Article written on 2nd December 2011.
The November 26th ruthless NATO strike on Volcano and Bolder posts in Silala Pass, Mohmand Agency is a much bigger event than May 2nd US violation of Pakistan’s territory in which reportedly Osama Bin Laden was killed and is likely to have a longer shadow on the course of events in this region than is thought at present. The attack also highlights sadistic, savagery and barbaric attitudes prevalent in US/NATO/ISAF forces. Their Governments normally overlook these tendencies and do not punish the perpetrators in their armed forces so that their aggressiveness does not get restricted. The incidents at Abu-Ghuraib (Iraq), Sudan and Afghanistan are examples of their perverted minds.
The geographical location and the sequential events of the attack on these posts suggest that it was a deliberate and premeditated brutal attack part of a bigger game. The Government of Pakistan has sufficient evidence to prove and conclude with convictions that the attack was not incidental but a deliberate one. These posts have such a sharp decent into Kunar river to such an extent that it is impossible to climb this height from that side therefore the possibility of some rogue elements straying across the border in this area is ruled out. There is no evidence that any ISAF/ANA troops were operating in this area. The first aircraft arrived in the area at 0015 hrs on night 26/27 and our Military Headquarters informed the ISAF Headquarter in Kabul of the presence of these aircraft in the area as per agreed SOP and they replied that they were pulling back . These aircraft returned at 0115 hrs and attacked ‘Volcano’ post without any warning with such ferocity and sustained manner that the communication with the post broke down The Company Commander asked the adjoining ‘Bolder’ post to go and find out as to what had happened. As these troops started moving towards the ‘Volcano’ post. the NATO/ISAF aircrafts started firing on them also and bombed the ‘Bolder’ post. The post did fire on these aircraft with whatever weapons they had. Communication with this post also broke down. The Company Commander then started moving towards these post to asses the situation and for rescuing the injured. The NATO/ISAF aircraft also started striking this party killing them almost all. Although Pakistan Army claims that these attacks on these posts were launched by these aircraft from a stand off distance while staying in Afghan territory and that they did not violate Pakistan`s airspace. This appears implausible as the Company Commander and his party have been killed on the reverse side of the mountain. With the death of Company Commander the communication with the Company became impossible. The Battalion Commander asked the artillery to fire airburst rounds over these post in the hope that some splinters might hit the Helicopters. The aircraft after accomplishing their mission bravely returned to their bases. This whole unfortunate incident audaciously continued for about two hours. In spite of direct communications between ISAF and own GHQ. They did not stop the attack in spite repeated calls and even targeted the rescue parties. Due to difficult terrain and darkness at night the full extent of this savagery could not be ascertained till first light morning. By then the Corp Commander had also reached the spot in a helicopter. His staff immediately made a video from the air of these two posts. At night the Border Coordination Committee (BCC) at Nawa Pass which is manned by a US and a Paksitani officer meant for avoidance of such misunderstandings tried to confuse and mislead own officer that one of their aircraft has received fire from ‘Gulparaye’ post which is 15 KM north of these two posts and later correcting himselfself that actually it was ‘Volcano’ post and which by now has been attacked by the US/NATO/ISAF aircraft. This appears to have been a deliberate deception as part of overall plan for this satanic operation.
With these evidences the Government of Pakistan has definitely concluded that this was a premeditated, thoroughly planned and a deliberate attack on Pakistani posts and may be part of a bigger plan/game which they are trying to figure out. Having reached these conclusion they have rightly spurned the antics of inquiries They hold the four star US General Alan Commander of ISAF responsible for this massacre.
Pakistan by now is also firmly convinced that since US is not interested in bringing peace to Afghanistan and is instead preparing itself for a long term presence in the region in terms of permanent bases in Afghanistan as part of their overall strategy for this region. Pakistan, Russia, China, and even India rightly opposed their proposal of a plan on the line of “Organization for Security and Cooperation for Europe”(OSCE) conceived in “Cold War environments for this region because If peace returns to Afghanistan then their such planning will lose legitimacy. Though US, in the stupor of being the sole super power hardly cares for such International Law’s scruples. The Government of Pakistan is now trying hard to determine the game which the US and its allies is playing in this region and reorder its policies as to how to best to protect Pakistan and its national interests. As initial steps the closure of NATO supplies routes in Pakistan, vacation of Shamsi airbase and announcing its inability to attend Bonn conference are good steps and these should be final. Pakistan should carefully consider taking the issue to United Nations Security Council to expose as to how US/NATO/ISAF have abused the UN mandate in Afghanistan and in this region for their ulterior motives. This should include the use of drones by the US in our tribal areas killing thousand of unarmed civilians including children and women and various other violations that they have committed by violating Pakistan sovereignty inspite of being a frontline ally in this war on terror in which we have suffered the most. Our casualties of both security forces and civilians are far more than all forty one countries or more put together present in Afghanistan. However this option of going to Security Council should be carefully studied by our Foreign office/diplomatic experts that whether we have sufficient support from other countries on this issue or not .A failure on this could lead to damage to Pakistan given US prowess at that international forum. Going to International Court of Justice and War Crime Tribunal may also be studied.
The Government of Pakistan need to liaise closely with China, Iran, Saudi Arab, Turkey, and if possible Russia for their support. The event of Salala is so momentous that relations between US and Pakistan will not be the same in future. The Government of Pakistan`s political leadership and military leadership with 170 Million people behind them must unequivocally state, while standing on one platform that we do not need US so called Aid or military hardware . We must also state that we being a small country have no ambitions of matching US in their global agenda as a super power but we should not be equated with Iraq or Afghanistan as rightly put across by General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiani. US attack on Pakistan will be the gravest strategic misjudgment on part of US and let’s hope they understand it.