Log Out
Visit Water Hole's column >>

WATER HOLE

Articles Posted: 0  Links Seeded: 176
Member Since: 5/2011  Last Seen: 12/31/2011

Terrorism in Pakistan takes aim at China too. Writing on the Wall?

Seeded on Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:35 AM EDT
Read ArticleArticle Source: Opinio Asia
, , , , , , , , ,
Seeded by Water Hole
Advertise | AdChoices

Terrorism against India and China are now epicentred in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, where the US is campaigning against Al-Qaeda and Afghan and Pakistani Taliban terrorists with reluctant assistance from the Pakistani army. The 26-28 November Bombay terror attacks were designed to provoke an Indo-Pak face-off and halt the US campaign. Either the Pakistan army and ISI or the Al-Qaeda and the two Talibans (but chiefly the Pakistani Taliban) or them together designed the Bombay attack using the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) organisation.

The link in all this somewhere is the Pakistan military/ intelligence establishments, which have evolved jihad so considerably since the Eighties' "mujahideen" war against the (former) Soviet Union as to threaten and squeeze the more traditional pro-Chinese and pro-US sections in them. While the US could cut away from Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal (though it couldn't escape 9/ 11), China has faced the blowback of the so-called mujahideen campaign with Uighur veterans returning to Xinjiang and opposing Chinese rule with terrorism. So bad was it in 1992 (with a failed Uighur uprising in Kashgar) that China for months closed the Karakoram highway with Pakistan because it brought in Pakistani-trained terrorists, extremist Deobandi (not to be confused with the original Indian Deobandi) ideology, smuggled opium, hashish and later heroin and AIDS. The terrorism in Xinjiang (besides the other, non-traditional threats) has only gotten worse despite massive police bundobast, military border deployments and exercises, total monitoring of mosques and madrasahs funded by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the libertine Eighties, and almost complete absence of media coverage of the violence and casualties in the belief that publicity gives oxygen to terrorists.

  • Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.

Published to:

Water Hole

China is more than aware that Pakistan is a failed state and that large swathes of its territory are under terrorist control. Nor, presumably, does it entirely trust Pakistan's military any longer. Despite Pakistan president Asif Zardari's pleas on a state visit in October last and attempts to play the India card, China evaded committing to a Sino-Pak civilian nuclear deal like the Indo-US one. Within days of Zardari's visit, China put out a list of ETIM terrorists "that…were involved with similar groups and base camps" in a "South Asian country" (meaning Pakistan). One out of the list is Memetiming Memeti, ETIM head since 2003 when his predecessor, Hasan Mahsum, was killed in FATA. Bar the Mahsum incident, China has not very successfully pressured Pakistan to turn over hundreds of Al-Qaeda- and Taliban-trained ETIM and East Turkmenistan Liberation Organization (ETLO) terrorists who fought US allies during Operation Enduring Freedom.

  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:32 AM EDT
Water Hole

No longer can terrorism raying out from Pakistan be combated singly by states (India, China or the US) or by blocs (NATO, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), and their competition in other strategic spheres will have to be temporarily deferred or modified to overcome international jihad. Nor will the old crutches and dependencies serve any longer. For example, at the first hint of Indo-Pak trouble on Pakistan's eastern flank, the Pakistani Taliban has committed to fully back the Pakistan military and vowed hundreds of suicide attacks on Indian forces. This same Pakistani Taliban allied to the Pakistan army is behind ETIM, and China still (misguidedly) trusts the Pak army to deliver on ETIM terrorists. And this should also make it unreservedly clear to the US that the Pakistan army is growing to represent the Pakistani Taliban in uniform, and, beyond a point, they won't fight one another in FATA despite all the American threats and blandishments. The writing is on the wall for anyone to see. Pakistan is creepily becoming a jihadi state with nuclear weapons.

  • 2 votes
Reply#2 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:33 AM EDT
krishna-167929

China has faced the blowback of the so-called mujahideen campaign with Uighur veterans returning to Xinjiang and opposing Chinese rule with terrorism.

If Pakistan loses support from China, I would imagine that that would weaken the country considerably...???

  • 3 votes
Reply#3 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:45 AM EDT
Water Hole

pakistan greatly depends on terrorism, China or no China.

AND, terrorism has become too big for pakistan to handle or manage any more.

  • 3 votes
#3.1 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:50 AM EDT
Chris-735081

Pakistan doesn't really have support from China; they have a trade arrangement that lasts up to the point it becomes a political problem at home.

If Pakistani based terrorists were to make a significant attack wherein mass casualties resulted, you'd see a pretty dramatic change in attitude of China against Pakistan.

Right now, I wouldn't call them friendly, I'd call them indifferent. They do business, but in the PRC there's a country mile of difference between doing business and being friends.

  • 2 votes
#3.2 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:06 AM EDT
Water Hole

Chris-735081

I think, its China's ambition of reaching Arabian Sea that fuels Sino-Pak relations.

However, at least, at present, China seems to be friendly with pakistan.

China Defends Pakistan Effort on Terrorism - WSJ.com

China's Nuclear Exports and Assistance to Pakistan

Pakistan and China Buddy Up In Fighter Jet Deal

  • 3 votes
#3.3 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:12 AM EDT
Chris-735081

As I said, trade agreement; not the same as actually being friends.

That lasts as long as the relationship is profitable or until it becomes a bigger hassle than it is worth.

    #3.4 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:53 AM EDT
    krishna-167929

    Pakistan doesn't really have support from China;

    But don't they get their weapons from China? (And, I beleive, that's where they originally got their nukes from?)

    • 2 votes
    #3.5 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:04 PM EDT
    backroads

    It was my understanding that China had close ties with Pakistan.

    Incidentally, wasn't it Chinese pressure that led to the Red Mosque incident?

    • 1 vote
    #3.6 - Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:41 PM EDT
    Water Hole

    pakistan's weapons systems program is literally a copy of Chinese designs provided by China.

    China has also trained and managed some part of the program. AND, certainly, the nukes and missiles have come from China.

    • 3 votes
    #3.7 - Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:38 AM EDT
    Water Hole

    And, all this is far beyond trade agreement.

    • 3 votes
    #3.8 - Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:39 AM EDT
    backroads

    Precisely. I believe chris possesses erroneous information.

    • 1 vote
    #3.9 - Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:56 AM EDT
    Chris-735081

    The enemy of my enemy is not my friend, but they can be useful.

    Tell me, do you think that Pakistan views the U.S. as it's "friend"? We give them aid all the time.

    Do you think that Pakistan would just magically consider China as it's "friend" instead? Oh no, nothing of the sort.

    I have lived in China, and not just in some hotel, but in the housing district for Norinco. China for a very long time has not had friends, the most you can hope for is "frenemies".

    For this reason, even NK does not truly trust China and hasn't going all the way back to the Korean War. Just like the PRC doesn't trust NK. Seriously, who would trust Kim Jung Il?

    You guys, you're thinking about this in the wrong way. There is no "in group" and "out group" where the PRC government is concerned: there is only China and everybody else.

    They didn't just give Pakistan things for nothing, there is always a reason. The PRC negotiates in entirely different ways. The U.S. gives humanitarian aid in the hopes of building good will.

    The PRC sells things to foreign countries in the hopes of gaining an advantage they are seeking after. It's a balancing act.

    Why on earth would the PRC suddenly start making friends? The last time they tried that under Mao, Stalin stabbed them in the back repeatedly for it. Or have you not noticed that the amount of land controlled by the Soviet Union grew on it's southern border from the 1950's to the 1980's?

    Or that suddenly Mongolia became an independent nation just before the PRC settled their civil war?

    No, my information isn't bad, it isn't even that different from what you have, you are just thinking about things in the wrong terms. The term friend is as empty to the PRC government as the term communism is today. It's just a title without meaning other than "we are not currently working against you."

      #3.10 - Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:42 AM EDT
      Water Hole

      Sure.

      China is using pakistan.

      However, the way pakistan knocks on the Chinese door everytime there is a problem, pakistan feels that China is a friend and will support it blind folded.

      • 1 vote
      #3.11 - Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:56 AM EDT
      Reply
      Water Hole

      Pakistan Terrorists Turn Their Attention Towards China

      by ramkey in Issues, July 22, 2011

      Pakistan terrorists want to liberate Xinjiang from China as an independent country with its Muslim majority. They have now turned their attention against China. The latest attacks on China reveal in plenty about the Pakistani terrorists’ aims.

      Pakistan terrorists turn their attention towards China

      Attack in Xingjian

      Intelligence agencies in China have pointed their fingers at the separatist terrorist groups operating in Pakistan for the attack on the police station in China’s Xingjian province. The number of people who died in the bomb attack on the police station in the city of Hotan is now stated as 18.

      Image via Wikipedia

      Chinese accuse Pakistan

      Institute of Central Asia at the Xingjian Academy of Social Sciences has pointed its fingers at Pakistan for the source of violence. Xingjian province in China borders on Pakistan and it is easy for the Islamic terrorists to cross over the porous border and instigate violence. Chinese government and the Communist Party of China have maintained cordial ties with Pakistan government as well as the Islamic terrorists. This is the third attack against the security forces in the last three years. Chinese government has officially accused the terrorist organisation East Turkistan Islamic Movement for the attacks.

      • 2 votes
      Reply#4 - Sun Jul 24, 2011 7:38 AM EDT
      krishna-167929

      Good links.

      The relationship between the two countries may indeed be changing-- due to the actions of Islamic extremists in Xingjian....

      • 2 votes
      #4.1 - Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:27 PM EDT
      Reply
      Leave a Comment:
      You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
      Newsvine Privacy Statement
      As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.