Pakistani News:US Ready to Take out our Nukes

As the violence has escalated in Pakistan since the inception of Sharia law in the Swat Valley, many of us have wondered about the nuclear arsenal within Pakistan. Here is what one Pakistani news organization had to say.

Hat tip to The Religion of Peace.

‘Plans ready to take out Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal’
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Monitoring Desk

WASHINGTON: The US has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban, al-Qaeda or other Islamic extremists, a leading TV network reported.

“American intelligence sources say the operation would be conducted by the Joint Special Operations Command, the super-secret commando unit headquartered at Fort Bragg, NC,” a report by Rowan Scarborough of the FoxNews said on Friday. The report has also been posted on foxnews.com, the website of the TV channel.

It said: “The JSOC is the military’s chief terrorists hunting squad and has units now operating in Afghanistan on Pakistan’s western border. But a secondary mission is to secure foreign nuclear arsenals — a role for which the JSOC operatives have trained in Nevada.

“The mission has taken on added importance in the recent months, as Islamic extremists have taken territory close to the capital of Islamabad and could destabilise Pakistan’s shaky democracy. “We have plans to secure them ourselves if things get out of hand,” said a US intelligence source, who has deployed to Afghanistan. “That is a big secondary mission for the JSOC in Afghanistan.”

The source said the JSOC had been updating its mission plan for the day President Obama gave the order to infiltrate Pakistan. “Small units could seize them, disable them and then centralise them in a secure location,” the source said. A secret Defence Intelligence Agency document, first disclosed in 2004, said Pakistan had a nuclear arsenal of 35 weapons. The document said it planned to more than double the arsenal by 2020.

The FoxNews quoted a Pakistani official as saying the US and his country had an understanding that if either Osama bin Laden, or his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, was located, the US troops and air strikes might be used inside the borders to capture or kill them.

“What makes the Pakistan mission especially difficult is that the military has its missiles on the Soviet-style mobile launchers and rail lines. The US intelligence agencies, using satellite photos and communication intercepts, is constantly monitoring their whereabouts. Other warheads are kept in storage. The US technical experts have visited Pakistan to advise the government on how to maintain and protect its arsenal.

“Also, there are rogue elements inside Pakistan’s military and intelligence service, who could quickly side with the extremists and make the JSOC’s mission all the more difficult.“It’s relatively easy to track the rail-mounted ones with satellites,” said the intelligence source. “Truck-mounted are more difficult. However, they are all relatively close to the capital in areas that the government firmly controls, so we don’t have to look too far.

“The JSOC is made up of three main elements: Army Delta Force, Navy SEALs and a high-tech special intelligence unit known as the Task Force Orange. The JSOC was instrumental in Iraq in finding and killing Abu Musab Zarqawi, the deadly and most prominent al-Qaeda leader in the Middle East.

“There is speculation in the intelligence community that a secondary reason for Army Lt-Gen Stanley McChrystal being named the next commander in Afghanistan is that he headed the JSOC in 2006-08 and is read-in on its contingency missions in Pakistan.

“Adm Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, this month said that based on the information he had seen, Pakistan’s nuclear warheads were safe. “I remain comfortable that the nuclear weapons in Pakistan are secure, that the Pakistani leadership and, in particular, the military is very focused on this,” it said. “We, the United States, have invested fairly significantly over the last three years, to work with them, to improve that security. And we’re satisfied, very satisfied with that progress. We will continue to do that. And we all recognise obviously the worst downside of — with respect to Pakistan is that those nuclear weapons come under the control of terrorists.”

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Pakistan:Convert or Pay Jizya!

Since the Taliban were allowed to govern govern Swat Pakistan under Sharia law, they figured that they will just go forward and implement some more Islam there. As per Koran verse 9:29 the Taliban are now threatening non-Muslims to convert to Islam or pay the jizah tax.


Koran 009.029
YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Pakistan's religious minorities report violence

By KATHY GANNON
KARACHI, Pakistan – Fauzia Abrar had finally gotten her crying baby to sleep when screaming men pounded on the steel doors of her home in the mostly Christian slum in the port city of Karachi.
Suddenly she heard shots, and the screaming grew louder: "Long live Taliban! Death to infidels!"

The men forced their way into her house, hurled loose tiles and a glass at her and fired a shot. She fainted.

As the Taliban gains a stronger foothold in Pakistan, increasingly violent assaults against religious minorities are further evidence of its growing power and influence. While the Taliban does not carry out all of the attacks, extremist elements inspired by the group will sometimes act in its name.

These attacks add to the instability of an already highly unstable country and also show how Pakistan, supposed to be a U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, is now itself increasingly threatened by extremists.

In dozens of interviews from Karachi to Peshawar, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus told of attacks and threats and expressed an overwhelming sense of fear. Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, ranked Pakistan last year as the world's top country for major increases in threats to minorities from 2007 — along with Sri Lanka, which is embroiled in civil war. The group lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.

"In Pakistan today there is a lot of feeling of fear by all the minorities," said the Rev. Richard D'Souza of St. Jude Church in Karachi. "We feel we have no protection."

The trouble in D'Souza's parish started with bold blue graffiti on the church walls praising the Taliban and Islamic law, and condemning Christians as infidels. Young Christians in the neighborhood protested.

Within days, about 25 burly men with shaggy beards rampaged through the neighborhood, beating Christians, pelting women with stones and setting fire to the doors of houses and to meager possessions. An 11-year-old boy was killed, and several people were wounded.

"The police never helped. None of us had weapons. The police just stood there," said 26-year-old Imran Masih, who spent 10 days in the hospital after a bullet pierced his neck.

Dozens of Christian families fled. One man who stayed, Sohail Masih, showed what is left of the family's two Bibles and a Sunday school book — a seared and crumbled mass of paper. He had wrapped it in plastic bags and hidden it, in case evidence was ever needed.

D'Souza said the parish is thinking of forming its own armed youth brigades to patrol Christian areas. When he asked the government for armored personnel carriers, he said, two bored-looking policemen showed up for the Easter Sunday service and were gone the next morning.

Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minorities affairs, said the government is trying to stop the Taliban through military operations.

"I don't say minorities are not worried. They have a genuine concern. They have been attacked," said Bhatti, a Christian. "The Taliban say non-Muslims are infidels, and the people who are misguided zealots can interpret this in any way. Minorities can be easy and soft targets of these extremists, but these Taliban are committing such violent acts that everyone feels fear in their presence — the minority and the majority in Pakistan."

Religious minorities represent about 5 percent of Pakistan's 160 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook. But Michael Javed, director of a peace council and a minister in southern Sindh, charged that census takers intentionally keep minority figures low to deny them greater representation. Christians alone represent 5 to 6 percent of the population, he said.

Javed said he has been told by militants to take the cross off his schools in Karachi, and has refused. Frightened Christians are trying to arm themselves, he said, pulling out a bulging file with more than 60 applications to buy weapons.
"It has never happened in the past like this. Today we feel we have no future. They want us to hide, but we won't," he said.

Even Shiite Muslims have come under attack as the Sunni Taliban tears through the tribal areas. In the past two years, the Taliban has embraced a violently anti-Shiite group, Lashkar-e-Janghvi, unleashing a fresh wave of bitter bloodletting. More than 500 Shiite Muslims in the Kurram tribal agency have been killed in daily attacks.

Editorials in local newspapers have warned of the threat to minorities and predicted that the brutality will eventually reach the larger population. In an April letter to the prime minister and president, Lahore Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha said allowing Islamic law in the violent Swat Valley would give license to "trigger-happy Taliban (and further) erode constitutional protections for minorities and women."

The Taliban issued an ultimatum in March to the elders of more than 25 Sikh families in the Orakzai tribal agency near the Afghan border: Convert to Islam, join the jihad or pay 5 billion rupees — roughly $62 million — for protection.

"We couldn't pay that amount. We were farmers," said a young Sikh who asked to be identified only as Singh, because he was too terrified to give his full name or location. He fidgeted nervously, and his voice became little more than a whisper as he recalled the Taliban's threat to take a Sikh leader to South Waziristan to decide his fate if the extortion money wasn't paid.

The villagers persuaded the Taliban to reduce the amount to 12 million rupees or $150,000 — still a princely sum for the Sikh community. But Singh said they raised enough money to get their elder released, with a promise to pay the rest by March 29.

On March 28, he said, the Sikhs paid the full amount, and the Taliban promised to protect them anywhere in Pakistan. But by 10 p.m. that day, the Taliban had told Sikh elders they were preparing to attack.

By 2 a.m., the elders had packed everyone into cars and trucks, and more than 150 Sikhs fled to Peshawar, the provincial capital of the northwest.

"What are we to do? We have nothing," Singh said. "We have asked the government of Pakistan, either relocate us to somewhere safe or send us to India."

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Thousands Flee Pakistan Valley as Truce Crumbles

As predicted by anyone with an once of common sense, the Sharia law for "peace" deal with the Taliban in Swat Pakistan has only escalated the violence there. Civilians are now fleeing the area as the Taliban and the Pakistani government have started to square off. The question is, does the government have the stomach for the long and bloody battle?

Thousands flee Pakistan valley as truce crumbles

MINGORA, Pakistan – Black-turbaned Taliban militants seized government buildings, laid mines and fought security forces Tuesday in the Swat Valley, as fear of a major operation led thousands to pack their belongings on their heads and backs, cram aboard buses and flee the northwestern region.

The collapse of a 3-month-old truce with the Taliban means Pakistan will now have to fight to regain control of the Swat Valley, testing the ability of its stretched military and the resolve of civilian leaders who until recently were insisting the insurgents could be partners in peace. The government feared the refugee exodus could reach 500,000.

The developments brought Islamabad's faltering campaign against militancy into sharp focus as President Asif Ali Zardari was preparing for talks Wednesday in Washington with President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on how best to counter an increasingly overlapping spectrum of extremist groups behind surging violence in the neighboring countries.

The Obama administration hopes to build a strong and lasting regional alliance, linking success in Afghanistan with security in Pakistan. Toward that end, the administration is encouraging Pakistan to confront — not make peace with — the Taliban and other militants.

"These violent extremists need to be confronted head on," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. "We will be supportive."

Fearing that war could consume the region, thousands fled the main Swat town of Mingora on Tuesday, witnesses said. Refugees clambered onto the roofs of buses after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried belongings on their heads and backs.

"I do not have any destination. I only have an aim — to escape from here," said Afzal Khan, 65, who was waiting for a bus with his wife and nine children. "It is like doomsday here. It is like hell."

Shafi Ullah, a student, said the whole town was fleeing.

"Can you hear the explosions? Can you hear the gunshots?" he said, pointing to a part of town where fighting was continuing.

It is far from certain that the Pakistani public has the stomach for a long battle in Swat. Given that the militants have had time to rest and reinforce their positions in the three months since the truce took effect, any operation would involve fierce fighting in an urban setting and almost certainly cause significant civilian casualties and damage to property.

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Pakistan:Taliban Closing in on the Capital

Back in February when the Taliban was allowed to govern Swat Pakistan by Sharia law they were approximately 100 miles away from Islamabad the capital of Pakistan. Since then they have been emboldened by this act of appeasement and they have been heading straight to the heart of Pakistan. In the meantime the US government has still not figured out that some form of "moderate" Islam is not coming to the rescue.

Taliban extend hold, advance near Pakistan capital
By ZARAR KHAN
ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants have extended their grip in northwestern Pakistan, pushing out from a valley where the government has agreed to impose Islamic law and patrolling villages as close as 60 miles from the capital. Police and officials appear to have fled as armed militants also broadcast radio sermons and spread fear in Buner district, just 60 miles from Islamabad, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.

Pakistan's president signed off on the peace pact last week in hopes of calming Swat, where some two years of clashes between the Taliban and security forces have killed hundreds and displaced up to a third of the one-time tourist haven's 1.5 million residents.

Critics, including in Washington, have warned that the valley could become an officially sanctioned base for allies of al-Qaida — and that it may be just the first domino in nuclear-armed Pakistan to fall to the Taliban.

"The activities in the Swat do concern us. We're keeping an eye on it, and are working daily with the Pakistan military," Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker told Pentagon reporters in a 35-minute videoconference call from Afghanistan.

Supporters of the deal say it will allow the government to gradually reassert control by taking away the militants' rallying cry for Islamic law. Many residents are grateful that a semblance of peace has returned. A handful of officials are back in Swat.

The agreement covers Swat and other districts in the Malakand Division, an area of about 10,000 square miles near the Afghan border and the tribal areas where al-Qaida and the Taliban have strongholds.

The provincial government agreed to impose Islamic law in Malakand, and the Taliban agreed to a cease-fire that has largely held.

In recent days, the Swat militants have set their sights on Buner, a district just south of the valley, sparking at least one major clash with residents. The moves indicate the militants want to expand their presence beyond Swat to other parts of Malakand at the very least, under the guise of enforcing Islamic law.

Many in Buner are now too frightened to speak to reporters. However, a lawmaker from the area told The Associated Press that the militants had entered the district in "large numbers" and started setting up checkpoints at main roads and strategic positions.

"Local elders and clerics are negotiating with them to resolve this issue through talks," Istiqbal Khan said.

The militants in Buner also are using radio airwaves to broadcast sermons about Islam, and have occupied the homes of some prominent landowners, said a police official who insisted on anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation. He said the militants have also warned barbers to stop shaving men's beards and stores to stop selling music and movies.

The militants have established a major base in the village of Sultanwas and have set up positions in the nearby hills, the police official said. Militants also have taken over the shrine of a famed Sufi saint known as Pir Baba, he said.
The Taliban move into Buner left the Swat deal hanging from a thread, said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences.

"If the Taliban continue to expand in different directions and establish fiefdoms as they did in Swat, then probably the deal is not going to work and the government will be forced to scuttle that deal and go back to operations" by security forces, Rais said.

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Taliban Push to Control More of Pakistan

Just a day ago the President of Pakistan signed off on the sharia law deal with the Taliban. The deal was supposed to be sharia in exchange for peace. But The Taliban has moved forward and has brought their sharia push to Buner. It is just a matter of time until all of Pakistan is governed by Sharia law.

Taliban consolidating grip in Buner

ISLAMABAD/BUNER: The Taliban are imposing their rule in the mountain valley of Buner that they took over last week, spreading fear in the area only 100 kilometres from the capital, said police and residents on Monday.

Police said authorities were negotiating with the Taliban to persuade them to withdraw, but the group had stayed put and appeared determined to take over the valley. “They are everywhere,” Arsala Khan, a deputy superintendent of police, told Reuters overt the telephone from Buner. “They are visiting mosques, they are visiting bazaars asking people to help them enforce sharia,” he said. “Buner is fast turning into Swat.”

Using loudspeakers installed at mosques, Taliban commanders on Monday called on young men in Buner to get jihadi training. Residents of Buner said they feared more bloodshed.

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Pakistan's President Signs Sharia Deal

Although the Pakistani Taliban had already opened up the Sharia Courts in the Valley of Swat Pakistan, the President of Pakistan has just given the courts his blessing.

Obviously the flogging of a 17 year-old girl does not bother him, Obama or Hillary. This poor girl from Swat Pakistan was recently flogged for leaving her home and being seen talking to a boy.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES



Sharia law is barbaric and what is even more disturbing is that President Obama and Hillary Clinton actually supported this deal, and were silent after this video became public. We are lead by a bunch of moral-less leftists.

Pakistan president signs off on Islamic law deal

By ASIF SHAHZAD
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's pro-U.S. president signed a regulation late Monday to put a northwestern district under Islamic law as part of a peace deal with the Taliban, going along after coming under intense pressure from members of his own party and other lawmakers.

Asif Ali Zardari's signature was a boon for Islamic militants who have brutalized the Swat Valley for nearly two years in demanding a new justice system. It was sure to further anger human rights activists and feed fears among the U.S. and other Western allies that the valley will turn into a sanctuary for militants close to Afghanistan.

Whatever criticism may come, Zardari can claim some political cover — the National Assembly voted unanimously Monday to adopt a resolution urging his signature, although at least one party boycotted. Earlier, a Taliban spokesman had warned lawmakers against opposing the deal.

Zardari's spokeswoman, Farahnaz Ispahani, confirmed the president signed the regulation Monday night.

His signing implemented a deal agreed to in February by provincial officials to impose Islamic law in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas in exchange for a cease-fire between security forces and the local Taliban.

Zardari had put off signing the agreement, saying he wouldn't until peace was restored in Swat but never defining what that meant. The delay led a hard-line Muslim cleric mediating the agreement to leave Swat in anger last week and upset lawmakers from the region.

As pressure mounted, the federal government said over the weekend that Zardari wanted parliament first to debate the accord to implement an Islamic legal system, as long demanded by some residents disenchanted with inefficient regular courts.
Lawmakers made clear they believed the deal should go ahead, saying it would bring calm to the area after months of bloodshed that killed hundreds of people and displaced up to one-third of the valley's 1.5 million residents.

"The whole nation is united in its support of the Swat regulation and wants the president to approve it," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said at the start of parliamentary debate Monday.

Even without the president's approval, judges trained in Islamic law had begun hearing cases in Swat, and witnesses say Taliban fighters are in effective control of much of the region. The provincial government also agreed to other measures under the peace deal, such as cracking down on prostitution and sales of movies deemed "obscene."

Supporters say the changes in the legal system will speed up justice, not lead to harsh punishments or restrict the rights of women. Critics say the agreement is a surrender to extremists whose tactics include beheading opponents and burning girls' schools.

The events Monday "strengthened the militants," said Mahmood Shah, an analyst and former top security official in northwest Pakistan.

Shah noted Taliban fighters in Swat recently staged a violent foray into the neighboring Buner district, possibly to put the heat on lawmakers and Zardari to support the deal. "They have really forced the government to do that," he said.

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Swat Pakistan:Sharia in, Discrimination Starts

Only yesterday it was announced that the Sharia Courts in Swat, Pakistan were open for business. Today the usual sharia discrimination against women and non-Muslims has already started. Good work Pakistan....

03/17/2009
PAKISTAN
Sharia courts begin work in Swat Valley with restrictions on women
by Qaiser Felix
Women cannot go out unaccompanied or speak in public but must cover their heads. Girls’ schools could be closed for good. Local Catholics and Protestants fear for their future; some are starting to leave the region. Taliban militia leader threatens new judges; anyone not applying Sharia correctly will be removed from office immediately.

Peshawar (AsiaNews) – Sharia courts have begun to administer justice in the Swat Valley. With Sharia in place in Malakand area, women are no longer allowed to go out unaccompanied or speak in public. They must also cover their heads. Girls’ schools, essentially run by missionaries, could close for good, especially after recent bomb attacks. Although no one was injured in the blasts, about a thousands girls are now unable to go to class, about 95 per cent of whom are Muslim.
The future of the region’s Catholics and Protestants, who number around a thousand, is grim. Many of them are labourers and street sweepers, but some work in hospitals and a few teach in missionaries-run schools. All of them fear discrimination and many have begun packing up to move to areas where Sharia is not enforced. .

Since the start of the year the Taliban have carried out hundreds of attacks against schools, video and CD stores and barber shops and all other activities they claim to be un-Islamic.

With the implementation of Nizam-e-Adl Regulations 2009, civilian courts no longer have jurisdiction in this area and have been replaced by Qazi (Islamic) courts and Qazis (Islamic judges).

More specifically seven courts are now in place in the Swat Valley after Tehreek-i-Nafaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) Taliban militias and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari reached an agreement to that effect. The Lower and Upper Dir districts, Buner, Malakand Agency, Shangla, Kohistan and Chitral districts are now under Sharia law.

North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Communication Minister Iftikhar Hussain said that the aforementioned courts will be the models other districts will follow when they will implement Sharia. This way the latter can come into effect without presidential approval.

In announcing the start of the new courts TSNM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad said that Islamic courts will come under a new supreme court, the Darul Qaza. Two of its three qazis have already been selected; the third one will be designated in the near future.

Sufi Muhammad also said that if qazis do not correctly implement Sharia they will be replaced.

This has led the High Court in Peshawar to express concerns with respect to the TSNM chief’s threats, calling on NWFP authorities to ensure the safety of the judges.

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Swat Pakistan:Sharia Courts Open for Business

Earlier this month I posted about the "peace" deal between the Pakistani government and the Taliban. The deal allowed the Taliban to govern Swat Pakistan under sharia law. Those courts are a reality now and non-sharia judges have been told to take a walk. Let the legal brutality begin.

Pakistan's Swat gets sharia courts

Seven sharia (Islamic law) courts have opened in Pakistan's northwest Swat valley region as part of a peace agreement signed between tribal leaders and the government last month.

Authorities said two qazis, or judges trained in Islamic law, reviewed around 30 minor cases in Mingora, the largest city in Swat, on Tuesday.

The provincial government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) had agreed to introduce sharia as part of a ceasefire deal with the so-called Pakistani Taliban in Swat in February, but had faced criticism in recent weeks for foot-dragging.

US officials have expressed their concern that the region could become a safe-haven for anti-government fighters.

Mullah Sufi Muhammad, the local religious leader who negotiated the deal, had threatened to relaunch regional protests if Islamic courts were not established quickly.

Court controversy

Sufi Muhammad, who leads Tehrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM), or movement for the introduction of sharia, has called on all non-sharia judges in Swat valley to stand down from their posts.

In depth

At least 16 government-appointed judges were reported to have not turned up for work in Swat following the edict.

Al Jazeera's Hamidullah Khan said the move puts Sufi Muhammad at odds with the NWFP provincial assembly, which had earlier decided that judges appointed by the government should continue on in their roles.

However, Moulana Rizwanullah, Sufi Muhammad's son and deputy, said the TNSM would not allow any other law systems to contradict sharia.

He reiterated Sufi Muhammad's statements that there are no non-sharia judges in Islam, adding that there is also no concept of a lawyer.

Islamic supreme court

Sufi Muhammad's group also said it would open a Dar ul-Qaza, or Islamic supreme court, where people could appeal against the decisions of qazis.

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Pakistan:Taliban Warns Gov't Over National I-cards

As I had stated last week the Taliban will just not be satisfied with getting permission to make sharia the law in the valley of Swat Pakistan, they will just push for more. Since then attacks have been on the rise and now the Taliban is threatening the Pakistani government over a proposal for national identity cards for women. Who is running things over there?

Taliban warns Pak authorities issuing 'un-Islamic' I-cards

Press Trust Of India
Islamabad, March 08, 2009

The Pakistani Taliban in the troubled Khyber tribal region have warned authorities not to issue national identity cards to women, saying the practice is un-Islamic.
Omar Farooq, the commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in Khyber Agency, warned the National Database and Registration Authority that its offices would be attacked if it issued identity cards to women.

Farooq told reporters on phone from an unknown location that making identity cards for women went against Islamic rules. The Taliban will not allow women to obtain these cards, he said.

He also warned women that they would have to face the consequences if they went to NADRA offices to get themselves registered for the identity cards.

The Taliban in Swat valley of the North Western Frontier Province and parts of the restive tribal have banned girls education and barred women from visiting markets unless they are accompanied by male relatives.

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Swat Pakistan:Sharia in Place, Violence Rises Already

By Christopher Logan
Two weeks ago the Pakistani government agreed to allow the Taliban to place the valley of Swat Pakistan under Sharia law. Some of the new rules are that all shops have to close during pray times and a woman's inheritance shall follow Sharia law. Which says that women receive half the amount that men do. Also Koran classes will be offered in the prisons there.

When the Pakistani government announced that they would allow the Taliban Sharia law, I had stated that the Taliban would not be satisfied, unfortunately I was correct. Last night the Taliban thugs continued their assault on modernity, as they blew up 16 stores selling music and DVDs.

Now that the Taliban were handed their Islamic dream of Sharia law, the have become emboldened. They quickly turned their attention to the Presbyterian Christian community, as they attacked a local Church killing one woman and 28 more. They smashed the Church windows, destroy the Bibles and even tore the cross down from the roof. The local security forces have turned down a request to investigate the attacks. Such a tolerant religion.

Obama and Hillary Funding our Enemies

By Christopher Logan
Earlier this month I posted about how President Obama had pledged to send approximately $20 million to the Hamas controlled Gaza strip. This was just days after it was discovered that Hamas had been stealing blankets and food allocated for the people of Gaza.

Just yesterday it was reported that the rockets attacks on Israel coming out of Gaza have resumed to a daily event once again. So what does Hillary do? She turns around and ups Obama's pledge from $20 million all the way up to $900 million. Is this some kind of reward for breaking the ceasefire and resuming the rocket attacks on Israel?
U.S. officials have stated that the money will go to the Palestinian Authority to help repair Gaza. The only problem with that is that Hamas controls the Gaza strip.

Besides all of this going on, just last week the Taliban thugs in Swat Pakistan were allowed to live their life long dream and given permission to put the valley under sharia law. This was done with the approval of the US government. In return the Taliban have pledged a "ceasefire".

Today another part of the deal between the Pakistani government and the Taliban has come to light. Pakistani pro-sharia militant group Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi is being paid almost $6 million as part of a compensation package for their losses during Pakistani military operations. Part of the money is coming from a US donation, that is besides all of the money that we have given them in the past. The problem here is that the leader of Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi, Sufi Mohammad spoke with the Taliban and both groups had endorsed the sharia law and compensation package. So you tell me where that money is going to end up.

Swat Pakistan:Sharia is the law

This is a follow up to yesterday's story about how our "ally" Pakistan is caving into the demands of the Taliban in Swat Pakistan. The Pakistani government has allowed sharia law to overtake the state law in Swat. I am sure that the Taliban members will be satisfied and not push for more....

Pakistan Agrees to Islamic Law in Tribal Area
By Ayaz Gul
Islamabad
16 February 2009
Authorities in Pakistan have agreed to introduce Islamic law in a restive northwestern region in a bid to stop a spreading Taliban insurgency.

Pro-Taliban extremist groups have long fought for Islamic law, called Sharia, to replace Pakistan's secular laws in the northwestern Malakand region that includes the Swat District, a militant stronghold.

The mountainous Pakistani region has seen intense fighting between Taliban insurgents and security forces since 2007. The violence has forced thousands of residents to flee to safer areas and Taliban militants have destroyed nearly 200 mostly girls' schools in the scenic valley as part of efforts to enforce their strict version of Islam that prohibits female education.

But provincial authorities said they have signed a peace deal with a leading outlawed pro-Taliban group in the region [Tehrike Nifaze Sharia Mohammadi] headed by Sufi Mohammad. The agreement, they said, will lead to enforcement of the Islamic Sharia law in the area including Swat, once a tourist paradise.

Giving details of the deal at a news conference, Provincial Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti said the agreement has not been made under pressure from extremist forces and is not unconstitutional.

He defended the peace deal, saying that establishment of a separate judicial system in the area was long approved by the Pakistani parliament.

"Whatever we are giving them, there is not even a single section or provision which is against the basic fundamental rights and the liberties or against the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This was the peoples' demand. There was a problem there, there was a vacuum there and hopefully this would definitely work," he said.

Mr. Hoti said that the federal government and President Asif Ali Zardari have approved the deal under which, as he put it, all un-Islamic provisions in the existing legal system stand outlawed as a first step.

Militants have announced a 10-day unilateral cease-fire to pave the way for the peace agreement. But the provincial chief minister said Pakistani troops will remain stationed in Swat and will respond if they come under attack.

The peace deal in northwestern Pakistan was announced hours after missiles fired by a suspected unmanned U.S aircraft hit a militant hideout in a tribal region near the Afghan border.

This was the second such strike in the past three days. On Saturday, an alleged U.S drone attack killed at least 25 people in the South Waziristan tribal region. Witnesses and tribesmen described most of the victims as local and foreign militants.

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Swat Pakistan to Welcome in Sharia law

It appears that the Taliban is slowly wearing down the govt of Pakistan. As a deal to bring sharia law to the valley Swat, Pakistan is about to take place. I guess that the Pakistani government is OK with rewarding thugs that blow up schools.

Pakistan truce includes enforcement of Islamic law
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By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD –Pakistani officials reached a peace deal with a Taliban-linked group Sunday that could lead to the enforcement of Islamic law in a part of the country that is supposed to be fully under government control.

Militants in the Swat Valley responded by declaring a 10-day cease-fire as a goodwill gesture.

The agreement is expected to be formally announced Monday.

Several past deals with militants have failed, but Pakistan says force alone cannot defeat al-Qaida and Taliban fighters wreaking havoc in its northwest and attacking U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

The United States has said the deals merely give insurgents time to regroup.
Regaining the Swat Valley from militants is a major test for Pakistan's shaky civilian leadership. Unlike the semiautonomous tribal regions where al-Qaida and Taliban have long thrived, the former tourist haven is supposed to be under full government control.

But militants have gained power since a peace deal last year collapsed within months, and violence has increased.

Provincial government leaders confirmed they were talking to a pro-Taliban group about ways to impose Islamic judicial practices in the Malakand division, which includes Swat.

The Swat Taliban's version of Islamic law is especially harsh. They have declared a ban on female education, forced women to stay mostly indoors and clamped down on many forms of entertainment.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the militants would adhere to any deal reached with the group if Islamic law is implemented in the region.
He also announced the 10-day cease-fire.

"We reserve the right to retaliate if we are fired upon," he said. "Once Islamic law is imposed, there will be no problems in Swat. The Taliban will lay down their arms."
Khan also said the militants had freed a Chinese engineer held captive for nearly six months. Long Xiaowei was freed Saturday, days before a planned visit to China by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

Provincial law minister Arshad Abdullah said the deal would require the pro-Taliban group to convince the militants to first give up violence. Then existing laws governing the justice system can be amended or enforced, he said.

"They have to succumb to law," Abdullah said. "They have to put down their arms."
Past deals required militants to stop fighting but eventually unraveled amid militant complaints that the government was not meeting their demands.

The pro-Taliban group — known as the Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammedi, or the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law — is led by Sufi Muhammad, who Pakistan freed from custody last year after he renounced violence.

Muhammad is the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, the leader of the Swat Taliban. Muhammad, who has long agitated for Islamic law in the region, said that after the formal announcement he will go to Swat and ask Fazlullah and his men to lay down their arms.

A broad peace deal reached last year with Fazlullah's militants effectively collapsed within a few months, and Pakistani security officials blame that agreement for the militants' gains in Swat since then. The deal was supposed to let religious scholars advise judges in the courts, but the agreement encountered obstacles, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister for North West Frontier Province.

An Islamic judicial system is a concession to the insurgents, but it is also a long-standing demand of many civilians in the conservative region who are dissatisfied with the inefficient secular justice system.

Hussain noted that the Swat Taliban had responded well to the talks, but he warned that if "someone does not agree and does not adopt the way of dialogue, the government would be compelled to use force to establish its authority."

Pakistan has tried to avoid negotiating directly with militants, often using tribal elders as intermediaries.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi deflected concerns about a negative U.S. reaction to the talks, insisting the country was reaching out to peaceful groups.

"We are not compromising with militants, instead trying to isolate the militants, and for that I do not think America will have any objection," he said.

Deteriorating security in the nuclear-armed country has included a string of attacks on foreigners.

U.N. officials said Sunday they were still trying to establish contact with the kidnappers of an American employee seized Feb. 2 in the southwest city of Quetta. On Friday, John Solecki's kidnappers threatened to kill him within 72 hours and issued a 20-second video of the blindfolded captive.

It was unclear exactly when the deadline would expire, and U.N. officials said Sunday they were still trying to establish contact with the kidnappers, who identify themselves as the previously unknown Baluchistan Liberation United Front. The name indicates the group is more likely linked to separatists than to Islamists.

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