- Star Wars Yoda. Cute & cuddly. No resemblance to armed militant.
By now, you’ve all heard of the shocking attack on PNS Mehran, Pakistan’s largest naval base this past Sunday in Karachi.
Here’s what we know:
- Armed militants stormed the base, using ladders to scale the back wall of one of Pakistan’s premier naval air stations and destroy two U.S.-supplied P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft.
- The base was “recaptured” by Pakistani security forces after a 17-hour gun battle, during which 10 personnel lost their lives, and 15 were injured.
- Lieutenant Yasir Abbas, who was killed leading a counter-attack against the attackers, is being hailed as a national hero.
- 17 foreign personnel – six Americans and 11 Chinese – were on the base at the time of the siege, but escaped without harm.
- The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, telling Reuters by telephone, “It was the revenge of martyrdom of Osama bin Laden. It was the proof that we are still united and powerful.”
- Interior Minister Rehman Malik refuses to admit that the attack was a serious breach of national security, and said it was due to an intelligence failure by the Air Force and Navy (via Al Jazeera English).
- Malik said “external elements” (*cough* India/Zionists/Blackwater *cough*) may have been involved with the militants, although he did not provide evidence supporting this claim.
- Malik also said the attackers resembled Star Wars characters, noting, “They were wearing black clothes like in Star Wars movies…”
- Rehman Malik is an idiot.
Here’s what is still ambiguous:
- A police report released after the attack said 10-12 militants were involved, although Pakistani officials (including Malik) said “up to six” were involved in the incident.
- Sources say two of the attackers escaped, rather than being killed as was previously reported.
Here are the questions that still require answers:
- How did 10-12 militants manage to launch an attack of this magnitude against Pakistan’s security establishment? (And no, “using ladders” is not a sufficient answer.)
- Why did it take 17 hours for security forces to regain control of PNS Mehran?
- Who was complicit in these attacks? Dawn newspaper (via AJE) questioned whether the attackers had help from the security establishment, writing, “Did the Taliban raiders have information inside the naval base? Such a possibility cannot be ruled out, because the involvement of serving personnel in several previous attacks has been well-established.”
- After all this loss, how can anyone still claim that this is anything but our war? How can anyone credibly claim that the enemies are conspiratorial foreign hands? How?
Sometimes I feel that Rehman Malik purposely behaves like the village idiot so that he can distract people from the real problems. I can’t recall one occasion where he actually did something right. It’s sad that everyone keeps passing the back. The Taliban Apologists (i.e. Imran Khan and his cult members blame the government and Drones for all the problems). IMO Immy is indirectly justifying terrorist attacks in retaliation for Drone attacks. Then we have those people who insist that external elements are to blame. It’s sad that we can’t accept the reality that this is all home grown. I want heads to roll and the heads of our armed forces to be accountable for what happened. We spend billions on our defence and yet they couldn’t protect their own base (forget the civilians coz we don’t matter to them). I wonder where all our tax rupees go to if they dont spend them on defending our nation. It sucks that our military leaders are as corrupt as our politicians. God save our country from these leeches.
Village idiots = clown hair? Then Rehman Malik fits the bill.
Died-ed laughing at the “rehman malik is an idiot” and “using ladders” bit.
I think that best sums up the Pakistan narrative; Tragedy, mayhem and above all stupidity.
Rehman’s malik imagination gone wild! check out the post I did:
http://fruitforbidden.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/rehman-maliks-imagination-gone-wild/
Completely shocked at this whole incident… I wonder will our country ever come out of this and join the rest of Asia in its growing success?
[...] Post-PNS Mehran Thoughts [...]
Yar Rehman Malik is a certified idiot he don’t need to be
This is a wake up call for anyone advocating any peace with these terrorists. Perhaps our people should concentrate on combating terrorism, rather than US bashing.
i guess we should invite pakistan and china over and tell them to deal with these terrorists. cause to be honest, we have failed in every sphere…
It is important that we utilize the aid of allies of war gaiant terrorism and try to get rid of extremists in out country.
We are obviously at war with the Jedi.
You would think after the attack on GHQ a couple of years ago, our military installations would become fortresses, especially one that has often been rumored to have ‘first-strike’ weapons at the ready in case of war with our neighbor!
You would at least hope that after the siege on PNS Mehran, other security installations would be at red alert, yet the CID building in Peshawar was blown to smithereens just a couple of days after Mehran.
The militants/terrorist/jedis have successfully hit all the “hard” targets in Pakistan, making short-work of our security installations. What hope do the citizens have if the government and armed forces cannot even protect their own interests.
I am at a loss as to what the current government is doing (other than the obvious task of padding their mattresses with our national wealth, if you can call it that).
And as for Rehman Malik…there is no one within the 160 million Pakistani’s who makes my blood boil more! I am amazed I haven’t thrown the remote at my TV yet.
If any one knows what exactly chines were doing there and what exactly american were doing there????????????????????
You will get the answer of all the questions??????????????
you will come to know why they were using heavy and light machine guns and you did not not get other than klashankof when the operation was over?
May be wikileaks tell us truth one day……………………………
Who is to Blame? The 70% illiterate Pakistani’s or those lucky ones; educated and I should say highly educated (now a days I see lot of PHD’s and analyst on the TV screen) who have the capability and means to reduce the illiteracy in the country. Had our educated elites sacrificed the life (status) of big cities and spent a part of their life in small towns and villages, distributing the wealth of their knowledge, Pakistan’s youth would have not got dragged into the GUN culture.
Oh! What; I heard someone calling me naïve, how can you even think of asking these educated elites to live in small dirty towns and villages and that too among the un-educated. This reminds me of a story we had to hear many times form our elders that once upon a time there was a king who called his Wazir (or prime minister) and ordered him to open the door of the treasury and spend the money (may be gold at that time) on securing the boundaries of the kingdom. You know this Wazir was a very wise man; he started opening schools so the citizens (subjects) could get education. The army chief (Sipahsalar) waited and waited to be called to raise a big army but all he saw was that the Wazir was opening more and more schools. He could not take it anymore and complained to the King. As you know the King is a King, how can his orders be disobeyed, the Wazir was called for an explanation; why he is spending the wealth on schools instead on raising a strong army to defend the country. Being a wise man the Wazir convinced the King that if the subjects are educated, they cannot be strayed; each of them will be as strong as any soldier in the army and will die for their country. The king being smart did not disagree. (After hearing this story I always completed my school work before going to bed).
So friend we have to end this gun culture and get rid of those who bought this culture in our country. We need a smart King and a wise Wazir, unfortunately we are content with leaders like Zardari or ministers like Rehman Malik. Education is the only solution to get rid of this gun culture. Not a strong army or big economic reforms would provide security to the nation except mass education.
I think it is a mistake to consider the attack on the Mehran base in isolation. It should be viewed in the context of the chain of events taking place in Pakistan over the past several years. Here is a quote from another blog which has commented on recent events in Pakistan:
“All the indications are that Pakistan’s armed forces are infiltrated with traitors in powerful positions. There is immense pressure being exerted by the Americans and their Pakistani collaborators for Generals Kayani and Pasha (the Head of ISI) to toe the line. Pasha, especially, is being targeted and a way may be found to prise him out if he resists the expanding American influence in Pakistan. He appears to have been the driving spirit behind the unanimous Resolution that the two Houses of Parliament had agreed after a mammoth 10-hour session.”
You can read the full article here:
http://sakibahmad.blogspot.com/2011/05/farce-of-abbottabad-part-3-consequences.html
Inside help is very likely, because, as I read elsewhere, it was planned and executed pretty quickly – less than 3 weeks – as a revenge for the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
Less than 3 weeks to attack Pakistan’s premier naval base with such efficiency !!
Thats indeed something to ponder about.
@skr. So true. It is important that we eliminate the radical elements within our society. We shud also try to learn to live within our limits and utilize the aid properly to our benefit rather than just eat it all up!
@Noor It is a chain of events, but not orchestrated by the Americans but the terrorists. The terrorists are the reason why our sovereignty is at stake.
We need to overcome terrorists who are destroying Pakistan. The USA is by far the biggest terrorist state in the world. How do we save the country from the clutches of these lawless bandits?
Ratko Mladic is going to be tried in the Hague before he is punished for his crimes even though the whole world knows that he is guilty of murdering many thousands of Muslims in Bosnia. By contrast, Osama had killed perhaps a thousand people at most though the American propaganda would put the figure much higher. The Americans take pride in claiming that they killed Osama like a rat and justice was done! What justice?
1.2 millions dead in Iraq. Perhaps over 200,000 in Afghanistan (?) And now, over 35,000 in Pakistan. Do you not see a pattern?
http://ammar360.com/2011/05/23/attack-on-pakistan-naval-base-who-benefits/
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/may2011-daily/31-05-2011/col2.htm
http://jang.com.pk/jang/may2011-daily/29-05-2011/col14.htm