Bahawalpur's Real Estate Boom. Last week Saeed Shah reported on Jaish-e-Mohammad 's [JeM] construction of a walled-off 4.5-acre compound three miles outside of Bahawalpur , located in the south of Pakistan's Punjab province. JeM already has a headquarters and a seminary in the city center. This new facility is much grander. It includes a swimming pool, stable for horses and a playground for children. Gotta love those kid-friendly militants. The compound sounds just like my sleep-away camp, except I have a feeling its riflery range may be a bit more robust. In all seriousness, this is deeply troubling. Over the past six months Pakistan has made strides in its fight against the TTP and TNSM, two organizations that consistently threatened the state.
It is likely that support for JeM goes beyond merely tolerance. The site could serve multiple purposes. Second, according to Shah's report, Bahawalpur serves as an "R&R" safe haven for jihadists battling in Afghanistan. But developments such as this one give me pause. South Asia | Taliban film shows leader is dead. The Taliban in Pakistan have released a video confirming that their former leader Baitullah Mehsud is dead. A video received by the BBC shows the body of the former head of Pakistan's largest Taliban group lying in a room.
It is not clear where it was taken. Mr Mehsud was killed on 6 August in the tribal region of South Waziristan in a missile attack by a suspected US drone. The video came as officials said at least six people had been killed in a fresh drone attack in North Waziristan. The strike near the town of Mir Ali was the third such attack in the past 24 hours against militant targets near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said.
Two missile attacks on Tuesday, one in South Waziristan and one in North Waziristan, left at least 12 suspected militants dead. Covered US and Pakistani officials were quick to claim Mr Mehsud's death, but it took nearly three weeks for the Taliban to admit he had been hurt in the attack and had later died.