Mexican authorities have taken drastic measures to contain a new strain of the swine flu virus that has killed 81 and prompted fears of a global pandemic.
People are being urged to stay at home and maintain strict personal hygiene. Many schools, public buildings, bars and restaurants have been closed.
Non-fatal cases have been confirmed in the US and are likely in New Zealand.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that at least some of the cases are a new strain of the virus.
SWINE FLU
Swine flu is a respiratory disease found in pigs
Human cases usually occur in those who have contact with pigs
Human-to-human transmission is rare and such cases are closely monitored
Q&A: Swine flu
UK monitoring swine flu outbreak
H1N1 is the same strain that causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans, but the newly detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu which usually affect pigs and birds.
The respiratory virus - which infects pigs but only sporadically humans - is spread mainly through coughs and sneezes.
The WHO has warned the virus has the potential to become a pandemic.
Suspected outbreaks
Although all of the deaths so far have been in Mexico, the flu is spreading in the United States and suspected cases have been detected elsewhere:
Eleven confirmed infections in the US
In addition, eight suspected cases are being investigated at a New York City high school where about 200 students fell mildly ill with flu-like symptoms
Ten New Zealand students are among a group which travelled to Mexico have tested positive for influenza A - making it "likely", though not definite, that they are infected with swine flu, said Health Minister Tony Ryall
In France, a top health official told Le Parisien newspaper there were unconfirmed suspicions that two individuals who had just returned from Mexico may be carrying the virus
But a UK hospital conducting tests for swine flu on a British Airways cabin crew member said the tests proved negative.
Mexico shutdown
The Mexican government, which has faced criticism for what some see as a slow reaction to this outbreak, is now taking an increasingly hard line to try to contain the virus, says the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City.
Public buildings have been closed and hundreds of public events suspended.
It's eerily quiet here in the capital. Lots of people with masks
Schools in and around Mexico City have been closed until 6 May, and some 70% of bars and restaurants in the capital have been temporarily closed.
People are being strongly urged to avoid shaking hands, and the US embassy has advised visitors to the country to keep at least six feet (1.8m) from other people.
Mexico's Health Secretary, Jose Cordova, said a total of 1,324 people had been admitted to hospital with suspected symptoms since 13 April and were being tested for the virus.
PANDEMIC CRITERIA
Virus can infect people
It can easily spread person-to-person
No immunity in humans
"In that same period, 81 deaths were recorded probably linked to the virus but only in 20 cases we have the laboratory tests to confirm it," he said.
Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has announced emergency measures to deal with the situation.
They include powers to isolate individuals suspected of having the virus without fear of legal repercussions
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tamil Tiger rebels call ceasefire
Tamil Tiger rebels fighting government forces in north-east Sri Lanka have declared a unilateral ceasefire.
A Tamil Tiger spokesman told the BBC the move was due to what he called an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The Sri Lankan defence minister government told the BBC he dismissed the announcement, calling it a joke.
The rebels are surrounded by troops in a 12 sq km (5 sq m) area. The UN says more than 160,000 civilians have fled the area but 50,000 remain.
A Tamil Tiger spokesman told the BBC the move was due to what he called an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The Sri Lankan defence minister government told the BBC he dismissed the announcement, calling it a joke.
The rebels are surrounded by troops in a 12 sq km (5 sq m) area. The UN says more than 160,000 civilians have fled the area but 50,000 remain.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Babri demolition a dead issue, says BJP
Dismissing the Babri Masjid demolition as a "dead issue", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday accused the Congress of raking up the matter to divert people's attention from real issues of economy, price rise, farmers' suicides, unemployment and terrorism.
"Congress is becoming jittery and they are all raising dead issues...Babri", senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told a press conference in Bangalore.
He said the real issues concern economy, price rise, farmers' suicides, unemployment and terrorism but neither Congress president Sonia Gandhi, nor Rahul Gandhi nor the Congress party had the "capacity" to talk about these issues.
Babri Masjid demolition is of no "consequence" for the people now, he said, adding, "nobody is worried about Babri (demolition) now. It's virtually a forgotten issue but for pseudo-secular political parties".
Naidu also sought to attack key regional parties, saying they raised the bogey of secularism whenever it suited them and noting that DMK, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, BJD, PMK and MDMK had joined hands with BJP in the past (and not in BJP-led NDA now).
He said the BJP wants to caution the people about the 'so-called secular' parties who had always raised the bogey of secularism and termed it a biggest fraud on the people. "To cover up corruption, Lalu Prasad talks of secularism", he said.
"Congress is becoming jittery and they are all raising dead issues...Babri", senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told a press conference in Bangalore.
He said the real issues concern economy, price rise, farmers' suicides, unemployment and terrorism but neither Congress president Sonia Gandhi, nor Rahul Gandhi nor the Congress party had the "capacity" to talk about these issues.
Babri Masjid demolition is of no "consequence" for the people now, he said, adding, "nobody is worried about Babri (demolition) now. It's virtually a forgotten issue but for pseudo-secular political parties".
Naidu also sought to attack key regional parties, saying they raised the bogey of secularism whenever it suited them and noting that DMK, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, BJD, PMK and MDMK had joined hands with BJP in the past (and not in BJP-led NDA now).
He said the BJP wants to caution the people about the 'so-called secular' parties who had always raised the bogey of secularism and termed it a biggest fraud on the people. "To cover up corruption, Lalu Prasad talks of secularism", he said.
Sri Lanka keeps mum as refugees’ cries get louder
Sri Lanka was silent on India’s appeal to cease hostilities with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) more than a day after National Security Advisor MK Narayanan and Foreign Secretary SS Menon met President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday.
Though External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke about cessation of hostilities on Thursday, it was learnt India did not press for it at Friday’s meeting.
The Lankan foreign ministry was tightlipped about the interaction. “We certainly discussed the situation of the 1.7 lakh refugees,” Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said.
“We fear a further delay could result in a crisis similar to that faced in Darfur,” said a statement released by pro-LTTE website TamilNet.Com.On Saturday, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa firmly backed a separate Tamil Eelam, saying that alone would end the strife.
About 50,000 civilians are trapped in the conflict between government troops and the LTTE. The LTTE said nearly 1.65 lakh civilians in areas controlled by it and accused Lankan authorities of blocking food and humanitarian supplies.
“We fear a further delay could result in a crisis similar to that faced in Darfur,” said a statement released by pro-LTTE website TamilNet.Com.
Hundreds of Tamil civilians fleeing the war zone arrived at Pudukudiyyurippu village, once a vital supply line of the LTTE, which now bears witness to its imminent defeat.
“The LTTE did not tell us anything. We are very scared of the puligal (Tigers); they have sophisticated weapons. How can we think of escaping?” said Arumugam, a villager.
A woman who fled the no-fire zone along with her four-year-old grandson said they had had enough of gunfire. “Enough is enough. We hope to live in peace at least from now on,” she said. In the midst of all this, journalists made a beeline to look at the birth certificate of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his son Charles Antony, which were neatly laminated and kept for public view. Lankan troops also recovered the horoscope and photo albums of Prabhakaran in Pudukudiyirippu.
The more than one-hour long drive from Kilinochchi, the LTTE’s former political capital, to Pudukudiyyiruppu revealed scenes of devastation caused by the civil war that has raged for over a quarter of a century. An elderly man, who managed to give the slip to the security forces, said civilians were being shelled by both sides.
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes was expected in Colombo on Saturday for a three-day visit that will focus on civilians trapped in the conflict zone. UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced Thursday that an emergency team would also head to the violence-wracked nation. Meanwhile, the US has expressed deep concern over the plight of civilians. “We call on both sides to stop fighting immediately and allow civilians to safely leave the combat zone,” a White House statement said.
Though External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke about cessation of hostilities on Thursday, it was learnt India did not press for it at Friday’s meeting.
The Lankan foreign ministry was tightlipped about the interaction. “We certainly discussed the situation of the 1.7 lakh refugees,” Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said.
“We fear a further delay could result in a crisis similar to that faced in Darfur,” said a statement released by pro-LTTE website TamilNet.Com.On Saturday, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa firmly backed a separate Tamil Eelam, saying that alone would end the strife.
About 50,000 civilians are trapped in the conflict between government troops and the LTTE. The LTTE said nearly 1.65 lakh civilians in areas controlled by it and accused Lankan authorities of blocking food and humanitarian supplies.
“We fear a further delay could result in a crisis similar to that faced in Darfur,” said a statement released by pro-LTTE website TamilNet.Com.
Hundreds of Tamil civilians fleeing the war zone arrived at Pudukudiyyurippu village, once a vital supply line of the LTTE, which now bears witness to its imminent defeat.
“The LTTE did not tell us anything. We are very scared of the puligal (Tigers); they have sophisticated weapons. How can we think of escaping?” said Arumugam, a villager.
A woman who fled the no-fire zone along with her four-year-old grandson said they had had enough of gunfire. “Enough is enough. We hope to live in peace at least from now on,” she said. In the midst of all this, journalists made a beeline to look at the birth certificate of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his son Charles Antony, which were neatly laminated and kept for public view. Lankan troops also recovered the horoscope and photo albums of Prabhakaran in Pudukudiyirippu.
The more than one-hour long drive from Kilinochchi, the LTTE’s former political capital, to Pudukudiyyiruppu revealed scenes of devastation caused by the civil war that has raged for over a quarter of a century. An elderly man, who managed to give the slip to the security forces, said civilians were being shelled by both sides.
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes was expected in Colombo on Saturday for a three-day visit that will focus on civilians trapped in the conflict zone. UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced Thursday that an emergency team would also head to the violence-wracked nation. Meanwhile, the US has expressed deep concern over the plight of civilians. “We call on both sides to stop fighting immediately and allow civilians to safely leave the combat zone,” a White House statement said.
Mexico flu 'a potential pandemic'
A new flu virus suspected of killing at least 60 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic, the World Health Organization's chief says.
Margaret Chan said the outbreak was a "health emergency of international concern" and must be closely monitored.
Health experts say tests so far seem to link the illnesses in Mexico with a swine flu virus in the southern US.
Several people have also fallen ill in the US, and the authorities there are watching the situation.
A top US health official said the strain of swine flu had spread widely and could not be contained.
Speaking after a meeting of the WHO's emergency committee, Mrs Chan said that "the current events constitute a public health emergency of international concern".
HAVE YOUR SAY I work as a resident doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Mexico City and sadly, the situation is far from 'under control'
Yeny Gregorio Davila, Mexico City
Read more experiences The WHO is advising all member states to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults.
Officials said most of those killed so far in Mexico were young adults - rather than more vulnerable children and the elderly.
The committee has not recommended declaring an international public health emergency and raising the global pandemic alert level, a move that could lead to travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures.
New strain
At least some of the cases show a new version of the H1N1 Swine flu substrain - a respiratory disease which infects pigs.
The RC church has issued advice to its priests to help halt the spread of the flu
It does not normally infect humans, although sporadic cases do occur, usually in people who have had close contact with pigs.
H1N1 is the same strain that causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans, but the newly detected version contains genetic material from versions which usually affect pigs and birds.
The virus is spread through coughs and sneezes and through direct and indirect contact between people.
Mexican officials have confirmed 18 deaths from the virus and are investigating dozens more.
Schools, museums and libraries have been closed across the capital's region and people are being urged to avoid shaking hands or sharing crockery.
All public events have been suspended, an official said. Two previously sold-out soccer matches were played in empty stadiums to avoid potentially spreading the virus.
Health officials are isolating individuals suspected of having the virus and inspecting their homes.
The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has recommended measures to avoid further contagion at Mass this Sunday.
Priests have been told to place communion wafers in the hands of worshippers rather than in their mouths and to suggest to the congregation that kissing or shaking hands be avoided during the service.
'Caution'
In the US, 11 people are now known to have been infected with the new strain - seven people in California, two in Texas, and two in Kansas.
There are also eight suspected cases in New York City after 200 students at a high school fell ill.
Specimens were taken from nine students, and eight were determined to be probable cases of swine flu, said city health commissioner Dr Thomas Frieden.
Those samples are now being examined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
No children had required hospital treatment and many had fully recovered, said Dr Frieden, but the school could remain closed out of "an abundance of caution".
He urged people to maintain basic hygiene, such and covering their mouths when coughing and sneezing, washing hands regularly and keeping surfaces clean.
Dr Frieden said most people would not need to take antiviral medication if they fell ill, unless they had an underlying medical condition.
Hopeful sign
CDC officials have said that with cases arising in so many communities, containment is unlikely to be feasible.
There is currently no vaccine for the new strain.
SWINE FLU
Swine flu is a respiratory disease found in pigs
Human cases usually occur in those who have contact with pigs
Human-to-human transmission is rare and such cases are closely monitored
Q&A: Swine flu
UK monitoring flu outbreak
Tom Skinner of the CDC told the BBC that as efforts to detect the virus increased, it was not surprising that more cases were being identified and that "severe" cases could be expected.
But he said it was too early too tell how widespread the impact would be.
"We don't know how well or efficiently this virus is spreading and how easily it is going to be sustained in the human population," he said.
"Those are questions we have to answer before we're really able to tell what the ultimate impact on public health might be."
Mr Skinner said it was not yet clear which side of the border the virus had originated.
But he said the US was likely to take "normal and routine" steps within the next few days to screen passengers coming into the US and to distribute information.
The CDC plans to send experts to Mexico to help investigate the virus which has infected more than 1,000 people in the country.
The BBC science editor Susan Watts says the new strain is a classic "re-assortment" - a combination feared most by those watching for the flu pandemic.
Margaret Chan said the outbreak was a "health emergency of international concern" and must be closely monitored.
Health experts say tests so far seem to link the illnesses in Mexico with a swine flu virus in the southern US.
Several people have also fallen ill in the US, and the authorities there are watching the situation.
A top US health official said the strain of swine flu had spread widely and could not be contained.
Speaking after a meeting of the WHO's emergency committee, Mrs Chan said that "the current events constitute a public health emergency of international concern".
HAVE YOUR SAY I work as a resident doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Mexico City and sadly, the situation is far from 'under control'
Yeny Gregorio Davila, Mexico City
Read more experiences The WHO is advising all member states to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults.
Officials said most of those killed so far in Mexico were young adults - rather than more vulnerable children and the elderly.
The committee has not recommended declaring an international public health emergency and raising the global pandemic alert level, a move that could lead to travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures.
New strain
At least some of the cases show a new version of the H1N1 Swine flu substrain - a respiratory disease which infects pigs.
The RC church has issued advice to its priests to help halt the spread of the flu
It does not normally infect humans, although sporadic cases do occur, usually in people who have had close contact with pigs.
H1N1 is the same strain that causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans, but the newly detected version contains genetic material from versions which usually affect pigs and birds.
The virus is spread through coughs and sneezes and through direct and indirect contact between people.
Mexican officials have confirmed 18 deaths from the virus and are investigating dozens more.
Schools, museums and libraries have been closed across the capital's region and people are being urged to avoid shaking hands or sharing crockery.
All public events have been suspended, an official said. Two previously sold-out soccer matches were played in empty stadiums to avoid potentially spreading the virus.
Health officials are isolating individuals suspected of having the virus and inspecting their homes.
The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has recommended measures to avoid further contagion at Mass this Sunday.
Priests have been told to place communion wafers in the hands of worshippers rather than in their mouths and to suggest to the congregation that kissing or shaking hands be avoided during the service.
'Caution'
In the US, 11 people are now known to have been infected with the new strain - seven people in California, two in Texas, and two in Kansas.
There are also eight suspected cases in New York City after 200 students at a high school fell ill.
Specimens were taken from nine students, and eight were determined to be probable cases of swine flu, said city health commissioner Dr Thomas Frieden.
Those samples are now being examined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
No children had required hospital treatment and many had fully recovered, said Dr Frieden, but the school could remain closed out of "an abundance of caution".
He urged people to maintain basic hygiene, such and covering their mouths when coughing and sneezing, washing hands regularly and keeping surfaces clean.
Dr Frieden said most people would not need to take antiviral medication if they fell ill, unless they had an underlying medical condition.
Hopeful sign
CDC officials have said that with cases arising in so many communities, containment is unlikely to be feasible.
There is currently no vaccine for the new strain.
SWINE FLU
Swine flu is a respiratory disease found in pigs
Human cases usually occur in those who have contact with pigs
Human-to-human transmission is rare and such cases are closely monitored
Q&A: Swine flu
UK monitoring flu outbreak
Tom Skinner of the CDC told the BBC that as efforts to detect the virus increased, it was not surprising that more cases were being identified and that "severe" cases could be expected.
But he said it was too early too tell how widespread the impact would be.
"We don't know how well or efficiently this virus is spreading and how easily it is going to be sustained in the human population," he said.
"Those are questions we have to answer before we're really able to tell what the ultimate impact on public health might be."
Mr Skinner said it was not yet clear which side of the border the virus had originated.
But he said the US was likely to take "normal and routine" steps within the next few days to screen passengers coming into the US and to distribute information.
The CDC plans to send experts to Mexico to help investigate the virus which has infected more than 1,000 people in the country.
The BBC science editor Susan Watts says the new strain is a classic "re-assortment" - a combination feared most by those watching for the flu pandemic.
In Taliban’s Surge in Pakistan, a Pattern of Guile and Force
Initially, Buner was a hard place for the Taliban to crack. When they attacked a police station in the valley district last year, the resistance was fearless. Local people picked up rifles, pistols and daggers, hunted down the militants and killed six of them.
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Enlarge This Image
Rashid Iqbal/European Pressphoto Agency
Girls attended class on Friday in the Buner district of Pakistan. In neighboring Swat, the Taliban destroyed schools for girls.
But it was not to last. In short order this past week the Taliban captured Buner, a strategically vital district just 60 miles northwest of the capital, Islamabad. The militants flooded in by the hundreds, startling Pakistani and American officials with the speed of their advance.
The lesson of Buner, local politicians and residents say, is that the dynamic of the Taliban insurgency, as methodical and slow-building as it has been, can change suddenly, and the tactics used by the Taliban can be replicated elsewhere.
The Taliban took over Buner through both force and guile — awakening sleeping sympathizers, leveraging political allies, pretending at peace talks and then crushing what was left of their opponents, according to the politicians and the residents interviewed.
Though some of the militants have since pulled back, they still command the high points of Buner and have fanned out to districts even closer to the capital.
That Buner fell should be no surprise, local people say. Last fall, the inspector general of police in North-West Frontier Province, Malik Naveed Khan, complained that his officers were being attacked and killed by the hundreds.
Mr. Khan was so desperate — and had been so thoroughly abandoned by the military and the government — that he was relying on citizen posses like the one that stood up to the Taliban last August.
Today, the hopes that those civilian militias inspired are gone, brushed away by the realization that Pakistanis can do little to stem the Taliban advance if their government and military will not help them.
The people of Buner got nothing for their bravery. In December, the Taliban retaliated for the brazenness of the resistance in the district, sending a suicide bomber to disrupt voting during a by-election. More than 30 people were killed and scores were wounded.
Severe disenchantment toward the government rippled out of the suicide bombing for a very basic reason, said Amir Zeb Bacha, the director of the Pakistan International Human Rights Organization in Buner. “When we took the injured to the hospital there was no medicine,” he said.
The election was rescheduled but turned out to be a farce. Voters were too scared to show up, said Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, a former interior minister, who lives in the area and has twice escaped Taliban suicide bombers.
The peace deal the military struck with the Taliban in February in neighboring Swat further demoralized people in Buner. Residents and local officials said they asked themselves how they could continue to resist the Taliban when the military itself had abandoned the effort. The Taliban were emboldened by the deal: it called for the institution of Shariah, the strict legal code of Islam based on the Koran, throughout Malakand Agency, which includes Swat and Buner. It allowed the Taliban amnesty for their killings, floggings and destruction of girls schools in Swat.
Still, when the Taliban rolled into Buner from Swat through the town of Gokan on April 5, a well-to-do businessman, Fateh Mohammed, organized another posse of civilian fighters to take on the militants in the town of Sultanwas.
Five civilians and three policemen were killed, he said. Some newspaper reports said 17 Taliban were killed.
At that point, the chief government official in charge of Malakand, Mohammed Javed, proposed what he called peace talks. Mr. Javed, an experienced bureaucrat in the Pakistani civil service, was appointed in late February as the main government power broker in Malakand even though he was known to be sympathetic to the Taliban, a senior government official in North-West Frontier Province said. The government had been under pressure to bring calm to Swat and essentially capitulated to Taliban demands for Mr. Javed’s appointment, the official said.
In an apparent acknowledgment that Mr. Javed had been too sympathetic to the Taliban, the government announced Saturday that he had been replaced by Fazal Karim Khattack.
In what some residents in Swat and now in Buner say had been a pattern of favorable decisions led by Mr. Javed on behalf of the Taliban, the talks in Buner turned out to be a “betrayal,” said a former police officer from the area, who was afraid to be identified.
The talks gave the militants time to gather reinforcements from neighboring Swat, he said. And at the same time, the Taliban put such pressure on the members of Mr. Mohammed’s posse, or lashkar, that they disappeared or fled, Mr. Mohammed said.
“The police part of our lashkar left, and I was all alone,” he said. On the night of April 11, he fled, too, he said in a telephone conversation from Karachi, where he has gone to hide.
The militants at that point occupied his three gas stations, his flour mill and his 20-room house, he said. They had also commandeered more than 20 other houses in Sultanwas belonging to his relatives, he said.
In a show of who was in charge in Mr. Mohammed’s absence, the Taliban established a training camp in Sultanwas, said Mr. Bacha, the human rights officer.
To bolster their strength, and insinuate themselves in Buner, the Taliban also relied heavily on the adherents of a hard-line militant group, the Movement for the Implementation of the Shariah of Muhammad, which has agitated for Islamic law in Pakistan.
Their leader, Sufi Mohammed, comes from the region around Swat and Buner and has done the job of whipping up local support and intimidating Taliban opponents.
The group has called on graduates of a huge madrasa near the main town of Daggar in Buner to run local district governments, beckoning one from as far as the southern port of Karachi to run a municipality, said Khadim Hussain, a professor of linguistics and communication at Bahria University in Islamabad.
Estimates of the number of militants in Buner vary. Some local residents said they believed that there were about 3,000, including fighters trained for combat in Kashmir. District Police Officer Abdul Rashid, the chief of police in Buner, said in a telephone interview that there were only 200.
Whatever the number, early last week the Taliban showed their power by ordering the state courts shut. They announced that they would open Islamic courts, practicing Shariah, by the end of the month.
The militants have also placed a tax payable to the Taliban on all marble quarried at mines, said a senior police officer who worked in Buner.
At gas stations belonging to Mr. Mohammed, they pumped gas and drove off without paying, the officer said.
“No one dare ask them for payment,” he said.
The police were so intimidated they mostly stayed inside station houses, he said. “They are setting up a parallel government.”
With their success in Buner, the Taliban felt flush with success and increasingly confident that they could repeat the template, residents and analysts said. In the main prize, the richest and most populous province, Punjab, in eastern Pakistan, the Taliban are relying on the sleeper cells of other militant groups, including the many fighters who had been trained by the Pakistani military for combat in Kashmir, and now felt abandoned by the state, they said.
“We see coordination all over the country,” Mr. Hussain, the university professor, said. “The situation is very dangerous.”
It would not be difficult for the Taliban to seize Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, by shutting down the airport and blocking the two main thoroughfares from Islamabad, a Western official with long experience in the province said.
At midweek, a convoy of heavily armed Taliban vehicles was seen barreling along the four-lane motorway between Islamabad and Peshawar, according to Mr. Sherpao, the former minister of the interior.
Across North-West Frontier Province, the Taliban are rapidly consolidating power by activating cells that consisted of a potent mix of jihadist groups, he said.
In some places, the Taliban have entered mosques saying they had come only to preach, but in fact the strategy is to spread fear that pushes people into submission and demoralizes the police, he said.
Everywhere, they have preyed on the miseries of the poor, saying that Islamic courts would settle their complaints against the rich. “Every district is falling into their lap,” Mr. Sherpao said.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Rashid Iqbal/European Pressphoto Agency
Girls attended class on Friday in the Buner district of Pakistan. In neighboring Swat, the Taliban destroyed schools for girls.
But it was not to last. In short order this past week the Taliban captured Buner, a strategically vital district just 60 miles northwest of the capital, Islamabad. The militants flooded in by the hundreds, startling Pakistani and American officials with the speed of their advance.
The lesson of Buner, local politicians and residents say, is that the dynamic of the Taliban insurgency, as methodical and slow-building as it has been, can change suddenly, and the tactics used by the Taliban can be replicated elsewhere.
The Taliban took over Buner through both force and guile — awakening sleeping sympathizers, leveraging political allies, pretending at peace talks and then crushing what was left of their opponents, according to the politicians and the residents interviewed.
Though some of the militants have since pulled back, they still command the high points of Buner and have fanned out to districts even closer to the capital.
That Buner fell should be no surprise, local people say. Last fall, the inspector general of police in North-West Frontier Province, Malik Naveed Khan, complained that his officers were being attacked and killed by the hundreds.
Mr. Khan was so desperate — and had been so thoroughly abandoned by the military and the government — that he was relying on citizen posses like the one that stood up to the Taliban last August.
Today, the hopes that those civilian militias inspired are gone, brushed away by the realization that Pakistanis can do little to stem the Taliban advance if their government and military will not help them.
The people of Buner got nothing for their bravery. In December, the Taliban retaliated for the brazenness of the resistance in the district, sending a suicide bomber to disrupt voting during a by-election. More than 30 people were killed and scores were wounded.
Severe disenchantment toward the government rippled out of the suicide bombing for a very basic reason, said Amir Zeb Bacha, the director of the Pakistan International Human Rights Organization in Buner. “When we took the injured to the hospital there was no medicine,” he said.
The election was rescheduled but turned out to be a farce. Voters were too scared to show up, said Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, a former interior minister, who lives in the area and has twice escaped Taliban suicide bombers.
The peace deal the military struck with the Taliban in February in neighboring Swat further demoralized people in Buner. Residents and local officials said they asked themselves how they could continue to resist the Taliban when the military itself had abandoned the effort. The Taliban were emboldened by the deal: it called for the institution of Shariah, the strict legal code of Islam based on the Koran, throughout Malakand Agency, which includes Swat and Buner. It allowed the Taliban amnesty for their killings, floggings and destruction of girls schools in Swat.
Still, when the Taliban rolled into Buner from Swat through the town of Gokan on April 5, a well-to-do businessman, Fateh Mohammed, organized another posse of civilian fighters to take on the militants in the town of Sultanwas.
Five civilians and three policemen were killed, he said. Some newspaper reports said 17 Taliban were killed.
At that point, the chief government official in charge of Malakand, Mohammed Javed, proposed what he called peace talks. Mr. Javed, an experienced bureaucrat in the Pakistani civil service, was appointed in late February as the main government power broker in Malakand even though he was known to be sympathetic to the Taliban, a senior government official in North-West Frontier Province said. The government had been under pressure to bring calm to Swat and essentially capitulated to Taliban demands for Mr. Javed’s appointment, the official said.
In an apparent acknowledgment that Mr. Javed had been too sympathetic to the Taliban, the government announced Saturday that he had been replaced by Fazal Karim Khattack.
In what some residents in Swat and now in Buner say had been a pattern of favorable decisions led by Mr. Javed on behalf of the Taliban, the talks in Buner turned out to be a “betrayal,” said a former police officer from the area, who was afraid to be identified.
The talks gave the militants time to gather reinforcements from neighboring Swat, he said. And at the same time, the Taliban put such pressure on the members of Mr. Mohammed’s posse, or lashkar, that they disappeared or fled, Mr. Mohammed said.
“The police part of our lashkar left, and I was all alone,” he said. On the night of April 11, he fled, too, he said in a telephone conversation from Karachi, where he has gone to hide.
The militants at that point occupied his three gas stations, his flour mill and his 20-room house, he said. They had also commandeered more than 20 other houses in Sultanwas belonging to his relatives, he said.
In a show of who was in charge in Mr. Mohammed’s absence, the Taliban established a training camp in Sultanwas, said Mr. Bacha, the human rights officer.
To bolster their strength, and insinuate themselves in Buner, the Taliban also relied heavily on the adherents of a hard-line militant group, the Movement for the Implementation of the Shariah of Muhammad, which has agitated for Islamic law in Pakistan.
Their leader, Sufi Mohammed, comes from the region around Swat and Buner and has done the job of whipping up local support and intimidating Taliban opponents.
The group has called on graduates of a huge madrasa near the main town of Daggar in Buner to run local district governments, beckoning one from as far as the southern port of Karachi to run a municipality, said Khadim Hussain, a professor of linguistics and communication at Bahria University in Islamabad.
Estimates of the number of militants in Buner vary. Some local residents said they believed that there were about 3,000, including fighters trained for combat in Kashmir. District Police Officer Abdul Rashid, the chief of police in Buner, said in a telephone interview that there were only 200.
Whatever the number, early last week the Taliban showed their power by ordering the state courts shut. They announced that they would open Islamic courts, practicing Shariah, by the end of the month.
The militants have also placed a tax payable to the Taliban on all marble quarried at mines, said a senior police officer who worked in Buner.
At gas stations belonging to Mr. Mohammed, they pumped gas and drove off without paying, the officer said.
“No one dare ask them for payment,” he said.
The police were so intimidated they mostly stayed inside station houses, he said. “They are setting up a parallel government.”
With their success in Buner, the Taliban felt flush with success and increasingly confident that they could repeat the template, residents and analysts said. In the main prize, the richest and most populous province, Punjab, in eastern Pakistan, the Taliban are relying on the sleeper cells of other militant groups, including the many fighters who had been trained by the Pakistani military for combat in Kashmir, and now felt abandoned by the state, they said.
“We see coordination all over the country,” Mr. Hussain, the university professor, said. “The situation is very dangerous.”
It would not be difficult for the Taliban to seize Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, by shutting down the airport and blocking the two main thoroughfares from Islamabad, a Western official with long experience in the province said.
At midweek, a convoy of heavily armed Taliban vehicles was seen barreling along the four-lane motorway between Islamabad and Peshawar, according to Mr. Sherpao, the former minister of the interior.
Across North-West Frontier Province, the Taliban are rapidly consolidating power by activating cells that consisted of a potent mix of jihadist groups, he said.
In some places, the Taliban have entered mosques saying they had come only to preach, but in fact the strategy is to spread fear that pushes people into submission and demoralizes the police, he said.
Everywhere, they have preyed on the miseries of the poor, saying that Islamic courts would settle their complaints against the rich. “Every district is falling into their lap,” Mr. Sherpao said.
Geithner pushes for more money for IMF lending
As protesters clashed with police on Washington's streets, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged world finance officials meeting near the White House on Saturday to provide more money to help countries wrung by the recession.
Geithner said major progress toward bolstering the International Monetary Fund ``must be an important outcome of these meetings. The international community should act quickly.''
More than 100 demonstrators angered by how world leaders have handled the economic crisis took on police outside the headquarters of the IMF and World Bank, which are holding their spring meetings this weekend.
Authorities used batons and pepper spray when activists tried to march onto a prohibited street, and several people were pushed to the ground by police. The protesters swarmed officers unexpectedly, and police had to respond, said D.C. police Capt. Jeffrey Harold.
In early April, leaders from the Group of 20 developed and emerging nations pledged to provide $1.1 trillion in new resources to international lending institutions, including $500 billion for the IMF. President Barack Obama is seeking congressional approval for up to $100 billion, matching commitments for the same amount made by Japan and the European Union. But the full $500 billion has not yet been pledged.
The additional money could aid countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe and elsewhere that are reeling from sharp drops in exports and foreign investment. Such countries increasingly are relying on IMF lending to make up for the lost funds.
But divides emerged this weekend over how to provide the extra money. Emerging economic powers such as China, Russia, Brazil and India are insisting that the United States, France, Britain and other old-line powers listen to their ideas on different funding approaches.
They want the IMF to consider issuing bonds as a way to raise the support. The countries would buy the IMF bonds rather than extending the support in loans.
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Geithner said major progress toward bolstering the International Monetary Fund ``must be an important outcome of these meetings. The international community should act quickly.''
More than 100 demonstrators angered by how world leaders have handled the economic crisis took on police outside the headquarters of the IMF and World Bank, which are holding their spring meetings this weekend.
Authorities used batons and pepper spray when activists tried to march onto a prohibited street, and several people were pushed to the ground by police. The protesters swarmed officers unexpectedly, and police had to respond, said D.C. police Capt. Jeffrey Harold.
In early April, leaders from the Group of 20 developed and emerging nations pledged to provide $1.1 trillion in new resources to international lending institutions, including $500 billion for the IMF. President Barack Obama is seeking congressional approval for up to $100 billion, matching commitments for the same amount made by Japan and the European Union. But the full $500 billion has not yet been pledged.
The additional money could aid countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe and elsewhere that are reeling from sharp drops in exports and foreign investment. Such countries increasingly are relying on IMF lending to make up for the lost funds.
But divides emerged this weekend over how to provide the extra money. Emerging economic powers such as China, Russia, Brazil and India are insisting that the United States, France, Britain and other old-line powers listen to their ideas on different funding approaches.
They want the IMF to consider issuing bonds as a way to raise the support. The countries would buy the IMF bonds rather than extending the support in loans.
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