Baitullah Mehsud

Few months back the government of Pakistan and US both got exposed by the media when they released the pictures of US Drones parked in Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan. The controversy became an embarassment for both Musharraf and the present democratic government as no one could deny the reality. The detail article about the US drones parked in Pakistan can be found here.  Google Earth was credited for that discovery since its free service helped some curious users to discover the truth.

Google Earth has since been used to locate on map all places whose names are mentioned in media. Recently, when the death of Baitullah Mehsud was announced on the media, few people started finding the locations. The good news is that they were successful in locating the areas where Baitullah Mehsud is claimed to be killed and also the area where he had been buried. Thanks to Stefan Geens of Ogle Earth, the locations have now been tagged on Google Earth.

Since we all know and read that Baithullah Mehsud was hit by drones in Zangrai Algad (its Algada in reality which means a river or stream in Pashtu), Stefan was able to locate it.  According to Stefan,

Ladha was easily found via a default search in Google Earth (and the returned placemark comes courtesy of an entry in Google Earth Community); it is indeed in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan, and is the location of an old British fort. Then it was a matter of finding Zanghara. Here Geonames.org once again proved to be an invaluable resource. A fuzzy search for “Zangarha” in Pakistan returned one clear answer exactly 15km northeast of Ladha: Zangarai Algad, where “algad” denotes that the feature name is a stream or shallow valley. This valley extends northeast-southwest for a few kilometers, and I think it is likely this is the place referred to by the article.

You can further explore the area. Do note the terrain and anyone with slight idea of military will be in a better position to comment on it. As per my knowledge, the terrain is very difficult to access for any foot soldiers and hence drones are the best weapons to hit targets in such terrain.

Now lets see the second place where the Baitullah Mehsud is said to have been buried as per his will. The possible location has been shared in few media outlets as Nargosey. The place was also discovered by Stefan and that is what he says about it:

Browsing with Geonames.org in the immediate vicinity of the Zangarai placemark, it only took seconds to chance upon “Nargosa” village, one of the very few inhabited places in the remote and hilly area. Such successful triangulation of place names makes it quite likely in my mind that this is the place referred to

Thanks to the Google Earth, even individuals can now use their own free satellite to track things and make discoveries. Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch rightly says:

It is becoming increasingly more difficult to hide from Google Earth, which makes us all Big Brother in a sense. That’s a good thing (better us than a single government or corporation).

Unfortunately, Google Earth is only retrospective. You can’t see what is happening across the globe right now. Maybe one dayit will be closer to real time.

Let’s hope that the information provided by Google Earth is used for positive purposes since such vast information freely available can always be used for criminal and terrorist activities as well. So let’s hope the negative side of this technology is not much explored.

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“Only jihad can bring peace to the world” said Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan’s enemy number one, while talking to the BBC in 2007. Mehsud earned

the ire of the Pakistani military, people and Western world alike by his version of Jihad. His force structure is known to be very diverse: Including around 12,000 local fighters, many of them belonging to his own Mehsud tribe, and an estimated 4,000 foreign fighters, predominantly Arabs and Central Asians seasoned in the 1980s Afghan jihad. By giving them a cause and a home — in parts of South Waziristan where they were easily accessible to him- Mehsud raised a fanatical army of guerilla warfare. Not to forget his stable of teenage boys -indoctrinated to serve as suicide bombers, thus raising an army of child soldiers.

In March the U.S. put a $5 million bounty on his head. On the other side American unmanned drones increased significantly focusing on Mehsud-related targets. Its essential to highlight that the drone led attacks have killed 600 civilians till date. However a drone attack at Zangara ,in the tribal area of South Waziristan, today managed to eliminate Baitullah. His demise is undoubtedly a great blow to the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and a moral booster for the Pakistan army. If used strategically this could act as a juncture in the war against Taliban. According to sources the Taliban have already assembled to appoint a new leader. The NYT piece on Baitullah states:

Already, Taliban commanders were meeting Friday in a shura, or council, in the lawless tribal area of South Waziristan to choose his successor, according to intelligence and militant officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. It was unclear when they would reach a decision.

Photo Courtesy: BBC- Pakistan’s most feared men

The fact that an immediate council has been set up reflects the intensity of the loss. Whether the Pakistan army and the American intelligence agency utilize this opportunity to further destabilize Taliban, remains a question. Provided that they do utilize this opportunity (which they must) it could undoubtedly trigger a pivotal change. Another speculation leading to his death is of a possible backlash. The Pakistani authority have reportedly dismissed any signs of immediate reaction. Still many fear that the backlash could be extremely devastating. Many believe that his death has marked him a martyr to his soldiers. A martyr whose death will ignite the inferno of religious extremism even more. Nonetheless his death has snubbed one of the most blatant Taliban leaders. He was known to mastermind and blatantly confess over 80% terrorist attacks in Pakistan. A report in Dawn elaborates:

A wave of attacks linked to the militants has killed 1,995 people around Pakistan since government forces fought gunmen holed up in Islamabad’s Red Mosque in July 2007, sparking militant retaliation.The government has blamed nearly 80 per cent of the attacks on the Pakistan Taliban, including the December 2007 killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

A video footage showing manhunt for Baitullah Mehsud

NYT reports:Just Last year, Mehsud held a rare news conference in the town of Kot Kai in South Waziristan to discuss his fight against the U.S.

”It is the top desire of my life to obtain martyrdom, I have strong feelings for the martyrdom in my heart,” he said. ”To be a martyr, to be wounded or arrested we consider it as a sacrifice.”He said the Taliban supported suicide bombings as a response to American bombs.”America is bombing us and we are facing cruelty, so we will support these suicide attacks.” he said. ”They (suicide bombers) are our atom bombs. Although the infidels have the atom bombs, our atom bombs are the finest in the world.”They use the atom (bomb) and it destroyed everything while our one bomb just targets one target to be destroyed.”

Photo Courtesy: NYT- Baitullah Mehsud’s press conference

Mehsud’s growing influence had become a grave concern to Western policymakers suggesting Pakistan represents the gravest general security threat to the international community — the prospect of al Qaeda being nuclear-armed. With Mehsud down the prospect seems less likely to be attained. At the same time this is entirely dependant on how Baitullah’s death is utilized to further damage the Taliban regime.The most interesting fact surrounding Baitullah is his death from a drone attack, and if the incident changes the majorities perspective. While speaking in a live show on Dawn Faraha naz Isphani, Advisor to the President, confessed she will not condemn drones if they have successfully eliminated Baitullah. In the past the secrecy cloaked drone attacks have been quite notorious. Even though the authorities continued to publicly condemn the drone attacks , many analyst disclosed a mutual agreement. The targeting of Baitullah Mehsud highlights the closely knitted intelligence networking between the US and Pakistani authorities.In June, authorities announced they were launching an operation against Mehsud in South Waziristan( Read The hunt for Baitullah Meshud). Although air strikes began right away, the offensive never went full-scale, even with a well defined target. In the meantime, the drone attacks increased, claiming to target Mehsud, further raising speculation that the Pakistani authorities were coordinating the drone attacks with Americans. On accounts of drone attacks, many might principally disagree , but after Baitullah’s death a possible change in perspective can not be denied.Baitullah Mehsud’s death can be considered a significant blow but not a definite one. Al-Qaeda has never been a one man army , many more deputes will vow in Baituallah’s place.But the Taliban will require time to groom a leader that commands the same fear among his tribesmen, that made Baitullah an elusive foe. The recent tussle among the Taliban groups has incautiously exposed their weakness. His demise has also managed to shatter the implausible conspiracy theory surrounding his group.The aim now should be to sabotage Baitullah’s legacy.We must remember that the Waziristan operation was tagged as a “decisive showdown” by the army, and Baituallah’s death is no doubt the curtain raiser. Now that Baitullah is no more the end seems more realistic and attainable.

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Latest : Mehsud Confirmed Dead

There are reports coming in that the Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud may be dead after a reported drone attack, a US official said on Thursday. If confirmed, the death of Mehsud would be a coup for Washington, which has placed a five-million-dollar bounty on his head and branded him “a key Al Qaeda facilitator” in Pakistan’s tribal belt.

“There is some reason to believe Mehsud may be dead but it cannot be confirmed at this time for certain,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told media.We suspect he was killed in the missile strike,’ Rehman Malik said on Friday. ‘We have some information, but we don’t have material evidence to confirm it.’

Meanwhile, Director General ISPR Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas cautioned that the reports of Mehsud’s death are still unconfirmed. ‘We are receiving reports and probing,’ he said.

ABC News cited a senior US official as saying there was a 95 per cent chance that Mehsud was among those killed in the missile strike. US officials have visual and other indicators it was Mehsud and Pakistanis are now trying to collect physical evidence to be certain, ABC reported. The official would not comment on the circumstances surrounding Mehsud’s possible death.

ABC News Report : Click Here For Video

We earlier posted that Mehsud’s wife had been killed in an attack from an unmanned US aircraft, which regularly target Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan. A senior Pakistani security official had told media that the target of the strike was the warlord Mehsud. US television quoted unnamed US officials saying there was no physical evidence but there were “indicators” that Mehsud had been killed.The officials said they hoped to secure DNA tests, US television reported. Pakistan on Sunday offered a 615,000-dollar reward for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of Mehsud.

[click to continue...]

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The wife of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was one of three killed on Wednesday in a missile strike by a suspected US drone in South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a relative said.

‘I confirm that the female that was killed in the strike was the wife of Baitullah Mehsud,’ the relative told Reuters by telephone.

The missile had struck the house of Baitullah Mehsud’s father-in-law An intelligence official told Reuters two militants were killed in the attack. Mehsud’s whereabouts were not known at the time. The relative who spoke to Reuters did not want to be identified.

Source: Reuters

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“But ultimately these are decisions to be made by the Pakistani government and the Pakistani people. What the United States believes is, is that we are a partner in the process of peace-loving nations seeking to root out extremism, increase development, and that is the kind of role that we want to play with Pakistan” said President Obama on his first one on one with Pakistan earlier this week.

Just days after President’s address a US drone attack killed 60 at a funeral progression in south Waziristan. The funeral was being held for those killed in a drone attack earlier in the day. According to THE NEWS : Uptill April 2009 there have been over 60 drone attacks, only 10 were able to hit their actual targets, killing 14 wanted al-Qaeda leaders, besides perishing 687 innocent Pakistani civilians.The ’success’ ration speaks for itself. However the cost of over 700 innocent lives isn’t worthy enough to be answered by President Obama. When asked about the drone attacks he preferred assuring that he had no intention of sending US troops into Pakistan. Ofcourse it will be unnecessarily as ‘unmanned’ killer machines execute the target quite tactfully. Upon addressing the army offensive in south Waziristan Obama said ‘The Pakistani government is accountable to the people of Pakistan’. My question to President Obama is what answers does our ‘friendly allie’ expect us to give to the families of hundreds of innocents killed by continuous drone attacks ?.

Photo Courtesy : Wired- US Drones Parked inside Pakistan’s territory

The continuous drone strikes are provoking anger among the locals. An upheaval that is bound to dwindle faith on the military offensive among the locals. An incentive that will allow the Taliban’s to recruit more veterans into their mindless army. The efforts of the army to prevent collateral damage deem futile as drone attacks continue. The US however views the ‘drone’ attacks as a tactful way to eliminate targets. A tough posture from Pakistan against the US air strikes is met with criticism on our sincerity on the war of terror. A war that was brought upon us while we tried to play ‘first hand allies. In January ‘2009 soon after resuming office the Obama’s administration authorized Air strikes with in Pakistan. A CNN overview of the authorized air strikes can seen in this video:

Photo Courtesy: Spencer Platt/ Getty Image

After decades of working with and for the US , we are met with criticism and dubiousness. How many more innocent lives will be lost before the US would learn to trust us?. This is a war inside our borders, targeting our people ,effecting our lives yet it manages to question our sincerity. The only sincerity in question should be of the US on the war of terror. It is no myth that the Taliban will be taking full on advantage of the civilian deaths to serve their purpose. The continuous killings of innocent civilians is fueling the Taliban inferno. The aftermath of which will be endured by the people of Pakistan . It is time now that President Obama proves true to his words. Neither his middle name nor his rhetorical oratory will help save Pakistan from the crisis at hand. The people of Pakistan question the sincerity of the United states on this war that’s left us all bleeding. Why are innocent live being sabotaged in a war that promises to bring peace. The negligence form the US speaks volume of their ‘interest’ in the lives of our people. The incompetence of our state is further aggravating the situation. In the backdrop of the upheaval it will not be far-fetched to expect a backlash. The frustration that is seemingly evolving in to a ‘civil war’. Amid the chaos the normal Pakistani is appalled at the possibilities of the future. We are at the epicenter of a war whose mentors play Silent Gods while they watch our people bleed.

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According to the news story appearing on Dawn, Qari Zainuddin has been shot dead in DIKhan. The story comes as a shock and open a new chapter in the tribal chaos and conspiracies going on in Pakistan. According to Dawn,

‘I confirm that Qari Zainuddin has been shot dead,’ Salahuddin, superintendent of police in the city, told Reuters. It was not clear who was behind the killing, he said. Zainuddin was in his office when a man opened fire on him, local police official Salah-ud-din Khan told AFP. ‘Zainuddin was immediately shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,’ he said, adding that one of the tribal leader’s accomplices was also injured in the shooting. Khan said Zainuddin was pronounced dead by doctors when his body reached the hospital in Dera Ismail Khan. Another local police official Ghulam Rabbani also confirmed the incident, saying ‘Qari Zainuddin has been assassinated’. Suspicion is likely to focus on Mehsud for Zainuddin’s murder.

The blame was meant to fall on the shoulder of Baitullah Mehsud however, i tend to think on a different line. Qari Zainuddin and Turkistan Bittani were suppose to rival BaithUllah Masud but i think they went too far to disclose few other secrets that someone didn’t want them to disclose. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a case in point. The way the area was wiped out after the death of Benazir raised first suspicions about the involvement of some influential in her death. Now that there were proofs emerging about the involvement of the exact people behind her death was too much of an information of the same group who wanted to keep a lid on all the proofs.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has started resembling that of JF Kennedy where all the proofs were systematically removed over the passage of time. First Benazir personal security guard was killed in Karachi outside his residence. The proofs were washed out and UN investigation was delayed and now this latest death of a person who tried to disclose the reality behind Baithullah Mehsud and his financiers.

I hope the Americans are not involved in all this drama unfolding in the region since some newspapers have already pointed fingers at Dick Cheney (click here for detail story) and his team of assassins to be involved. The way things are going, this theory is becoming a fact.

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Baithullah Mehsud came to power when his predecessor Abdullah Mehsud was killed in a firefight with Pakistani security agencies. The tip off on the location of Abdullah Mehsud is said to have come from an unknown source. Now there is a controversy that the source for the information was Baithullah Mehsud who wanted to take over the Mehsud Tribes and other factions fighting against the government intervention in FATA. Abdullah Mehsud was a relatively peaceful person since he believed in Jihad in Afghanistan against the foreign forces led by USA. He was not interested in fighting Pakistan army and its people. The other theory says that the tip off came from CIA who wanted Baitullah Mehsud to lead the tribals against Pakistani army and create anarchy in Pakistan and resulting declare Pakistan a country not suitable to hold its nuclear weapons. It is also worth mentioning here that the second point is also supported by another argument that the Americans killed Naik Muhammad, who signed  a peace deal with Pakistan, and only wanted the Tribals to fight the Americans and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Since the take over of Baithullah Mehsud, the image of Talibans have suffered a major blow as all Pakistani’s consider them as a pure group of terrorists hell bent on destroying Pakistan. Ironically, American drones have been successful in killing the most elusive members of Al-Qaeda and Afghan Talibans but failed to kill Baithullah Mehsud. Pakistan intelligence agencies provided Americans with concrete information on the location of Baithullah Mehsud but somehow the CIA led drones never tried to attack Baitullah Mehsud. On the other hand, Baithullah Mehsud is using sophisticated communication system that can not be decrypted by our elite ISI. It is generally believed in intelligence circles that the same communication system is active and might be providing him with information about the Pakistani army movements and possible attacks on his life from across the border in Afghanistan. It is a still not known who is the person on the otherside providing such accurate information to Baithullah Mehsud.

It is in this background that a local leader Qari Zainuddin has come out to challenge Baithullah Mehsud authority in the South Waziristan area. Qari Zainuddin worked closely with Abdullah Mehsud and is possible aware of the circumstances in which he was killed. He has clearly blamed Baithullah Mehsud for the death of Abdullah Mehsud and he consider Baithullah Mehsud as the source of all evils that are affecting both the tribal areas in Pakistan and the  Afghan Jihad effort.

Qari Zainuddin is said to have support of all the people of Mehsud tribe who hates Baitullah Mehsud but fear him to voice their opposition. Now that the army operation is imminent, a division between the Mehsuds are becoming visible. [click to continue...]

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So a day before G20 Summit commenced, Baitullah Mehsud for the first time in more than 18 months suddenly appears and says we are going to strike Washington and White House. And the next day Obama declares Al-Qaida planning to attack US from Pakistan. How convenient, who is Baitullah Mehsud serving here? Mullah Omar or CIA ? And now the public flogging of girl in Swat, which TTP has clearly called Fake attempt to destabilize the Swat peace deal. I think there is more to it than what the people assumes and what the western media is portraying at the moment. Ahmed Quraishi article gives a good overview of the deliberate attempt to sabotage the Swat deal.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Everyone knows that a public flogging like this one will create a stir. The fake Taliban who also call themselves ‘Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’ [TTP] did this intentionally. And the Pakistani media played along, repeating the footage endlessly for ratings.

The problem is that this appears to be a deliberate attempt by these suspicious ‘Pakistani Taliban’ to derail the peace deal that has robbed them from the excuse to fight their own country and people by claiming that Shariah is not implemented.

This attempt is another indicator in the piles of circumstantial evidence collected over the past two years that proves that while most of the foot soldiers of the ‘Pakistani Taliban’ are our own misguided young Pakistanis, the real handlers behind this shadowy group are people with links to the border area with Afghanistan where, according to the latest statement by Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, some 4000 foreign fighters are present.

[click to continue...]

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