Precaution, pre-emption: Islamabad undergoes security overhaul

* Security arrangements and crime situation in capital city review
* All police stations to have CCTV cameras, four police stations to have surveillance cameras on emergency basis
* Private vehicles’ entry to police stations banned
ISLAMABAD: Following the Monday’s terrorist strike at Manawan Police Training Center, Lahore, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration on Tuesday directed installation of CCTV cameras at all police stations and other police installations in the city.This was decided in a meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Asadullah Faiz and attended by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tahir Alam Khan, Additional Deputy Commissioner General (ADCG) Rana Akbar Hayat, Superintendent of Police (SP), West, Nasir Aftab, magistrates and sub-divisional police officers (SDPO).A senior official of ICT administration said that the meeting reviewed the security arrangements and crime situation in the capital city. The deputy commissioner directed the police bosses to further strengthen the security of police stations and make it sure that CCTV cameras were installed there.Faiz told the meeting that four CCTV cameras would be provided to the police on emergency basis and the remaining would be arranged in the next few days.The SSP briefed the meeting on the security measures taken at all police stations. The measures include setting up of jersey barriers, ditches, sentry posts and concertina wires. SP, West, Nasir Aftab told the meeting that the sentries would keep pouch ammunition during duty hours. He said people’s entry to all police stations had been directed through reporting room and no private vehicle would be allowed entry to the police stations’ premises.
Aftab further told the meeting that all station house officers (SHOs) had also been directed to prepare a list of seized vehicles parked on the premises of their respective police stations for their shifting to a centralized point at Tarlai Markaz.The meeting also decided to further beef up the security of shrines including the Barri Imam and Golra Sharif shrines. A detailed security plan in this regard would be chalked out by the respective sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) and SDPOs.
The deputy commissioner stressed that all police stations conduct combing and surveillance operation in their respective jurisdictions, particularly in Chak Shehzad, Tarnol and areas along Islamabad Expressway. He directed the SDPOs concerned to ensure proper cordoning of unpaved tracks in F-11 and G-11.The magistrates and SDPOs were further directed to establish peace committees comprising notables of the area and activate the watch and ward system. It was decided to issue identification cards to the committee members and sensitize them to the issues of the area.The deputy commissioner further directed the SDMs to collect copies of FIRs from police stations on a regular basis and prepare a detailed report on comparative crime trend (CCT) in their respective jurisdictions.Assistant Commissioner (AC), Saddar, Maryam Khan was deputed focal person for overall supervision of crime control in the city.
It was learnt that a detailed list of court absconders would be prepared by each police station and each list would be divided into A, B and C categories. In this regard, area magistrates would coordinate with SHOs. The issue of ‘superdari’ of vehicles was also discussed and the DC directed that no ‘superdari’ be given in tampered cases.Maal Khana also came under discussion and it was decided to auction the seized weapons. The deputy commissioner also directed that the city, particularly Golra, Shahzad Town and Noorpur Shahan, be cleared of encroachments and media, civil society and notables of the area be requested to join hands with the ICT in this regard.

US cannot buy Pakistan's support: senator

WASHINGTON — A senior US senator on Tuesday expressed doubts about plans for US economic aid to Pakistan, saying Islamabad needed to prove it was determined to fight against extremists on its soil.
"If I thought we could buy stability, I would buy it," Democratic Senator Carl Levin told reporters.
But, he said, "I don?t think we can buy Pakistan?s support."
The Pakistani government must view the struggle against Islamists operating on its border with Afghanistan as in its own interest, and not only in the interest of Kabul or Washington, the Michigan senator said.
"What I need to see is the policy of the Pakistan government as being clear as to what they believe is in their interests," Levin said, adding: "I haven't seen that yet."
The skeptical tone from President Barack Obama's fellow Democrat, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, came only days after Obama presented a new strategy for the Afghan war that includes 1.5 billion annually in aid for Pakistan over five years.
Accusing Islamabad of appeasing Islamist militants, Levin said, "I have seen too much effort on their part to buy peace with people who I don?t think you can buy peace with."
Levin said it would be risky to rely too heavily on Pakistan to defeat insurgents in Afghanistan.
"If we depend on Pakistan to slow down the flow of insurgents into Afghanistan, we are relying on a very thin reed. So Afghanistan must defend its own border, and not rely on Pakistan for border control," he said.
His comments came a day after insurgents stormed a police academy near Lahore, leaving eight police recruits dead in the latest sign of rising militant violence in Pakistan.
Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for the deadly assault, saying it was in retaliation for US drone strikes on fellow militants.
With insurgents in Afghanistan led and backed by hardline militants in tribal areas over the border in Pakistan, the United States has warned Islamabad that in return for economic and military aid it must crack down on Islamist groups.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said on Tuesday aid to Pakistan needed to be linked to concrete action but expressed confidence that the country's military grasped the nature of the threat within its borders.
"The idea of a relationship between support and outcome certainly is one that I support," Mullen told a meeting of defense ministers from Central and South Asia outside of Washington.
He said the Pakistani military leadership, including chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani, understood that the militants posed a threat to Pakistan itself.
"I have great confidence in General Kayani and in the Pakistani military," said Mullen, who holds frequent talks with his Pakistani counterpart.
Despite the deployment of more than 100,000 troops, Pakistan has been unable to stop a wave of attacks by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants that have killed 1,700 since July 2007.

Lahore attacks heighten fears for fate of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, March 31- Two high profile guerrilla attacks in Lahore in the space of a month have heightened fears of Islamist militancy engulfing Pakistan, despite U.S. promises of support for the year-old civilian government.

The assault by gunmen on a police academy in Lahore on Monday and another on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the city four weeks earlier brought home the depth of insecurity in Pakistan, while television channels carried the images worldwide.

"The government and the military are facing a crisis of credibility," said Ahmed Rashid, author of "Descent into Chaos", a book chronicling Pakistan's slide into the grip of militant religious extremists.

"There is no strategic plan or vision over how to deal with extremism and terrorism."

Nuclear-armed, and a hiding place for al Qaeda, Pakistan has become a foreign policy nightmare for the United States and other allies in the West.

U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled last Friday results of a strategy review for Pakistan and Afghanistan that made the annihilation of al Qaeda the principle objective.

A centrepiece of Obama's approach to Pakistan was the promise of billions of dollars in aid to help build state institutions, and improve the social and economic welfare to give people faith in President Asif Ali Zardari's civilian government.

The Pakistanis need all the help they can get.

"This incident definitely raises very serious questions about the capacity of our intelligence agencies and security apparatus to deal with these groups," Lahore-based security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said after the attack on the police academy.

Al QAEDA'S FRIENDS

Pakistan's leaders know al Qaeda is encouraging a Taliban insurgency in Pakistani tribal lands bordering Afghanistan, and seeking to destabilise the Muslim nation of 170 million people.

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, an al Qaeda ally based in the South Waziristan tribal region, claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the assault on the police school, which killed eight cadets. [nISL457124]

Suspicion fell on a Punjabi-based group called Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for the earlier attack on the Sri Lankans, but the file is still open.

Several other Pakistani militant groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for that attack on the Indian city of Mumbai last November, have fallen under al Qaeda's spell.

"Pakistan is the last bastion of hope for you all against terrorists and extremists. Don't undermine us," a senior Pakistani official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of his role, warned Western allies.

"Don't help us with tranches, come in a big way."

Money will help tackle the roots of militancy, but a generation may have to pass before it pays off.

Yet Pakistan is already under siege from militants and Obama revealed little of how the United States would help the country conquer its demons.

Instead, U.S. military commanders have made public accusations that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has maintained ties with groups close to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

"There has been a surge in allegations. Some of things they say undermine us," the senior Pakistani official told Reuters.

"It won't help by blaming or marginalising the ISI. It might make things worse."

Pakistan denies ISI duplicity. Officials privately say having contact with militants goes with the territory for field agents. "There has to be a degree of ingress by all intelligence agencies in (militant) organisations, be they good or bad," said the Pakistani official, noting past disengagement from such groups had reduced the ability to monitor their activities.

U.S. PLAIN SPEAKING, PAKISTANI CONCERNS

Obama clearly wants to confront suspected Pakistani double-dealing openly rather than privately as the Bush Administration did.

But he can't risk alienating an ally whose support is crucial to the West's success in Afghanistan and against al Qaeda.

Ahmed Rashid welcomed the plain speaking coming out of Washington, while counselling against going too far. "This is not a time to be talking about threats, sanctions or anything like that," Rashid said.

"I think it's advisable that the Americans engage with the military and political leadership in the country in a transparent way, and make that message that they're delivering very clear."

Openness in dealing with the United States is a luxury many Pakistani officials believe they can ill-afford given the degree of anti-American sentiment in the country.

They also complain their U.S. ally has taken too little heed of Pakistani security concerns in Afghanistan and India, and fear of potential encirclement by two hostile neighbours.

The Pakistani official, however, believed there had been a fresh appreciation of Pakistan's compulsions, and understanding that U.S. assurances about India's intentions were insufficient.

"I think there is a realisation in the United States and other Western powers that they have to consider Pakistan's security concerns," he said.

Pakistan knows the gravity of the internal threat but its army would be uncomfortable taking troops away from the eastern border with India, until India changes its posture and there are stronger signs disputes over Kashmir and water resources will be resolved

Taliban Leader's Washington Threat Is Credible, Analysts Say

The United States has put a $5 million bounty on his head, and he says militants under his control are planning a terrorist attack in Washington that "will amaze everyone in the world."And he isn't Usama bin Laden.
Baitullah Mehsud, commander of the Taliban in Pakistan, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that his group was responsible for Monday's attack on a police academy in his country that killed seven police officers and injured more than 90 others.He also said, chillingly:
"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world."
In an interview with local Dewa Radio, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Mehsud identified the White House as one of the targets.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told FOXNews.com that the bureau is not aware of a specific or imminent threat to the United States. He added, without elaborating, that Mehsud has made similar threats to the U.S..
But terrorism experts call Mehsud a "rising young star" who is linked both to the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the bombing last September that killed 54 people in the Marriott hotel in Islamabad -- and they say his threat to carry out an attack in Washington should not be discounted.
"It should be taken seriously because [Mehsud] has ordered the deaths of many Pakistanis and Afghans and has a close alliance with Al Qaeda," said James Phillips, a terrorism expert and senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation.
"It's not too much of a stretch to think he might be involved in an attack on the U.S. if he's able to get his followers inside the United States. He's a militant extremist whose threats cannot be ignored."
Mehsud, 35, is the senior leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, and is a key Al Qaeda facilitator in the tribal areas of South Waziristan in Pakistan, according to the U.S. State Department. A $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction was announced just last week."He has conducted cross-border attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and poses a clear threat to American persons and interests in the region," the State Department wrote in a March 25 release.Phillips said Mehsud is less of a direct threat to the U.S. than bin Laden in an ideological sense, but his influence in Pakistan could allow him to tap into existing networks within Al Qaeda or among Afghan Taliban militants to achieve his goals."The U.S. government and other allied governments cannot afford to ignore this threat because [Mehsud] has acted on targets in the past," Phillips said. "Because he has a relatively secure base of operations in South Waziristan, he has been able to extend his influence throughout the border region and even into Pakistani cities."Steve Emerson, executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, said that of the many terrorists who have issued "blustery threats" in recent years, Meshud is considered a "rising young star" among militants."He's a dangerous guy," Emerson told FOXNews.com. "It just reaffirms the fact that Washington is a major target."He seems to be a pretty bloody, bold guy who is not afraid to have a marker on himself and knows how to exact publicity ... The real issue is what U.S. intelligence knows."Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said Mehsud's attacks have "significantly altered" the political dynamics in Pakistan and provide a major test for President Asif Ali Zardari. But any direct threat Mehsud poses to the United States will be through his link with Al Qaeda, she said.
"If he did have the reach, it would be because of Al Qaeda," she said. "This is more posturing on his behalf."Mehsud, who denies involvement in Bhutto's assassination and the Marriott Hotel bombing, is a diabetic who was reportedly called a "good Taliban" in 2007, when the Pakistani army struck a peace agreement with him that was later aborted.Mehsud has said he's not concerned with the bounty on his head, telling The Associated Press, "I wish to die and embrace martyrdom.""That shows that he is adamantly committed to his extremist goals and is unlikely to be brought to justice by law enforcement actions," Phillips said. 'It will take a war to defeat him in South Waziristan, and I think that shows that the term War on Terrorism remains applicable there."
A State Department spokeswoman, Megan Mattson, declined to comment on Mehsud's threat.

Taliban Chief Vows 'Amazing' Attack on Washington 'Soon'

The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would "amaze" the world.
Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday's attack on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.

"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details.

Mehsud has never been directly linked to any attacks outside Pakistan, but attacks blamed on his network of fighters have widened in scope and ambition in recent years. The threat comes days after President Barack Obama warned that Al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States from secret havens in Pakistan.


Pakistan's former government and the CIA named Mehsud as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to Al Qaeda, and of training suicide bombers.

In his latest comments, Mehsud identified the White House as one of the targets in an interview with local Dewa Radio, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said he had not seen any reports of Mehsud's comments but that he would "take the threat under consideration."

Mehsud also claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed four soldiers Monday in Bannu district and a suicide attack targeting a police station in Islamabad last week that killed one officer.

Such attacks pose a major test for the weak, year-old civilian administration of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that has been gripped with political turmoil in recent weeks.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said it was too early to respond to Mehsud's claim, but the Interior Ministry chief said Monday that authorities had information linking the attack to Mehsud. He said at least one of the attackers arrived in Lahore about 15 days ago from Mehsud's stronghold of South Waziristan near the border with Pakistan and rented a house.

The gunmen who attacked the police academy killed seven police and two civilians, holding security forces at bay for about eight hours before being overpowered by Pakistani commandos. Some of the attackers wore police uniforms, and they took hostages and tossed grenades during the assault.

Earlier Tuesday, a spokesman from a little-known militant group linked to the Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility for the attack and a similar ambush-style attack against the Sri Lankan cricket team earlier this month in Lahore. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the two claims.

Omar Farooq, who said he is the spokesman for Fedayeen al-Islam, said the group would carry out more attacks unless Pakistani troops withdraw from tribal areas near the Afghan border and the U.S. stops its drone strikes. The group previously said it was behind the deadly September bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 54 people.

Mehsud declined to comment on Fedayeen al-Islam's claim that it carried out the attack or to say whether the group is linked to his own. The Pakistani Taliban leader also said he was not deterred by the U.S. bounty on his head: "I wish to die and embrace martyrdom."

The AP has spoken to Mehsud several times in the past and recognized his voice, and a request for an interview with Mehsud was submitted through his aide. The militant leader also granted phone interviews to other media organizations.

The Pakistani Taliban has links with Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban militants who have launched attacks against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from a base in the border region between the two countries.

Pakistan faces tremendous U.S. pressure to eradicate militants from its soil and has launched several military operations in the Afghan border region.

The U.S. has stepped up drone attacks against militants in the area, causing tension with Pakistani officials who protest they are a violation of the country's sovereignty and kill innocent civilians.

Monday's highly coordinated attack highlighted that militants in the country pose a threat far outside the border region. It prompted Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, Pakistan's top civilian security official, to say that militant groups were "destabilizing the country."

After gunmen stormed the academy, masses of security forces surrounded the compound, exchanging fire in televised scenes reminiscent of the militant siege in the Indian city of Mumbai in November and the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team.

Officials Tuesday were still trying to sort out how many attackers were involved, giving varying accounts to the media.

A senior Lahore police investigator, Zulfikar Hameed, told the AP that three of the attackers blew themselves up when commandos retook the police academy and one was shot by security forces. Hameed said it was difficult to say precisely how many militants carried out the attack and some may have escaped.

Tasneem Qureshi, a top official at the Interior Ministry, told an Express News TV that four attackers were in custody and "one, who was wounded, managed to escape."

Punjab police chief, Khawaja Khalid Farooq, said one of the captured militants had provided useful information and that about 50 other people in Lahore were detained overnight for questioning.

Iran Signals Willingness to Join U.S. in Fight Against Afghan Drug Trade

U.S. and Iranian diplomats took baby steps toward thawing tensions between their countries Tuesday, at an international conference on Afghanistan put together by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In a significant move, Iran's deputy foreign minister, while criticizing U.S. plans to send more troops into Afghanistan, said Iran is "fully prepared" to help fight the drug trade in Afghanistan -- a campaign the U.S. wants to escalate.

The U.S. is planning to send of surge of narcotics agents into Afghanistan to help stem the opium trade, which is a goal Iran shares.

Iran's Mehdi Akhundzadeh also met with Richard Holbrooke, Clinton's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the sidelines of the conference, held at The Hague in the Netherlands.

Holbrooke's meeting "did not focus on anything substantive. It was cordial, it was unplanned and they agreed to stay in touch," Clinton told reporters as the day-long conference was winding down.

The gathering was being closely watched for signs that the U.S. and Iran can work together on a common problem after years of hostility. The two countries cooperated in 2001 and 2002 after U.S.-led forces ousted Afghanistan's Taliban government.

But relations were frozen during the administration of George W. Bush, who referred to Iran as part of the "axis of evil," although Bush's former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell had informal contacts with Iranian foreign ministers.

Washington broke diplomatic ties with Tehran after the U.S. Embassy was overrun and diplomats taken hostage during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought to power a government of Islamic clerics.

At the Afghan meeting, Iran highlighted its history of helping Afghanistan with cash and infrastructure development and by sheltering 3 million Afghan refugees. The two countries share a 600-mile border.

Akhundzadeh signaled his country is open to cooperating with the U.S. on certain fronts.

"Iran is fully prepared to participate in the projects aimed at combating drug trafficking and the plans in line with developing and reconstructing Afghanistan," Akhundzadeh said.

However, Iran was critical of President Obama's plan to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, saying those funds instead should be redirected to building Afghanistan's own forces.

"The presence of foreign forces has not improved things in the country, and it seems than an increase in the number of foreign forces will prove ineffective, too," Akhundzadeh said.

Meanwhile, Clinton said she also sent Iran a direct letter concerning three U.S. citizens unable to return from Iran: Robert Levinson, Roxana Saberi and Esha Momeni. Their return would be a humanitarian gesture, the letter said. Normally, U.S.-Iran contacts are conducting through Swiss intermediaries.

A State Department official at The Hague told FOX News the letter was not signed by Clinton and was delivered to "a representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The official could not confirm how it was delivered and by whom, but said it was not delivered by Holbrooke.

An excerpt from the letter, obtained by FOX News, states that the return of the three citizens "would certainly constitute a humanitarian gesture by the Islamic Republic of Iran in keeping with the spirit of renewal and generosity that marks the Persian new year."

Ex-FBI agent Levinson vanished after visiting an island off the coast of Iran two years ago.

Saberi is an American Iranian freelance journalist who has been detained in Iran since January, allegedly for outdated visa credentials. Momeni is an Iranian-American graduate student who was staying in Tehran to work on her master's thesis on the Iranian women's movement. She was arrested in October for allegedly passing another vehicle while driving.

The rare diplomatic overture to Iran Tuesday comes two weeks after Obama reached out to the Iranian people and marked the Iranian new year in a Nowruz video message.

And the Holbrooke-Akhundzadeh meeting was foreshadowed by a handshake at the conference between another state department official, Patrick Moon, and the Iran deputy foreign minister.

The U.S. and Iran were among more than 80 countries summoned at the initiative of the United States to focus on Afghanistan. It comes days after Obama unveiled a revamped U.S. policy calling for another 17,000 troops, 4,000 military trainers for Afghan security forces, and hundreds of civilians to assist in Afghanistan's development.

Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Clinton said Afghanistan would welcome Taliban fighters who embrace peace, reject Al Qaeda and pledge to abide by the Afghan constitution.

Clinton said most Taliban fighters have allied with anti-government forces "out of desperation" rather than commitment, in a country that has barely made inroads against poverty and lack of development.

"They should be offered an honorable form of reconciliation and reintegration into a peaceful society, if they are willing to abandon violence, break with Al Qaeda, and support the constitution," Clinton said.

The United States is starting cautiously down a path in Afghanistan that proved helpful in Iraq, where former insurgents joined forces with U.S. troops and a U.S.-backed government.

Clinton did not mention Iran during her address to the conference but has expressed a hope that Iran and the U.S. could find some common ground on Afghanistan, notably on combating narco-terrorism and on border control issues.

"The range of countries and institutions that are represented here shows the universal recognition that what happens in Afghanistan matters to us all," Clinton told the gathering.

Although the conference was devoted to Afghanistan, Clinton said it should also focus attention on the lawless border regions of Pakistan that provide a safe haven for the insurgents.

"Our partnership with democratic Pakistan is crucial. Together, we must give Pakistan the tools it needs to fight these extremists," Clinton said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, however, warned against interfering in his country. A regional approach to Afghanistan must include "respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference," he said.

Akhundzadeh, too, cautioned against losing sight of the conference's objectives of providing security and reconstruction for Afghanistan, and urged countries to "refrain from any kind of deviation from this motto."

The Real Afghan Issue Is Pakistan

In announcing his new Afghanistan and Pakistan policy, President Barack Obama articulated "a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future."

This is a sound conception of both the threat and U.S. interests in the region. Mr. Obama took a giant step beyond the Bush administration's "Afghanistan policy" when he named the issue "AfPak" -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and their shared, Pashtun-populated border. But this is inverted. We suggest renaming the policy "PakAf," to emphasize that, from the perspective of U.S. interests and regional stability, the heart of the problem lies in Pakistan.

The fundamental question about Afghanistan is this: What vital national interest does the U.S. have there? President George W. Bush offered an ever-expanding answer to this question. As he once put it, America's goal is "a free and peaceful Afghanistan," where "reform and democracy" would serve as "the alternatives to fanaticism, resentment and terror."

In sharp contrast, during the presidential campaign Mr. Obama declared that America has one and only one vital national interest in Afghanistan: to ensure that it "cannot be used as a base to launch attacks against the United States." To which we would add the corollary: that developments in Afghanistan not undermine Pakistan's stability and assistance in eliminating al Qaeda.

Consider a hypothetical. Had the terrorist attacks of 9/11 been planned by al Qaeda from its current headquarters in ungoverned areas of Pakistan, is it conceivable that today the U.S. would find itself with 54,000 troops and $180 billion committed to transforming medieval Afghanistan into a stable, modern nation?

For Afghanistan to become a unitary state ruled from Kabul, and to develop into a modern, prosperous, poppy-free and democratic country would be a worthy and desirable outcome. But it is not vital for American interests.

After the U.S. and NATO exit Afghanistan and reduce their presence and financial assistance to levels comparable to current efforts in the Sudan, Somalia or Bangladesh, one should expect Afghanistan to return to conditions similar to those regions. Such conditions are miserable. They are deserving of American and international development and security assistance. But, as in those countries, it is unrealistic to expect anything more than a slow, difficult evolution towards modernity.

The problem in Pakistan is more pressing and direct. There, the U.S. does have larger vital national interests. Top among these is preventing Pakistan's arsenal of nuclear weapons and materials from falling into the hands of terrorists such as Osama bin Laden. This danger is not hypothetical -- the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, A.Q. Khan, is now known to have been the world's first nuclear black marketer, providing nuclear weapons technology and materials to Libya, North Korea and Iran.

Protecting Pakistan's nuclear arsenal requires preventing radical Islamic extremists from taking control of the country.

Furthermore, the U.S. rightly remains committed to preventing the next 9/11 attack by eliminating global terrorist threats such as al Qaeda. This means destroying their operating headquarters and training camps, from which they can plan more deadly 9/11s.

The counterterrorism strategy in Pakistan that has emerged since last summer offers our best hope for regional stability and success in dealing a decisive blow against al Qaeda and what Vice President Joe Biden calls "incorrigible" Taliban adherents. But implementing these operations requires light U.S. footprints backed by drones and other technology that allows missile attacks on identified targets. The problem is that the U.S. government no longer seems to be capable of conducting covert operations without having them reported in the press.

This will only turn Pakistani public opinion against the U.S. Many Pakistanis see covert actions carried out inside their country as America "invading an ally." This makes it difficult for Pakistani officials to support U.S. operations while sustaining widespread popular support.

As Mr. Biden has warned: "It is hard to imagine a greater nightmare for America than the world's second-largest Muslim nation becoming a failed state in fundamentalists' hands, with an arsenal of nuclear weapons and a population larger than Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea combined."

Avoiding this nightmare will require concentration on the essence of the challenge: Pakistan. On the peripheries, specifically Afghanistan, Mr. Obama should borrow a line from Andrew Jackson from the battle of New Orleans and order his administration to "elevate them guns a little lower."

Terrorists risk Pakistan's future

Article from: The Australian
KARACHI: The assault yesterday on a police school and a wave of spectacular attacks underline Pakistan's weakness and the danger posed by Islamist militants to the future of the nuclear-armed nation.The commando-style assault on the training ground transformed a normally peaceful commuter belt near Pakistan's cultural capital of Lahore into a war zone, leaving as many as 35 people dead in pitched battles with the security forces.Analysts said the attack was a defiant message to US President Barack Obama, who has put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against al-Qa'ida, tripling US aid in a strategy that is aimed at reversing the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.Such is the scale of violence in the Muslim nation that Mr Obama called al-Qa'ida and its allies "a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within", and he urged Islamabad to demonstrate its commitment to eradicating the extremists.Mutahir Shaikh, an international relations expert at the University of Karachi, said the wave of attacks were a response to the US stand."The terrorists want to tell Obama and his Western allies they cannot be contained as Obama desired, and are still as powerful and strong as they have been for years now," Professor Shaikh said. "The attack proves the weakness of the state institutions and shows that a mere half-a-dozen professionally trained terrorists can take anyone hostage and occupy any establishment they like."Urban terrorism is now in vogue in our major cities."
Yesterday's attack mimicked the March 3 assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore, where assailants on foot carrying backpacks of high-energy food and hand weapons killed eight Pakistanis and wounded seven members of the cricket squad.
Extremists opposed to the Pakistan Government's decision to side with the US in the war on terror have carried out a spate of bombings and other attacks that have killed nearly 1700 people in less than two years."This is further evidence of the growing threat of terrorism to Pakistan's state and society," security analyst Hasan Askari said after yesterday's assault."These groups want to paralyse the system of state in order to have greater freedom to pursue their ideological and political agenda inside and outside Pakistan," he said."An isolated Pakistan will be easily overwhelmed by terrorists, which the world should not allow them to do."Much of the unrest has been concentrated in the northwest, where the Pakistani army has been fighting the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. On Friday, a suicide bomber ripped through a packed mosque near the Afghan border, killing nearly 50 people.But the second attack in the Lahore area this month will fan fears that the net of violence is spreading."Such attacks again prove that all the outside world's security fears about Pakistan's lack of governance are true," said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, an academic at Karachi's Urdu University."These repeated attacks show total failure on the part of the Government's law-enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies. Pakistan's future is at massive risk."Pakistan shelters a number of extremist groups, spanning banned Islamist organisations fighting for independence from Indian rule in Kashmir in the east, to the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in the west.Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik hinted that home-grown militant groups were behind yesterday's raid."Who is supporting them? Who is giving them weapons? Everyone knows these banned organisations, namely Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad," Mr Malik told the private-sector Geo television channel.Top officials in the US, Pakistan's key ally, have openly accused elements in the country's powerful intelligence agency of abetting al-Qa'ida.
"What we need to do is try to help the Pakistanis understand these groups are now an existential threat to them and we will be there as a steadfast ally for Pakistan," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.

Petraeus: Military Reserves 'Right of Last Resort' for Threats Inside Pakistan

The U.S. military will reserve the "right of last resort" to take out threats inside Pakistan, but it would prefer to enable the Pakistani military to do the job itself, Gen. David Petraeus said Monday in an exclusive interview with FOX News.

The commander of U.S. Central Command was interviewed as the Obama administration prepares to step up the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Asked about lingering concerns that Pakistan is not fully on board, Petraeus told FOX News' Bret Baier that the U.S. military is putting "additional focus" on rooting out ties between Pakistan's intelligence service and the Taliban.

One incident of obvious cooperation between the Pakistani intelligence community and extremists has already been uncovered, he said. "There is a case in the past year or so that we think was unambiguous. There appears to have been a warning prior to a Pakistani operation," Petraeus said.

But he said trust between the two countries will be key as President Obama seeks more Pakistani cooperation and calls for billions in aid to the country.

"I think we are building that kind of trust. And that's the way I think is the best description for that. And it's hugely important that that trust be built," Petraeus said, pointing to "gradually increasing intelligence sharing" among Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. forces along the border.

Obama, in unveiling his regional plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday, said the U.S. will "insist that action be taken, one way or another, when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets."

He added on Sunday that "we're going after" such targets, though the U.S. will need to work with Pakistan's government to do so. He did not specifically say U.S. troops could be sent into the country.

Asked about the president's comments, Petraeus signaled that all options would be on the table.

"I think we would never give up, if you will, the right of last resort if we assess something as a threat to us, noting that what we want to do is enable the Pakistanis, help them, assist them to deal with the problem that we now think, and their leaders certainly now think, represents the most important existential threat to their country, not just to the rest of the world," he said.

The Pakistanis have expressed frustration over unmanned U.S. drone strikes to take out terrorist targets inside their border.

But Petraeus said the U.S. is mindful of perceptions in the region.

"It's hugely important that we be seen as good neighbors, as friends, certainly fierce warriors who will go after the enemy and stay after them -- but also as individuals who try to avoid civilian casualties whenever possible and are seen again as supporting the people and trying to help them achieve a better life," Petraeus said, specifically referring to the fight on the Afghan side of the border.

On the Pakistani side, Petraeus acknowledged an effort to put a halt to any collaboration between Taliban members and individuals in Pakistani intelligence.

"There are some relationships that continue. It is not as clear as one would like. There's certainly additional focus on that," Petraeus said. "Obviously, we've had these conversations with our counterparts (in Pakistan)."

Obama has announced that he's sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan and is requesting $1.5 billion a year for the next five years in aid for Pakistan -- he is also planning to call for $2.8 billion just for Pakistan's military.

As to threats elsewhere in the region, Petraeus said Iran is still "some years away" from a nuclear weapon.

"They have low-enriched uranium that is about the amount that would be required perhaps to make a weapon, but there are many, many more steps that are required.

You have to highly enrich it," he said. "But are they a threat? Certainly."

Petraeus also dismissed online speculation that he is considering a run for office (the speculation was fueled by a posting, later revealed to be a joke, that he is planning a 2010 speaking engagement at the University of Iowa).

"I do not (have interest in running for office)," Petraeus said. "Not at all. And I've tried to say that on numerous occasions."

He said he's not heading to Iowa.

TIMELINE-Attacks destabilise strife-torn Pakistan

Militants holed up in a police training centre in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Monday after storming the complex and killing cadets, with estimates of the dead ranging up to 20.Militant violence has surged in nuclear-armed Pakistan since mid-2007, with numerous attacks on security forces and government and Western targets. Following is a timeline of major attacks in Pakistan since late 2007:
Oct. 19, 2007 - At least 139 people are killed in a suicide bomb attack on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's motorcade as she is driven through the financial capital of Karachi at the end of eight years of exile. She was unhurt.
Dec. 21 - A suicide bomber kills at least 41 people in a mosque in Charsadda district, in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), during the Muslim Eid festival prayers.
Dec. 27 - Bhutto is killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in northern garrison town of Rawalpindi. At least 16 others are killed.
Feb. 29, 2008 - A suicide attack on a police funeral kills 40 people in the turbulent northwestern district of Swat, 160 km (100 miles) from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.
March 2 - At least 40 people are killed as suicide bomber attacks gathering of tribal elders in Darra Adam Khel, a northwestern tribal region.
March 11 - Two suicide car bombers kill 24, most of them in an attack on a government security office in the country's second largest city, Lahore, near the Pakistan-India border.
March 15 - A bomb attack at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad, a favourite hangout for foreigners, kills a Turkish woman and wounds several others, including four FBI agents.
Aug. 19 - Suspected suicide bomber kills 23 in compound of hospital in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP, southwest of Islamabad, as Shi'ite Muslims protest a leader's killing.
Aug. 21 - Two suicide bombers blow themselves up outside the main defence industry complex in Wah, 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Islamabad. Nearly 50 people are killed and about 70 wounded.
Sept. 20 - Suicide truck bomb attack blamed on Islamist militants kills 55 people, destroys Marriott hotel in Islamabad.
Dec. 5 - A car bomb kills at least 20 people and wounds scores in Peshawar, capital of NWFP.
Dec. 28 - At least 30 people are killed in a suicide car bomb blast at a polling station near Buner, in the NWFP, during a by-election for a provincial assembly.

Feb. 5, 2009 - At least 24 people are killed in a suspected suicide bombing near Shi'ite mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan, central Pakistan.

Feb. 20 - Suicide bomber kills 27 people and wounds 65 in an attack on a funeral procession for a Shi'ite Muslim killed a day earlier in Dera Ismail Khan.

March 3 - Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lanka's cricket team outside a Lahore stadium, killing seven people, including six policemen, and wounding six of the cricketers and a British coach.

March 7 - Eight Pakistani police and soldiers are killed in a booby-trapped car bomb attack on a police van on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar.

March 16 - A bomb explodes near a bus stop in Rawalpindi, killing seven people.

March 27 - A suicide bomber kills 37 people when he blows himself up in a crowded Pakistani mosque near the Afghan border. Among the dead are 14 policemen and paramilitary soldiers.

March 30 - Militants armed with guns and grenades storm a police training centre in Lahore.

Lahore terrorist strike

The lethal terrorist strike on the Lahore police training school manifests chillingly the damning unpreparedness of the state to face up to a vicious monstrosity threatening its very existence. Not just that the strike came within days of a deadly attack on Sri Lankan cricketers not far off from this police academy in the city, whose perpetrators escaped scot-free and remain still at large. It was yet another security establishment to bear a daring terrorist assault. Over the time, terrorists have been systematically attacking security targets, supposed to be highly protected. They have struck military cantonments, training centres and various other establishments. Spared they have not even state intelligence apparatus’ key facilities. The ISI has been so attacked. Even the GHQ in Rawalpindi bore their wickedness in close vicinity. In Lahore itself, a naval college and the FIA complex were attacked. Doesn’t this reflect a method to their madness? Isn’t the intent more than evident that they want to degrade the state security apparatus in the people’s eye, erode their trust in it, demoralise the apparatus itself, and emasculate the state from inside so destructively as to survive? Then, why is the state top hierarchy acting so lackadaisically, showing itself to be out of its depth, just vacillating between certainty and uncertainty without conviction? Internal security czar Rehman Malik is routinely given to ascribing instantly every terrorist assault to Baitullah Mehsud’s brigands, without ever substantiating his charge. And since the Mumbai strike, his usual suspect is Lashkar-e-Taiba. At times, he alludes to a “foreign hand”. But with certainty he speaks not even long after a terrorist act. But even if he is right on his assertion of local militants’ involvement, the question he never answers is as to who is training, arming and bankrolling these thugs, without which they cannot attack and kill a lamb, what to talk of taking on a security establishment? Nor do those intellectual lights, gracing nightly media’s talk shows. They think big, they talk big, and such a “petty thing” registers not on their high minds. What agitates them troublingly is what they euphemistically call our military establishment’s “strategic depth” in Afghanistan and its “extraterritorial interest” in the Indian-occupied Kashmir. Their argumentation’s upshot is that this establishment is harbouring its proxies in its obscure havens for its ventures in Afghanistan and Kashmir; and it is these touted proxies of theirs they point their finger at for every terrorist act in the country. But is it really plausible that the military establishment trains, arms and bankrolls these proxies and unleashes on its own people to kill and maim them? This bunk has gone too long; it must now cease. Too much is at stake. This country’s very existence is at great risk, presently enmeshed as it is precariously in the throes of an international conspiracy. The fountainhead of this diabolical conspiracy lays in Afghanistan where it is being spearheaded by America’s CIA in league with India’s RAW, Israel’s Mossad and Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance-dominated intelligence agency, Central Directorate of Security. And Islamabad’s top hierarchy too must come out of its sweet delusion about Obama administration’s benign hand on its back. The mere carrot of $7.5 billion in aid that this administration has dangled before it has transported this hierarchy in a binge of song and dance. But it has just to listen to President Barack Obama’s imperial tone about Pakistan in his latest American television channel, talking of us as if we are no self-respecting people but another Puerto Rico, an American protectorate. In the American lexicon, this hierarchy must know, there is no free lunch. And for this aid, we have to barter away our independence, living in subjugation of America’s will and diktats, giving our army and the ISI to the subordination of Pentagon and the CIA. And if with an orchestrated vociferous vilification campaign they have discredited the Pakistan army and the ISI to be their credible partners in Afghanistan, worse is to come. While they have already embraced India warmly as their real partner in Afghanistan and helped it massively to embed there menacingly to us, they are now toying with the Indian army’s induction there as well. Their top soldier Admiral Mike Mullen has publicly stated India has a military role in Afghanistan. The Indian army chief too has spoken of it. So the Islamabad establishment must come out of its delusions, see what the country is up against, and think out how to cope with surging terrorism having its roots across our borders, and act to counter it bravely.
Saved from: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ed&nid=286&ad=31-03-200
Dated: Tuesday,March 31, 2009, Rabi-us-Sani 03, 1430 A.H.

Wave of attacks in Pakistan imperils state’s future

KARACHI: Monday's assault on a police school and a wave of spectacular attacks underlines Pakistan's weakness and the danger posed by militants to the future of the nuclear-armed nation, analysts said.The commando-style assault on the training ground transformed a normally peaceful commuter belt near Pakistan's cultural capital Lahore into a war zone, leaving at least 20 people dead in pitched battles with security forces.Analysts said the attack was a firm message to US President Barack Obama, who has put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against al-Qaeda, tripling US aid in a strategy aimed at reversing the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.Such is the scale of violence in the Muslim nation that Obama called al-Qaeda and its allies 'a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within' and urged Islamabad to demonstrate its commitment to eradicating extremists.'Terrorists want to tell Obama and his western allies that they cannot be contained as Obama desired and are still as powerful and strong as they have been for years now,' said Mutahir Shaikh, an international relations expert.'The attack also proves the weakness of state institutions and shows that a mere half a dozen professionally trained terrorists can take anyone hostage and occupy any establishment they like,' he added.Monday's attack mimicked the March 3 assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore, where assailants on foot carrying back packs of high-energy food and hand weapons killed eight Pakistanis and wounded seven members of the squad.'Urban terrorism is now in vogue in our major cities,' said Shaikh, a professor at the University of Karachi.Extremists opposed to the Pakistan government's decision to side with the United States in its 'war on terror' have carried out a spate of bombings and other attacks that have killed nearly 1,700 people in less than two years.'This is further evidence of the growing threat of terrorism to Pakistan's state and society,' security analyst Hasan Askari told AFP after Monday's assault.'These groups want to paralyse the system of state in order to have greater freedom to pursue their ideological and political agenda inside and outside Pakistan,' he said.'An isolated Pakistan will be easily overwhelmed by terrorists, which the world should not allow them to do.'Much of the unrest has been concentrated in the northwest, where the army has been fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda. On Friday, a suicide bomber ripped through a packed mosque near the Afghan border, killing around 50 people.But the second attack in the Lahore area this month will fan fears that the net of violence is spreading.'Such attacks again prove that all the outside world's security fears about Pakistan's lack of governance are true,' said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, an academic at Karachi's Urdu University.'These repeated attacks show total failure on the part of the government's law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies. Pakistan's future is at massive risk,' he said.Pakistan shelters a litany of extremist groups, spanning banned outfits fighting for independence from Indian rule in Kashmir in the east, to Taliban and al-Qaeda in the west.Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik hinted that home-grown militant groups were behind Monday's raid.'Who is supporting them? Who is giving them weapons? Everyone knows these banned organisations, namely Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-i-Mohammad,' he told a private television channel.Top officials in Pakistan's key US ally have openly accused elements in the country's powerful intelligence agency of abetting al-Qaeda.'What we need to do is try and help the Pakistanis understand these groups are now an existential threat to them and we will be there as a steadfast ally for Pakistan,' US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.

Mission accomplished; forces overpower Manawan attackers

Security forces on Monday overpowered attackers who besieged a police academy and declared victory as scores of policemen took up position on the rooftop of the centre.Ambulances raced in and out of the compound at top-speed ferrying casualties to hospital. The road outside the academy, just outside the city of Lahore, was clogged with ambulances, onlookers and army vehicles.The army cordoned off the entire area and prevented reporters from going inside the compound, as a military helicopter flew overhead at low altitude.At least three bearded men in vests put their hands in the air and surrendered to the small group of armed security forces and commandos on the rooftop of the main academy building just outside the city of Lahore.The forces shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater), flashed V for victory signs and pumped bullets into the air, a traditional sign of celebration, nearly eight hours after attackers stormed the compound.A crowd of several hundred people gathered near the training centre at the conclusion of the operation shouting "long live the Pakistan army".A five-minute walk away, a horse lay motionless on the road, apparently dead, an AFP reporter said.Police officer Babar Baluch told AFP that he had been inside the training camp during the operation."I saw eight to 10 bodies," he said but there was no top-level confirmation of the overall death toll.Two isolated gunshots rang out in the vicinity of the centre in the first 30 minutes after the security forces declared victory, said an AFP reporter.

Pakistan blames Taliban-allied militants in Lahore attack

Elite army and paramilitary troops battle for eight hours with gunmen who overran a police academy outside Lahore. About 20 people are dead, including at least four of the assailants.
Pakistani authorities Monday blamed Taliban-linked militants for a daylong assault on a police academy outside the eastern city of Lahore that left about 20 people dead, including at least four of the assailants.In a chillingly methodical strike, heavily armed gunmen stormed the training center as recruits gathered for morning drills. The assailants held off elite army and paramilitary troops for nearly eight hours before finally being overpowered. At least three of the attackers blew themselves up as troops overran their last stronghold, an upper floor in the compound's main building. Afterward, black-clad Pakistani commandos chanted "God is great!" and fired off rounds of celebratory gunfire.The audacious attack was yet another sign of the intensifying turmoil in Pakistan, considered a crucial U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic militants even though the year-old civilian government has been struggling to stay in control. President Obama declared last week that quelling the insurgency in Pakistan was key to success in the war in neighboring Afghanistan. He tied the continuation of U.S. aid to progress in confronting the militants. The assault on the police compound, which began about 8 a.m., was swift and sudden. Pakistani news reports cited witnesses as saying that the gunmen, some in civilian dress and some in what appeared to be police uniforms, hit the lightly guarded compound from several directions at once, hurling grenades and gunning down police cadets on the compound's parade ground. After initial confusion, hundreds of army and paramilitary troops, including elite Rangers, were rushed to the scene. The Dawn news television channel reported that a helicopter was hit by assailants' gunfire as it flew in troops, but managed to land safely.Shortly before 4 p.m., acting Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced that authorities had regained control of the compound. He told reporters later that the attackers were linked to Baitullah Mahsud, commander of Pakistan's Taliban movement.About 90 people were reported hurt, with many of the wounded trapped inside for hours as the battle raged around them. Some police trainees said they leaped from windows to escape, or scaled the compound's high walls to get away.At one point, the assailants appeared to repel an armored personnel carrier that tried to enter the compound. The provincial governor, Salman Taseer, described the chaotic events as a "total siege."It was the second major attack within a month in Lahore, the cosmopolitan capital of Punjab province and once considered a relatively peaceful corner of the country. On March 3, six police guards and a bus driver were killed when gunmen attacked the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team.Monday's attack was also reminiscent of the November onslaught in Mumbai, when teams of gunmen hit luxury hotels and other sites around India's commercial capital in a series of coordinated strikes, leaving nearly 170 people dead.In Lahore, the police trainees who were in the compound as the attack unfolded described an operation almost military in its precision."They kept on spraying bullets at us without stopping, and I saw many of my colleagues getting hit, crying out and falling to the ground," said a 23-year-old recruit, Mohammed Atif, who suffered minor injuries.Throughout the day, Pakistanis were transfixed by live television coverage of the assault, which included images of dead police recruits lying inside the compound. Footage also showed a captured assailant prone on the ground, being kicked by police before they hauled him to his feet and led him away.Analysts said the attackers may have been seeking to demoralize the government by humiliating the security forces. Many recruits could be seen sobbing as they emerged from the compound. Some quit the force on the spot."It's very likely this group had perfect knowledge of the targets and knew the operational environment well," said Rohan Gunaratna, director of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore. "They had familiarity with law enforcement operations and their targets, and studied them very carefully over a period of time."

Madonna's adopted son reunited with father in Malawi

Madonna’s adopted son, David, was reunited with his biological father yesterday amid emotional scenes at an upmarket safari lodge hours after the pop star arrived in Malawi to adopt a second child.Workers at the Kumbali lodge outside the capital Lilongwe said that David’s father Yohane Banda, who checked in at noon on Saturday, was clearly delighted to see his son again.“He was hopping from foot to foot, you could see he was very happy,” one employee said. “He had been waiting here all morning, you could see he was over the moon when Madonna arrived with David, but the reunion itself was private,” said the employee – who asked not to be named – in a telephone call to The Times shortly after the reunion.Security at the lodge was tight with all staff asked to hand over mobile phones while at work and roadblocks manned by private security guards across the main approach road.“I have waited for two years, it is a dream come true,” Mr Banda, a peasant farmer, told The Times in an interview last week when it was announced that Madonna was coming to the impoverished Southern African country and he would see his son for the first time in nearly three years.“I just wish I could see him more often, but I know one day my prayers will be answered and he will come back and live here,” he said.He added that he had been worried about his son’s future when he heard stories about her divorce from Guy Ritchie, the film director, but that he had been assured by staff at Madonna’s charity Raising Malawi that all was well.Under the deal which allowed Madonna, 50, to take the 13-month-old David out of Malawi in 2006, she has to bring him back regularly to see his natural father. The adoption was declared legal last year.The American pop singer arrived in Malawi at around noon yesterday in a private jet at a part of the airport normally reserved for cargo flights.Reporters were kept at a distance and she was driven away in a convoy of four 4x4 vehicles that sped off to the lodge where Mr Banda was waiting. Madonna was also accompanied by her other children, Rocco and Lourdes.A little while later she reemerged with Lourdes, whose father is Carlos Leon, a personal trainer. Wearing a white fedora hat, Madonna and her daughter toured the nearby village of Chinkhota.Dozens of reporters looked on, but she refused to answer shouted questions about reports that she was in Malawi to adopt a four-year-old girl, Mercy James. Officials say that Madonna is scheduled to appear in the High Court today to finalise the adoption of Mercy, whom she first saw at the same Mchinji orphanage where she found David.One court official said that her Malawian lawyer, Alan Chinula, would file adoption papers at a procedural hearing for Mercy.It is not clear if Madonna, who has to satisfy the authorities that as a single parent she is capable of caring for an adopted child, has to be present in court.The pop star faced harsh criticism from some quarters over David’s adoption. Children’s advocacy groups accused her of using her wealth and influence to circumvent Malawian law requiring an 18 to 24-month assessment period before adoption.The Raising Malawi project is preparing to start work on a multi-million-pound secondary school for girls. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa where only a small minority of people live above the internationally accepted poverty line of 50 pence a day.Speaking about her latest adoption move, Save the Children UK said that the singer risked sending the wrong message.“International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve,” a spokesman, Dominic Nutt, said.“The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life.”However, Austin Msowoya, legal researcher with the Malawian Law Commission, played down concerns that a second adoption by Madonna would violate any laws. He said that the best interests of the child needed to be taken into account – whether that was staying in an orphanage in Malawi or getting an education with Madonna.“When you look at these two options, then perhaps it becomes in the best interests of the child to allow the adoption if the parents and the guardians consent to it,” he told the Associated Press news agency.Madonna’s spokeswoman in New York said that she would not be responding to comments from Save the Children.

Students forced to take exam under umbrellas

DIR UPPER: Students of a girls’ middle school in Bibyawar Town are taking their annual examinations under umbrellas due to torrential rain in the area as the school building was blown up by militants in June last year which could not be repaired so far.
The school is situated the fields and most of its rooms are destroyed completely while some were partially damaged.
However, the process of education was not stopped despite threats and unfavourable atmosphere. The girl students continued their studies in the courtyard of the school for about nine months.
However, after a period of nine-month classes being conducted under the open sky, the government and education department failed to make arrangements for the annual examinations and now the students are forced to take their papers under umbrellas.
The Child Rights Committee (CRC) Upper Dir demanded of the government to provide a suitable atmosphere to the students to for their annual examinations.
It asked the education department and district government to instantly provide tents to the school so that the students had a shelter.
Death sentence awarded
The district and sessions judge Upper Dir awarded death sentence to a cop in a murder case and fined him Rs1 million.
The constable, Yaqoob Khan, resident of Talash Lower Dir, was accused of firing on a van in which a close relative of union council nazim, Noor Muhammad, was killed.
The court of Asim Imam found Yaqoob Khan guilty of committing the crime.
Announcing the verdict in the case, he awarded death sentence to the police official.
In addition, the murderer would also pay a fine of Rs1 million besides facing a two-year rigorous imprisonment in case he failed to pay the fine.
Meanwhile, a man was killed in a clash between two rival groups in Belanzai area of Upper Dir.
The reason behind the clash was stated to be land disputes.
Police registered a case against the culprits and started further investigation.

Death by bombing

Monday, March 30, 2009
THE NEWS EDITORIAL
Once again the image of us, our faith and our country that goes around the world is one of violence and intolerance. Between 48 and over 70 people were killed on Friday as they prayed at a mosque – and more than 170 injured according to most reports. The explosion was probably caused by a suicide bomber and he struck just as the Imam began to recite the opening prayer. The mosque was a popular stopping point for people travelling between Afghanistan and Pakistan and was always crowded on a Friday – the softest of soft targets. Tariq Hayat Khan the administrator of Khyber Agency opined that the blast was the work of the supposedly-defunct Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Who knows? There are very rarely arrests subsequent to the bombing of a mosque or imambargah and it is almost as if the agencies of law enforcement have given up even trying to prevent them, never mind catching those responsible for the planning and logistics of such an attack. This is unlikely to be something which can have the label ‘hidden hand’ attached to it. This butchery is entirely home-grown and springs from either the internal denominational conflicts or a local dispute, a struggle for power, by one group or another in the area where the blast happened.
Almost inevitably, given the culture of eye-for-an-eye that prevails here somebody will already be plotting a reprisal. It may not come tomorrow or next week or next year, but come it will. The cycle will continue and breaking the circle becomes ever more difficult as the numbers of dead rise and with them the numbers of fathers and brothers and cousins seeking revenge for the death of their relative. The world watches this. We live in a time of globalized instant communication to the most remote places on the surface of the earth. The world watches and judges, it sees things in black-and-white and is mostly unaware of the inflections and nuances that lie behind even this most barbarous of acts. We should not be surprised when our northwest borderlands are talked of by President Obama as ‘the most dangerous place on earth’ – because on the evidence of this blast and many other incidents, it is. We have only ourselves to blame if others see us a nation of barbarians and should not be surprised if, as a consequence, they sometimes treat us accordingly.

TTP bans women shopping in Batkhela

BATKHELA: The Malakand chapter of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) banned the movement and shopping by the womenfolk in the main bazaars of Dargai and Batkhela on Sunday.

Sources said that the shopkeepers in the markets had received threatening letters from the TTP, warning them to stop the women from visiting their shops. “Those who don’t comply with the TTP directives should be prepared to face consequences,” letters warned.

It was learnt that those women, who were going out alone without their male family members to the markets for shopping, had also been warned. However, some of the shopkeepers in Super Market, Bara Market, Sitara Market, Abaseen Market, Waqar Market, Waqas Market and other shopping markets have already notified womenfolk not to visit the shop without their male family members.

The letters also warned the CD and music shops owners to stop their business immediately, adding that they were spreading obscenity among the youth of the area.

Sources said that TTP also warned the medical superintendent headquarters hospital Batkhela to appoint male and lady medical technicians in emergency and Ultrasound wards forthwith which had been longstanding demand of the patients.

The letters also warned Family Planning centres to close up their office in the area. It may be added that a market in Thana bazaar was blown up few days back where women used to go shopping.

Militancy, military operations turn young females into beggars

PESHAWAR: Militancy and military operations in parts of NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas have not only displaced hundreds of thousands of people but have also forced young females into beggary.

“Military operation and everyday curfew forced us to leave our house in Michni. As there is no elder to feed our family, I beg on city streets for having no alternative arrangement to feed our family,” disclosed 9-year-old Gulnaz. The young girl is usually accompanied by her brother Nasrullah, 7, and sister, Hadia, 4, while seeking alms in Kamboh village near GT Road.

Their father, according to Gulnaz, was killed in clashes after which her mother decided to move out of Michni. “There is no adult male member left in our family,” the girl remarked. Samreen, an 8-year-old girl belonging to Ganj Gate in old city, also claims to be the lone source of income for her five-member family. “I am not allowed to enter the house until I handover Rs300 to my mother. On occasions I have to work till late to get the target because my mother does not compromise,” opined Samreen while on her routine visit to the medicine market in Namakmandi.

Her 4-year-old sister Kashmala has been given the target to collect at least Rs150 per day. “My father is paralyzed while my elder brother is to go through a surgery,” the young girl claimed in a stereotype reply to a question from this correspondent.

Till the time when there were no IDPs in the city, one could see only professional female beggars asking for alms on the city streets, in public transport or while roaming the markets. Many of these children do not demand money directly but insist on selling cheap items like festoons, tissue papers, chewing gums, candies etc.

The number of young female beggars has now increased considerably after thousands of families shifted to the provincial capital from Swat, Bajaur, Mohmand, Shabqadar, Darra Adamkhel and many other parts of the NWFP and Fata due to the law and order situation there.

Female beggars are considered to be more vulnerable to prostitution as they can be trapped easily than other girls. “On occasions, I have observed people in the latest model cars luring a pretty teenage girl who use to beg on the pretext of selling garlands or petty items in Saddar Bazaar. The innocence and fear can be observed easily from her face whenever somebody attempts to get her attention,” a traffic police sergeant, requesting anonymity, told this scribe.

The official disclosed that many other young beggars are facing the same attitude in buses, shops and even houses. “Neither the regular police nor we can take action until these beggars file a proper complaint against an individual if insulted,” he opined.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government in NWFP had established a special home “Darul Kifala” for rehabilitation of female beggars where they had planned to impart them skills to live a respectable life. The single facility, which also lacks even basic facilities, is not enough to rehabilitate hundreds of female beggars, more vulnerable to the flesh business. Non-governmental organizations are also doing nothing in this sector.

Many women trafficking gangs are already active in the city and nearby towns to pick up young girls and sell them at the hand of others in Lahore and parts of Punjab. They have kidnapped many schoolgirls from parts of Nowshera, many of whom are yet to return home. A few have been recovered either from brothels or houses of individuals at the hands of whom they were sold.

Obama rules out US troops in Pakistan

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama says he will consult with Pakistan's leaders before going after terrorist hideouts in their country.He also wants Pakistan to be more accountable, but is ruling out deploying U.S. troops there.In Obama's words, his Afghanistan strategy “does not change the recognition of Pakistan as a sovereign government.''In an interview with American TV channel, Obama discusses the tenuous security situation in that region. He says, “Unless we get a handle on it now, we're gonna be in trouble.''Obama adds that his new strategy is "not going to be an open-ended commitment of infinite resources'' from the United States.

Obama: America Expects Accountability From Pakistan

U.S. President Barack Obama says the United States will give Pakistan the tools it needs to help defeat al-Qaida, but expects accountability in return.

President Obama has made defeating al-Qaida the focus of his new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He says, as he did during his campaign for the White House, that he will take action against terror targets along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

"If we have a high-value target within our sights, after consulting with Pakistan, we are going after them," said President Obama.

But Mr. Obama says no American ground forces will be deployed in Pakistan.

"Our main thrust has to be to help Pakistan defeat these extremists," he said.

The president spoke in an interview with the CBS television program Face the Nation - recorded Friday just hours after the announcement of his new Afghan-Pakistan strategy.

He said there is concern in Washington about a growing notion among the Pakistani people that somehow, this is just America's war.

"And that attitude has led to a steady creep of extremism in Pakistan that is the greatest threat to the stability of the Pakistan government, and ultimately the greatest threat to the Pakistani people," said Mr. Obama.

The White House consulted with Pakistani leaders leading up to the announcement of its new strategy, and the initial response has been positive.

Mr. Obama promised a more regional approach to the fight against terrorists and extremists.

He said he would send more military trainers and U.S. civilian personnel to Afghanistan. He voiced support for an increase in aid to Pakistan, but he made clear he is looking for something in return.

"Our plan does not change recognition of Pakistan as a sovereign government," he said. "We need to work with them and through them to deal with al-Qaida. But we have to hold them much more accountable."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has served in the Obama and Bush administrations. He told the Fox News Sunday program the U.S. objective has narrowed.

"Our long-term objective still would be to see a flourishing democracy in Afghanistan," said Gates. "But I think what we need to focus on, and focus our efforts [on], [is] in making headway in reversing the Taliban's momentum and strengthening the Afghan army and police and really going after al-Qaida."

Gates said al-Qaida is not as centralized and strong as it was before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. But he said it is still providing training and guidance to extremist elements in various countries and remains a serious threat.

Taliban militants abduct 12 Pakistan police

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Taliban militants abducted 12 police officers in a pre-dawn attack Sunday in a tribal region where a suicide attack on a mosque this week killed around 50 worshippers, officials said.
The insurgents surrounded a tribal police check post 35 kilometres southeast of Peshawar city in the lawless Khyber region before driving the captured officers away, local government official Rahat Gul said.
No one has claimed responsibility, but another official blamed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the abduction.
The kidnapping came after Pakistani security forces on Saturday arrested four Taliban insurgents and destroyed two suspected compounds in the nearby town of Bara after Friday's bombing, one of the bloodiest recent attacks in Pakistan.
US officials say Pakistan's lawless tribal areas have become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and have regrouped to launch attacks on foreign troops across the border.
Extremists opposed to the Pakistan government's decision to side with the United States in its "war on terror" have carried out a series of bombings and other attacks that have killed nearly 1,700 people in less than two years.
Much of the violence has been concentrated in northwest Pakistan, where the army has been bogged down fighting Taliban hardliners and Al-Qaeda extremists.
US President Barack Obama in a new strategy unveiled on Friday put Pakistan at the centre of the fight against Al-Qaeda.
Obama said Al-Qaeda and its allies were "a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within" and warned Pakistan must "demonstrate its commitment" to eliminating extremists on its soil.

Americans wary about war in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- How does the American public feel about the war in Afghanistan? In a word, wary.President Obama on Friday announced his strategy to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a plan that includes more troops, new legislation, improved troop training and added civilian expertise."The United States of American did not choose to fight a war in Afghanistan. Nearly 3,000 of our people were killed on September 11, 2001," Obama said Friday."We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said.Stressing that "the safety of people around the world is at stake," Obama said the "situation is increasingly perilous" in the region in and around Afghanistan, where the United States has been fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban for more than 7½ years after attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.Nevertheless, the American public has been wary about the war in Afghanistan, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in February. Last month, Americans were almost evenly divided between those who support the war and those who oppose it, the poll showed, with 47 percent in favor and 51 percent opposed.Opposition to the war in Afghanistan is more muted than opposition to the war in Iraq, but it's not so muted among Democrats. Two-thirds of Americans overall oppose the war in Iraq, but 64 percent of Democrats oppose the war in Afghanistan.The anti-war movements in Vietnam and Iraq helped define what the Democratic Party stands for. "If we don't learn from our Iraq experience, we are doomed to repeat it," Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California, said on the House floor Thursday.Why are Americans wary about Afghanistan? The recession. Iraq War fatigue. And frustration.Only 31 percent of Americans believe the United States is winning the war in Afghanistan. Fifty percent believe the United States is winning in Iraq -- the highest number in at least five years. But Americans still want to get out of Iraq.Last month, when President Obama said he would send 17,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, the public was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.Democrats were willing to go along with the president, but they were less enthusiastic than Republicans.A solid majority of Americans believe the United States can win a military victory in Afghanistan, but Afghanistan has become a political war. Winning depends, not just on what the United States can do, but also what Afghanistan and Pakistan can do.Americans have far less confidence in them.The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll surveyed 1,046 adult Americans by telephone on February 18-19, 2009. The sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

Pakistan’s President Praises Obama and Offers New Concession to the Opposition

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In an address to a joint session of Parliament, President Asif Ali Zardari promised Saturday to ease domestic political turmoil and praised the Obama administration’s new policy to Pakistan as “positive change.”

In a conciliatory gesture to the opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League-N, Mr. Zardari said that he would lift the executive rule he had imposed on Punjab Province, the most populous province in Pakistan and one where the opposition party holds the most seats in the legislature.

The announcement by Mr. Zardari was seen as another major concession after the opposition party led huge street demonstrations, forcing the president to agree to the restoration of the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had been removed from the bench in 2007.

In phrases that were most likely intended to please Washington, Mr. Zardari said that Pakistan needed to “root out extremism and militancy.” He welcomed the new package of $7.5 billion for civilian assistance over five years formally announced by President Obama on Friday.

The increased American aid showed that Washington agreed with Pakistan that the best way to fight extremism was through alleviating poverty, Mr. Zardari said.

“It is an endorsement of our call for economic and social uplift as a means to fight extremism,” he said.

This was in implicit contrast to the eight years of rule by Pervez Musharraf, a former general, when almost all of the $10 billion in American assistance to Pakistan went to the army.

As he has in the past, Mr. Zardari stressed that Pakistan needed to fight the escalating extremism for its own good, a way of deflecting vocal Pakistani critics of the alliance with the United States. Mr. Zardari as much as said the fight against the militants was Pakistan’s fight, not America’s fight. “We are fighting militancy and extremism for our own sake,” he said.

Separately on Saturday, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan commended the Obama administration’s strategic review, saying it matched the aspirations of the Afghan people and the views of his own government.

“It is exactly what the Afghan people were hoping for,” Mr. Karzai told reporters at a news briefing in the presidential palace in Kabul. “It has our full support and backing.”

In particular, Mr. Karzai said he was happy to see Mr. Obama’s recognition that Al Qaeda and its allies were still in the region and had their bases and sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The Afghan president has been protesting for several years that the battle is fought in Afghan villages while the insurgents’ headquarters, bases and training camps in Pakistan are left untouched.

“The sanctuaries of the terrorists, the nest of the terrorists and the training places of the terrorists are not in Afghanistan; it has a regional dimension,” he said.

A major point of Mr. Obama’s new policy toward Pakistan was his declaration that the United States wanted to ensure that the havens established by Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal areas were eliminated. It was from these havens, he said, that Al Qaeda was plotting attacks on the United States.

Mr. Zardari did not mention the Taliban or Al Qaeda by name and did not address the power of the militants in the tribal areas or in other areas of Pakistan. Rather, he chose to make a stand about the territorial integrity of Pakistan and reinforced the notion that the government would not tolerate a breach of that sovereignty.

“The sovereignty of Pakistan must be protected at all costs,” he said. “It will be.”

The insistence of Pakistan that no American or other foreign troops can operate from its territory is one of the basic challenges facing the Obama administration as it tries to find a way to eliminate the militant threat.

On Friday, the United States’ special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard C. Holbrooke, said “the red line is unambiguous and stated publicly by the Pakistani government: No foreign troops on our soil.”

Because of that prohibition and the unsteady effort by the Pakistani Army against the militants, Washington has been deploying remotely piloted aircraft, known as drones, armed with missiles against Al Qaeda in the tribal areas. The missile attacks are extremely unpopular in Pakistan and have served to strengthen the anti-American sentiment.

Mr. Zardari, whose popularity has plummeted in recent months, in part because he is linked by many Pakistanis to American policy, did not mention the missile attacks in his speech.

But President Obama hinted strongly Friday that they would continue.

“Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out Al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders,” he said. “And we will insist that action be taken — one way or the other — when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets.”

In his announcement that he would withdraw the executive rule in Punjab that he imposed last month, Mr. Zardari was effectively handing the province back to rule of the Pakistan Muslim League-N. Mr. Zardari is co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, a mantle he inherited from his wife, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007.

In his speech, he said his party would support the candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-N as chief minister, a job held by Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of the leader of the league, Nawaz Sharif, before executive rule was imposed.

Elsewhere, dozens of suspected militants fired rockets early Saturday at a transport terminal in northwest Pakistan near Peshawar, the police told The Associated Press. The terminal is used to ship supplies to NATO troops.

The strike followed by a day a suicide bomber’s attack, which killed about 40 people, at a crowded mosque about 12 miles from Peshawar on the main highway to Afghanistan.