Word: punjab
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...during Musharraf's rule, analysts say, that militants from southern Punjab who were once favored as proxies by the army turned on their masters. Some of the weekend attackers, said Major General Abbas, belonged to "splinter groups" from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) - another banned terrorist organization that emerged in 2000 as an anti-Indian insurgent group staging attacks across Kashmir's line of control. When that front simmered down, and U.S. troops arrived in Afghanistan, they discovered a new cause. "There was pressure on the group from inside," says Amir Rana, an expert on Pakistani militancy. "They thought that this...
...army revealed in a briefing on Oct. 12, the Taliban threat has now spread well beyond its northwestern borderlands and grown tentacles that reach deep into the country's heartlands. Five of the 10 attackers who laid siege to Pakistan's equivalent of the Pentagon in Rawalpindi came from Punjab, Pakistan's largest and wealthiest province. It is also home to the bulk of the army. The Punjabi militants involved in the audacious assault were linked to groups that once enjoyed the military's patronage, and until five years ago, the ringleader had been among its very own ranks...
...Usman, was already wanted for earlier terrorist attacks. He acquired his medical nom de guerre due to his 16 years as a nurse in the army's medical corps. In 2004, he abandoned the army to join Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a vicious sectarian terror group from Punjab. "He knew how the army functions," says Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier turned analyst. "That's why he organized this attack better than others could have done." The embarrassing breach of the heavily fortified headquarters was made possible through artful disguise, military officials said. The vehicle bore army license plates...
...months ago, the Pakistan air force dispatched fighter jets on Monday to strike against a creeping return of the Taliban. Two of the splinter groups were also recently involved in fighting in the Swat Valley; after being scattered in that offensive, says Rana, they are now regrouping in southern Punjab. (Read "In Pakistan's Swat Valley, Testing Life After the Taliban...
...government has shown no sign that it is willing to take action against the militants in southern Punjab. Access to ready and heavily indoctrinated recruits from that part of the country is crucial to the militant's demonstrated ability to continue to strike in Pakistan's heartlands, despite losing their much feared leader Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. air strike on Aug. 5. His successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, recently re-emerged after weeks of silence to vow a series of revenge attacks. Hakimullah Mehsud is considered a much weaker leader, and the already fractious alliance of militant groups under the Pakistani...