Pakistan militants vow to stop U.S. supply route

Trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan are parked at Pakistan's Torkham border crossing after Pakistani authorities shut vital NATO supply routes on Nov. 28, 2011.

/ A. MAJEED/AFP/Getty Images

(CBS NEWS) ISLAMABAD - Some of Pakistan's most notorious Islamic militants on Wednesday vowed to stop the resumption of a critical land supply route to U.S- led forces in Afghanistan.

At the same time, one of Pakistan's most prominent militants held a defiant news conference, a day after the U.S. slapped a $10 million bounty on him.

"I am here, I am visible. America should give that reward money to me," Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the 61-year-old founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, told reporters Wednesday.

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Saeed is accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

Washington's decision on Monday to slap a bounty on Saeed appeared to mark a significant U.S. hardening towards groups thought to be connected to Pakistan's army-run intelligence services.

In the past, American officials acknowledged Lashkar-e-Taiba's growing ability to launch terrorist attacks beyond Pakistan but stopped short of putting bounty on Saeed, so as it not destabilize the region.

The $10 million price tag is on par with rewards for some of the most notorious Taliban militants in the region.

Saeed, an Arabic language and Islamic studies professor, has been an advocate for the secessionist movement in Kashmir, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. The two nations have fought three wars and numerous skirmishes over the territory.

"More than the bounty itself which is a large amount, the message from the U.S. is clear," a senior European defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity told CBS News. "We are not prepared to tolerate hard line militants freely roaming around Pakistan."

In a related development, the Difa-e-Pakistan Council, composed of hardcore Islamists and nationalists, wants Pakistan's ruling establishment to seek tougher policies toward the U.S.

They want to suspend the land based supply route to Afghanistan which Pakistan closed following American air strikes in November that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers in November at two posts along the Afghan border.

Pakistan's parliament is currently debating relations with the U.S. and is expected to resume the matter on Thursday.

"We will protest any move to allow the land route to be reopened (to Afghanistan)," said Maulana Samiul Haq, a prominent Islamic cleric who chairs the Difa-e-Pakistan Council.

Hameed Gul, former director general of Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, told CBS News "this bounty will only make our people more angry. In Pakistan, anti-Americanism is already running high and this step will add to anti-U.S. sentiment."

Gul said "the bounty is widely seen in Pakistan to have been applied by the U.S. at the behest of India".

A member of parliament from the ruling Pakistan People's Party told CBS News on condition of anonymity that the controversy surrounding Saeed will make it harder for the government or individual legislators to be seen taking conciliatory steps towards Washington.

"Islamic political groups in Pakistan are not the most popular. But they have a tremendous ability to be a nuisance" he said. "These people will stage angry protests and use violence ... which will bring new pressure on our government."

The Difa-e-Pakistan Council announced planned public demonstrations on Friday and demanded President Asif Ali Zardari cancel his upcoming trip to India to meet with prime minister Manmohan Singh.

[rewisecarver]

please stop all aid to the Pakistan militaryand and let's bring all of our soldiers, money and equipment home now from Afghanistan. Use Aircraft and the northern route thru eastern Europe to the Baltic as a route home. Aghans are adults & they do not care to have foreigners of any kind in their lands. Their negative issues cannot be fixed by outsiders. Afghans seem to believe that revenge is a personal duty & that their courts are corrupt. Let them ruin their nation without our "help". Our troops nhave no way to understand what is actually going on with the Afghans.

[ratee-2009]

Now its not about aid. NATO is dependent on Pakistan for this supply route for withdrawing its troops from land locked Afghanistan.

Why is the timing of this announcing the decision of bounty for capturing Saeed was taken when this was bound to create further complication in opening the supply route by Pakistan which is the only practical supply route.

Most of the writers here do not have sufficient knowledge here USA/NATO needs Pakistan's help in opening the supply routes while most of the aid to Pakistan has already been stopped and USA/NATO have no other real options if they want to withdraw their troops in the 2014 schedule they need Pakistan. Other routes are unpractical and three to four times longer so they will not work for the withdrawal.

The political stupidities of US leadership are simply unbelievable to understand in decision making like these!!!

[nonpolitico]

Maybe the answer is to escort the convoys with Apache attack helicopters, and "do an Osama bin Ladin" on this islamonut!
They are being encouraged by the very Country the militants are attempting to overthrow!!
Islamic militants will only be defeated by a better message.
That message has seen Arab countries throw out dictators, but it seems it is more difficult to get people to throw out their beliefs.
More TV type information in the Far East is worth a try, as we cannot shoot them all, however much we wish it could happen.
Remember AFN had a hand in defeating the Warsaw Pact, at the time Reagan was speaking out about East Germany and its Stasi.
US politicians need to continue pointing out the travails of religious law as they affect women in these countries, and keep it up until everyone is aware of it.
Unless these head cases realise that hatred fanned by religions and 12th Century culture cannot be the way forward in lands like theirs in the 21st Century, these hatreds will continue.
Education is the only answer.
Until we get enough of that, the Kalashnikov and the M16 will be the currency, along with the "red mist" not common sense.

[ratee-2009]

YOU do not understand this is the time when US/NATO has no options left as they totally dependent on this only practical route through Pakistan to withdraw its troops till 2014.

USA/NATO is weak because its been virtually defeated in this war so should they take up more wars by further involvement of wars with their more countries in this region like Pakistan which has nuclear weapons?

Better concentrate on putting your own house in order of a bankrupt nation that has $ 17 trillion debt and forget it that USA is a world power as just see where is USSR after the economic failures since 1980's.

Nobody outside USA accepts USA as a policeman of the world as most of American citizens may still think.

[ConSense]

Yep, Palistan is our "Ally." This moron knows he's well protected.

[yomama2011]

Let them rot and burn. These are just more of the same disgusting human waste that has no business in America

[slatep]

Is it possible your comment appeared here by mistake.?

I don't understand it.

[worldcitizen1]

North America, Central America or South America?