Google Earth Exposes Secret U.S. Drones at Pakistan Base in 2006

Despite denials from Washington and Pakistan, satellite imagery captures what appear to be three U.S. Predator drones outside a hangar at the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's southwest.


The U.S. was secretly flying unmanned drones from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan as early as 2006, according to an image of the base from Google Earth, the Times of London reported Thursday.

The image -- that is no longer on the site but which was obtained by The News, Pakistan's English language daily newspaper -- shows what appear to be three Predator drones outside a hangar at the end of the runway.

The Times also obtained a copy of the image, whose coordinates confirm that it is the Shamsi airfield, also known as Bandari, about 200 miles southwest of the Pakistani city of Quetta.

The Times reported yesterday that the CIA was secretly using Shamsi to launch the Predator drones that observe and attack Al Qaeda and Taliban militants around Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

U.S. special forces used the airbase during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, but the Pakistani Government said in 2006 that the Americans had left and both sides have since denied repeatedly that Washington was using Pakistani bases.

Two senior U.S. defense officials told FOX News that no Predator unmanned aerial vehicles are currently or have recently been based on Pakistani territory, despite a statement by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, at a recent Congressional intelligence hearing.

However, they could use the Shamsi air base if they needed to. The base is well known to the U.S. military and was used by the Americans in 2001 and 2002 at the beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

One U.S. official told FOX News the U.S. has been flying "Predators or UAVs" in Pakistan since 2002.

There have been 30 strikes since August with 11 top leaders of Al Qaeda taken out, according to intelligence reports.

Senior officials also confirm that Pakistan has been aiding the U.S. in its Predator unmanned aerial vehicle strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas, despite its leaders very public protests that they see the strikes as a breach of sovereignty.

Both President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashraf Kayani, the head of Pakistan's army, have turned a blind eye to the strikes. According to the officials, these two leaders have launched no protests behind the scenes to U.S. officials about the strikes.

Any public protests have been for public consumption inside Pakistan. One official, however, says that not all elements of the Pakistani government are aware of this cooperation or support it - suggesting other civilian leaders may not be onboard.

(Fox News Report)

NWFP govt., TNSM ink Nizam-e-Adal Accord

PESHAWAR: The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and Tahrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi, after finalization of an accord for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adal in Malakand, have inked a Nizam-e-Adal accord at the end of the Jirga here on Monday.

Following the Jirga, NWFP Chief Minister, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, who was presiding over the Jirga, told the media that the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adal was a historic moment and it would come in force forthwith.

"Today an agreement has been signed between the government of NWFP and Maulana Sufi Mohammed," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters here.

"All laws against sharia will be abolished and sharia will be enforced under this justice system," he added.

The agreement will cover Malakand area, one of the districts of NWFP, which includes the Swat valley.

"It is my hope that the armed people will disarm themselves, give up the path of violence and work for restoration of peace in Swat," NWFP chief minister, Amir Haider Hoti said.

Twenty-nine delegates from the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Sharia, led by Maulana Muhammad Alam, attended the meeting today.

US, NATO and Afghan officials have criticised previous peace deals in Pakistan, saying that they have led to an increase in suicide attacks on international and Afghan forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Despite 26/11, cross border marriages are taking place

Vivek Shukla

New Delhi—Even after gory Mumbai attack of 26/11, the cross border marriages between Indian boys and Pakistani girls or vice-versa are still taking place. The divided Muslim families of cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Rampur, Mordabad, Aligarh, Amroha, Ujjain still don’t mind marrying their kids in Pakistan.

According to M. Ahmad of Khuda Rafiq Trust who knows the affairs of Muslims from both Delhi and UP as back of his right hand, says that even though getting citizenship for both Indians and Pakistanis in each other’s country is a huge task, still divided families are marrying their kids across the border. “ I can safely say that around 10 cross-border marriages took place during the last two months or so in Delhi, Meerut and Saharnpur alone,” says Ahmad. President of the prestigious Delhi based Indian Islamic Centre, Mr. Sirajuddin Qureshi says that as marriages between cousins are very much permitted in Islam, the divided families of the partition happily marry their kids across the border. “ Such marriages were very common after a few years of partition.

However, the number of cross border marriages have come down over the years due to various factors.

It may be recalled that when an ex-career Pakistani diplomat and former President of Pakistan Cricket Board married his son Ali to a girl from Bhopal a few years ago lots of eyebrows were raised. Many people in both India and Pakistan questioned his wisdom to find match for his son in India.

Qureshi, whose many cousin sisters are married in Pakistan, says those who question the wisdom of Khan should know that these people are doing yeoman service in their own way in order to cement the relations between the two bitter neighbours. It is said that the number of such marriages were reduced as whenever there is a chill in the relations. When things normalize, marriages start taking place with all the fanfare. Known educationist of Delhi, Maulana Umer Ilaysi says that it is true that cross border marriages are still on, but their number has gone as down compared to yesteryears. Reason? He feels that there are two major reasons for this thing to happen. First, the fast dwindling population of those elders who were divided across the border in the wake of partition. Till they were alive they used to ensure that their kids marry with each-other. As the number of those people reduced, the frequency of such marriages came down. Second, the governments in both Delhi and Islamabad are very choosy in granting citizenship to the nationals of these two countries. That is the major reason that people avoid marrying their kids across the border.

Pashtun influx fuels Karachi tensions

By Syed Shoaib Hasan

BBC News, Karachi

"We are doing our best to prevent them from taking over," says Mohammad Rafiq earnestly as he sits in the crowded room in Karachi.

He is referring to Taleban militants who have come to the city from Pakistan's tribal areas such as North and South Waziristan who "want to take over Karachi".

Rafiq, a primary school teacher, is a resident of Baldia town, a suburb of Karachi.

He is also a member of a neighbourhood, or sector, office of the MQM (United National Movement) political party for his area.

'Bully and kill'

Karachi, on the coast of Pakistan's southern Sindh province, is the country's largest city.

It is also the South Asian nation's financial capital and main port.

The MQM, which is allied to Pakistan's ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), is politically in control of Karachi.

The party draws its strength from a mainly middle class electorate, made up of Urdu-speaking people, descendants of migrants from India after partition in 1947.

Its detractors have often complained that it has used its political strength to bully and even kill opponents.

The MQM, however, strongly denies this allegations.

"Our job is to find solutions for neighbourhood problems at the local level," says Farooq Sattar, a central government minister and senior MQM leader.

"We also inform the top leadership if there are matters here that are beyond our control."

Of late these have been primarily to do with what the MQM has called the "Talebanisation" of Karachi.

It says that more and more people are migrating to Karachi from different parts of Pakistan, especially from the tribal areas.

"The Taleban don't want to be concentrated in the northern areas and are looking for other options," says Dr Sattar.

De facto rulers

Urban experts agree, pointing out that there has also been a substantial rise in migrants into Karachi from the North West Frontier Province's Pashtun community.


It is perhaps this fact which is most galling for the MQM, which stormed into control of Karachi following ethnic riots which began in the mid-1980s.

At that time, disagreements over the identity question led to clashes between the Urdu-speaking and Pashtun-speaking communities.

The MQM rose to power on the back of these riots which left hundreds of people dead and established the party's position in Karachi.

But critics have accused the party of using the "ethnic card" to keep control over Karachi.

Ethnicity remains a touchy topic in the metropolis and since 2007 there have been rumblings of a return to the problems of before.

In November, more than 40 people were killed in two days of ethnic-related killings.

"Riots and violence did take place between 1985 and 1988, but our leaders met and reached a conclusive peace accord," says Aminullah Khattak, secretary general of the Sindh chapter of the mostly Pashtun Awami National Party (ANP).

"We wanted to end it, and it did end at that time."

'Menial activities'

But Mr Khattak now says that the issue has once again reared its head, this times he feels because of economic factors.

"The thing that has started it again is that the Pashtuns living over here have progressed economically," he says.

"Some people believe that they will remain watchmen or labourers, or remain engaged in menial economic activities all their lives.

"But they've become well educated, they've progressed economically, they want to get better jobs."

The ANP argues that "Talebanisation" is not a problem in Karachi, but just a ruse for a movement against upwardly-mobile Pashtuns.

Evidence of that movement is all too clear to Azmatullah Khan, a pharmacy student, as he stands on the ruins of his family business which was burnt to the ground in December.

"Four armed men came to the back of the market on two bikes," he says.

"They threw some kind of chemicals... and started a fire which spread if water was thrown on it.

"You can see yourselves, they only targeted Pashtun businesses," he says while bitterly pointing to nearby timber shops which remain intact and open.

"If you look at the situation in Karachi now, it is the Pashtun community which is facing the brunt of the problems," says Ismail Khan, a member of the ANP provincial executive committee.

"Pashtun areas are the least developed in terms of basic amenities, as well as facilities such as hospitals and schools.

"In addition, Pashtuns are said to be the root of all troubles."

'Taleban ideas'

Ismail Khan believes that the MQM is behind this, and its principal motive is to get Pashtuns to give up the land they hold in Karachi.


There has been a substantial rise in migrant numbers

"We are the only threat to their power, and that is why they have used the spectre of Talebanisation."

But Mohammad Rafiq and many others believe that it is the realities on the ground which have forced the MQM to move matters.

"We had no problems with the Pashtun community which has been settled here for a long time," he says.

"But we do have a problem with those who are extremists and have come here to spread Taleban ideas."

There seems little outward signs that the fundamentalist movement is taking over this most cosmopolitan of cities.

Karachi's problems remain largely ethnic despite claims by the MQM.

Pakistan's current debilitating security scenario however means that this is no less of a threat.

"Karachi remains Pakistan's jugular vein and its microcosm," says Aminullah Khattak.

"Any descent into violence here could cripple the country economically, and have grave consequences for national unity."

Failure to nab perpetrators of Shia killings worries HRCP

Lahore: The recent string of target-killing of Shias in Balochistan and the government’s failure to bring any of the perpetrators to justice is a cause for growing alarm, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said on Wednesday.

A press statement issued by the Commission said: “The killing of Shia notables in Quetta has sadly become a frequent occurrence. Some of the killings have been owned by an extremist organization flying a religious standard. The number of the Shia community members killed there over the recent years has exceeded 300. The government’s failure to track down the culprits has understandably enraged the targeted community, and it has also emboldened the perpetrators to kill with impunity. Besides religious figures, liberal politicians, businessmen and government officials have been targeted.

The government must surely now know that the community is exasperated with the government’s inability to perform one of its basic functions, that of ensuring that the lives of the people are protected. The Sunni population also fears that unhindered killings of the Shias might cause sectarian strife in an area where the sects have generally coexisted peacefully for centuries.

HRCP fears that the state agencies’ consistent failure to track down the killers may prompt the targeted community to retaliate against members of other sects, which is perhaps the sort of violence those behind the target-killings want to trigger.

The province, which has been in the grip of an insurgency for many years and now faces a growing threat from the Taliban, cannot afford that. The government must act decisively to investigate the killings in an efficient manner before the situation slips into further chaos.”