Asia Security
Monitor
No. 71, March 15, 2004 Pakistan aiding Taliban;
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| March 1: The Pakistani Army is giving aid to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Press Trust of India reports. American intelligence officials possess satellite photos that show Pakistani Army trucks picking up Taliban troops who were fleeing back across the border after a failed attack. Open incidents of aiding rebels have decreased after the U.S. confronted Pakistani officials with the photographs, reported the Time magazine. Afghan security officials complain that their Pakistani counterparts continue to tolerate and even encourage militancy by the Taliban. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has pledged cooperation in the hunt for al Qaeda’s top officials, but has shown less enthusiasm for rooting out the Taliban. Meanwhile, Pakistan flatly denied a report that it had struck a deal to allow U.S. troops to hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on its territory, Reuters reports. The latest issue of the New Yorker weekly reported that thousands of U.S. troops would be deployed in a tribal area which borders Afghanistan, in return for Washington’s support of Islamabad’s pardon last month of Abdul Qadeer Khan, a scientist who admitted leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. “This report has no truth in it and there is no such deal,” military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said. March 6: Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra plans to remove the Fourth Army Commander Lieutenant-General Pongsak Ekbannasingh - in charge of the Muslim-dominated south - for failing to end weeks of violence that have left up to 50 people dead, reports Agence France Presse. Former Fourth Army commander Senator Harn Leenanond said that it would be a mistake to remove Pongsak, who is a native of the south and has served the region for three decades. Leenanond stated, “Chaos in the southernmost region partly resulted from security mismanagement, and the premier could not deny his responsibility.” March 10: The Indonesian Supreme Court has reduced the prison sentence of a suspected spiritual leader of the Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), reports the New York Times. Bashir’s three-year prison sentence - after being found guilty on immigration and forgery offences in 2003 - has been reduced by the court, and he could be free within weeks. The American Embassy expressed extreme disappointment with the court’s decision. “We believe there is extensive evidence of Bashir’s role as the leader of J.I.,” said an embassy spokesman. Om al-Faruq, an al Qaeda operative seized in June 2002, told Central Intelligence Agency interrogators that Mr. Bashir was the major organizer of the failed plot to blow up the American, Australian and Israeli Embassies in Singapore. Because Bashir has already relinquished his operational control and JI members are on the run, the Supreme Court ruling is not likely to have an immediate visible impact on the group, though it will boost organizational moral, says Sidney Jones, a leading expert on JI from the International Crisis Group. Although Bashir has denied his involvement in terrorism, he has publicly defended the 32 people convicted in the Bali bombing, reports the Associated Press. March 11: Thailand’s Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn traveled to the Muslim dominated, violence-plagued south, where he made an impassioned plea for religious harmony and conveyed royal concern for the unrest in the region, reports Agence French Presse. While meeting with Muslim dignitaries and religious leaders, he said, “Their majesties the king and queen are so worried about the situation [in the South] which is affecting everyone.” The prince’s visit comes just two weeks after his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej expressed his concern over the violence to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and urged all parties to work together to solve the problem. |
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Copyright
© 2004, American Foreign Policy Council.
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