Pak pol pushes Predator strikes in Punjab

Buried in an article on a strange invitation by the al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Taiba front group Jamaat-ud-Dawa to politicians to tour its headquarters at Muridke, is this rare endorsement from a Pakistani politician who wants the US to expand the Predator strike program into Punjab province. From The News:

A leader of the Pakistan People’s Party from the Punjab, Syeda Abida Hussain had also recently favoured drone attacks on alleged terrorist centres in southern Punjab and other parts of the province. “If drone attacks can be carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, why not in southern Punjab,” she was quoted as saying by newspapers on Saturday.

Now clearly, as Alexander Mayer explained last week, the majority of the Pakistani public does not support the US airstrikes inside their country. But it is interesting that one politician in Pakistan has the courage to support the airstrikes, and doesn’t appear worried about getting kicked out of office for doing so.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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6 Comments

  • Fire says:

    It’s time to take the war to Iran. Osama Bin Laden and his top aides have been hiding out in Sabzevar, Iran. Mark my words, you’ll be hearing more about this in the coming day’s. Turkey, Syria, and other Shia dominant countries have known about Iran’s shelter of Osama, and thank a Kuwait paper for breaking the story.
    Question, was the purpose of the leak to warn Osama and Al Qaeda’s leaders that their cover was blown, and it was time for them to move? Which, it would make them easier to catch, and for our President to make a decision to go after them(and expose Turkey for what they are). We now have a rare opportunity to catch this SOB!

  • Eric L says:

    This is why I love your reporting, Bill.

  • Neo says:

    Yes that is a brave and uncommon stance, but In my opinion.

  • T Ruth says:

    Fire your comment mirrors Debka. Not sure how much creedence to pin on this.
    Also who is this Kuwaiti paper al-Siyassa supposed to be “breaking” the story? Can’t find them on the net so maybe they are more rag-tag than rag. Maybe not, don’t know. I’d like to see THE original report for a breaking story like this. Though UPI is picking this up from Jerusalem.
    And what about the Turkish angle in this? Anything to do with certain recent flotillas and Israel?
    I’ll wait till Bill has something to report. My intelligence tells me he’s digging now.

  • Tayyab Nazir says:

    She was trying to be sarcastic.

  • omar says:

    I dont think she is joking. She is Shia and is on the hitlist of the sipah e sahaba anyway. I think she would genuinely welcome some drone strikes against the Sunni militants.

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