Eye of the Storm: Western Plans for Iraq-Style Tension on Pakistan-Iran Border

Source: The Nation
S.R.H Hashmi

The Nation in its February 22 issue, has reported that the United States is putting pressure on Pakistani authorities to allow it to establish intelligence bases in the country’s Balochistan province to gather intelligence on Iran, and this report has been confirmed by two officials from the security agencies and one from diplomatic circles. Furthermore, the resolution introduced in the US Congress to recognize the right of Baloch people to self-determination is part of the pressure tactics to force Pakistan to give in. 

We heard so much about dictator Pervez Musharaf giving in to the US on one telephone call and that this would not have happened had a democratic government been in power then. However, continuation of drone attacks despite unanimous parliamentary resolutions against these as well as unequivocal condemnation by top civilian and military leaders, the Abbottabad operation and subsequent attack of Salalah post that killed 24 soldiers do not quite reassure the public of government’s strength. Of course Salalah attack drew strong response from civilian and military leaders, like stoppage of Nato supplies going through Pakistan, throwing out Americans from Shamsi airbase, and determining new terms of engagement with the US by the parliament. However, we heard that Nato supplies through our airspace resumed while the parliament has still not finalised its recommendations, which is surprising to say the least.  

We have not seen much way of good governance but hope that at least on a matter of such vital importance for Pakistan, the government would take a firm stand and will not accede to requests or even threats from Americans who are no friends of ours and are here to implement their agenda of redrawing the maps of Muslim states as well as depriving us of our nuclear weapons. Allowing the Americans to operate near the Iranian border would be doubly harmful because in addition to their subversive activities in Balochistan, they would successfully draw a wedge between us and friendly Iran. The Americans and their accomplices successfully created tension, between Shia and Sunni communities which have been living together peacefully in Iraq for ages. It would be a shame if we allow them to do the same here and thus cooperate with them in our own undoing and that of our neighbours, in return for a few dollars in aid or otherwise.

'Pakistan-US Ties Reach Point of No Return'

Source: PressTV

Pakistani people spilled onto the streets of the capital, Islamabad, on Monday for another anti-US rally.

Thousands of demonstrators --who were opposed to what they call the US intervention in Pakistan-- chanted "death to America". The protesters described the US as "the biggest enemy" of Pakistan who will be defeated. They also denounced the US assassination attacks on Pakistani soil.

Anti-American sentiment has grown in Pakistan after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a US air strike in November. The attack sparked large rallies across the country. Ties between Islamabad and Washington became tense following the attack.

U.S. move on Balochistan tendentious: Pakistan

Source: The Hindu

Pakistan on Saturday reacted sharply to a resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by three members asserting Balochistan's right to self-determination. Across the political spectrum, there was consensus that this amounted to an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty which could impact U.S.-Pakistan relations. 

Interacting with mediapersons in Karachi, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani described the resolution introduced by Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher as an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty. Earlier this week, Pakistan had reacted equally sharply over the exclusive hearing held by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations on human rights violations in Balochistan. This sub-committee is also chaired by Mr. Rohrabacher. 

In the official formulation of Pakistan's reaction — put out by the Foreign Office — Minister Hina Rabbani Khar took “strong exception'' and said it was against the very fundamentals of long-standing Pakistan-U.S. relations. Maintaining that it was an isolated move, she said the “draft resolution'' is contrary to the principles of the U.N. Charter and international law. Ms. Khar described the resolution as an unfriendly and irresponsible attempt by a few individuals to create distrust and hoped that this “latest tendentious move'' will not be allowed to sail through the House by a vast majority of U.S. 

Expanding Pakistan-Russia Partnership Within Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Source: Pakistan Today
Qudssia Akhlaque

A move in the right direction
====

Pakistan considers Russia as an engine for increased economic growth and a factor of peace and stability in the SCO region. Both the countries seem equally keen to broaden and diversify mutually advantageous cooperation, particularly in the energy sector.

The two countries have also been discussing the possibility of developing rail links with Iran and other areas in the SCO region from Pakistan. Russia had shown some interest in Pakistan’s keenness to develop rail links to Central Asia from Gwadar.

Reaffirmation of Russian support for Pakistan’s request for full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is another encouraging sign.

Notably in June 2005, Pakistan supported Russia’s bid for observer status in the OIC and in turn Russia helped Pakistan obtain the observer status in the SCO.

Both share the view on the need for a multi-polar world and the centrality of the UN role in the world affairs.

The growing presence of US and Nato forces in the region and Pakistan’s active cooperation with both had made Moscow somewhat uneasy. However, Pakistan’s gradual distancing from the US has encouraged the Russians towards closer cooperation. 

Pakistani diplomats at the Envoys Conference in Islamabad a couple of months back had advocated more proactive engagement with Russia. Some promising signs of renewed engagement, including the recently concluded visit of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to Russia, are visible. This visit also signals to the US Pakistan’s greater activity within its Asian neighbourhood. Russia has, alongside China, become more assertive in demonstrating multi-polarity as opposed to uni-polarity on the global power scene. 

Drones and Deaths - News Analysis

Source: PressTV Global

Press TV Global discusses President Obama's recent admission of the previously unacknowledged drone strikes in Pakistan which demonstrate a clear violation of international law. Assassination drone strikes were initiated under the Bush administration and escalated by the Obama administration. Confirmed drone strikes have been reported in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. Pakistani sources report an average of 50 civilian casualties for every one militant killed by drone strikes. An investigation by the London based Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found that attacks in Pakistan alone have killed 775 civilians including nearly 170 children since 2004.

PAKISTAN: ‘CIA drones deliberately target innocent people’

Source: Global Research and The News International
Noor Aftab

Speaking publicly for the first time on the controversial CIA drone strikes, Obama claimed last week they were used strictly to target terrorists. However the new report counters this claim, with international law specialists fiercely positing that the strikes amount to little more than state-sanctioned extra-judicial executions, and going on to question just how the US government would react if another state such as China or Russia started taking similar "justified" action against those they declared enemies.

The upsurge in Washington's unmanned war has been so dramatic that the US now has 7,000 drones in operation, with 12,000 more on the ground, while not a single new manned combat aircraft is under research or development at any western aerospace company.

ISLAMABAD: In what can only be described as a gross violation of the Geneva Convention, the CIA-sponsored drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of innocent civilians involved in either rescuing injured victims or partaking in funerals.

According to a report published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism with the Sunday Times, between 282 and 535 civilians, including 60 minors, have been credibly reported as killed as a result of drone strikes since US President Barack Obama took office three years ago.

“A three-month investigation including eyewitness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims," affirmed the report. It went on to state that "More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners."

Speaking publicly for the first time on the controversial CIA drone strikes, Obama claimed last week they were used strictly to target terrorists. However the new report counters this claim, with international law specialists fiercely positing that the strikes amount to little more than state-sanctioned extra-judicial executions, and going on to question just how the US government would react if another state such as China or Russia started taking similar "justified" action against those they declared enemies.

Another Reason War Must Be Avoided: Israeli Attack Will Prompt Pakistani Response

Source: YNetNews

European diplomat based in Islamabad says Israeli strike would force Pakistan to support Iranian retaliation, while EU official says 'political and economic consequences of attack would be catastrophic for Europe'

Is the world counting down to "D-Day"? After US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta estimated that Israel would attack Iran by June, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned government officials against "Iran chatter," A European diplomat based in Pakistan said that if Israel attacks, Islamabad will have no choice but to support any Iranian retaliation.

The diplomat's statement raised the specter of putting a nuclear-armed Pakistan at odds with Israel, which is widely believed to have its own significant nuclear arsenal.
 
Related stories:

• Op-ed: Raising the stakes on Iran
• 'Panetta believes Israel will strike Iran soon'
• Iran vows to hit any country that stages attack  

To some, the greatest risk of an attack was to the moribund world economy. Nick Witney, former head of the EU's European Defense Agency, said "the political and economic consequences of an Israeli attack would be catastrophic for Europe" since the likely spike in the price of oil alone "could push the entire EU, including Germany, into recession."

Threats of Nuclear Sabotage Against Pakistan – Analysis

Source: Eurasia Review

Muhammad Jawad Hashmi

As a nuclear weapons’ state, Pakistan faces a number of challenges, which if  unaddressed could cause a severe damage to Pakistan’s international image as well as to the safety and security of nuclear weapons of Pakistan.

It is acknowledged secret that Pakistan has a robust command control system with its weapons kept unassembled and dispersed at different places with multilayered security arrangements. As a result potential terrorists would have to toil a lot to obtain access to those weapons. These are extremely complex challenges and next to impossible for the terrorists to cross all the thresholds and layers of security undetected. Thus, the strict security arrangements around nuclear facilities and lack of nuclear knowledge may hinder terrorists to steal fissile material and attempt to manufacture a workable nuclear weapon. In a more plausible scenario it could be that terrorists may assemble an RDD (radiological dispersal devices) or dirty bombs.1 For the said purpose, terrorists would need fissile material and a lot of technical know-how to fabricate such device.

A Case Building Scenario: Threats of Nuclear Sabotage against Pakistan

Immense hype by global media, presence of agents like Raymond Davis and private forces like Blackwaters and DynCorp in Pakistan are the crucial reasons to forecast the alarming scenario vis-à-vis security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. The literature reveals that US opinion makers like David Albright, David Sanger, Frederick Kagan and Michael O’Hanalon, Thomas Ricks and Peter Wonacott has raised the same kind of queries over the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets.2 The following discussion reveals the western efforts and covert agenda by the different tactics to discard Pakistan’s security arrangements. Thus, the prospects of filing a case of nuclear material’s theft/transfer or sabotage against Pakistan could be built.

Global Media Hype over Insecurity of Pakistan’s Nuclear Assets

Osama Bin Laden episode and PNS Mehran attack has added fuel in the ongoing crisis in Pakistan. The global media started raising questions about the role of Pakistan in WOT as dual or suspicious. There had been number of evidences which reveal that global media is creating sensational hypes to tag Pakistan as rogue state. For instance Mariot Leslie, who was the director general of Defence and intelligence at the Foreign Office but is now Britain’s ambassador to NATO said that recent intelligence indicates that Pakistan is not going in a good direction. He believed that “The UK has deep concerns about the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, and China could play a big role in stabilizing Pakistan.”3 According to Wikileaks, UK, USA, and France have raised high concerns that Pakistani nuclear assets may fall into the hands of terrorists. The leaked documents revealed that in 2008, the US ambassador to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, cabled to Washington that a rogue scientist in the Pakistani nuclear programme could gradually smuggle enough material out to eventually make a weapon for a terrorist group.4 In another cable released by the Wikileaks, concerns has been raised that two main sources from which nuclear materials or a weapon could be obtained are Pakistan and the states of the former Soviet Union.5

US Resumes Drone Attacks in Pakistan

Source: FARS News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- More people were killed in the US drone attacks in Pakistan after security officials confirmed that at least five people were killed in two strikes carried out by a US drone in the Pakistani North Waziristan tribal region. 

Security officials said on Monday that the American drone targeted a vehicle and a house with two missiles, killing five people at Degan village near Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan on the Afghan border.

The death toll is expected to rise, and the rescue operation is underway in the area.

The US has resumed its drone operations after it halted the CIA-operated strikes in November 26, 2011, when 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in NATO attacks on two Pakistani military border checkpoints in Mohmand agency.

The use of unmanned armed aircraft over Pakistan has been a sore point with the public and Pakistani politicians, who describe them as violations of sovereignty that produce unacceptable civilian casualties.

Sixty-four US missile strikes were reported in Pakistan's tribal belt last year, down from 101 reported in 2010.

The US refuses to discuss drone strikes publicly, but the program has dramatically increased during the Obama administration.

But the missile strikes fuel widespread anti-American resentment, especially high since the deadly US air strikes on November 26.

Islamabad is now reviewing its entire alliance with the US and has kept its Afghan border closed to NATO supply convoys for two months. 

China Wants to Set Up Bases in Pakistan, Reveals Intelligence Report

Source: India Today

China might be allowed to use Pakistan's military facilities, a secret intelligence report accessed by Headlines Today has revealed.

The intelligence report has set alarm bells ringing in the government circles. Moreover, all this is being done without any public announcement.

China has been keen on building military bases in federally administered tribal areas (FATA) in the northwest region of Pakistan. In the last few months there have been several high level meetings of Pakistani and Chinese officials.

The intelligence report says: "China's desire for a military presence in Pakistan has been discussed by the political and military leadership of that country in the recent months. China's deepening strategic penetration of Pakistan and joint plans to set up... oil pipelines/rail/roads as well as naval and military bases are a matter of concern."

According to the assessment report, Chinese presence in this area might enable People's Liberation Army (PLA) to counter the Muslims separatists operating from this part of Pakistan for terrorist activities in its Xinjiang province.

Corbett Report Interviews Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

Michel Chossudovsky of GlobalResearch.ca joins us to discuss the worrying steps toward a greater middle east conflict that threatens to gulf the entire region. From Syria to Iran to Pakistan to Palestine, each situation represents a potential spark that could ignite the powder keg that will lead to World War III. We discuss the implications of this situation and the lack of concern on the part of the public and the so-called anti-war movement.

Pakistan: U.S. Drones In Its Air Space Will Be SHOT Down

Source: KHQ via StratRisks

Pakistan will shoot down any U.S. drone that intrudes its air space per new directives, a senior Pakistani official told NBC News on Saturday.

According to the new Pakistani defense policy, “Any object entering into our air space, including U.S. drones, will be treated as hostile and be shot down,” a senior Pakistani military official told NBC News.

The policy change comes just weeks after a deadly NATO attack on Pakistani military checkpoints accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Pakistani officials to order all U.S. personnel out of a remote airfield in Pakistan.

Pakistan told the U.S. to vacate Shamsi Air Base by December 11.

A senior military official from Quetta, Pakistan, confirmed to NBC News on Saturday that the evacuation of the base, used for staging classified drone flights directed against militants, “will be completed tomorrow,” according to NBC’s Fakhar ur Rehman.

Pakistan’s Frontier Corps security forces took control of the base Saturday evening after most U.S. military personnel left, Xinhua news agency reported. Civil aviation officials also moved in Saturday, Xinhua said.

Pakistani Military Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani had issued multiple directives since the Nov. 26 NATO attack, which included orders to shoot down U.S. drones, senior military officials confirmed to NBC News on Saturday.

It was unclear Saturday whether orders to fire upon incoming U.S. drones was part of the initial orders.

The Pakistani airbase had been used by U.S. forces, including the CIA, to stage elements of a clandestine U.S. counter-terrorism operation to attack militants linked to al-Qaida, the Taliban and Pakistan’s home-grown Haqqani network, using unmanned drone aircraft armed with missiles.

President Barack Obama stepped up the drone campaign after he took office. U.S. officials say it has produced major successes in decimating the central leadership of al-Qaida and putting associated militant groups on the defensive.

Since 2004, U.S. drones have carried out more than 300 attacks inside Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities started threatening U.S. personnel with eviction from the Shamsi base in the wake of the raid last May in which U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden at his hide-out near Islamabad without notifying Pakistani officials in advance.

Pakistan Reviews Ties With U.S. After Deadly NATO Strike

Source: Xinhua News Agency
Muhammad Tahir

The November 26 attack was the 8th NATO strike on Pakistani posts in the last three years, according to the Pakistan army. A total of 72 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in such NATO strikes, but the latest strike has prompted an unprecedented angry reaction from the Pakistani military and civilian leadership...

 
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani says parliament will meet soon to reassess its relations with the United States in the wake of the November 26 deadly attack by NATO fighter jets and helicopters on two border posts, killing 24 soldiers.

The attack had caused widespread anger across Pakistan and the country's top civil and military leadership took unexpected and important decisions to review its future relationship with the U.S., close supply lines for NATO forces in Afghanistan, vacate a strategically important airbase in Balochistan province from the U. S. military and to boycott the December 5 Bonn Conference on Afghanistan's future.

The decisions are considered as a major setback in worsening Pakistan-U.S relations, which had been under stress since February this year when an undercover CIA agent, Raymond Davis, shot dead two Pakistani nationals in the eastern city of Lahore. The documents and mobile phone data of Raymond Davis mobile had unearthed a secret U.S. spy network in Pakistan, which prompted a call from Pakistan to seek details about all American secret agents and their activities in the country. Pakistan then had also asked the U.S. to withdraw its spies and U.S. trainers.

Rense Interviews Dr. Joseph P. Farrell: Heading To War?

Source: Rense.com

Analysts Say Russia Could Deliver Deathblow to NATO

Source: International

With the Russian threat to cut land routes for supply to Nato troops in Afghanistan, the Afghan battleground may turn into a cold deathtrap for Nato, defence analysts believe. They say that Pakistan should utilise the opportunity for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan by pulling it out of the American war.

Russia has threatened to cut off Nato supply routes to Afghanistan if the alliance doesn’t compromise on its missile defence plans. “If Nato doesn’t give a serious response, we have to address matters in relations in other areas,” Russian news services reported. Russia’s cooperation on Afghanistan may be an area for review, the news services reported.

Pakistan has already cut the Nato supply route after the Mohmand Agency attack by Nato troops that killed twenty-six Pakistani soldiers.

Lieutenant General (r) Hameed Gul while talking to The News said that Russia would utilise every option to take revenge from the Americans and time has come for the Russians to do this. He said that Russia wants to join hands with Pakistan and Pakistan should reconsider its policy towards Russia. “Americans and Nato troops have been strangled in Afghanistan and time has come for Pakistan to avail the opportunity that it missed on 9/11 to regain the respect and sovereignty”, Gul said.

He mentioned that Americans will have to leave Afghanistan and will ask for concessions and Pakistan should negotiate with them for their exit. If Russia cuts the supply then the route will be from Georgia to Baku and then to Azerbaijan, which means NATO will never get the supply, said Gul. “Now Nato troops will have to exit Vietnam style, and that too by using Pakistan’s airspace because Iran will never let USA use its airspace”, the retired general said. He mentioned that the war against terror that was started with our own people will come to an end at once and there will be peace in no time once the Americans leave Afghanistan. He said that Indian interests in Afghanistan were growing but India will get nothing from Afghanistan.

Pakistan: U.S. And NATO Have Licence To Kill

Source: Daily Times (Pakistan)
Andleeb Abbas

The more corrupt the government, the weaker the economy, and greater the US control. Thus, the present PPP rule was tailor-made for a US takeover

Talk about target killing, and you think of Karachi. However, the founding member of this horrible form of inhumanity is the US. If we consider drones and the so-called target hunts for terrorists, we understand the origins of this extrajudicial atrocity. The US has traditionally been a master of this ‘art’. It actually does strategic planning sessions on this art. The vision of the US as a superpower is based on exercising its might on smaller countries and making them powerless. Grenada, Panama and Vietnam in the past, and Iraq and Afghanistan more recently, have been experimental laboratories of its war games. The fact that the US has never succeeded in these countries is immaterial, as the country’s actual objective of this war is to boost sales of its mega industrial multinationals and to get access to resources to feed its economy. The CIA and its allied departments create profiles of target countries. The profiles have qualification criteria that include political and economic prerequisites for a country to be included in the hit-list. Politically, it needs to be unstable with a government whose credibility is marred by corruption and mismanagement. The leadership of such countries is obsessed with personal gains and is ready to negotiate anything for perpetuating its power, and therefore not endangered by its lack of performance. Economically, these countries are beset with huge deficits, are dependent on US-sponsored aid and are constantly on the verge of bankruptcy. An added attraction might be scarce natural resources that serve as fuel for American industries. 

The Coming War With Pakistan

Source: Land Destroyer Report
Tony Cartalucci

BBC are propagandists whose lies have killed people. Their documentaries are made upon request by special interest groups whose narratives are sewn verbatim into what would otherwise look like a "documentary." With BBC's name attached, it is hoped, these tissues of lies are then able to gain traction and begin rewriting reality. Their recent hit on Pakistan is not the first time they have been caught peddling wholesale lies dressed up as "documentaries." Earlier this year, they also cobbled together "This World: Thailand - Justice Under Fire," where evidence drawn from paid lobbyists of Western-backed opposition leaders and US State Department cables and used to promote Wall Street and London's corporate-financier interests in Thailand.

BBC's two-part "Secret Pakistan" documentary attempts to frame the 10 year foreign occupation of Afghanistan and the lack of progress as the result of "Pakistani duplicity." In reality, even upon watching BBC's "documentary," one can clearly see that the US, UK, and NATO have simply traded places with invading Soviets and now face the same fierce indigenous force fighting against occupation. Indeed, just as Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI supported Afghans during the Soviet invasion, they are very likely to be supporting Afghans now in their current bid for freedom.

Videos: Parts 1 and 2 of BBC's "Secret Pakistan." (Part 1 "Double Cross" here, Part 2, "Backlash" here.)

However, BBC is entirely unable to establish this and instead, crutches its argument along on false pretenses, such as the Taliban "are" Al Qaeda, that the US, UK, and NATO have a right to be in Afghanistan in the first place, and that Pakistan has some sort of obligation to unconditionally cooperate with these foreign occupiers. While it may be instructive for many to watch the lengthy, two-hour "documentary," there are two quotes from prominent interviewees that give BBC's game away while perfectly summing up the reality of the Afghanistan war.

Chinese Government Official: 'US Threat To Pakistan Is Threat To China'

Source: Prison Planet
Paul Joseph Watson & Yi Han

The Chinese military has staged a massive wargame exercise near Pakistan in response to a build-up of U.S. troops in the region as a top Chinese government official warned that any threat to Pakistan would be taken as a direct threat to China.

Citing a report by China’s Central Television, Junshijia reports that an unnamed government official warned, “Any threat to Pakistan is a threat to China,” in response to increasing hostility directed towards Pakistan by both the US and NATO in the aftermath of a NATO bombing that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers last week.

Pakistan responded to the airstrike by sealing its border with Afghanistan, preventing supplies from reaching the US-occupied country.

According to the report, the United States is massing troops on Pakistan’s border in an act of aggression that China sees as a direct threat to its close alliance with the country. In response, China recently sent large numbers of Second Artillery PLA troops armed with sophisticated DF-21C and short-range DF-11A tactical missiles to China’s northwestern plateau near Pakistan for a huge military exercise designed to reflect China’s “attitude towards the US threat to Pakistan.”

The drill ran from the 14-27 of November and included Pakistani troops. It was also reported by numerous other Chinese news sources (1,2,3).

The report strongly emphasizes the Chinese position that its alliance with Pakistan represents a “brotherhood,” and that “China will never be in peace if Pakistan is lost.”

“Militarily, China will be conducting massive and heavy equipment desert warfare in Pakistan on the 16th,” states the translated report. “America has always desired Pakistan, especially in recent years. As the U.S. war in Afghanistan deepens, and military actions against Iran’s determination become stronger, (the threat of ) confrontation with China increases, Pakistan is the place for America to gain military advantage strategically and geographically.”

Infowars Interviews General Hamid Gul

Source: Infowars
Alex Jones

On the Wednesday November 30 edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex talks with retired Pakistani Army three-star general Hamid Gul about the situation in Pakistan following NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan has also issued a demand that the U.S. stop running drone strikes out of the Shamsi airbase located in the Balochistan province. Gul served as the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

'NATO strike revenge for Pakistan crackdown on CIA assets'

Source: RT

A NATO air strike on an army checkpoint in northwest Pakistan has killed up to 25 soldiers, according to the country's military officials. Islamabad has now blocked the alliance's vital supply lines into Afghanistan in response. The incident threatens to put more pressure on relations between Pakistan and the military alliance, already strained by continued U.S. drone attacks. Ahmed Quraishi, President of Pakistan's biggest lobbying group - the PakNationalists forum, thinks this accident was a deliberate act of punishment.