almost 17 hours. That they can’t even agree on the number of attackers shows that an investigation has barely begun and this will only serve to embolden the militants.

The ease with which military installations were attacked and how, according to a BBC report, the attackers knew, for instance, the barracks where Chinese engineers were being housed, hints at some kind of collusion or help from the inside. Those who may have sympathy for the cause of the terrorists may be in low-level positions but they need to be identified and removed from the services. Another internal inquiry, which is what the government has promised, will not suffice since these may be less concerned with gathering information and more with hiding failures.

What is needed even more than independent enquiries is an improvement in the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the agencies. Even if they do not support militant groups now, we know that the military used them as part of their Kashmir and Afghanistan policies of the 1990s. This alone should be a huge advantage in gathering intelligence about them. Without knowing where militant groups are going to attack in advance, the agencies all but ensure they will attack often and successfully.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast421/PNS-Merhan-Blast421.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Sing the pain away</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175847/sing-the-pain-away</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175847/sing-the-pain-away#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 17:48:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sami.shah]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175847</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Suffering from unique forms of humiliation, Coke Studio has become our only source of pride healing, and punching bag.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[I wish the first episode of “Coke Studio” had been better. Not just better, the best to date. I wish that first episode had featured the triumphant return of the Benjamin Sisters, singing with Arif Lohar, Abida Parveen, the ghost of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and a reunited Junoon. That every song was such a masterful fusion of rock-pop-qawwali-ghazal-bhangra and bebop, that rainbows erupted from our ears and we evolved to achieve the power of flight. Then, maybe, we would have been distracted from the wretchedness of the last few weeks. Instead, we got an episode that just divided us further as a nation. Viewers, already traumatised by the constant assaults on their sense of safety, which have forced them to confront their utter helplessness, lashed out at one another over the quality of Komal Rizvi’s vocals with misdirected anger. Another episode as divisive as this, and I am worried that fans and critics will form gangs and start target-killing one another.

You cannot blame them for the intensity of opinion though. In a month that has seen us suffer unique forms of humiliation on a national and global scale, Rohail Hyatt’s creative output has become our only potential source of pride healing. We seek dignity in his ability to pair obscure folk musicians with YouTube sensations. Everyone wants an episode of “Coke Studio” to be so universally magnificent that it is all we can think about, talk about and care for. Anything less and we will use it as a receptacle for our rage. After all, where else can we dump the fury we feel. Poor Rohail will wish he, too, could retreat behind the safety of faceless independent commissions, the fog of conspiracy spouting analysts and Rehman Malik’s afro. It is the same place that the military leadership is hiding in the aftermath of the tragic assault on PNS Mehran.

The only detail we can all seem to agree on is that the assault took place. Beyond that, everything else is personalised fiction. The terrorists might as well have been living Rorschach Blots, each one an embodiment of our individual paranoia. Since the attack, we have been subjected to theories so creative that the truth, whatever it may be, can only be disappointing. The terrorists were RAW agents. They were CIA. They were cast members of the Star Wars films. They were uncircumcised (overheard from someone who claimed to know the cousin of the brother of the doctor performing the autopsy). TV channels rushed to fill the gaps in their knowledge with whatever conspiratorial nonsense their talk-show hosts and panels of ‘expert’ analysts could spew with diarrhoeic urgency. Even the authorities created muddled confusion, not being able to settle on the number of attackers. There were four terrorists. There were six terrorists. There were 12 terrorists and a foreign-trained partridge in a Star of David-shaped pear tree. Apparently, announcing that an unconfirmed number of terrorists, most likely linked to the TTP who have already taken credit for the assault, infiltrated the naval base with expertise and suspected insider support, is too difficult a statement to articulate. To expect an apology for the lack of precautions taken and a full and thorough investigation whose findings will be made public, that is fantasy.

Instead, the ISI will continue to trot out any number of professional obfuscation specialists dressed like the president of the local chapter of the Che Guevera Reenactment Society, while the military leadership will continue to believe in the myth of the Useful Extremist. If you attempt to suggest that maybe it’s time for civilian oversight of the top brass who are incapable of tying their own shoelaces without shooting innocents in the face and creating monsters that go boom in the night, they will glower menacingly and start muttering about coups.

All I’m saying is, the next episode of “Coke Studio” better be spectacular.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Sami-Shah-New1111111_1735627004/Sami-Shah-New1111111_1735627004.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Post naval base attack: Security forces pull up their socks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175672/post-naval-base-attack-security-forces-pull-up-their-socks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175672/post-naval-base-attack-security-forces-pull-up-their-socks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 13:52:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175672</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Lahore Police, Pakistan Rangers and the Army have decided to hold joint counter terrorism exercises.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[For the first time ever in Pakistan, the Lahore Police, Pakistan Rangers and the Army have decided to hold joint counter terrorism exercises.

A high-level meeting was held at the Capital City Police office today which was attended by top officials from several law enforcement agencies.

The participants shared their views and suggestions about the present security situation, particularly post Karachi Naval Base attack.

Improving overall defence

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani chaired a meeting of the Defence Cabinet Committee (DCC) on Wednesday to assess the overall security situation in the country.

Sources said the DCC meeting was attended by the services and intelligence chiefs as well as defence, interior, finance and information ministers.

At the commencement of the meeting on Wednesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik briefed the members present on the preliminary report of the PNS Mehran base attack.

Sources present at the meeting said that Prime Minister Gilani was concerned about the security lapse at the base and its vehement denial by the security agencies, in particular by the PR Directors of Navy and Airforce.

Gilani directed Malik to conduct a detailed inquiry on the PNS Mehran attack.

The PM was forthcoming on the purpose of the meeting which was to discuss the PNS Mehran attack and ordered all the security/intelligence agencies as well as the three chiefs of the armed forces to brief him on how the militants were able to carry out such raids on military installations in recent years.

Gilani discussed national security issues with the generals present, including DG ISI Pasha. The generals in turn briefed the PM and others present on the security measures taken to safeguard sensitive military installations across the country.

The navy chief is yet to present his detailed report on the PNS Mehran attack, since the navy has formulated a special committee headed by a rear admiral to probe into the security lapse on May 22 .

The PM also reviewed the lapse on the opposite side of the railway track running alongside the base.

Gilani said the PNS Mehran inquiry report will be made public.

The US raid of May 2 will be discussed as well during the meeting.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Rangers-PHOTO-FILE/Rangers-PHOTO-FILE.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran base commander replaced</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175639/pns-mehran-base-commander-replaced</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175639/pns-mehran-base-commander-replaced#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 09:55:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175639</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Commodore Khalid Pervaiz to replace Raja Tahir post navy airbase attack.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[PNS Mehran base Commander Raja Tahir has  been replaced while Rear Admiral Tahseenullah Khan has been tasked with  probing the terrorist attack at the base, but the navy has maintained that the replacement is not related to the recent terrorist assault on the navy airbase.

Base Commander Raja Tahir has been replaced  with Commodore Khalid Pervaiz.

A navy spokesperson said that the decision to replace the base commander had already been taken and his tenure had been completed. He emphasised that the incident should not be linked to Sunday's attack.

"Commodore Khalid Pervez is taking over as the base commander and his predecessor Raja Tahir will be assigned new responsibilities," a navy spokesman, Commander Salman Ali, told AFP.

He did not say what new job the outgoing commander will hold.

Although the decision was announced just two days after the attack ended, Ali insisted the transfer was unconnected."It is a routine and scheduled transfer. The base commander was scheduled to be replaced, even if there was no attack on the facility," he said."It has no link whatsoever with the inquiry of the incident."

Sources said that an investigation team headed by Rear  Admiral Tahseenullah Khan has started recording statements of officials  present at the base at the time of the 17 hour terrorist siege.

Talking to media in Karachi, Prime Minister Gilani said the details  of inquiry report will be disclosed when the investigation is completed. The prime minister claimed that there is no ambiguity about number of  attackers who attacked the Naval base.

Sunday's assault was the worst on a military base since the army  headquarters was besieged in October 2009.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast021-175140-175639/PNS-Merhan-Blast021-175140-175639.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Navy contemplates relocating PNS Mehran base</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175631/navy-contemplates-shifting-pns-mehran-base-from-karachi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175631/navy-contemplates-shifting-pns-mehran-base-from-karachi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 09:15:21 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175631</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan Navy considers relocating PNS Mehran base after the attack that left 10 security personnel dead.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Navy is considering relocating its PNS Mehran base after  the attack on May 22 left 10 security personnel dead and destroyed two  PC-3 Orion aircrafts.

Naval Chief Admiral Noman Bashir also pointed towards the possible relocation  of the base. However, navy officials said the debate has been ongoing before the attacks took place this week.

Pakistan Navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali said the Mehran Base is  surrounded by a civilian population on all sides, which increases security risks.

Ali said it would be impossible to relocate every naval base  in Karachi, but said the relocation of PNS Mehran is being considered as a serious option.

He said the authorities are debating about all possibilities and  requirements before shifting the base elsewhere, but no decision has been made.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/pns-mehran/pns-mehran.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>China denies citizens held hostage in Pakistan base attack</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175604/china-denies-citizens-held-hostage-in-pakistan-base-attack</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175604/china-denies-citizens-held-hostage-in-pakistan-base-attack#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 06:52:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175604</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Chinese technicians were moved to safety because of the assault.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied that any of the country's citizens was held hostage in an attack by Taliban militants on a Pakistani naval base, although it said Chinese technicians were moved to safety because of the assault.

The hostage issue is the latest episode of uncertainty in a Sino-Pakistani relationship that is close, sometimes secretive, and also prey to confusion.

Beijing's denial followed news reports that it had confirmed Chinese nationals were held by militants in the weekend siege.

Taliban gunmen assaulted the naval base in Karachi on Sunday, blowing up two aircraft and besieging a building in what the group said was an attack to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda killed by US special forces. Pakistani news reports at the time said Chinese nationals were taken hostage by the militants.

"The spokeswoman has already said, 'It's my understanding that no Chinese people were taken hostage'," a staff member from the Foreign Ministry spokesperson's office said by telephone, citing what he said was a comment by the spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

On Tuesday, spokeswoman Jiang told a news conference that Chinese companies' "technical personnel were moved to safety" because of the attack. But she did not say whether those personnel were held hostage or were even on the navy base.

A transcript of the news conference on the ministry's website, however, later inserted her direct denial that hostages were held.

On Monday, the ministry had also said "no Chinese nationals were taken hostage in the incident".

The Pakistani government has said the same. China and Pakistan call each other "all-weather friends" and their ties have been underpinned by longstanding wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to hedge against US influence.

China has been Pakistan's biggest supplier of conventional arms and Chinese engineers and technicians have helped build infrastructure in Pakistan, including nuclear power plants. But there are limits to how far Beijing is willing to back Islamabad and risk a rift with Pakistan's long-time foe, India, and the United States, which remains a key regional presence.

Beijing has voiced concern about Chinese nationals working in Pakistan, especially after several workers were killed in militant attacks in past years.

On Tuesday, China said it had not even heard of Pakistan's proposal for Beijing to help it build a naval port, pouring cold water on an earlier announcement by Pakistani Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/chinese-foreing-mini_1735627004/chinese-foreing-mini_1735627004.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Siege at Mehran: Nation believes armed forces lost, says Altaf</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175475/nation-believes-armed-forces-lost-altaf</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175475/nation-believes-armed-forces-lost-altaf#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 05:30:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[irfan.aligi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175475</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says defence institutions must review their policies on terror.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has condemned the terrorist attack at the PNS Mehran Base in Karachi and also expressed profound sorrow and grief over the loss of lives of brave officers and soldiers of the navy and rangers.


“The penetration of a few terrorists into such an important and sensitive defence installation is not only a matter of grave concern for the entire nation but is also [a] strange [occurrence],” Hussain said, in a statement issued on Tuesday.

He said that the entire nation believed that the attack was an embarrassing defeat of Pakistan’s armed forces. “Fighting continued for 16 hours and terrorists destroyed important aircraft. Commandos of navy and the paramilitary rangers were killed but the militants did not suffer a single casualty and instead blew themselves up,” he said.

Hussain said that it is now imperative and a need of the hour that defence institutions review their policies and deal with terrorists and their abettors, whether civilian or military, with an iron fist.

Praying for the souls of those who died in the line of duty, he appealed to the nation to stand united and said that there is no option left for the nation but to offer prayers of forgiveness before Allah for Pakistan’s safety and security.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Altaf-Hussain-175475/Altaf-Hussain-175475.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Around the battlefield: A bus ride around  PNS Mehran base</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175212/around-the-battlefield-a-bus-ride-around-pns-mehran-base</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175212/around-the-battlefield-a-bus-ride-around-pns-mehran-base#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 05:04:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[imran.ahmad]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175212</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Had Lt Abbas not called out to the terrorists, there would have been more damage.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[After a 17-hour battle of nerves with six terrorists, the Pakistan Navy invited journalists to a tour of PNS Mehran base.


At around 5 pm on Monday, a group of journalists boarded a bus that took them around all the places they had been reporting on since Sunday night. As the bureau chief for Express News, I also joined this group.

Even though the tour was short, the intelligence officers made sure they showed us all the places where the navy, Rangers and air force commandoes fought the terrorists. They gave us a briefing on how the terrorists entered the base and carried out the siege. Cameras were, however, prohibited and even the Inter-Services Public Relations cameras were not allowed to record any footage.

As the bus rounded the main building, the officer pointed to his left side and showed us the spot where they found the first terrorist. The body was lying in an open space next to three-foot-high bushes and forensic experts were gathering samples to determine his ethnicity. By this time, rigor mortis had set in.

The man lying down appeared to be between 22 and 25 years old. He was well-built, with medium height and had a fair complexion. He was wearing black cargo pants with a black T-shirt and the officer announced he had died eight hours ago.

The bus then took us to a spot where another terrorist’s body was lying. I looked at him closely and I could tell he resembled his accomplice I saw earlier. The intelligence officer suggested these men may be Uzbeks but he added quickly that nothing could be said until the forensic reports come out.

The bus also passed a pile of ashes that were once Pakistan Navy’s valuable assets for surveillance. As a Pakistani, I too felt the pain of losing the aircraft.

The officer then showed us the first wall through which the terrorists might have entered. The barbed wires on the top were cut. The officer told us that the wall falls under the jurisdiction of the PAF.

I noticed that a few closed-circuit television cameras were mounted on this wall. Judging by the distance, the terrorist would have had to travel a relatively long distance to reach the aircraft hangar once they breached the wall.

The first resistance they met was from the check-post guard and other officials stationed there. By this time, the Rapid Response Force reached the site and challenged the terrorists, who were already halfway inside the base. Rapid Response Force’s Lt Yasir Abbas was the first one to be martyred in the operation because, the officer elaborated, if Lt Abbas had not intercepted the terrorists, there would have been a lot more damage.

By this time, the terrorists had already entered the base and they fired Russian rocket-propelled grenades at the P3-C Orion aircraft and destroyed them.

At this point, the officer parried all questions about how the terrorists managed to bypass the security system of the military installation. Why were the barbed wires not electrified? Was there anyone monitoring the surveillance cameras and did no one notice when the terrorists cut their wires and the screens went blank?

The bus then moved towards the building the terrorists had occupied. It was pockmarked with bullet holes. This was the same building from where the terrorists fought the commandos by changing their positions behind sandbags. The building is constructed in such a way that there are several interconnected doors that make it easier for the people to move around - something the terrorists clearly took advantage of.

At one point, the commandos did manage to confine two of the terrorists to the rear end of the building. When the security forces asked the terrorists to drop their weapons, one of the terrorists replied in Urdu that, “I know what will happen to me if I’m caught”. After this, both the terrorists blew themselves up and the room collapsed.

The remains of one of the terrorists were visible and the intelligence officer said that they believe the other one is buried under the debris. Here too, the forensic experts were busy collecting samples. The officer clarified that we cannot assume that the terrorist was a local resident just because he replied in Urdu.

There were over three dozen aircraft and helicopters parked near the building where most of the fighting took place. Denying any security lapse, the officer said their guard was vigilant and he was the one who put up a fight.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-well-PHOTO-REUTERS/PNS-well-PHOTO-REUTERS.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PNS Mehran: Official naval complaint at odds with ministry</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175461/pns-mehran-official-naval-complaint-at-odds-with-ministry</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175461/pns-mehran-official-naval-complaint-at-odds-with-ministry#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 02:36:21 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[faraz.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175461</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[FIR says ‘10 to 12’ terrorists stormed the naval airbase; PM authorises navy to conduct probe.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The official complaint lodged on Tuesday by the Pakistan Navy regarding the assault on its airbase in Karachi, PNS Mehran, has cited “10-12” assailants being involved in the attack – contradicting categorical assertions by the interior minister that six terrorists launched the daring raid.


There are also some other discrepancies in the complaint and some facts and figures quoted on Monday regarding the storming of Pakistan’s largest naval airbase, which took security forces 17 hours to clear, and resulted in the destruction of two navy aircraft – P-3C Orions.

According to Interior Minister Rehman Malik, 10 security personnel were killed in the raid, which resulted in the death of four terrorists, while two were said to have escaped.

However, in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by Pakistan Navy at the Sharae Faisal police station, the complainant, Lt Mohammad Irfan, states that at least 10 to 12 men armed with rocket launchers, hand grenades and other sophisticated weaponry entered the base from its rear wall.

“We wrote whatever they told us to in the FIR,” Sharae Faisal DSP Ramzan Gopang told The Express Tribune. “They said that the terrorists entered by crossing the walls but didn’t explain if they climbed over the walls or broke them down.”

Quoting the FIR, the officer said that the complainant’s  statement said: “I was on duty when an official at the nearest tower informed me through the wireless handset that about ten to twelve persons had entered the base, firing rocket launchers and hurling hand grenades at the aircraft and had resorted to intense firing. Upon hearing this, I ordered him to retaliate and informed the high ups and asked different units for help.”

DSP Gopang said that the complainant further said that the gun battle continued after the security forces arrived, lasting till Monday morning. He added that the officials later recovered four bodies. “Three out of the four bodies were of those attackers who blew themselves up using their suicide vests.”

“One of the bodies was bullet-riddled, which made it seem like maybe he was not able to put on his suicide vest.”

However, post-mortem reports from Civil Hospital Karachi stated that two bodies were mutilated, perhaps due to bombs, while the other two were bullet-riddled, appearing to have been shot by sub-machine guns.

The complainant further said in his statement that, while the remaining terrorists had managed to escape, security personnel had been able to recover one suicide vest, ten hand grenades, one rocket launcher and four Kalashnikovs assault rifles.

Investigators believe that the absconders may retaliate. “Judging by my experience, I believe they were the Taliban belonging to the tribal areas,” a senior investigation officer told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity. “Since I deal with terrorists, I know they could prove more dangerous and possibly also retaliate.”

He, however, said there is good coordination between the police officials and the intelligence agencies and the absconding terrorists involved in the attack would soon be arrested.

The FIR, No 447/11, was registered under sections 302, 324, 427, 353, 121/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and ¾ of the Explosive Act and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Prime minister’s visit

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has given Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir the charge of conducting the initial investigation of the terrorist attack.

The inquiry committee, according to official sources, will be headed by a rear admiral.

Talking to the media in Karachi, the prime minister praised the gallantry and valour of the security forces and stressed that the sacrifices of the security personnel killed in the terrorist attack would not be forgotten.

Earlier, the prime minister visited PNS Mehran where the naval chief briefed him on the operation against the terrorists.

The prime minister said that the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, which will meet on May 25, will also deliberate on the terrorist attack, adding that he would comment in detail on the incident after the meeting.

Gilani then visited PNS Shifa and PNS Rahat, where the injured soldiers are being treated.

The prime minister has directed the concerned authorities to revisit, improve and upgrade security at all defence installations.

“There is a need to upgrade security measures keeping in view the intentions of the terrorists,” he said during his visit to the PNS Mehran. “Whatever possible action is required should be taken and the government will extend all support,” he stated.

The prime minister thanked the law-enforcers for extending support to the Navy and said this had re-affirmed the commitment and determination on their part to deal with the hidden enemies of the country with iron fists.

Meanwhile, Lt Yasir Abbas was laid to rest with a full military honour at the Askari 10 graveyard in the presence of his family members, along with the civil and military representatives in Lahore on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Gilani has recommended Lt Yasir for the Nishan-e-Haider, Pakistan’s highest military honour, and later forwarded the nomination to President Asif Ali Zardari. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM agencies)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PM-visit-PNS-PHOTO-WIRES/PM-visit-PNS-PHOTO-WIRES.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Naval base attack — shattering some myths</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175000/naval-base-attack-%e2%80%94-shattering-some-myths</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175000/naval-base-attack-%e2%80%94-shattering-some-myths#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 May 11 00:18:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[aqil.shah]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175000</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rather than blaming others for its own failures, the military should start doing its actual job for once.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The May 22nd terrorist attack on the Pakistan Navy’s Mehran base in Karachi has given a new lease of life to the usual set of conspiracy theories. Rather than admitting that we face a mortal threat from militants within Pakistan and dealing with that threat, Pakistanis are being fed with a pro-military, media-driven national narrative that apportions blame on everyone in and outside Pakistan, except where it really belongs: On the military and the militants.

Here are some of the fallacies driving that narrative.

1. As always, the civilian leadership failed us: The response of Pakistan’s ruling political leadership was arguably less than adequate. But when the military does not allow civilians anywhere near its exclusive domain of ‘national security’, how can politicians own up and be held responsible for military failures? For instance, did the military ever consult politicians on its disastrous pursuit of ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan? Did civilian politicians create and nurture the jihadi beast? Was it the duty of civilians to protect the naval base, or the GHQ for that matter?

2. This was not a security lapse: The navy chief publicly said that there was no security lapse. He is right. It wasn’t just a security failure; it was the mother of all failures. What else would you call the successful penetration of a high security facility by a handful of well-armed terrorists who then set off multiple explosions, blew up two maritime surveillance aircraft worth over$30 million each and fought off over a thousand military personnel for almost a day?

3. Criticising the troops equals treason: Maligning the military would weaken it by battering its morale, which is exactly what our foes want. So we should all just shut up and let the military do its job. Well, that is exactly the problem. The military is not doing its job, and that is costing us dearly. We have one of the world’s largest out-of-school populations. Yet, we deprive our children their right to basic education by spending seven to 10 times more on a military that cannot even properly guard its vital installations and equipment.

4. It must be the Indians: Even though the TTP has accepted responsibility for the attack, the military establishment wants us to believe that India did it. The reasoning: It does not make sense for al Qaeda or the Taliban to destroy Pakistan’s India-specific military hardware. Besides, such an attack requires military intelligence input, professional planning and operational precision which non-state actors usually lack. But by blaming it all on the ‘foreign hand’, the military is basically indicting itself for gross incompetence.

5. The Americans want our bomb: The Americans (read CIA/Blackwater) are orchestrating terrorist attacks to build the perception that Pakistan is imploding from within, as a prelude to depriving the country of the atomic bomb. There is no evidence that the CIA is doing any such thing. And Pakistan does not really need the US or anyone to conspire against it. We are digging our own grave because our military establishment clamps down on some militant groups while letting others operate with impunity in a nuclear-armed country.

6. This is not our war: America’s war on terror has put us in the cross hairs of the Taliban and their affiliates. If we bid adieu to the US and negotiate with these militants, they will turn their guns away from us. Hell, they can even become handy against India in both Kashmir and Afghanistan. But lest we forget, military-backed jihad in Indian Kashmir almost put Pakistan on the US State Department’s list of states sponsoring terrorism. And we would not be in this mess today if the ISI’s black-turbaned allies in Kabul had not provided shelter to al Qaeda which had planned the 9/11 attacks. And remember what the (Swat) Taliban did after the PPP-led government passed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, 2009? They did not lay down their arms. Instead, they denounced the constitution, the judiciary and the parliament for being un-Islamic, and moved into Buner, a hundred kilometres from Islamabad.

Perpetuating these fallacies only obfuscates the real threats to Pakistan. Rather than blaming others for its own failures, the military should start doing its actual job for once. And managing real estate, hounding journalists and propping up political alliances is not really a part of it.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Aqil-Shah-New-172602-173253-175000/Aqil-Shah-New-172602-173253-175000.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>The force is not with us</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/174999/the-force-is-not-with-us</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/174999/the-force-is-not-with-us#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 11 20:51:37 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zarrar.khuhro]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=174999</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Spending a few million rupees on security would not be remiss to protect equipment in the billions of rupees.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[No one expects to get attacked by stormtroopers. No, not the Nazi shock troops of WW-II but the feared intergalactic enforcers of the Empire’s Will. Think Death Stars, Jedis and Lightsabers — those stormtroopers. Certainly, if you were attacked by stormtroopers, you would be in a lot of trouble. Your primitive projectile weapons wouldn’t be able to penetrate their space age armour while their red lasers (bad guys always get red lasers) would slice through man and machine alike. You would be lucky if you lost only 10 men for every one such villain you dispatched to the peculiar hell reserved for interstellar fascists. By simply surviving such an attack you could very well declare victory and no one would think any less of you.

But the PNS Mehran base was not attacked by stormtroopers, it was attacked by humans using tactics and weapons that very much belong to this century. The tactics were highly effective, the training obviously superlative and the weapons and equipment certainly cutting edge, but not otherworldly.

It doesn’t matter who trained them. It doesn’t matter if they were born and bred Pakistanis or yarmulke-wearing Israeli special forces, each carrying a copy of the Learned Elders of Zion along with copious amounts of ammunition. What matters is that they weren’t from another planet and the attack was, despite its effectiveness, an entirely conventional guerilla operation. And given that no one expects a gang of aborigines to attack a military base with slingshots either, those in charge of securing the lives and equipment at the base should have seen it coming.

We understand it is not possible to predict or even prevent every attack. We understand that in a state of war there are bound to be casualties, however painful that realisation may be. But we also understand and demand that, in such a state of war, adequate preparations be made against an enemy that has shown it has the will and ability to penetrate even the most highly guarded installations. In the GHQ attack and in countless others we have seen great adaptability on the part of the attackers, but to date we have seen no such adaptability on the part of the military or civilian leadership.

We are told that the attackers ‘sneaked’ into the base from three sides, using ladders to scale the walls. Does this not mean that three perimeters were simultaneously unguarded? Given that the attackers wore black clothes in lieu of invisibility cloaks, then, would searchlights, watchtowers, regular patrols, and surveillance cameras not have sufficed to give adequate warning? If the value of the equipment at the base was in the billions of rupees, then surely spending a few million rupees on security would not be remiss. The simple and accepted practice of holding red-team exercises, where mock attacks are carried out in order to test for weaknesses, if followed, would have saved many lives.

Many brave men died defending the naval base; lions who put duty and honour ahead of self-interest and self-preservation. Can we expect the same courage and strength of will from the lambs who lead them?

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Zarrar-Khuhro-New1-174999/Zarrar-Khuhro-New1-174999.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Hopes dancing on bald men’s hair</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/174998/hopes-dancing-on-bald-men%e2%80%99s-hair</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/174998/hopes-dancing-on-bald-men%e2%80%99s-hair#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 11 20:38:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Ejaz Haider]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=174998</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Aunts Agatha and Dahlia are commanding the PN and PNS Mehran respectively.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Noman Bashir says the Pakistan Navy (PN) is on high alert and the PNS Mehran attack was not owed to a security lapse. He is right. It is possible, too, that Huckleberry Finn commanded the Corps D’Armée.

We are also told naval commandos reached the spot in three minutes. I am deeply impressed. They killed four out of possibly six attackers, two managing to extricate through a base, let’s not forget, which was highly secure before the intrusion and which, after the attack, had been further secured. [NB: this is where Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statement about the attackers being Star Wars characters begins to make sense.]

I have a thought. If I were to choose someone to command an air defence (AD) battalion, I would opt for Admiral Bashir. Here’s why. His basic strategy would be to tell his gunners and SAM operators to try and shoot down the attack aircraft in a sortie. He will claim success after his battalion has shot down ten of the 14 aircraft, while the four managed to complete their mission.

Admiral Bashir, through his illustrious career, seems to have missed out on one basic principle of sound defence — mission denial. Corollary: I was bullshitting when I said I would put him in command of an AD battalion. I would not. I am not interested in shooting down enemy aircraft; my primary aim is to deny them their mission. The attackers carried the day because they accomplished their mission. And they did so because Aunts Agatha and Dahlia are commanding the PN and PNS Mehran respectively, thank you.

Ah! But I got one thing wrong. There indeed was no security lapse because that would presuppose security. So, perhaps the CNS is right. If the perimeter of the base is not secure; if those responsible for security have not even worked out likely approaches and secured them; if watchtowers are not being manned; if there is no system for alarms setting off if someone tampers with the concertina wires running over the walls of the base; if there are no searchlights; if there are no trip wires; if there is no concept of layered defence; if there is no local defence around the assets; if the assets have been positioned against all standard operating procedures, as one aviation enthusiast pointed out to me, without Hessian or sand bars when in the open, and are closely packed, then there was no lapse. It was a monumental screw up.

The attackers, on the other hand, were prepared, were highly trained, had reconnoitred the area, had the elements of surprise and speed on their side, knew their dedicated target, had worked out distances, the time it would take them to get from one to the other point, and knew they could take out the planes before they got cordoned off and into a firefight. They had planned it to a tee.

Which is why, by the time they got into a firefight with the naval and SSG commandos, they had already accomplished their mission, inflicting a loss of $72 million on the PN and Pakistan, upgrade costs of the P-3C Orion excluded. But more than that, they had deprived the PN of its primary force-multiplier platform. If I have to put together a commando platoon, I will most definitely hire these guys.

Now to the reasons. Fact 1: Naval aviation, as one senior Pakistan Air Force officer tells me, is lower down the pecking order within the service. Fact 2: the PN is the last in the pecking order within the military, getting according to some estimates, Rs1 for every Rs40 that go to the army. Go to the GHQ and then visit the Naval HQ. Or better still, visit the Air HQ and then go to the Naval HQ. You will see the difference. And it is not just the difference of infrastructure; the difference runs through everything, including human resource. It is the difference you see between the rich and the poor side of a family.

The PN is a badly neglected service. It is badly neglected because the army and also the air force manage to upstage the PN on all counts. This is not the space to write about the World War II concepts of warfare that dominate thinking here because the army dominates not just the military but also the country, but it must be noted that the PNS Mehran disaster is not without solid reasons. With peanuts one can only get monkeys.

Nor should the army and air force sit easy, though. There is now a clear pattern to this audacity and while they may be slightly better prepared, the enemy is no pushover. The terrorists are not just trying to create a media spectacle, though that is highly welcome from their perspective. There is a bigger motive in attacking the military and through that highlighting its inability to defend its assets.

The strategy fits in with another narrative: If bases and high-value assets are not secure, is there a guarantee that an attack like this cannot be mounted on Pakistan’s nuclear assets, and successfully? That question has been reverberating through the security circles for some years. It will now be revived again. Add to this the possibility of insider-outsider collusion that can make possible the breach of even high security and the narrative sticks out like a wart on a bald head.

Can something be done? Yes and no. Yes, if we are prepared to rise from our slumber and get our act together. No, if we continue with our inertia. Action requires that we develop a better-coordinated counter-terrorism strategy; improve intelligence; revamp our forces (the current configuration is unsuited to this war); develop speedier response mechanisms and prepare a list of all those places that have been, can and will be targeted. This requires getting into the mind of the adversary. This is the operational side.

On the political side, the state has to dominate the narrative which it has failed to do so far. Karachi should help clarify doubts in people’s minds. That is the harder part. It is moot to ask if Pakistan is prepared for that. As I was writing these lines a friend sent me a poem by E E Cummings, “as freedom is a breakfast food”. One line reads “or hopes dance best on bald men’s hair”. Need I say more?

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Ejaz-Haider-New1111111111111111-174998/Ejaz-Haider-New1111111111111111-174998.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Misinterpreting the PNS Mehran attack</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/174995/misinterpreting-the-pns-mehran-attack</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/174995/misinterpreting-the-pns-mehran-attack#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 11 20:08:23 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=174995</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The only conclusion the common man can draw is to believe that India, America and Israel have attacked our navy.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The spin doctors have done their much-too-familiar routine. The only conclusion the common man can draw is to believe that India and America and possibly Israel have attacked our navy and destroyed the two Orions meant only to detect Indian submarines. What was the method followed by the TV channels? Ring up just any retired officer from one of the three arms of the military, call him a ‘defence analyst’ and let him unload bile on the nation.

The ‘it’s-not-our-war’ chorus was hardly punctured by realism, except that the family of the martyred navy aviation officer, Yasir Abbas, pleaded that al Qaeda and the Taliban be recognised as engaged in a war against Pakistan. One channel has the pavlovian reflex of calling the great orator Zaid Hamid every time there is a terrorist incident to hear that the Mumbai attack was done by India itself and that the Taliban and al Qaeda are working for India. Then there is a naval officer in Tehreek-e-Insaf who doesn’t stop rebuking the army for still being linked to the US when, in fact, the US was after our nukes.

If it was speculation everybody indulged in, why couldn’t anyone build a convincing scenario about the objectives of the al Qaeda-Taliban combine behind this attack? The entire world knows that the Taliban are aligned with al Qaeda. The Americans have killed some Taliban and al Qaeda leaders we couldn’t, but are still guilty in our eyes for ‘funding them and using them’ against our valiant army. Al Qaeda has accepted that Osama was killed by the Americans but one TV anchor hasn’t stopped building the scenario that he was not killed in Abbottabad, just like the conspiracy theory which says that 9/11 never happened the way the Americans say it happened.

The phalanx of retired military officers is bent upon reliving its fantasy that the Americans betrayed Pakistan from day one and are once against destroying Pakistan in league with India and Israel. Somehow, the question ‘whom does this all benefit?’ has become the catechism of all our spurious analysts. If the terrorists destroyed the Orions, who will gain from this? No one other than India. After that the nation is supposed to take up arms against India because the latter must be involved in the attack on the base. No one asks why would the Americans risk the lives of six of their own citizens [the trainers who were on the base when it was attacked] in the process?

After the world has silently acknowledged al Qaeda’s ability to train its terrorists to the highest point of expertise in land and sea assaults, we still think that because the terrorists were ‘highly trained’ they must have been prepared by India or America. It is no use telling our conspiracy theorists that the Taliban have, in fact, owned up to the attack and are targeting the navy because it is a part of the armed forces. It is no use reminding the ‘defence experts’ that terrorists have successfully targeted our ISI officers and attacked the agencies buses, killed our SSG commandos while they were in their mess, attacked our GHQ, our FC trainees, our police personnel, and our political leaders. The refrain still is that we do not recognise who our enemy truly is, meaning it is not the Taliban or al Qaeda.

Why did the navy ignore the attacks carried out on its buses in April? Why was it not possible for its security experts to anticipate that it was an escalating situation and that the next attack would be on a more important target? This is a pattern observed in all terrorist attacks. Why can’t al Qaeda take revenge by destroying the American-made Orions in PNS Mehran? Why would India — a friend of the US — bribe the Taliban to attack PNS Mehran, putting American trainers at risk? Why can’t we consider the possibility that perhaps the escalating attack on the navy is a prelude to an al Qaeda sea operation? Why do we forget that it developed this expertise before it learned higher forms of terrorism?

We should recognise that we need help globally to fight terrorism made invincible by sympathy within us for its Islamic credentials. Those whom we call our enemies understand our collective psychosis and are still willing to help, albeit with the thought that a heavily infected Pakistan can ruin the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2011.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/question/question.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>FIR lodged: Discrepancies emerge between police report and navy statements</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175140/fir-lodged-discrepancies-emerge-between-police-report-and-navy-statements</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/175140/fir-lodged-discrepancies-emerge-between-police-report-and-navy-statements#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 11 18:27:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=175140</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Navy chief had claimed in a press conference that all terrorists had been killed.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Karachi Police have registered a criminal case against the unidentified terrorists that attacked PNS Mehran late Sunday night. However, contrary to earlier statements by the PN chief, the FIR puts the number of terrorists between 10 and12.

Navy chief Admiral Nauman Bashir had earlier claimed in his press conference that all terrorists had been killed.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik too had maintained that four of the terrorists had been killed while two had managed to escape. This effectively puts the number of attackers to be no more than six.

The FIR has been registered at the Shahrah-e-Faisal police station.

The FIR contains the statement of Lt Irfan claiming between 10 to 12 terrorists had scaled the eastern wall to infiltrate the base.

The FIR also states that 10 security personnel and four terrorists were killed in the attack. While the FIR makes no mention of what happened to the other accused listed in the FIR.

The FIR states four Kalashnikovs, ten grenades, two suicide jackets, one rocket launcher and a lot of ammunition was seized.

The bodies of the terrorists have been sent to Jinnah Hospital where an autopsy has been conducted. The report will be issued in a few days.

&nbsp;]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/PNS-Merhan-Blast021-175140/PNS-Merhan-Blast021-175140.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item>	</channel>
                </rss>
