Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 121492.cms
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Soldiers turning rogue Pak's new terror headache
WASHINGTON: A prominent Pakistani military commando-turned-terrorist mastermind who was reported killed in a US Predator strike apparently survived the attack and has re-surfaced even as American attention has turned to the growing number of jihadis and extremists from Pakistans armed forces.
:evil: Ilyas Kashmiri :evil: , a former Pakistan Special Services Group commando and a veteran of the Islamabad-backed separatist movement in Kashmir, has promised retribution against the ''U.S and its proxies,'' an American terrorism watchdog reported Tuesday, after the armyman-turned-jihadi gave an interview to a Pakistani journalist to show that he was alive and ticking.
Kashmiri is very likely to be directly linked to last weekend's terror assault on Pakistan's Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi masterminded by :evil: ''Dr Usman'' :evil: (who is also from the Pakistani military), according to Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal, a publication which tracks terrorism in the region.
The story puts the focus on several emerging aspects of Pakistans existential association and struggle with terrorism: The growing number of Pakistani military personnel who are turning rogue; and their ethnic origins, mostly form Punjab province.
Also of concern to intelligence analysts is Pakistans revolving door policy :x that frees or cuts loose terrorists as had happened with Mumbai massacre mastermind :evil: Hafeez Mohammed Saeed :evil: this week who eventually return to bite the Pakistani establishment in the back. :lol:
It transpires now that Dr Usman, aka Mohammed Aqeel, the leader of the fedayeen attack on Pakistans military headquarters last weekend, was in police custody :o last year for his involvement in the Marriott hotel bomb attack but was released by authorities under unclear circumstances :? . Ditto for Kashmiri, who was also in custody before he was released. :x
Kashmiri, who Roggio says is considered by US intelligence to be one of al Qaida's most dangerous commanders and listed as the fourth most wanted terrorist by Pakistan's Interior Ministry, is not the first to resurface after being reported killed in a Predator strike. The infamous Ayman Al-Zawahiri and shoe-bomber Rasheed Rauf belong in the same category.
But more worryingly for intelligence analysts is the fact that an increasing number of jihadi masterminds are coming from Pakistans armed forces :oops: , which commentators till recently described a mostly liberal and professional :lol: .
Like Kashmiri, who was an SSG commando before he reportedly turned ''rogue'', Dr Usman aka Mohammed Aqeel, who led the attack on GHQ and has been captured alive, also served in the military. He was reportedly with the Pakistani Army Medical Corps till 2006 when he quit the military to join the terrorist outfit :evil: Jaish-e-Mohammed :evil: , whose leader
:evil: Maulana Masood Azhar :evil: is another terrorist who has disappeared in custody.
In the same tradition, :evil: Zaki-ur Lakhvi :evil: , one of the Mumbai carnage masterminds also served in the Pakistani military, as did brothers, Major Haroon Rasheed and Captain Khurram, who were both involved in the assassination of Maj. Gen. Faisal Alvi, who incidentally was Nobel Laureate V.S.Naipauls brother-in-law (Naipaul is married to Alvis sister Nadira).
At some point or the other, all the men were in the custody or under the watch of Pakistani authorities, but a dodgy legal system and their connection to the armed forces resulted in their slipping out of custody and conviction. Invariably, they seem to have returned to attack their former masters, according to analysts who track terrorist strikes.
''It is a result of Pakistan hybridizing officers and soldiers into groups like LeT, HuJI, JeM, etc. Are they really rogue when they started under state policy? The Pak military should be terrified right now,'' Roggio told ToI. The analyst believes the GHQ attack likely had inside help.
While Rasheed and Khurram -- who like Kashmiri were both in the SSG -- are accused in the killing of Major General Alvi, the GHQ fidayeen attacker ''Dr Usman'' was also arrested for his involvement in the assassination of Lieutenant General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, the surgeon General of the Army Medical Corps, in February 2008. Gen.Baig is the senior-most Pakistani general killed by the terrorists. :shock:
The rash of ex-armymen-turned-terrorists from the ranks has also put the focus on Pakistans Punjab province, since most of these jihadis are from this region. This is from where the Pakistani military draws most of its recruits and there have been reports of increasing radicalization in Southern Punjab.
While the government in Islamabad has tried to portray the border tribal belt alongside Afghanistan as the ground zero of terrorism, some experts are pointing to Punjab and renegades in the Pakistani armed forces who hail from here.
''South Punjab has become the hub of jihadism,'' the respected Pakistani analyst Ayesha Siddiqa said in a recent magazine article. ''Yet, somehow, there are still many people in Pakistan who refuse to acknowledge this threat.''
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Soldiers turning rogue Pak's new terror headache
WASHINGTON: A prominent Pakistani military commando-turned-terrorist mastermind who was reported killed in a US Predator strike apparently survived the attack and has re-surfaced even as American attention has turned to the growing number of jihadis and extremists from Pakistans armed forces.
:evil: Ilyas Kashmiri :evil: , a former Pakistan Special Services Group commando and a veteran of the Islamabad-backed separatist movement in Kashmir, has promised retribution against the ''U.S and its proxies,'' an American terrorism watchdog reported Tuesday, after the armyman-turned-jihadi gave an interview to a Pakistani journalist to show that he was alive and ticking.
Kashmiri is very likely to be directly linked to last weekend's terror assault on Pakistan's Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi masterminded by :evil: ''Dr Usman'' :evil: (who is also from the Pakistani military), according to Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal, a publication which tracks terrorism in the region.
The story puts the focus on several emerging aspects of Pakistans existential association and struggle with terrorism: The growing number of Pakistani military personnel who are turning rogue; and their ethnic origins, mostly form Punjab province.
Also of concern to intelligence analysts is Pakistans revolving door policy :x that frees or cuts loose terrorists as had happened with Mumbai massacre mastermind :evil: Hafeez Mohammed Saeed :evil: this week who eventually return to bite the Pakistani establishment in the back. :lol:
It transpires now that Dr Usman, aka Mohammed Aqeel, the leader of the fedayeen attack on Pakistans military headquarters last weekend, was in police custody :o last year for his involvement in the Marriott hotel bomb attack but was released by authorities under unclear circumstances :? . Ditto for Kashmiri, who was also in custody before he was released. :x
Kashmiri, who Roggio says is considered by US intelligence to be one of al Qaida's most dangerous commanders and listed as the fourth most wanted terrorist by Pakistan's Interior Ministry, is not the first to resurface after being reported killed in a Predator strike. The infamous Ayman Al-Zawahiri and shoe-bomber Rasheed Rauf belong in the same category.
But more worryingly for intelligence analysts is the fact that an increasing number of jihadi masterminds are coming from Pakistans armed forces :oops: , which commentators till recently described a mostly liberal and professional :lol: .
Like Kashmiri, who was an SSG commando before he reportedly turned ''rogue'', Dr Usman aka Mohammed Aqeel, who led the attack on GHQ and has been captured alive, also served in the military. He was reportedly with the Pakistani Army Medical Corps till 2006 when he quit the military to join the terrorist outfit :evil: Jaish-e-Mohammed :evil: , whose leader
:evil: Maulana Masood Azhar :evil: is another terrorist who has disappeared in custody.
In the same tradition, :evil: Zaki-ur Lakhvi :evil: , one of the Mumbai carnage masterminds also served in the Pakistani military, as did brothers, Major Haroon Rasheed and Captain Khurram, who were both involved in the assassination of Maj. Gen. Faisal Alvi, who incidentally was Nobel Laureate V.S.Naipauls brother-in-law (Naipaul is married to Alvis sister Nadira).
At some point or the other, all the men were in the custody or under the watch of Pakistani authorities, but a dodgy legal system and their connection to the armed forces resulted in their slipping out of custody and conviction. Invariably, they seem to have returned to attack their former masters, according to analysts who track terrorist strikes.
''It is a result of Pakistan hybridizing officers and soldiers into groups like LeT, HuJI, JeM, etc. Are they really rogue when they started under state policy? The Pak military should be terrified right now,'' Roggio told ToI. The analyst believes the GHQ attack likely had inside help.
While Rasheed and Khurram -- who like Kashmiri were both in the SSG -- are accused in the killing of Major General Alvi, the GHQ fidayeen attacker ''Dr Usman'' was also arrested for his involvement in the assassination of Lieutenant General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, the surgeon General of the Army Medical Corps, in February 2008. Gen.Baig is the senior-most Pakistani general killed by the terrorists. :shock:
The rash of ex-armymen-turned-terrorists from the ranks has also put the focus on Pakistans Punjab province, since most of these jihadis are from this region. This is from where the Pakistani military draws most of its recruits and there have been reports of increasing radicalization in Southern Punjab.
While the government in Islamabad has tried to portray the border tribal belt alongside Afghanistan as the ground zero of terrorism, some experts are pointing to Punjab and renegades in the Pakistani armed forces who hail from here.
''South Punjab has become the hub of jihadism,'' the respected Pakistani analyst Ayesha Siddiqa said in a recent magazine article. ''Yet, somehow, there are still many people in Pakistan who refuse to acknowledge this threat.''
