Pakistan

By Tariq Ali
The decision to make public a presidential order of last July authorizing American strikes inside Pakistan without seeking the approval of the Pakistani government ends a long debate within, and on the periphery of, the Bush administration. Senator Barack Obama, aware of this ongoing debate during his own long battle with Hillary Clinton, tried to outflank her by supporting a policy of U.S. strikes into Pakistan. Senator John McCain and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin have now echoed this view and so it has become, by consensus, official U.S. policy. Its effects on Pakistan could be catastrophic, creating a severe crisis within the army and in the country at large. The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis are opposed to the U.S. presence in the region, viewing it as the most serious threat to peace.

By Farooq Tariq
The 2 October suicidal attack on Asfand Yar Wali Khan's Hujra in Charsada and the 20/9 deadly attack in Islamabad must be condemned by all. So is the case of all the suicidal attacks all over. There must not be any pretext, rationalization or any foundation for such an attack. These are gutless acts by groups claiming to be anti imperialist. The sheer volume of dynamite, over 800 kilogram, used in 20/9 suicidal attack shows that it is not a work of an isolated group. It could be an Alqaida work or a group having similar power and resources.
However, these attacks have created a ground for an all out brutalities by the Pakistani government and the American imperialism against the ordinary citizens in all parts of Pakistan . Any act of individual terrorism can only create a puzzlement, confusion, bafflement, disappointments, panic, alarm, fright, dread, and fear for the time being. In most cases, the state forces immediately reorganize it to
respond to these attacks.

By Farooq Sulehria
A highly-explosive truck on September 20 rammed into the gates of the posh Marriot Hotel in high-security zone of Pakistani capital Islamabad. A fact, until writing of these lines, carefully avoided in mainstream Western media is: the target was the USA.
A section of Pakistani press, however, was quick in pointing out, as target, "a top secret and mysterious operation of the US Marines going on inside the Marriott when it was attacked on Saturday evening". According to daily Dawn, "Well-equipped security officers from the US embassy were seen on the spot soon after the explosions. However, they left the scene shortly afterwards".

September 12, 2008: At least 12 people were killed and 10 others injured in yet an other US drone's attack at Miranshah in North Waziristan, Pakistan, just a day after NATO officials announced in Brussels that its forces will not take part in the US strategy of conducting raids into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

September 11, 2008: US President George W. Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials cited by the International Herald Tribune.

September 8, 2008: Pakistan's The International News (Jang) reports that more than 20 people were killed and several injured during missile attack by US drones near Miranshah in North Waziristan today. The report said:
"Sources said that US drones fired ten guided missiles at a house and madarssah of son of Afghan commander Jalaluddin Haqqani in Danday Darpakhel area near Miranshah.

September 6, 2008: According to a report in Pakistan's Dawn, three children and two women were killed when US-led allied forces in Afghanistan attacked an area in North Waziristan on Friday September 5. This report said:
"Sources said a US spy plane fired three missiles on a house in Gorewek near the Afghan border, some 60 kilometres west of Miramshah.

Donations requested to help Labour Party Pakistan central secretariat to shift a newer and bigger offices
Labour Party Pakistan central secretariat is moving to a new place in central Lahore. The present center at 40 Abbot Road is located at a place where there is a lot of noise of the neighboring motor car workshops and transport mechanics and had also a small place to work. With the expansion of the LPP on all parts of Pakistan, we need to shift to a bigger place.

September 4, 2008: A by Raja Asghar in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn says that, following the deadly first known ground assault into Pakistan's tribal belt by US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. both houses of Pakistan's parliament unanimously asked the government to take measures to "repel such attacks in the future with full force".
"After fiery debates over Wednesday's pre-dawn helicopter-borne raid that reportedly killed at least 20 people in a village in South Waziristan agency, the demand was made in a resolution passed unanimously by the National Assembly and the Senate separately that also wanted the government to tell the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan that such violations were 'bound to force fundamental changes of foreign policy' by a key ally in the so-called war on terrorism.

September 5, 2008: Malik Mumtaz & Mushtaq Yusufzai reported in Pakistan's The News (Jang) today that six more people, including two suspected Arab nationals and four Dawar tribal militants, were killed and four others injured in yet another missile strike by a US Predator (unmanned "drone" warplane) on Achar Khel village near Miramshah in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on September 4