![\"Funeral](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/868105-111128-pakistan.jpg?w=640\")
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The Nato assault on a Pakistani checkpoint close to the Afghan border which killed 24 soldiers on Saturday must have been deliberate. Nato commanders have long been supplied with maps marking these checkpoints by the Pakistani military. They knew that the target was a military outpost. The explanation that they were fired on first rings false and has been ferociously denied by Islamabad. Previous such attacks were pronounced \u2018accidental\u2019 and apologies were given and accepted. This time it seems more serious. It has come too soon after other \u2018breaches of sovereignty\u2019, in the words of the local press, but Pakistani sovereignty is a fiction. The military high command and the country\u2019s political leaders willingly surrendered their sovereignty many decades ago. That it is now being violated openly and brutally is the real cause for concern.<\/p>\n
In retaliation, Pakistan has halted Nato convoys to Afghanistan (49 per cent of which go through the country) and asked the US to vacate the Shamsi base that they built to launch drones against targets in both Afghanistan and Pakistan with the permission of the country\u2019s rulers. Islamabad was allowed a legal fig-leaf: in official documents the base was officially leased by the UAE \u2013 whose \u2018sovereignty\u2019 is even more flexible than Pakistan\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Motives for the attack remain a mystery but its impact is not. It will create further divisions within the military, further weaken the venal Zardari regime, strengthen religious militants and make the US even more hated than it already is in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
So why do it? Was it intended as a provocation? Is Obama seriously thinking of unleashing a civil war in an already battered country? Some commentators in Islamabad are arguing this but it\u2019s unlikely that Nato troops will occupy Pakistan. Such an irrational turn would be difficult to justify in terms of any imperial interests. Perhaps it was simply a tit-for-tat to punish the Pakistani military for dispatching the Haqqani network to bomb the US embassy and Nato HQ in Kabul\u2019s \u2018Green Zone\u2019 a few months back.<\/p>\n
The Nato attack comes on the heels of another crisis. One of Zardari and his late wife\u2019s trusted bagmen in Washington, Husain Haqqani, whose links to the US intelligence agencies since the 1970s made him a useful intermediary and whom Zardari appointed as Pakistan\u2019s ambassador to Washington, has been forced to resign. Haqqani, often referred to as the US ambassador to Pakistan, appears to have been caught red-handed: he allegedly asked Mansoor Ijaz, a multi-millionaire close to the US defense establishment, to carry a message to Admiral Mike Mullen pleading for help against the Pakistani military and offering in return to disband the Haqqani network and the ISI and carry out all US instructions.<\/p>\n
Mullen denied that he had received any message. A military underling contradicted him. Mullen changed his story and said a message had been received and ignored. When the ISI discovered this \u2018act of treachery\u2019, Haqqani, instead of saying that he was acting under orders from Zardari, denied the entire story. Unfortunately for him, the ISI boss, General Pasha, had met up with Ijaz and been given the Blackberry with the messages and instructions. Haqqani had no option but to resign. Demands for his trial and hanging (the two often go together when the military is involved) are proliferating. Zardari is standing by his man. The military wants his head. And now Nato has entered the fray. This story is not yet over.<\/p>\n
Source<\/a><\/p>\n Anger Grows in Pakistan Over NATO Attack<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Pakistan Says NATO Ignored Its Pleas to Hold Off During Attack<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n One Attack, Many Versions: US and Pakistan Differ on Deadly Air Raid<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Supply Cut Leaves NATO Trucks Stranded in Pakistan<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Coverage of Pakistani Troops’ Funerals Fuels Anger as Calls Grow to Cut US Ties<\/a>Pakistan: Afghan Soldiers Called in Deadly NATO Airstrike<\/a><\/p>\n Pakistan Retaliation Puts NATO in Lurch<\/a><\/p>\n Afghanistan Worries After Attacks in Pakistan<\/a><\/p>\n Germany Offers Pakistan Treatment for Airstrike Wounded<\/a><\/p>\n Pakistani Truckers Stranded by Border Closure Fear Militant Attacks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Nato assault on a Pakistani checkpoint close to the Afghan border which killed 24 soldiers on Saturday must have been deliberate. Nato commanders have long been supplied with maps marking these checkpoints by the Pakistani military. They knew that the target was a military outpost. The explanation that they were fired on first rings false and has been ferociously denied by Islamabad. Previous such attacks were pronounced \u2018accidental\u2019 and apologies were given and accepted. This time it seems more serious. It has come too soon after other \u2018breaches of sovereignty\u2019, in the words of the local press, but Pakistani sovereignty is a fiction. The military high command and the country\u2019s political leaders willingly surrendered their sovereignty many decades ago. That it is now being violated openly and brutally is the real cause for concern.<\/p>\n In retaliation, Pakistan has halted Nato convoys to Afghanistan (49 per cent of which go through the country) and asked the US to vacate the Shamsi base that they built to launch drones against targets in both Afghanistan and Pakistan with the permission of the country\u2019s rulers. Islamabad was allowed a legal fig-leaf: in official documents the base was officially leased by the UAE \u2013 whose \u2018sovereignty\u2019 is even more flexible than Pakistan\u2019s. Continue reading <\/td>\n ![\"Funeral](\"http:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/868105-111128-pakistan.thumbnail.jpg\")
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