CIA, ISI to fight terrorism jointly

NEW YORK: ISI Director General Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha has left Washington for Pakistan. Gen Pasha during his brief stay in the US met various leaders of the intelligence community, according to sources who were aware of Gen Pasha's meetings.

Gen Pasha met with Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair as well as CIA chief Leon Ponetta, who visited Pakistan just a few weeks back, sources said.

These meetings were held to repair the strained relationship between the two spy agencies that have often had a rough relationship, the sources said.

CIA head Leon Ponneta and ISI head Gen. Pasha during their meeting agreed to develop a working relationship between the CIA and the ISI. A couple of weeks back the ISI came under scathing criticism not only from the US media but none other that Petraus, who is now tasked with overseeing the operations in Afghanistan.

When Richard Holbrooke and Admiral Mike Mullen visited Pakistan last week, reports surfaced that ISI head Gen. Pasha refused to meet them as a result of the criticism.

In US, sources said, Pasha assured US officials that the ISI was doing all it can to combat terrorist and urged them to share intelligence it has with the ISI, instead of criticizing it.

Pakistan calls for equitable approach to accomplish nuclear disarmament: Underscoring the need for total elimination of nuclear weapons, Pakistan told a UN panel Wednesday that the objective should be achieved through an equitable approach and genuine empathy for the security concerns of all states.

"At the same time", Ambassador Farukh Amil said, "we have to avoid discriminatory application of non-proliferation norms and the resort to military and coercive means to counter proliferation".

Amil, the acting permanent representative, said the cherished goal of "equal security for all", as advocated by the 1978 landmark Special Session of the General Assembly, had been eclipsed by unilateralism, narrow geographical groupings and inadequate attention to developing country security concerns.