[USA Today] Thousands of hardline Islamists streamed toward Pakistain's capital in a massive convoy of vehicles Sunday to protest the government's decision to allow the U.S. and other NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
countries to resume shipping troop supplies through the country to Afghanistan.
In Pak parlance it's called a 'long march,' reminiscent, I guess, of the Maoists' 'long march' in China...
Supporters of the Defense Council of Pakistain take part in Sunday's rally in Lahore, Pakistain.
The Defense Council of Pakistain is pretty much the same usual suspects as the old Pak-Afghan Defense Council, which morphed into the MMA, which then evaporated after holding power for long enough for the mullahs to grab as much boodle as they could while protecting the bad guyz in NWFP and FATA.
The demonstration, which started in the eastern city of Lahore, was organized by the Difah-e-Pakistain Council -- Defense of Pakistain Council -- a group of politicians and religious leaders who have been the most vocal opponents of the supply line.
What's actually significant about the DFC is who's not in the alliance. Fazl and his JUI-F aren't involved. Nor is PML-N and the Sharifs. Nor is Imran Khan and his party if lightweights. Samiul 'Mullah Sandwich' Haq is the putative head cheese and the Jamaat-e-Islami is on board, as we'd expect. Hamid Gul's present for duty, as are a bunch of other Islamist hacks. The real driver, I think, is Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is co-owned by ISI and al-Qaeda.
Pakistain closed the route in November in retaliation for American
... sometimes described as
The Woman to Call at 3 a.m.and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Dean Acheson...
apologized for the deaths.
It didn't really matter what the U.S. did, the DPC was determined that the supply route wouldn't be reopened, which meant no groceries and ammunition for those fighting against the Talibs.
Clinton met with Pak Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar for the first time since the apology Sunday on the sidelines of an Afghan aid conference in Tokyo and expressed hope that resolution of the supply line conflict would lead to better relations between the troubled allies.
It might for awhile, but internal Pak politix is the driver, which is not the same as Pak national interest.
One of the reasons Pakistain waited so long to resolve the conflict is that the government was worried about domestic backlash in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant despite billions of dollars in U.S. aid over the last decade.
That's what I just said, isn't it?
The protest started Sunday in the center of Lahore, where several thousand people assembled with scores of buses, cars and
cycle of violences. They linked up with thousands more supporters waiting on the city's edge and drove toward Islamabad in a so-called "long march" against the supply line. The convoy included about 200 vehicles carrying some 8,000 people when it left Lahore, said police official Babar Bakht. After completing the four-hour journey to Islamabad, they plan to hold a protest in front of the parliament building Monday.That'll include the usual burning tires, brandished Koran, face-making, and howling, punctuated perhaps by an occasional baton charge. Bystanders will be beaten up, some cars set afire, and a wonderful time will be had by all, except for maybe a deader or two.
"By coming out on the streets, the Pak nation has shown its hatred for America," one of the Difah-e-Pakistain leaders, Maulana Samiul Haq
...leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as
Mullah Sandwichfor his habit of having two young boys at a time...
, known as the father of the Taliban, said in a speech on the outskirts of Lahore.
Supporters showered Haq with rose petals as he rode through Lahore in the back of a truck with other Difah-e-Pakistain leaders, including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
, founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the
Army of the Pure,an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is
banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
myrmidon group;
Hamid GulThe nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command...
, a retired Pak intelligence chief with a long history of myrmidon support; and Syed Munawar Hasan, leader of Pakistain's most powerful Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
Many demonstrators rode on the tops of buses, waving party flags and shouting slogans against the U.S. and NATO. "One solution for America, jihad, jihad!" they shouted.
The crowd was dominated by members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
, widely believed to be a front group for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed more than 160 people. Jamaat-ud-Dawa is led by the group's founder, Saeed.
"The movement that has been started to reverse the government's decision to restore the NATO supply will go on until America leaves this region for good," Saeed said in a speech on the outskirts of Lahore. "The mission is noble because it is to save the country and the nation from slavery."
The U.S. announced a $10 million bounty earlier this year for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Saeed, but he operates freely in the country. Pakistain says it doesn't have enough evidence to arrest Saeed, but many suspect the government is reluctant to move against him and other myrmidon leaders because they have longstanding ties with the country's military and intelligence service.
Rehman Malik
Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship.
, a government security adviser, said members of banned myrmidon groups would not be allowed to enter Islamabad for the Difah-e-Pakistain protest Monday, but all others would be welcomed.
"They are patriots. They are not anti-state people," Malik told news hounds. "We will welcome them with open arms."
It's unclear if they will try to prevent Saeed from attending the protest.
Difah-e-Pakistain is widely believed to be supported by the Mighty Pak Army as a way to put pressure on the U.S. Its leaders have vowed to stop NATO trucks from making the journey from the southern port city of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
to the Afghan border. But if the group has army backing, it could moderate its actions.
Although the army was outraged by the U.S. attack on its troops, which Washington said was an accident, it was eager to repair the relationship to free up more than $1 billion in military aid that had been frozen for the past year.
The U.S. waited so long to apologize in part because the B.O. regime was apparently worried such a move would expose it to criticism from Republicans in a presidential election year. Many U.S. officials and politicians harbor deep suspicions of Pakistain, citing the country's alleged support for hard boyz fighting U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
While the supply line through Pakistain was closed, the U.S. was forced to rely on a longer, more costly route that runs into Afghanistan through Central Asia. The route cost the U.S. an extra $100 million per month.
The U.S. also wanted to resolve the conflict because it needs Pakistain's help to strike a peace deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan so that American troops can withdraw without the country descending into further chaos. Pakistain is seen as key to an agreement because of its strong historical ties with the Taliban and its allies.