New wave of anger at US empire

 
ANGRY opposition to US-led imperalism is reaching new heights in Pakistan following a cross-border NATO air strike that killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers.

In revenge, the state has given the US 15 days to vacate an airbase used as a key launchpad for drone strikes in Afghanistan and also shut down NATO supply routes into the neighbouring country, which has been under neoliberal occupation for ten years.

American flags have been burned in the streets, Pakistanis took to social media websites to express their dismay and the media reflected the public anger over the attack.

"US stabs Pakistan in the back, again," said a headline in the Daily Times while headline in The Express Tribune read: "Pakistan inflamed as 24 killed in Nato strike". 

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Rebels torch NATO lorries in Pakistan

REBEL fighters in Pakistan have torched at least 15 NATO tankers carrying oil supplies to the US-led occupation army in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The vehicles were set ablaze by gunmen in the Mastung region of the southwestern province of Balochistan.

Reports Press TV: "Militants fired at the trucks and set them ablaze before fleeing the scene. There are no reports of casualties.

"Meanwhile, the Pakistani security forces have sealed the area off and begun a search operation in the troubled region.

"The latest attack came days after several gunmen torched nearly a dozen tankers in the same Pakistani province.

"Hundreds of NATO tankers and containers have been destroyed in different parts of Pakistan during the past three years.

"In response, Pakistani authorities have deployed large contingents of police and military forces on all major arteries in the area in an attempt to curb the attacks.

"Pro-Taliban militants often claim responsibility for such attacks, saying that the assaults are in retaliation for non-UN-sanctioned US drone strikes on Pakistan's tribal regions.

"Despite frequent attacks on NATO supply convoys, the US military has not stopped its unauthorized drone bombings on Pakistani territory."

Anti-American fury in Pakistan

FURY is expected to erupt in Pakistan on Friday March 18 in response to the outrageous release of US spy and murder suspect Raymond Davis.

Protests have alrady been staged across the country, but Friday will also see a countrywide strike, as anti-American anger boils over.

Reports the Express Tribune: "Like other parts of the country, the legal fraternity of twin cities on Thursday observed a black day against the release of US citizen and CIA contractor Raymond Davis and termed it 'an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty'.

"Hundreds of lawyers assembled in Rawalpindi District courts to protest against the release of the Davis and later marched towards Katchery Chowk, blocking the road for an hour.

"They chanted slogans against the government for providing safe passage to Davis, who was being tried for double murder and obtaining visa under a false name at the Lahore High Court (LHC).

"In Islamabad, lawyers staged protests outside court premises and also took out rallies. Members of Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bar, District Bar Rawalpindi, Islamabad District Bar and Islamabad High Court (IHC) boycotted court proceeding and hoisted black flags on bar rooms."

The US embassy and consulates will be closed on Friday in preparation for the angriest protests yet.

Resistance grows against US occupation

RESISTANCE to the American-led occupation of Afghanistan has stepped up over the last few days.

Says The Press Association: "Three explosions just minutes apart have rocked Kandahar, killing up to four Afghan police officers in the nation's largest city in the south.

"Three Nato service members also were killed by bombings in southern Afghanistan and an insurgent attack killed another in the east, raising the coalition's death toll to 11 in the first four days of October."

Meanwhile, as The Independent reports: "The Pakistani Taliban yesterday claimed responsibility for setting fire to more than a dozen oil tankers carrying fuel for Nato troops in Afghanistan.

"The attack on the convoy in the garrison town of Rawalpindi where Pakistan's army is headquartered is the latest in a series by militants and 'would continue until the supplies are completely stopped', said Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the group.

"It was the fourth such attack on a Nato convoy since Pakistan shut down the Khyber Pass crossing in apparent protest over a series of airstrikes by Nato helicopters in Pakistani territory, including one that killed three Pakistani soldiers.

"The shutdown left lorries parked and vulnerable to attack. Before dawn yesterday, a dozen attackers sprayed the vehicles with automatic gunfire. Four people were killed as the trucks were then set ablaze. A further two trucks were in flames hours later."

US 'cover blown' in Pakistan

THE USA is in serious trouble in Pakistan, with a resistance attack revealing the presence of its special operations forces in the country.

In a report entitled "Explosion blows US cover", the Toronto Star writes: "The deaths of three American soldiers in a Taliban suicide attack in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday lifted the veil on United States military assistance to the country that authorities here would like to keep quiet.

"The soldiers were among 60 to 100 members of a Special Forces Operation team that trains Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency techniques, including intelligence gathering and development assistance.

"The Special Forces training, underway for the last 18 months, has been acknowledged gingerly by both the Americans and the Pakistanis but has been deliberately kept low-key so as not to trespass onto Pakistani sensitivities about sovereignty, and not to further inflame high anti-American sentiment.

"Even though Pakistan is termed an ally by the United States, Pakistan has not allowed American combat forces to operate here.

"To disguise themselves, , the U.S. soldiers were dressed in traditional Pakistani garb of baggy trousers and long tunics, according to a Frontier Corps officer.

"Their armoured vehicle was equipped with electronic jammers sufficient to detect remote-controlled devices and mines, the officer said. Vehicles driven by the Frontier Corps were placed in front and back of the Americans as protection, he said.

"Still, the bomber was able to penetrate their cordon."

Reuters quotes Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani analyst and expert on militant, as saying of the revelation: "It will only convince the public, even moderate Pakistanis who are anti-Taliban, that the government is doing nothing expect lying to them, and the military (is) for that matter. It will be a big blow for public morale."

The report added: "First television channels said the dead foreigners were journalists, then officials said they were aid workers. Only later did the Pakistani military and the U.S. embassy say they were American soldiers."

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman said the U.S. soldiers were invited by the Pakistani paramilitary Frontier Corps to attend the inauguration of a U.S.-funded girls' school.

Deadly strike against Pakistan secret police

INSURGENTS have struck a deadly blow against Pakistan's notorious secret police, the ISI, with a spectacular suicide car bomb attack on their offices in Peshawar on Friday morning.

Much of the three-story building belonging to Pakistan's national intelligence agency was destroyed, according to reports.

Said Radio France International: "At least five security personnel working at the provincial headquarters of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) were killed, according to officials, who put the overall death toll at ten. A second car bomb rammed into a suburban police station, killing three police officers."

The ISI has been at the forefront of the US-led campaign against the Taliban, who have increasingly operated inside Pakistan during the US occupation of neighbouring Afghanistan.

But there are also well documented links between ISI and Islamist insurgent groups, with the ISI often seen as the go-between linking western intelligence agencies and their enemies in the so-called War on Terror.