NATO Forces Attack Pakistan
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by Raja Mujtaba in Pak-US Relations
Pakistan Blocks NATO Supplies
By Raja G Mujtaba
General Aslam Beg
General Aslam Beg, former Army Chief has also come hard, he demanded to shoot down intruding ISAF copters, drones, etc. Talking to the media, he said Pakistan Air Force should be ordered to chase and hunt any intruders within our airspace till shot down.
AP has reported that NATO helicopters attacked a Pakistani border post near Afghanistan on Thursday, killing three troops, security officials in Pakistan said. Later, government officials said they were ordered to stop trucks carrying supplies for international forces from entering Afghanistan at a major border crossing.
This was a second attack in a span of few days. Earlier, after the first attack where two helicopters intruded into Pakistan killing few civilians that was also objected to by the Pakistan government. NATO officials were given a warning to refrain from such attacks that were turned down by NATO as their right to attack inside Pakistan. On this the Pakistan Information Minister responded saying that if in future any such attack takes place, Pakistan will retaliate in a suitable manner.
When contacted, ISPR spokesperson confirmed the attacks and blockade of NATO supply line. This action has been warmly received by the Pakistani people at large. He said the instructions are very clear to block the supply line of ISAF till further orders.
Talking to a retired 2 star general of Pakistan army, who wished to remain anonymous, was appreciative of the act. He insisted that the government must hold firm on this for sometime to generate general public response in its support. Lifted without achieving the purpose, it will backfire on us.
If NATO and the US do not see to logic and respect the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan, the fallout is likely to exacerbate tensions between Islamabad and Washington, which is struggling to beat back a resurgent Taliban movement in the 9-year-old Afghan war. In such an eventuality, the US would be the loser.
Over the weekend also, NATO choppers intruded and fired on targets in Pakistan, claiming to have killed several alleged insurgents they had pursued over the border from Afghanistan. But reports from the area are quite contrary to their claims. Total casualties were said to be thirty and all were civilians with no insurgents amongst them. Islamabad protested strongly the intrusion into its territory that has inflamed already pervasive anti-American sentiments among Pakistanis.
On Thursday, the government ordered to stop NATO supply trucks from crossing into Afghanistan at the Torkham
Trailers carrying supplies stand blocked
border post, a major entryway for NATO supplies to Afghanistan that passes through Khyber tribal region. This is the first threat that has been carried out by Pakistan government over the years. This should certainly sound warnings to the US and NATO of the times to come.
The claim that the border troops wear uniforms that resemble the traditional Pakistani dress of a long shirt and baggy trousers — which could make it hard to distinguish them from ordinary citizens or insurgents is not true. The uniform stands out from a distance that can not be mistaken. The dead men were from a paramilitary force tasked with safeguarding the border, the Pakistani security officials said. Their bodies were taken to the region’s largest town of Parachinar, one official said. Three troops also were wounded.
According to AP, Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for intelligence and special operations at NATO headquarters in Kabul, said coalition forces observed early Thursday what they believed were insurgents firing mortars at a coalition base in Dand Wa Patan district of Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan.
“A coalition air weapons team called for fire support and engaged the insurgents,” he said. “The air weapons team reported that it did not cross into Pakistani air space and believed the insurgents were located on the Afghan side of the border.” If this assumption is true then how come the Pakistani troops well within Pakistani territory were killed and wounded?
Dorrian said NATO was reviewing the reports to see if the operation in Paktia was related to Pakistan’s reports its forces were hit by NATO aircraft.
What happened over the weekend and today was not the first time. A similar act took place in June 2008, a U.S. airstrike killed 11 Pakistani troops and frayed the two nations’ ties. Pakistan said the soldiers died when U.S. aircraft bombed their border post in the Mohmand tribal region. U.S. officials said their coalition’s aircraft dropped bombs during a clash with militants. They expressed regret over the deaths, but said their attack was justified. If US soldiers were killed as a result of some strike by Pakistani forces would the US accept an apology and regret from Pakistan? By the known track record the Whitehouse and the Capitol Hill would have made a mountain out of the mole finding excuses to punish Pakistan.
The US has to understand that Pakistan and the U.S. have a complicated, but vital, relationship, with distrust on both sides. If its not handled with utmost care the things could get worse. Here the US must remember that it may be very powerful in numerical strength but the Pakistani nation more than makes it through it resilience and conviction to die for the country.
Already, majority of Pakistanis regard the United States as an enemy; with the passage of time even the moderates are turning anti US and conspiracy theories abound of U.S. troops wanting to attack Pakistan and take over its nuclear weapons by deploying Blackwater and Xe etc. No matter how pliable the Pakistan government maybe it cannot ignore the sentiments of the Pakistani people.
If the U.S. and NATO need Islamabad’s cooperation in maintaining the vital artery of supply then it must respect the sentiments and the sovereignty of Pakistan. Or with such acts of war is Obama trying to prove what Bob Woodward has said in his book, ‘Obama’s War?’
The MSNBC report in this context is worth viewing that says that it was a probe before launching a full scale attack on Pakistan.
Raja Mujtaba has over 25 years of writings behind him. His focus is on the Muslim World in particular and all other
areas where humanity is subjected to injustice, suppression and killings. He sees the world as a global living but not part of the New World Order that is a Zionist Agenda. His conviction is that there can be no peace without justice thus the root cause to every problem must be identified and addressed. Justice leads to peace that develops love
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15 Responses to “NATO Forces Attack Pakistan”
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30. Sep, 2010
NATO Forces Attack Pakistan | Opinion Maker…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog
…
Dr.A.K.Tewari
30. Sep, 2010
Pakistan is no more a soveraign country Its army is equiped and salary of soldiers is paid by US .
Ayesha Villalobos
30. Sep, 2010
NATO’S presence in the region is a curse instead of a blessing a dangerous charade wherein criminals was not considered a murderer but a protector.
The blockade now appears to be a diminishing relevance to the United States as a superpower in their ever more quest of ambitious yet failed experiments in state and regime building whose lessons may be of crucial relevance to Pakistan .Drones attacked ,violation of air space ,indiscriminate casualties , these war criminals are still at large, government corruption is rampant, and organized crime, like a “fast-spreading virus,” “diverts resources from the formal economy, undermines Pakistan’s central power necessary to make the system work .The region has been turned into more than just another link of US in the chain of global crime; it has become an essential bridge in waging US networks of establishing a new world order , to the degree to which we can
accept that sovereignty is a relational concept, which implies mutually recognized
exclusive authority over a certain territory, where sovereignty and criminality are not just mutually constitutive, but logically inseparable but in the long run crime is what sovereignty is made of.
“If sovereignty is a charade, then it is a charade that requires a number of willing players who somehow recognize – and refrain from challenging – each other’s signs”. And if the meaning of sovereignty is historically reliant, it is also dependent on the common understanding of it. Over the years Pakistan’s sovereignty has been so frequently violated in the name of sovereignty itself. Indeed, we can say that it is a “paradoxical sovereignty “ or it could may not be anything but an organized hypocrisy, a “cognitive script” whose integrity are continually breached, challenged and attacked from actions as a results of sovereign’s ability to suspend laws and create an empty states of exception, to be at once both the law itself and beyond law .Or is it simply that sovereignty vague the obscenity of power inequalities, that it is espouse by both the great powers and by the powerless as a desperately needed gratifying scheme.
Where sovereignty and criminality are equally constitutive in which they turned States as an “organized mafias,” whose sole benefit over other criminal organizations is mutual recognition .NATO lurks behind the US patriot wagon , conquering territories ,waging of wars and violence labelled off as criminal or failed states – permitting the term of “organized hypocrisy” to articulate about the necessity of pronouncement of failed states to exchange their domestic sovereignty – as well as the control over the natural resources – for international legal sovereignty in order to continue to exist .Pakistan’s Blockade of NATO supply route is a “breakthrough” , is this a sign of more drastic change to come? These intruders needed to be crush down without hesitation.
claudius stahlkopf
01. Oct, 2010
The US is like an infectious decease anywhere they go , the patient get contamined
The US is not a country , is a bacteria
Art Smith
01. Oct, 2010
My comments could go for A LONG LONG TIME .How about the illegal du weaponry of NATO? Look up Leuren Moret for a bigger picture…Looks like simply genocide to me and victims on the ground.The indiginous peoples worldwide are still getting the axe from corporations running their mad show of “their devolopment”vs the indiginous.Draining all the earth’s resources and cultures that have roots going back millenia…,not to mention special plants and wildlife.No,I don’t need all the moderrn conveniences if it means sacifice of people and land and species going extinct.Time for us moderns to sacifice for the “first peoples”,many of whom are worthy mentors for humanity.Much of their knowledge has been built into their hearts and minds by devotion to principles and cultivation of mysterios ways with Naturethat develop a healthy mind-body-spirit .We all lose as first-people lose.
(Open) NATO Forces Attack Pakistan
01. Oct, 2010
[...] if in future any such attack takes place, Pakistan will retaliate in a suitable manner. more… NATO Forces Attack Pakistan | Opinion Maker NATO says aircraft entered Pakistan, killed "armed individuals" 30 Sep 2010 [...]
Tahir
01. Oct, 2010
If we don’t do any thing now; next time ground troops will enter along with air. It is time now to act firmly. Being partners in war against terror has also its boundaries which need to be respected at all costs.
Tom Lowe
02. Oct, 2010
NATO = Zionist War Crime Gang.
Ashok kumar
02. Oct, 2010
THE ARTICLE IS VERY INFORMATVIE AND TIMELY…IT IS HIGH TIME THAT THE AUTHORIES IN PAKISTAN MUST SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL…OTHERWISE IT WILL BE TOO LATE…NO ONE CAN TAKE FOR GURANTED THAT USA STANDS WILL ALWAYS REMAIN SAME…NATIONAL INTERSTS OF USA WILL DECIDES ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH OUTSIDE WORLD…SO BE CARE FUL .
Dr.A.K.Tewari
02. Oct, 2010
Afghanistan is now base for US-NATO forces to wipe out terrorists where ever they are .From here they can penitrate even in the middle east and India,what to say about Pakistan .
Samson Simon Sharaf
03. Oct, 2010
Pakistan is ironically a Non NATO Ally.
In the murky and violent political quagmire that Pakistan has willingly landed itself in, the latest spate of Violations is tantamount to testing waters. COAS is under pressure to act in NWS, Removal of Zardari led leadership now without the support of NRO. It appears that the COAS is resisting.
Pakistan’s Military and Political command now have to choose a transition point at which Pakistan’s armed forces must retaliate in self defense against such intrusions.
Block one NATO route out of many is symbolic. The next escalation must hurt them hard for disrespect to Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Kourosh Ziabari
05. Oct, 2010
This article is informative indeed. It depicts the complexity of Pakistan – U.S. relations very well. I’ve extracted from the article that it’s in the interests of the Pakistani government to maintain sustainable relations with the U.S., but the public is angry at the stance Washington has taken with regards to Islamabad. I wonder why the U.S. still insists in keeping up with its attacks on Pakistan while the country is already grappling with the grave consequences of the devastative flood of July. Anyway, I condemn every act of violence, aggression and coercion. The United States is not morally allowed to violate the airspace of Pakistan and kill its innocent civilians. The international community should hold the U.S. accountable for what it’s doing in Pakistan.
Muzammil Hussain
06. Oct, 2010
The US government is still not be able to understand the PAKISTANI nation and ISLAM, or they are not trying to understand it, i think that we must have to prepare our selves against the worlds no 1 terrorist goverment of america. But the peace is much batter then war, i pray to GOD for peace.
Ferdinand
18. May, 2011
Pakistan is a sovereign nations the pakistan people should stand and unite and fight those people use pakistan to come in their country and shoot any people inside pakistan. The pakistan should shoot any intruder who want to go inside pakistan.
soyeb
28. Nov, 2011
nato and us acid test with muslim contrys, may be push him self to another worldwar………….