The military-dominated politics pushed by Hafiz Saeed are identical to those of the actual “Taliban,” who were nice enough to provide America with a convenient excuse to wage experimental techno-warfare in Afghanistan (SEE: Rightwing alliance is revived; Pushing Pakistan’s Buttons–or Shit Rolls Downhill).
Saeed likes to try to capitalize on the hot-button right-wing politics of Pakistan, attempting to turn his Defense of Pakistan Council into a multi-issue political force. His recent jumping into the Indian “water wars” issue and his attempt to light an anti-NATO fire on Pakistan’s streets, and now this, looking for a back door for bringing his “Islamists” into Balochistan’s turmoil. The fact that he has implied that all of the trouble in Baloch Province is India’s fault, the “foreign “meddling,” that Reyman Malik is always whining about, without ever actually naming anyone directly (India, USA and Israel, a.k.a., the “Zionist coalition”), is an indicator that he is speaking for the ISI.
Pakistan had seemed to be getting a handle on the covert war that the Pentagon and the CIA had thrust upon them, before the Mullah Nazir killing. Since then, renewed military action along the Line of Control in Kashmir, and motion of Lashkar i-Taiba ISI puppets like Hafiz Saeed, suggest that Pakistan’s “Plan B” is a regression to its historic focus upon India. Look for Ilyas Kashmiri to suddenly show-up alive again, leading some new charge against India. A new Pakistan/India war is exactly what the American agencies have been striving to ignite, no matter what American apologists may say to the contrary. Look at Syria today to understand American plans for Pakistan and Iran tomorrow.
[EDITOR's NOTE: Since penning these lines, news has emerged concerning the ongoing exchange of hostilities at the LoC, that two of the recently killed Indian Jawans were beheaded, with one of the heads being taken back to Pakistan, in a reprise of the bloody terrorist attack where Ilyas Kashmiri rose to fame in Pakistan and notoriety in India for seizing the head of an Indian colonel and offering it to Musharraf. I had to point-out that Kashmiri or a new incarnation of him has already shown up in Jammu and Kashmir.]
Lashkar-e-Taiba is not at all what we have been led to believe. The ongoing Mumbai trial in New York (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ILYAS KASHMIRI, ET AL), has caused the US govt. to intervene on behalf of the Pakistani govt., indirectly helping Lashkar-i-Taiba, due to the testimony obtained from a different Chicago trial, that of American/Pakistani double-agent David Headley (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ILYAS KASHMIRI, ET. AL.). Between the two Mumbai trials, the ISI was given immunity in US Courts for terrorist attacks upon Americans. The same blanket immunity actually also helps to cover Hafiz Saeed, who is also named in the criminal complaint, by virtue of a potential verdict of ”not guilty.”
LeT has history with the CIA, as well as its current connections to ISI.
“The Lashkar-e-Taiba was from the outset clearly a U.S. enterprise.”
David Headley’s co-conspirator, named in the New York trial is Hafiz Saeed. Saeed’s pilgrimage to Balochistan stands-out as an ISI ploy to negotiate a sort of ”peace” in Balochistan, in an effort to enlist the aid of Talat Bugti to end the war of “disappeared” persons. This is a “no-starter” ploy to blame all the troubles in Balochistan upon India, in exchange for an end to ISI murder in Balochistan. Mr. Bugti is unlikely to support Saeed’s gambit without promises of an end to Frontier Corps retribution and murder, since he puts all the blame for nearly all of Balochistan’s violence upon Pakistani “agencies.” But there is one point of agreement between the LeT operative and the Baloch nationalist Bugti, that the CIA and friends are responsible for controlling the BLA and BRA. It is not yet known what has transpired in that Lahore meeting between the Kashmiri activist and the one from Balochistan, but we have Saeed saying that: “Balochistan should not be made to undergo a military operation.”
If he can ever be taken at his word, then the Pak Army has softened its stance there, as it has already shown restraint in its Baloch operations, starting no major military operations in recent memory, indicating that they too have no desire for open warfare with local separatists and terrorists. If peace is what they are truly after in Balochistan, then all issues could become negotiable. The secret wars in Balochistan could end overnight if both sides were suddenly to become reasonable.
The Army’s attempts to find peace through multiple tribal treaties had been starting to show promise in South Waziristan, after many years of trial and error. A model program for Quick Impact Projects was being implemented there, after it had been formulated and funded by the United States, to employ a strategy that had been mapped-out to create incentive for peace there, by exchanging aid and development for the renunciation of militancy, or at least for belligerents to holster their guns, just as Mullah Nazir had done against the Army in Wana. The Army was leading the development program there as a strategic move, using money provided by USAID and UAE investors, to promote peace or dialogue between warring factions by building and opening new thoroughfares between contested areas.
Despite the participation in the program of the Ahmadzai Wazirs, movement continued in this direction in Wana, money kept flowing into the program, with donations nearly doubling in the last year. It was a blatant attempt to buy-off tribal loyalties by the American side, even though Pakistan was using the aid to bring peace to the Waziristan tribes, the exact opposite of American intent.
The Pentagon planners who came up with the idea expected the bribery to decrease cross-border anti-American hostilities. In exchange for the government effort, Mullah Nazir had ordered the militant Mehsuds out of South Waziristan. It was expected that other pro-Pakistan militants like Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan (along with the Haqqani boys) would follow the South Waziristan lead. America kept the bribery coming but killed Nazir, its primary benefactor, it seemed. The killing of Nazir was a major boost to the tyranny of Hakeemullah Mehsud. Expect outlandish terror attacks to return to South Waziristan very shortly.
With the sabotaging of Pakistani efforts in Waziristan, CIA planners could once again focus their attention upon the further destabilization of Balochistan, in particular its long border with Iran. We know for certain that Mr. Saeed has some anti-Indian plans in mind when he speaks of calling an “all parties conference on Balochistan.” With Saeed, his meeting with Talal Bugti signals a further “Islamization” of Pakistani politics, intended, no doubt as a recruitment drive for new Islamist fighters, to be used when and where the agency-controlled LeT handlers choose to send them.
Bugti must be extra careful of endorsing anything from this devious crowd. He will not likely associate with any political rally where he expects to hear calls for “Jihad!” The most that can come out of any Defense of Pakistan Council sponsored all party conference is the providing of a political boost to radical Islamists and Baloch separatists. What Bugti must decide beforehand, before risking his own neck, is which side will receive the lion’s share and which the beggar’s lot in any deal with Lashkar-i-Taiba and ultimately the spy agencies that are behind them. Between this ploy and the one now playing-out in Kashmir, India should understand the new reality being handed them by the ISI as retribution for Imperial sabotage.
Peter Chamberlin may be contacted at therearenosunglasses@hotmail.com.
