The events in Pakistan on its 69th National Day, showing bombed out buildings, bullet ridden walls and weapon carrying men everywhere, indicate that the influence of those who seek to seize control of the country is increasing with each passing day.
TWENTY FOUR HOURS is a long time, they say in politics. It seems it is even longer in the life of a nation. On the morning of March 23, 2009, a British news channel was busy showing a special programme covering the situation in Pakistan’s Swat valley. The scenic valley has been in the news for months now for its detiorating security situation and the capitulation of the Pakistani government to the militants there. It is, however, being presented as an accord to implement Sharia law and not a caving in to the diktat of the Taliban.
When interviewed by the TV journalist, President Zardari made a complete denial of the reports of Pakistani territories being in the control of militants. The channel then panned to the town of Mingora in the Swat valley. If the ticker below the screen shots were to not indicate that this is a Pakistani town, the average viewer could have been forgiven for assuming these to be shots of war scarred Afghanistan.
Bombed out buildings, schools razed to ground, bullet ridden walls and only weapon carrying men everywhere. Every street showed the same scenes of rugged, bearded men, most with black turbans. Nowhere were any women to be spotted, not even burqa clad ones.
Taliban at the doorstep: A President in denial
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 27, 2009; 8:44 AM
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Mar. 27 -- A suicide bomber detonated his explosives Friday in a crowded mosque in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 50 people and leaving more bodies buried in the rubble of the building, officials said. Officials said many of those killed and wounded Friday were members of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that patrols the tribal zones. The mosque that was targeted was located in Jamrud town, near the main highway leading to the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. It is very close to a major Frontier Corps barracks that dates back to British colonial rule.
Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 50 in Pakistan Mosque
Kupwara encounter
Eight members of the Army, one of them a Major, and 17 terrorists are reported to have been killed in a series of encounters between patrols of the Army and five different groups of terrorist infiltrators from the Pakistani territory in densely forested areas of the Kupwara district of Jammu & Kashmir. The encounters, which started on March 20, lasted five days.
The ploy behind the Kupwara encounter
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