Friday, October 24, 2014

Globe's Pakistan Coverage Fits a Pattern

I guess I'm down to one report a week in what has to be one of the least-covered conflicts going:

"Pakistani jets hit militant hideouts, killing 21" by Munir Ahmed | Associated Press   October 17, 2014

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani jet fighters struck five militant hideouts in a northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 21 insurgents, the army said.

The ‘‘precision’’ strikes were carried out in the Tirah valley in the Khyber region, a military statement said.

It provided no further details and only said the strikes ‘‘killed 21 terrorists.’’ It was impossible to independently confirm the claim. Pakistan’s tribal areas are off limits to journalists.

Pakistan’s air force often targets suspected militants and their hideouts in Khyber and elsewhere in the country’s northwest. The region is thought to be a hiding place for the Pakistani Taliban and foreign militants.

The latest strikes came a day after a suicide bomber targeted a meeting of anti-Taliban elders in the Khyber region, killing five people.

Since June 15, Pakistan’s army has also been carrying out a major operation against Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda in the North Waziristan tribal region, to the south of Khyber. It has reportedly killed about 1,100 militants in the region, which was a base for local and foreign militants blamed for acts of terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban are a network of militant groups. Thousands of Pakistanis have died in a war aimed at overthrowing the elected government and enforcing their own brand of Islamic Shariah law. North Waziristan was home to a mix of militant groups until the army operation began.

Does that scare you, Americans? I'll bet the rules against usury would not.

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You can scroll through Pakistan and decide for yourself regarding the Globe's coverage. 

And like clockwork:

"Attacks in Pakistan kill at least 13 people" New York Times   October 24, 2014

ISLAMABAD — A barrage of shootings and bombings shook the Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday, leaving at least 13 people dead in three separate attacks that each reflected a different facet of the violence afflicting Baluchistan province.

Baluchistan is another seldom-covered region, and for a couple of reasons. One is the legitimate civil struggle against government appropriation of resources without adequate services or compensation; the other is a separate intelligence agency initiative to weaken the Pakistani government and with the hopes of splitting off Baluchistan (it's on the neo-con world domination maps if you ever look at them).

In the first, at least eight men were killed and two others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a bus, the police and rescue officials said. The victims were ethnic Hazara, a Shi’ite Muslim minority group that has been repeatedly targeted by Sunni extremists in a wave of violence that has killed hundreds in recent years and left Hazaras feeling that the police cannot, or will not, protect them.

Oh, stink! It's CIA-supported terrorists and such!

In an assault with political overtones, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, an influential religious figure who leads the fundamentalist party Jamiat Ulema Islam-F, was attacked after addressing a rally at a stadium in Quetta. The police said Rehman was leaving the venue when a suicide bomber ran up to his bulletproof vehicle. Rehman and the other passengers were unhurt, but at least three people were reported killed in the attack, responsibility for which was claimed by Jundallah, a militant group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban.

You can do your own research, but.... WTF?!!

Separately, a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded near a security forces convoy, killing two people and wounding 12, the police said. The blast occurred as security forces were conducting a search after the attack on the Hazaras. But the authorities said that Baluch separatists, who are fighting an insurgent war against the Pakistani military, were possibly behind the attack.

Insurgent is the key term there. It's a true people's revolt, with false flag chaos mixed in to spoil support.

In the attack on the Hazaras, officials said that four to six gunmen opened fire on the bus on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned Sunni militant group with strong links to the Taliban that has targeted Shi’ites in a brutal campaign of violence.

Any drone strikes lately? 

Btw, I love the coded nonsense regarding responsibility and suspicion. 

Yeah, my paper is coming clean on that.

Hazara leaders expressed frustration with the government and anguish over the latest attack after the gunmen appeared to escape easily.

Hmmmmmmm!

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NEXT DAY UPDATE:

"Pakistan detects more polio cases on awareness day" by Munir Ahmed | Associated Press   October 25, 2014

ISLAMABAD — The World Health Organization said Friday that three more polio cases have surfaced in Pakistan, bringing the number of new cases to 220 this year, a record figure that authorities blame on attacks by insurgents targeting vaccination teams.

The WHO statement came as many nations observed World Polio Day in order to raise awareness about the highly contagious virus, which is transmitted in unsanitary conditions but is easily fended off with a vaccine. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria are the only countries where polio, which can cause paralysis and death, remains endemic.

Dr. Elias Durry, who heads WHO polio eradication efforts in Pakistan, said Friday that out of 220 cases, most were detected from January to October in the county’s northwest, where the Pakistani Taliban have fought to prevent immunizations since 2012, killing about 60 workers and police escorting polio teams.

The Pakistani Taliban accuse polio workers of acting as spies for the United States and say the vaccine makes boys sterile.

Yeah, well, they used that doctor as cover for the phony bin Laden assassination and it's not just the "nut Muslims" doubting the vaccines anymore. Sorry.

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