How Baitullah Mehsud Came to his End

On August 5, Baitullah Mehsud, the all-powerful and utterly ruthless commander of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in a US missile strike in South Waziristan. At the time of the strike, he was undergoing intravenous treatment for a kidney ailment, and was lying on the roof of his father-in-law's house with his young second wife.
At about one o'clock that morning, a missile fired by an unmanned CIA drone tore through the house, splitting his body in two and killing his wife, her parents, and seven bodyguards.

His death marked the first major breakthrough in the war against extremist leaders in Pakistan since 2003, when several top al-Qaeda members based in the country were arrested or killed. Over the last few years, Mehsud's estimated 20,000 fighters gained almost total control over the seven tribal agencies that make up the Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.

Mehsud's death plunged the Pakistani Taliban, composed of some two dozen Pashtun tribal groups, into an intense struggle over leadership, creating an opportunity for the CIA and Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI) to take action against the extremists. After ousting in April and May the militants who had seized the Swat valley—which is not in the tribal areas but north of the capital city of Islamabad—the Pakistani army is now pursuing the Pakistani Taliban with more determination: in mid-August, two of Mehsud's senior aides were arrested, one in FATA and the other in Islamabad while seeking medical treatment.


The US is anxious for Pakistan to continue its pressure by launching an offensive in Waziristan, the region in the southern part of FATA—first in South Waziristan to eliminate the Pakistani Taliban there and then in North Waziristan, where al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders are based.

Much More @ New York Review of Books

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Money Laundering Scheme Exposed

Srinagar, Oct 8 (IANS)

A money laundering (hawala) racket run to fund the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) seperatist group was busted in Jammu and Kashmir, a police official said Thursday.
On a tip-off, police arrested a trader from the uptown Hyderpora locality of Srinagar a few days back, the official said.

“During interrogation, the trader revealed that he and his accomplices in Jammu and Amritsar (in Punjab) have been running a hawala racket to fund LeT cadres,” the officer told IANS here.

On the revelations made by the trader, police have also arrested a trader in Jammu and another in Amritsar, he said.

“The arrested traders had been taking a 40 percent cut for running and supporting the racket and passing on the other 60 percent to LeT militant group,” the officer said.

According to police, traders would receive pulses and other goods from Pakistan-administered Kashmir through the Line of Control (LOC) and sell the received merchandize here without sending any goods in return. The trade along the LoC is on a barter basis.

The Rest @ The Indian