Musharaff gets the rockets again - does he get the message ?

A Dawn Online report by Munawer Azeem and Mohammad Asghar gives details of 2 more rockets found near Government offices in Islamabad. This time 2 live 107mm rockets of Russian manufacture were found at around 8:30am by grass cutters of the Capital Development Authority, who informed police.They were found at Zero Point on the Kashmir highway Zero point connecting Islamabad with Rawalpindi, the garrison city. - a route to be used by Prime Minister Shaukat Azize on Saturday.The sprawling Shekerparian hills are a popular picnic area.

The BBC report that President Pervez Musharraf was in a conference centre about two kilometres away when the discovery was made.

Some reports claimed that the authorities created confusion when some officials said the police had planted dud rockets to test security after the scare two days earlier.

This is the third incident of recovery of rockets near strict security zones within four days. In all the incidents, 107mm rockets attached with mobile phones were found.A major security alert was launched in Islamabad. However, the authorities are still in the dark and refuse to comment on the phenomenon.

The previous 2 incidents were ..

1. On Wednesday October 4th an explosion in Ayub Park near President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s camp office

2. On Thursday October 5th two rockets, believed to be pointing toward the president's and prime minister's houses, were found near the parliament, they were said to be fitted with some sort of mobile phone remote access firing mechanism.

Syed Saleem Shahzad in Asia Times, says The Taliban, emboldened by the success of this year's spring offensive, have drawn up a blueprint for an Islamic intifada in Afghanistan next year in the form of a national uprising and the internationalization of their resistance.

It is claimed that the Waziristan peace initiative has not been observed by Musharaff and that the release of al Quaeda prsioners (read this Telegraph story September 15th 2006) was the cause of trouble as a few, whose arrest was also known to US intelligence, were not freed. Musharraf said they would be freed once he returned from Washington, but this did not happen. Negotiations were still under way when an incident happened that angered the Pakistani Taliban.
see the Counterterrorism blog for more

Shazad explains the problem ..

1. Shah Abdul Aziz is a member of the National Assembly from Karak in North-West Frontier Province. Though his direct party affiliation is with the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam led by Maulana Samiul Haq (the father of the Taliban). As a veteran mujahideen from the days of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He vocally supports the Taliban, Arab militants and Osama bin Laden, and his fiery speeches on these topics are compiled into compact discs that are popular among the Pakistani Taliban.

2. He has a younger brother Shah Mehboob Ahmed popular among local as well as Afghan Taliban for helping the mujahideen.

3. Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, at Lal Mosque Islamabad is a major Taliban supporting cleric whom a UK based visitor only known as Abdullah was arrested by the ISI after meeting him. Mehboob was also picked up by them.

4. Despite intervention with the ISI by Shah Abdul Aziz (an MP) about his brothers arrest, neither he nor Abdullah were released because the ISI claimed they were held for activities involving India not the Taliban or al Quaeda.

5. Musharraf said in an interview whilst on his book signing tour in the US that some retired ISI officials could be assisting Taliban insurgents, adding: "We are keeping a very tight watch and we will get hold of them if that at all happened. I have some reports that some dissidents, some retired people who were in the forefront in the ISI during the period of 1979 to 1989, may be assisting the links somewhere here and there."

6. This was seen by many as a reference to Hamid Gul, (see picture) one of the most popular Islamist generals and Musharraf's immediate boss and close associate before September 11, 2001, might be arrested.

7. Gul termed Musharraf's statement a reflection of his "impulsive nature" and said he was in danger of opening up a "Pandora's box" in a conversation with Asia Times.

It is claimed that these incidents serve merely to put Musharaff on notice by the Taliban .... and also no doubt as a marker to the US.

The extremely "well informed"(ie CIA mouthpiece) Bill Roggio at Fourth Rail identified these as being released by Musharaff and got his Rolodex out ...

Ghulam Mustafa: "He was once close to Osama bin Laden, has intimate knowledge of al-Qaeda's logistics and financing and its nexus with the military in Pakistan."

Maulana Sufi Mohammad: "Maulana Sufi Mohammad was Faqir Mohammed's first jihadi mentor who introduced him to militancy in Afghanistan in 1993. Sufi Mohammad was one of the active leaders of Jamat-e-Islami (JI) in the 1980s. He was the principal of the JI madrassa in Tamaergra, a town in the northwestern part of NWFP. He was an instinctive hardliner and in due course developed differences with JI and left them in 1992 to form Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammed [TNSM]." Sufi Mohammad organized Pakistanis to fight jihad in Afghanistan and along with the TNSM fought in Kunduz November of 2001.

Mohammad Khaled: A brigade leader who led the Taliban in against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. ""It is a difficult time for Islam and Muslims. We are in a test. Everybody should be ready to pass the test - and to sacrifice our lives," said Mohammad Khaled.

Fazl-e-Raziq: A senior aide to Osama bin Laden, and "an ethnic Pakhtoon resident of Swabi district of the North West Frontier Province."

Khairullah Kherkhawa: The former Taliban governor of Herat.

Khalid Khawaja: "Khalid Khawaja is a retired squadron leader of the Pakistan Air Force who was an official in Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, in the mid 1980s. After he wrote a critical letter to General Zia ul-Haq, who ruled Pakistan from 1977 till 1988, in which he labeled Zia as hypocrite, he was removed from the ISI and forced to retire from the airforce. He then went straight to Afghanistan in 1987 and fought against the Soviets along side with Osama Bin Laden, developing a relationship of firm friendship and trust. Khalid Khawaja’s name resurfaced when US reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted and subsequently killed. Pearl had come to Pakistan and met Khalid Khawaja in order to investigate the jihadi network of revered sufi, Syed Mubarak Ali Gailani."

Mansour Hasnain: A member of the group that kidnapped and murdered Danny Pearl. He also was "a militant of the Harkat-al-Mujahedin group, is one of those who hijacked an Indian Airlines jet in December 1999 and forced New Delhi to release three militants -- including Omar and Azhar."

Mohammad Hashim Qadeer: "Suspected of being one of [Daniel] Pearl’s actual killers, was arrested in August 2005 and has notable al-Qaida links" and "ties with the banned extremist groups Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen and Jaish-e-Muhammad."

Mohammad Bashir: Another Pakistani complicit in the murder of Daniel Pearl.

Aamni Ahmad, Hala Ahmad and Nooran Abdu: Facilitators/couriers, and wives of al-Qaeda members. "Pakistani authorities arrested 23 Arabs, including two children, suspected of links to Osama bin Laden, officials said Wednesday. All of them sneaked into the country from Afghanistan in recent weeks. The suspects include three women, identified as Aamni Ahmad, Hala Ahmad and Nooran Abdu, who are believed to be relatives of bin Laden. An interior ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the arrests were made in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan."

Gul Ahmed Shami & Hamid Noor: Al-Qaeda foot soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. "I want to be the next Osama bin Laden," said Shami in 2001. "Allah is with us. The Americans have technology but they don't have the courage to face death, which we do. I will be there until my death if need be. I know I probably won't come back," said Hamid.

General Abizaid is on record that Musharaff was heavily bribed ... (he is being upbraided by Musharaff this week for not understanding things on the ground) ... does Musharaff see that he backed the wrong Pony ?

Watch this space.

UPDATE SUNDAY 8th

Read "Musharraf and Pakistan Slipping Toward Disaster" by Rick Moran in The American Thinker 7th October, for the authentic voice of the CIA on these events.

"NATO commanders are asking that Bush and Blair confront Musharraf over this blatant support for the Taliban by the ISI but to no avail."