It seems Pakistan locals are ready to start hunting down al-Qaeda in the tribal areas where al-Qaeda is supposedly holed up – resembling the change in support local Sunni Iraqis had regarding al-Qaeda in the now infamous Anbar Province of Iraq:

Members of a Pakistani ethnic Pashtun tribe vowed on Thursday to raise a militia aimed at forcing al Qaeda-linked foreign militants from their lands on the Afghan border.

For several year Pakistani security forces have been trying with little success to rid the border tribal belt of foreign militants, who are blamed for raids on foreign troops in Afghanistan and for attacks inside Pakistan.

Thursday’s decision by men from the Wazir tribe came four days after gunmen, believed to be Uzbek militants, attacked two offices of a government-sponsored peace movement in South Waziristan and killed eight members of the tribe.

“A lashkar of 600 people will be organised tomorrow,” tribal elder Meetha Khan told a gathering in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. A lashkar is a militia force.

Wazir tribesmen sheltering the foreigners must now give them up, he said.

This EXACTLY how al-Qaeda wore out their welcome in Iraq and went from the ‘future of Islam’ to the ‘enemy of Islam’ in a blink of an eye. Muslim respect for each other and the custom of protecting welcomed guests makes it a huge decision to turn on those guests in a violent way. But if anyone can turn people against them it is the bloody thugs of al-Qaeda. More here on this uprising against al-Qaeda:

Thousands of armed tribesmen of South Waziristan met here on Wednesday, vowing to organise a Lashkar to hunt down Al Qaeda-linked militants blamed for killing nine of their kinsmen.

The tribal jirga in Wana came three days after militants stormed two offices and killed nine tribal elders of a government-sponsored peace committee.

The jirga ordered tribesmen from every household belonging to the Wazir tribe to come to Wana with arms to prepare for action, a local official said.

“One man from each house should come to Wana with a gun at 10am on Thursday to plan our defence and act against those who are responsible for disorder,” tribal chief Malik Ghaffar told the gathering.

Definitely has all the signs of a Pakistan Awakening. One other interesting tidbit – the US is being warned to not “unilaterally” entered the border regions of Pakistan near Afghanistan were all the tensions have been rising between the terrorists and the locals:

President Pervez Musharraf warned that U.S. troops would be regarded as invaders if they crossed into Pakistan’s border region with Afghanistan in the hunt for al-Qaida or Taliban militants, according to an interview published Friday.

US Special Forces are already in Pakistan, but with the locals rising up they may not be needed. Things are brewing in Pakistan, and al-Qaeda seems a bit nervous and on the run.

Update: Few of the media in the West are picking up stories that show Pakistan is not at death’s door. Just like when the SurrenderMedia missed the Surge and Awakening in Iraq they have missed the Surge (100,000 Pakistan soldiers now ring the tribal areas where al-Qaeda is group, plus there are US-NATO troops rimming the Afghan border to the north) and the possible Awakening movement among the tribes. The Pak military is having more and more success against the terrorists, even if the Western Media do ignore the stories:

Pakistani troops defeated an attack by hundreds of Islamic militants in a restive tribal region this week, inflicting heavy casualties, officials said Friday.

The attack came hours after thousands of armed tribesmen met at Wana in South Waziristan on Wednesday, vowing to organise a lashkar (legion) to hunt down Al-Qaeda-linked militants blamed for killing eight of their kinsmen.

“Around 250-300 miscreants concentrated and attempted to attack Ladha Fort and Ladha Check Post on the night of January 9 to 10,” chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.

He said the security forces retaliated with artillery and small-arms fire.
“The miscreants were forced to retreat and reportedly suffered heavy casualties,” Arshad added without giving specific details.

Is it possible we are seeing one of the big final battles being waged in the War On Terror and most of the World is missing it because of lousy reporting? What happens if all of a sudden we wake up one day to find Bin Laden and Zawahiri dead or captured and no one realizes how it happened? The liberal media’s denial about the evil of terrorism, the War on Terrorism and the recent defeats for terrorists is not a sign of how badly Bush has done anything. It is a sign what we need for “change” is a brand new professional news media.

Update: Another interesting sign of things to come:

The Pentagon’s decision to send some 3,000 Marines to southern Afghanistan for a one-time only, seven-month rotation will not mean a ticket home for Canada’s 2,500 troops in Kandahar.

Nor does it end NATO’s perpetual struggle to find enough troops and equipment to break the back of the Taliban insurgency in the south, now emerging from its bloodiest year of inflicting casualties on foreign troops and innocent Afghan civilians.

As early as today, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates is expected to approve a request from NATO for the additional 3,000 Marines, who would be up and running by April to assist the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force in southern Afghanistan.

Seems there will be even more forces on the Afghan-Pakistan border here very soon. And some of our finest fighters to boot.