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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: k.ramesh who wrote (315)	9/18/2001 10:48:08 PM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Pakistan's tribals decide to fight beside Taliban ISHTIAQ ALI MEHKRI Karachi September 19, 00:05 [k.ramesh, This was so interesting I decided to directly post it. Thanks, --fl] Seven million tribals from Pakistan's eight Federally Administered Tribal Areas have decided to fight alongside the Taliban. With the Taliban refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 US terror attacks, a scenario of devastation is now looming large over Pakistan. If the pro-Taliban response of fundamentalist organisations was bad news, reports of seven million tribals from Pakistan's eight Federally Administered Tribal Areas deciding to fight alongside the Taliban seem to a nightmare coming true for the military regime. According to sources in Peshawar, the hub of Afghan refugees, around seven million people of the eight FATAs in northwestern region of Pakistan have formally formed an alliance to fight beside their Afghan brethren in the event of a US military strike. Taking into account the socio-political culture of these tribal people, along with their religious indoctrination, it is next to impossible to prevent the use of heavy and light weapons by them. They have now vowed to fight the Pakistan Army and resist Islamabad's decision to support the United States. Alarm bells have gone off in the Pakistan government, apparently at a complete loss on how to convince the masses on the values of peace and national security. The only leverage the government enjoys in these tribal areas bordering Afghanistan in the north is the Political Agent, appointed by the federal government. However, in such an emotionally-charged scenario even his efforts seem to be useless. Also, the constant influx of Afghan refugees across the border has further complicated the situation. Despite all measures on sealing the border, authorities confide it has been impossible to check the sneaking in of poor Afghan families into Pakistan. This in-migration has further cemented the social bonds between the people divided by the border. Official sources in Islamabad closely monitoring the ISI- Taliban talks said that the delaying tactics adopted by Mullah Omar and his comrades have unnerved Pakistan as it reveals a loss of influence Islamabad has traditionally enjoyed over the student militia. On the other hand, the decision by the Taliban to postpone the congregation of religious scholars to ponder over the issue of bin Laden's extradition and their unilateral declaration of a jehad against any US attack has dashed any hopes of saner religious elements prevailing over jingoism. With every passing hour, the domestic situation in Pakistan is climbing the volatility scale. Tuesday's major event was the first mob march on the US consulate in Karachi and soaring anti-US sentiment in the country. In areas bordering Afghanistan in Baluchistan province, sources spoke of the deployment of anti-aircraft guns by the Taliban militia along the border. However, diplomatic sources are of the opinion that even if the Taliban under compulsion decides to hand over bin Laden, the Americans would not stop short of cutting the Taliban and their covert jehadi network to size. As pro-jehad and anti-American sentiment mushrooms in the garb of ethnicity and sectarianism, Islamabad is only getting deeper into a fix. (The writer is a journalist with Dawn, Karachi)

To: k.ramesh who wrote (315)	9/19/2001 12:04:52 AM
From: SirRealist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Oh yeah, the US sure ignores the Palestinians, right? Once again, the US takes the initiative... and next week, we'll be Satan again..... (boldface by me) Israel, Palestinians agree on ceasefire, peace returns AFP JERUSALEM, September 19, 01:26 A sudden breakthrough on Tuesday brought hope after nearly a year of West Asia bloodshed, with Israel and the Palestinians launching a tentative ceasefire in a bid to end a conflict that some believe provoked the devastating attacks in the United States. As a fragile calm descended on the Palestinian territories for the first time in months, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said: "Undoubtedly, I think the time has come to meet." Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat announced he had reiterated his orders to security commanders to observe a failed June ceasefire that had been brokered by the United States. "This morning I reiterated my orders to all my security commanders to act intensively in securing a ceasefire on all fronts, and in every town and village," Arafat told reporters in Gaza City and added: "I also instructed them to exercise maximum self-restraint in the face of Israeli aggression and attacks, even in self-defence." Within hours, Israeli Defence Minister Benyamin Ben Eliezer responded with an order to his troops not to open fire on the Palestinians unless attacked, a defence ministry spokesman said. And in bid to give the process a push, the Army announced its immediate withdrawal from areas under full Palestinian control where its had set up security positions during military incursions to punish Palestinian attacks. "I think it's the most significant thing that has happened in the last few months," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who stressed that the Israelis must move "immediately" to open talks and lift their stranglehold on the Palestinian territories. Peres said on Sunday that he would only meet Arafat if the latter ordered a ceasefire and strictly enforced 48 hours of calm. Peres said the ceasefire -- the first time since June 13 that both sides have simultaneously ordered their forces to hold fire -- appeared to be taking hold. The breakthrough came after the United States exerted massive pressure on both sides to find a way of tackling violence surrrounding the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, which has left more than 800 people dead, most of them Palestinians. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had spoken to Peres, Arafat and Sharon to urge them forward. The administration of US President George W. Bush had kept its distance from the conflict before the massive terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last week, which Jordanian King Abdullah II said would not have happened if the regional crisis had been resolved. Washington's hands-off approach had provoked the ire of the Palestinians, and of the wider Arab world, who called it a tacit backing of Israel's occupation of their territory, which they said was being propped up by US weapons. But the aftershock of the anti-American attacks -- which are feared to have killed more than 5,000 people -- and Bush's building of a global coalition against terrorism, appeared to have swept aside such differences and galvanised the stalled peace process. Arafat's declaration of a ceasefire was met with instant acclaim by the world community, including Powell, Peres and EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana.The Palestinian leader also offered full Palestinian support to Bush's worldwide crackdown on terrorism, winning Powell's thanks and praise."We have some promise this morning and let's hopes that we can see some developments that will continue this sense of promise that is with us this morning," Powell said at a news conference in Washington.