Erdogan pledges unwavering support against terrorism

ISLAMABAD: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared here on Monday that his country would continue to stand by Pakistan in the war on terror and strengthen relations between the two countries.

Mr Erdogan, who was addressing a joint session of the two houses of parliament, was warmly applauded when he said that Turkey and Pakistan were two strong states of the region and were contributing to regional and global peace efforts.

With their solidarity and historical ties of brotherhood, he said, no regional problem could become an obstacle to their peace and stability.

The Turkish premier’s address to parliament was considered by political observers here as significant because it was made in the wake of serious threats of terrorist attacks.

Strict security measures were taken for the occasion and the entire Constitution Avenue along which the Presidency, Prime Minister’s House, Parliament House, Supreme Court, PM’s secretariat, auditor general’s offices and the Federal Shariat Court are located was sealed and closed to traffic.

In his brief remarks welcoming Mr Erdogan, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said: ‘Pakistan takes great pride in its special, deep-rooted relations with Turkey.’

Earlier, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza who presided over the session recounted numerous similarities and values shared by the two countries with special reference to the commonality of culture and literature dominated by Maulana Roomi and Allama Iqbal.

The session was attended also by the wife of the Turkish premier and members of his entourage.

Mr Erdogan, who was earlier decorated with the highest civil award, Nishan-i-Pakistan, expressed confidence that Pakistan would surmount the challenge of terrorism which was a common enemy of the entire humanity.

President Asif Ali Zardari conferred the award at the Presidency in recognition of Prime Minister Erdogan’s ‘visionary leadership and outstanding contributions in strengthening Pakistan-Turkey relations.’

While Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan attended the session, PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Faisal Saleh Hayat were conspicuous by their absence.

The Turkish prime minister also mentioned the anguish that his country and its people felt on the devastating earthquake that had shaken the northern parts of Pakistan and Kashmir in 2005 and recalled his visit to AJK immediately after the quake and his second visit to the region on Monday.

Referring to the hardship faced by Pakistan because of the war on terror, he said: ‘You are not alone in your campaign against terrorism and extremism as we too have suffered heavily from terror, given many martyrs.

‘My government and the Turkish people stand by their Pakistani brothers as has always been the case; and are ready to help address all needs to the best of their abilities.’

Later, Prime Minister Gilani reiterated the resolve of the government and the people of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism and militancy and vowed to spare no sacrifice to defeat enemies’ designs.

‘The people of Pakistan value their dignity and honour. They are resolute and will spare no sacrifice to defeat the designs of the enemies of Pakistan.

Mr Erdogan expressed the hope that Pakistan would overcome its problems through national reconciliation and solidarity.

He said Pakistan had always occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of the Turkish government and people.

He said Turkey had been a part of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan group from the very beginning and had always underlined the need of redressing the issues confronting Pakistan because it was the key country for regional and global stability.

Mr Erdogan called upon all members of the FoDP to fulfil pledges made at the donors’ conference in Tokyo on April 25.

He said cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey was not limited to bilateral ties, but covered a much broader ground.

He described the Turkey- Pakistan-Afghanistan tripartite arrangement initiated by Ankara as a ‘robust process’ and recalled that its three meetings had helped to allay misunderstandings.

He said a parliamentary dimension was being given to the process of strengthening partnership in all areas and members of the foreign relations committees’ of parliaments of the three countries had met in Ankara a few months ago.

Prime Minister Gilani said: ‘Our brave armed forces are rendering exemplary services in the ongoing law-enforcement operation against terrorists and militants. The whole nation stands united behind them,’ he said.

He said the success of the military operation in Malakand was achieved as a result of sacrifices by the valiant armed forces and complete consensus and political will displayed by all political forces.

‘It is imperative that Nato and Isaf forces in Afghanistan remain vigilant and effectively curb cross-border infiltration and supply of arms to terrorists and militants,’ he said.

He said Pakistan would maintain a credible minimum nuclear deterrence and continue to advocate strategic restraint in South Asia and the importance of maintaining strategic stability in the nuclearised region.

He said Pakistan would continue to cooperate with the international community to promote the goals of non-proliferation, but would never compromise on its vital strategic interests, its sovereignty and integrity.

About relations with India, the prime minister said Pakistan’s policy was one of peaceful coexistence with all its neighbours.

‘We are committed to a serious, sustained and constructive across-the-board engagement with India for the settlement of all disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir.

‘We view the composite dialogue as a win-win process that advances the cause of peace in this region. It is our sincere hope that India will once again view this process as having immense potential for the mutual benefit of both the countries,’ he added.

Pakistanis too scared to leave home, many want to flee country

ISLAMABAD: Peshawar-based Mustafa Kamal has had enough: he has just got his12-year-old son freed from a band of criminals in the lawless tribal area of Khyber agency by paying a ransom. He has left a lucrative job with Pakistan's telecommunication department and now has the immigartion papers for Canada ready for his entire family.
``I'm lucky to have found my son alive. But I won't take any more risk. Life has become extremely dangerous — it's not worth living here. Enough'senough,'' says Kamal.
For a country badly bloodied by a wave of suicide attacks (at least eight this month alone), the next tragedy appears to be collapse of governance. The Pakistani state is pitted against a wide array of militant groups across the country in a situation teetering on the brink of a civil war. And the chasm between the government and the people seems to be growing by the day.
The popular perception is that Pakistan is fighting the US war against terror. Many people in the lawless North West Frontier Province say Pakistan has been sold to the US piece by piece. Under coercion, they argue, Pakistan has started a war that has consumed its economy, national security, and has torn apart its social fabric.
``Our national integrity is at risk. I wish not to see the end of Pakistan in my lifetime. It is not yet too late for Pakistan to return from the precipice of national suicide. Pakistan must take a u-turn and preempt the civil war. Pakistan must say an emphatic no to the US,'' says Rabnawaz Khan, a former Pakistani diplomat, stressing that an internally torn Pakistan does not weaken but strengthens militants.

The civil unrest has spilled into many parts, giving rise to fear psychosis among citizens. So much so that when twin blasts rocked Islamabad's Islamic University on October 20, many did not believe that it was militants' handiwork. Instead, they blamed ``indistinct forces out to discredit Islam or weaken Pakistan''.

That attack led the authorities to take an unprecedented step of closing down all schools, colleges and other training institutions in the country. ``The law and order situation has only worsened since the military operations against the Taliban started. How can we believe that things will normalize by carrying out a big operation in Waziristan? I think the repercussions are going to be more blasts and suicide attacks,'' said Palwasha Zia, a third year student of Home Economics in Peshawar.

``People are very scared. Every time I go to market, I worry about blasts. We are being targeted and our life has become very difficult. We are hoping the situation will get better. What else can we do?'' says Shaheen Akhtar, a deputy provost of Peshawar University.

October has been the cruelest month. Militants have struck UN offices, police buildings, army headquarters in Rawalpindi and ambushed security forces. The government response has been on expected lines: it swiftly sent troops to battle the entrenched militants in trouble-torn South Waziristan and beefed up security in all major cities. Reportedly, there were at least 72 check posts at entry and exit points around sensitive installations in Islamabad before these attacks. Now, the check points have been increased up to 300 in the federal capital.

Has it helped? Margalla Road, the most expensive and posh area of Islamabad, has almost been turned into a fortress, with concrete barricades, security pickets and barbed wires installed in most of the places. The residents say driving inside the capital has become extremely difficult as they are checked several times a day during routine work. ``Establishing security pickets in residential areas and check points have not resolved the issue of law and order; rather the situation has further deteriorated,'' said a traffic police official in Islamabad's Blue area, wishing not to be named.

Just two days after the attack on Islamic university that killed seven people, suspected militants shot dead a senior Pakistani army officer of brigadier rank and a soldier in Islamabad on Wednesday, suggesting militants are shifting tactics in the face of a sweeping army drive in their South Waziristan stronghold.

``First, it was Peshawar. Then Islamabad and Karachi, and now Lahore and Rawalpindi. When you live in a place which is under threat of continuous attacks, you'll have to think twice before you step out of your house. The scare among people is visible — there are fewer people out on streets,'' says Mujeeb-ur Rehman, a news anchor in Islamabad-based TV station.

The frequent terror attacks have greatly damaged the business climate. Nasir Dawood, who ran a boutique shop in Rawalpindi's Raja Bazaar till last week has finally shut shop. ``My business was badly damaged in the last one year. Scared customers don't come for shopping. To avoid any further losses, I had no option,'' Nasir said.

Habibullah Zahid, another businessman who owns four restaurants in Peshawar, has shifted his family to Islamabad to escape the constant threats of militants. ``Though my business was affected, I left Peshawar due to threats to my life. A group of militants or criminals in the Khyber tribal area has made it a habit to make threatening calls, demanding money in millions. I could no more give in to their demands,'' says Zahid.

U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game

Washington Post

The Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon and are being weighed by the Obama administration as part of a broad-based review of the faltering Afghanistan war, senior military officials said.

The exercise, led by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, examined the likely outcome of inserting 44,000 more troops into the country to conduct a full-scale counterinsurgency effort aimed at building a stable Afghan government that can control most of the country. It also examined adding 10,000 to 15,000 more soldiers and Marines as part of an approach that the military has dubbed "counterterrorism plus."

Both options were drawn from a detailed analysis prepared by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the senior commander in Afghanistan, and were forwarded to President Obama in recent weeks by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

The Pentagon war game did not formally endorse either course; rather, it tried to gauge how Taliban fighters, the Afghan and Pakistani governments and NATO allies might react to either of the scenarios. Mullen, a key player in the game, has discussed its conclusions with senior White House officials involved in the discussions over the new strategy.

One of the exercise's key assumptions is that an increase of 10,000 to 15,000 troops would not in the near future give U.S. commanders the forces they need to take back havens from the Taliban commanders in southern and western Afghanistan, where shadow insurgent governors collect taxes and run court systems based on Islamic sharia law.

"We were running out the options and trying to understand the implications from many different perspectives, including the enemy and the Afghan people," said a senior military official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the classified game.

The Obama administration initiated a major review of its war strategy in late September after questions emerged about the legitimacy of the Aug. 20 Afghan elections, which were marred by allegations of widespread fraud, and a troubling update on the progress of the war by McChrystal. He warned that unless the United States moved quickly to wrest momentum from the Taliban, defeating the insurgency in Afghanistan might no longer be possible.

What was intended to be two or three weeks of intensive White House meetings has stretched on for almost a month. Obama and his national security advisers have sorted through the military and civilian aspects of the war, building toward a decision that many on the outside have urged be made sooner rather than later.

Last week, the president concluded the five planned review sessions, roughly 15 hours in all, with top advisers in the Situation Room.

McChrystal's analysis suggests that 44,000 troops would be needed to drive Taliban forces from populated areas and to hold them until Afghan troops and government officials can take the place of U.S. and NATO forces. The extra troops would allow U.S. commanders to essentially triple the size of the American forces in the southern part of the country, where the Taliban movement originated and where the insurgents have their strongest base of support.

McChrystal would also use the additional troops to bolster the effort in eastern Afghanistan, which has long been a focus of the U.S. military, and push additional troops into western Afghanistan, where the military has maintained a tiny presence and where the Taliban has made inroads, U.S. officials said. A surge of 44,000 soldiers and Marines would also allow McChrystal to designate a brigade of about 5,000 soldiers to train and advise the Afghan army and police forces, accelerating their growth.

The increase of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers would give McChrystal one U.S. advisory brigade of about 5,000 troops to speed the development of Afghan forces and a large number of support forces to include engineers, route-clearance teams and helicopters. McChrystal's analysis also suggested the option of increasing the number of troops by 80,000, but that isn't drawing serious consideration.

In television interviews Sunday, lawmakers outlined broad partisan differences over how many troops are needed in Afghanistan. Republicans have voiced strong support for granting McChrystal's request for more troops, and urged that it be done quickly.

"I'm afraid that with every passing day, we risk the future success of the mission," Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said on "Fox News Sunday."

Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) disagreed, calling the decision-making process "very proper and smart." The administration's lengthy deliberations are "what we need, because we're going to end up living with the results for a good period of time," Webb said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The administration's internal deliberations have emphasized that unless the Afghan government dramatically improves its performance, the Taliban will continue to find support. Administration officials said Obama's decision will consider a much broader range of options than the number of troops. At nearly every meeting in the White House Situation Room, McChrystal has been joined on the video screens at the end of the table by Karl W. Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, and Anne W. Patterson, his counterpart in Pakistan.

One question being debated is whether more U.S. troops would improve the performance of the Afghan government by providing an important check on corruption and the drug trade, or would they stunt the growth of the Afghan government as U.S. troops and civilians take on more tasks that Afghans might better perform themselves. Another factor is cost. The Pentagon has budgeted about $65 billion to maintain a force of about 68,000 troops, meaning that each additional 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan would cost about $1 billion a year.

Administration officials say Obama might settle on a plan but delay announcing it until after a runoff in the Afghan national elections, scheduled for Nov. 7. The president is to begin a 10-day trip to Asia on Nov. 11.

Early this month, McChrystal was told to delay a planned Washington trip until Obama had finished gathering facts on the way ahead. "When you see McChrystal in town," along with Eikenberry and Patterson, a senior administration official said, "you'll know that [Obama] is close to a decision."

UN food agency says 200mln more people hungry

CANBERRA: Most of the developing world is paying more for food despite drops in commodity market prices during the global economic slowdown, with 200 million people joining the ranks of the hungry in the past two years, the UN World Food Program said Monday.

The agency’s executive director Josette Sheeran blamed climate change, escalating fuel costs and falling incomes. She said the number of ‘urgently hungry’ had now reached its highest ever — 1.02 billion.

‘One out of six people in humanity will wake up not sure that they can even fill a cup of food,’ Sheeran told reporters. ‘We have to make no mistake that hunger is on the march.’

She said while prices had tumbled on global commodities markets due to the financial crisis, the prices of most food staples in the developing world have soared.

‘The food crisis is not over. We have an anomaly happening where on global, big markets, the prices are down, but for 80 per cent of commodities in the developing world, prices are higher today than they were a year ago, and the prices a year ago were double what they were the year before that,’ she said.

‘What it means is for about 80 per cent of the developing world, people can afford one third as much food today as they could two or three years ago,’ she said.

Sheeran signed Monday a 140 million Australian dollar four-year aid agreement with the Australian government. The agreement includes AU$40 million to provide school meals in Southeast Asia, Africa and possibly South America and will add to the WFP’s overall budget for global food aid.

Sheeran, who flew to Canberra from Manila on Sunday, said the Philippines could lose up to 1.1 million tons (one million metric tons) of rice because of the recent typhoons.

Africa and India were also losing crops due to drought and floods.

She said the two back-to-back typhoons in late September and early October that killed nearly 1,000 people in the Philippines, coupled with the Indonesia earthquake that killed more than 1,000 on western Sumatra and the recent tsunami that killed 183, mostly in Samoa, were examples of natural disasters becoming more frequent and ferocious in recent decades.

She said there had been a fourfold increase in the number of natural disasters in the past 20 years.

‘All we know is that the world is facing increasingly frequent and ferocious natural disasters and the most vulnerable people and nations are getting hit hard and we better prepare now,’ she said.

'Good morning, Afghanistan': War radio

www.independent.co.uk
The hi-tech equipment, red "On Air" light and the DJs' patter are no different from those at any radio station. But step out of the studio and you are greeted by sandstorms, attack helicopters and armoured vehicles bearing machine guns. At a time when most of us were slumbering happily, at 6.30am Helmand time today, the words "Good Morning, Afghanistan" boomed forth from the first British Forces radio station in the country.

More than 9,000 troops fighting in the southern province's war zone were greeted with the upbeat sounds of The Boo Radleys' Wake Up Boo! – a track selected by British soldiers around the world to be the first broadcast from the new British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) station at Camp Bastion.

"There may be a touch of irony in this choice: 'Wake up it's a beautiful morning,'" conceded Nicky Ness, the controller of BFBS. DJ Dusty Miller, who mimicked Robin Williams's greeting this morning, added: "Mindful of the very particular brand of humour among our listeners, we were worried what they might foist on us – but we were braced to play whatever they asked for. The first song played on the ground in any operational theatre tends to get a bit of an iconic status."

Pakistan villagers take up guns, sticks against Taliban

latimes.com

Members of the 40-day-old tribal militia in this Swat Valley village come in all shapes, from all walks of life.

Some struggle to fasten bandoleers around pot bellies; some haven't finished high school. They are doctors and teachers, wealthy landowners and dirt-poor wheat farmers.

Some make their way with Kalashnikov rifles slung over their shoulders, others with only a wooden stick in hand.

What unites them is the memory of the Taliban's brutality, a time when the militant organization took over Kanju and the rest of the Swat Valley. Taliban militants beheaded perceived enemies, flogged women and bombed school buildings.

With most of Swat back in the hands of the government after a military operation that drove the Taliban into hiding, thousands of Pakistanis in towns like Kanju have been banding together to form lashkars, or tribal militias, to help keep trouble from coming back.

Subhan Ali commands 4,000 men who form a lashkar that regularly combs Kanju's dilapidated buildings and surrounding countryside for fleeing Taliban fighters and their sympathizers.

"Most of us don't have weapons," said Ali, 35. "At the start of all this, the Taliban took away a lot of our guns. Then the army came and took more of our guns. Many just have batons, but even that they will use."

Lashkars, for centuries a tool for resolving tribal disputes, are supplying a modern-day grass-roots layer of security to manpower-strapped military and police forces. The militias have formed in regions skirting South Waziristan, where Pakistani troops have launched an all-out offensive to crush the Taliban. In Bannu, just outside South Waziristan, tribesmen formed a lashkar after Taliban militants kidnapped students and teachers while they were being bused home from a local college this summer.

Joining a lashkar, though, can mean becoming an immediate target for the Taliban. In an ambush on the Bannu lashkar last month, militants killed seven militia members, including its chief. In the Swat village of Ser Tiligram, a lashkar leader was injured when militants lured him out of his house and then sprayed him with gunfire.

Despite the risks, villagers in Swat and in the tribal areas know police presence remains spotty.

"When the military finished its operation in Swat, it didn't set up any [police] check posts here," said Mohammed Ibrar, brother of the leader shot in Ser Tiligram. "That's why we formed a lashkar."

Though Pakistani military officials welcome the involvement of lashkars, they are also aware of the potential for them to devolve into warlord-led militias with expanded agendas, including settling scores with rivals or staking out fiefdoms.

"That's our concern, and that's why we don't support them in terms of arms or ammunition," said Pakistani army Col. Akhtar Abbas. "And they're restricted to the towns that they come from."

Pashtun society in this part of South Asia has relied on lashkars to resolve disputes between tribes for hundreds of years.

With the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghan border and in Swat, lashkars reemerged to combat the tide of militancy.

Before the Swat offensive, lashkars struggled to achieve any measurable success against the Taliban. Outgunned and outmanned, they were hit hard by Taliban suicide bombings, kidnappings and assassinations of tribal elders leading the militias.

In many cases, lashkars were the only line of defense between villagers and invading militants.

In the Swat village of Durshkhela 15 miles north of the valley's largest city, Mingora, a tribal militia of about 40 men stayed to defend the village after local police abandoned it a year ago.

Taliban militants wielding automatic rifles and rocket launchers carried out dozens of raids, but they were turned back each time, said Abdul Ghaffar Khan, 63, a retired army colonel and commander of the Durshkhela lashkar.

"Almost every week they attacked," said Khan, sitting in a patio walled in with sandbags. "All the time, we were waiting for the bullets to come. But if we hadn't stayed, everything here would have been destroyed. Not just my village, but the whole area."

With the military offensive in Swat now over, Khan has a militia of 1,000 men who team up with soldiers to search for militants in the forested hillsides surrounding Durshkhela. In a recent 10-day span, the lashkar arrested 30 people and killed one suspected militant, Khan said.

Lashkar leaders say militias are sprouting up across northwestern Pakistan largely because locals doubt that the military will ensure their long-term security.

Offensives have been waged before in the northwest, but the military has a poor track record for keeping the Taliban from resurfacing once the fighting is over.

"We have no choice but to initiate these lashkars," said Jamal Nasir Khan, the Swat district's chief administrator and the head of a lashkar in his home village of Shangwatai. "We can't wait for the government to wake up from their slumber and rescue us. The army has given us space, but they won't stay here for the rest of our lives."

Members of Pakistan's lashkars say they know the terrain better than Pakistani soldiers, and their knowledge of their villages gives them a better chance of ferreting out Taliban militants and their sympathizers.

The Kanju lashkar captured 250 militants during its first 40 days of operation, Ali said. In one of its latest arrests, 20 lashkar members led six militants hiding in cornfields to believe they were sympathizers willing to give them haven.

"When they came to us, we told them to surrender or we would kill them," Ali said. "They had no option."

In the Ser Tiligram region, the militia's job is tougher, Ibrar said, because Taliban militants are present in larger numbers.

After the militia formed, several men went to houses that Taliban militants had occupied, gathered up the fighters' belongings and threw them into a river.

Later, on Sept. 23, Taliban militants went to the village mosque and kidnapped its imam, a lashkar member, and the lashkar commander's 17-year-old son, Ibrar said.

The militants took the teenager to his father's house, where the militants lured the man into the courtyard.

There, 30 militants on rooftops and on the ground opened fire. The father survived and the boy was unharmed, but another lashkar member and a mosque's imam were found shot to death at the village market.

"We don't have a lot of weapons right now, so we really can't put together operations against these militants," Ibrar said. "But when we get fully armed, we won't hesitate."

Clinton visiting Pakistan as friend: Holbrooke

WASHINGTON: Special US Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is coming to Pakistan as a friend, not with conditions but with support for the democratically-elected government and the people of Pakistan.
Talking to this correspondent after attending a function of the Pakistan-American Foundation at the residence of Pakistan’s Ambassador-at-Large to the US Riffat Mehmud, Holbrooke said the whole world would be watching Secretary Clinton, as this trip to Pakistan was perhaps one of the most important trips she had made since she assumed the office as secretary.

Holbrooke said Secretary Clinton will be bringing a message of friendship and support to Pakistan, which was under tremendous pressure at this time. “She will be discussing and focusing the real needs of the Pakistani people,” he added. Holbrooke said: “Secretary Clinton, during her stay in Pakistan, will meet the people from all walks of life. “She will also meet with the leadership inside the government and outside the government. She will discuss the refugees and IDP issues as well.

Waziristan Operation vital for anti-terror war: Kayani

WANA: Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited South Waziristan Agency (SWA), Geo News reported Sunday. The COAS inspected the operation in the SWA and met jawans and officers engaged in the operation and lauded them for their high morale.
The tribal veterans also called on the Army Chief and assured him of their complete cooperation in the Pak Army operation against the terrorism.Speaking on this occasion, he stressed the success in Waziristan Operation is indispensable to win the war against terrorism, adding the operation would be completed on time.

Pukhtunkhwa's Education sector hit hard

PESHAWAR: The militancy and military operations in parts of the Frontier province and adjacent tribal areas have badly affected the already neglected education sector the most. An evidence of this was the NWFP government’s decision to keep all the educational institutions closed for another week.

After a pause of about seven days, educational activities in almost the entire country are being resumed today, but students across NWFP and the tribal areas would not attend their classes as per the directives of the provincial government.

The NWFP government at first was reluctant to close down the schools despite announcements by other provinces to pause educational activities for some days due to the wave of terrorist activities across the country. However, the suicide blasts at International Islamic University, Islamabad followed by defusing of two bombs at a girls’ school in a suburban locality of the provincial metropolis forced the government to close all the public and private sector schools.

And now when the Inter-Services Public Relations, federal government and other provinces have announced reopening of the school, the Frontier government has decided to extend the unusual vacation for another week for security threats.

Education has certainly been affected the most by the specific law and order situation in the province and tribal areas for the last more than one year. With the surge of militant activities in Swat and elsewhere in the province, schools, particularly the girls’ schools have become the targets of the militants who continue with torching and blowing up sprees.

Around 200 educational institutions have been blown up in Swat alone. Similarly scores of schools were damaged in the twin districts of Dir, Bajaur Agency, elsewhere in the province and tribal areas.

Then came the military operation due to which the students and their teachers along with their families had to shift to the safer districts in search of peace, depriving them of studies for about four long months. The government offered some relaxation to the students by awarding them one-step promotion, but this cannot compensate for the loss of their precious time and studies.

The higher secondary education students had to miss their examinations. Though the board declared all of the intermediate students of Malakand division qualified and awarded them marks equivalent to the marks they had obtained in their previous class, many students were not happy with it, as they thought that they failed to acquire seats in the professional — medical and engineering — institutions for not appearing in the examinations.

Not only the students of the militancy and military-operation-affected areas, but those of the non-affected district also suffered loss of time, as their schools and colleges were used to house the internally displaced people for several months and they had not been able to attend their studies.

The most interesting is the sufferings of the students of the remote Chitral district where there exists no law and order problem. But with the announcement of the government about closure of education institutions, educational activities came to a halt in Chitral as well.

The two-week closure of schools would affect the cold regions of the province the most, as the management of educational institutions are planning for long winter vacations there and the teachers and students want to cover the specified portion of their courses before the winter vacations.

In Peshawar and other central districts, where the studies of the students are being affected due to the closure of their institutions, many of them will have to face a delay in examinations and admissions.

The Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education Peshawar has postponed its practical tests of the ongoing secondary school certificate examinations. Khyber Law College University of Peshawar has delayed its exam. The University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar has also suspended its B Tech examinations. The University of Peshawar cancelled its tests for admissions to the MA/MSc. New dates for the examinations have not been fixed yet.

Peshawar turns into battlefield

PESHAWAR: Like the cops in the southern districts of NWFP and Malakand Division, the police force in Peshawar is now literally at war with the militants.

It is a warlike situation as schools, colleges and universities have been closed to avoid any act of sabotage. The educational institutions in the province would remain closed for another week until November 2 now because of terror threat.

Restaurants and hotels have also been shut because of threats. A few people visit parks, bazaars and recreational spots these days, fearing bomb blasts and suicide attacks.Peshawar neither witnessed such a situation in its history nor was it ever expected by the present generation. Scare and fear prevail at the public places and offices while terrorism and risk to the lives and properties of commoners is ever-present.

Every sphere of life, including business activities, industry sector, sports, etc, has severely suffered because of the worsening law and order and several threats. This has triggered psychological disorders among civilians and law-enforcers.

For the past several years, militants have been making all-out efforts to strike throughout the provincial capital, while the Frontier Police with lesser resources and meagre salaries are thwarting their bids to protect the public.

With bomb blasts and rocket attacks, militants have succeeded on a few occasions during the past few weeks but on the other hand the police force has done well by foiling their designs. The force has defused scores of planted bombs and has arrested several terrorists, including suspected suicide bombers, on their way to hit their targets.

This needs to be admitted that the provincial capital is going through a critical phase. For being surrounded by the troubled tribal areas from three sides, the city has been the easiest target for the terrorists.

The police are doing the maximum that a civilian force can do in this volatile situation. The police have erected a circle around the city, with blocking all the entry routes by deploying additional cops across Peshawar.

Even smaller routes leading to Landi Arbab, Landi Akhun Mohammad, Tor Baba, Phandu Road, Gulbahar, Kamboh and several other insignificant points have been covered by erecting wooden barriers and deploying two or three policemen to check the vehicles, entering the urban limits of the district. They perform duty till late at night.

“This is not an easy job. We are lacking the force to be positioned at these points; we had no option but to withdraw policemen from other places to be deployed on these points,” a police official told this scribe.

The negative side of the extraordinary security arrangements is that the barriers and manning every entry point have been bothering commuters. “We have stopped going to bazaars to avoid being checked at almost half a dozen barricades every time,” said Israr Bacha, a resident of Dora Road.

Bashir Khan of Kamboh appreciated the policemen for doing a great job while putting their lives at risk on these exposed and vulnerable makeshift posts, but complained that an ordinary commuter suffered a lot at these barricades in case of not having the original documents of the vehicle, national identity card or other documents.

While police have circled the city with additional deployment of cops alongside the Ring Road, even then terrorists have succeeded on some occasions to break into the urban limits. The five major bomb blasts in the city since September 26 and entry of several miscreants into the city limits speak volumes about the loopholes in the security system. The planting of landmines by some miscreants on Sunday near Canal Road, close to the Peshawar International Airport, is an example of that.

Karzai rules out sharing power

KABUL -- President Hamid Karzai's team shifted aggressively into campaign mode Saturday and ruled out any possibility of a power-sharing deal with challenger Abdullah Abdullah ahead of a runoff election in two weeks.

"In our view there is no alternative to a second round. This is the only constitutional way to establish a new government" and "put an end to the current crisis," said Karzai's campaign spokesman, Wahid Omar, at a news conference. "All our energy is now focused on preparations for the second round."

Abdullah, however, has renewed concerns about the credibility of the Independent Election Commission and wants its leadership replaced before the Nov. 7 vote, according to officials in his campaign. He does not want a repeat of the rampant electoral fraud found in the August first round -- much of it favoring Karzai. Abdullah fears nothing will change unless officials he considers loyal to Karzai are removed, the sources said.

"We want to go to the second round, but provided that there are some conditions, especially to remove some of these figures from the so-called Independent Election Commission," said Ahmad Wali Massoud, a close ally of Abdullah's. "So long as these people are not being removed from the commission, I don't think we are going to have a free and fair election, because they were the main ones responsible for the rigging and fraud."

Abdullah is seeking the removal of the commission's president, Azizullah Lodin, along with two members of the commission's secretariat. Lodin and other election-commission officials have denied they were partial toward Karzai and brushed aside Abdullah's concerns as the complaints of a sore loser.

At the news conference Saturday, Omar said Karzai's team had "no specific opinion" about Abdullah's demands, but that Karzai wants the second round to be "more transparent and responsive" than the first. To that end, he said, "we will support all measures . . . whatever it takes will be acceptable to us."

Omar said a variety of groups that endorsed Karzai the first time have renewed their commitment. He said there would be no large public campaign rallies, but that an aggressive media campaign would encourage people to vote. Karzai was considering a public debate with Abdullah, as proposed by the election commission, he said.

But the potential for a standoff over the election commission could further complicate a vote that will be difficult to execute even under the best circumstances. The Taliban issued a statement Saturday threatening more violence and warning Afghans not to vote in the runoff, which they called "a failed, American process," according to the Associated Press.

Snow and freezing weather could make voting impossible in some parts of the country. And many people say there is not enough time to replace and vet election officials to prevent fraud. Karzai initially received 54 percent of the vote, but nearly one-third of his votes were considered rigged and he finished with 49 percent.

"When you have a million-odd votes thrown out, you've got to ask yourself, what was the IEC doing and who is going to be held accountable?" said Saad Mohseni, an owner of a prominent media company in Afghanistan.

Election officials plan to reduce the number of polling places from about 6,300 to about 5,800 in an attempt to prevent fraud in volatile areas where votes were recorded at stations that never opened.

One senior Western diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media by name, said there was "way over a 50-50 chance" that the runoff would be held despite the potential problems.

The diplomat said many of Karzai's top aides think he is unable to make an advantageous deal because he is too weak politically and needs to first win the runoff to "enhance his stature." He also said the international community had been strongly united in its demand for Karzai to complete the legal election process and was not pushing him to make a pre-polling deal.

Diplomatic sources said Karzai hated the idea of a coalition government, in which he would have to share power with Abdullah. But Karzai left the door open to a "government of unity," formed after he presumably wins the runoff, in which he would still be president but with figures from Abdullah's camp and other factions playing major roles in the administration, the sources said.

"Karzai detests the idea of a solution like Kenya or Zimbabwe, with two drivers sharing the same car. What he does seem open to is a situation where he would still be top dog but there would significant changes below," said a United Nations official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "There is a subtle but important difference between the two things."

Sources said that if Abdullah were seeking a deal, he would demand substantive and structural changes in the government, perhaps over time. One of Abdullah's main campaign platforms was to change the government from a presidential system to a more decentralized parliamentary system, with governors and mayors elected rather than appointed, and with elections based on political party tickets rather than individuals.

But diplomats and other observers here said the runoff was now probably both inevitable and necessary to restore legitimacy to the election process before any deals can be struck.

"A coalition government might seem like a quick solution, but it's not in the constitution and it would never work politically. It would be like having a cart with two horses pulling in opposite directions," said Ahmad Nader Nadery, president of the Foundation for Free and Fair Elections. "Instead of a functioning government, it would produce a stalemate."

Feet from suicide blast, student survives

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- His legs and arms are wrapped in bandages. His face, shrouded in a mask of cotton.

Waqar Khalid is one of the latest victims of a war that has now spread to Pakistan's schools. The 24-year-old university student lies in a hospital bed, beneath a small printed sign on the wall that lists his name, age and injury. Sixty percent of his body is covered in burns.

One afternoon last week, Khalid walked out of a classroom straight into the fireball of an exploding suicide bomber.

"I saw a man wearing a sky-blue colored suit. Very close. Maybe the distance [was] two feet ... but I didn't think that it will be a terrorist," Khalid says. "When he pushed the button, right at that time, I saw fire. Very high fire. Very much high fire."

Two suicide bombers were involved in Tuesday's attack on Islamabad's International Islamic University. The first bomber hit the cafeteria on the women's side of the campus, killing a cafeteria worker and four students, and wounding 17 other female students.

Khalid and his classmates heard that blast but assumed it was a car tire bursting.

Moments later, the second bomber self-detonated in the hallway on the second floor of the Sharia law department, directly in front of the department chairman's office.

The blast sprayed the walls and ceiling with ball bearings and left two male students dead.

"I thought now I will go to Allah," Khalid says. "But after five minutes I saw that I'm completely -- all parts of my body is with me."

Though horrifically burned, Khalid somehow survived the inferno and stumbled down the stairs.

Five days after the attack, workers were covering up the blood-stained, pock-marked walls at the Sharia law department with mortar and paint. In a few weeks, the building may look as good as new.

Khalid, meanwhile, is battling for his life.

"He's critical at the moment," says Serva Javed, a doctor at the burn center in Islamabad where Khalid is being treated. "We're trying our level best to save his life."

Before the attack, Khalid studied Arabic and English, and dreamed of becoming an interpreter or a teacher working overseas. He also was an active member of the United Students of Islam, a student association that publicly condemned the Taliban.

"We say openly, these are terrorists which are responsible for the Pakistani condition now. These are killing the persons without any reason," Khalid says.

At the Islamic University, professors teach a moderate interpretation of Islam, which challenges the Taliban's policy of violent jihad.

Still, many teachers and students are stunned that their school would become a target of the militants.

"We never expected it," says Parveen Qadia Agha, the vice president of the university. "The reason could be to create chaos and to create psychological warfare," she said, adding that attacking "the least expected places creates more havoc."

In recent weeks, militants have stepped up attacks in Islamabad and the eastern city of Lahore. Targets have included police stations, the headquarters of the Pakistani military, a high-ranking Pakistani army officer, and the office of the U.N. World Food Program.

The waves of suicide bombers come as the Pakistani military's offensive into the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan enters its second week.

Khalid's eyes flash with anger when asked about the army's campaign against the militants in the mountains.

"They should kill them," he says. "They should kill them, those terrorists who are killing innocent people."

Khalid's mother Rokhsana, dressed in a flowing purple dress and scarf, holds an agonizing vigil by her son's side. She is worried that her husband, a police officer, may be caught up in the escalating violence around Pakistan.

"No one is safe anywhere, neither at home or in the bazaar or at the hospital," she says.

Despite the horrific extent of his injuries, Khalid is animated, often cracking jokes and waving his bandaged arm in his hospital bed.

"I will join my university when I recover from this injury," he declares.

But he sobers after glimpsing his own reflection in the lens of a camera. It is the first time he has seen his face since the attack.

"I have no courage, no patience to see myself," Khalid says. "This explosion will give me many side effects in the future. But what can I do?... I have to face those things."

Punjabi Taliban

Dawn Editorial
As a global terror network, Al Qaeda is attracting an alarmingly high number of militants to operate its ‘franchises’ in Punjab under the Taliban brand name. Some of these franchises are already out on a rampage. Through a series of recent attacks on civilian and security targets, they have shown that they are as ruthless as their Pakhtun counterparts and as resourceful as their Al Qaeda mentors. Almost all the terror attacks in Punjab over the last two weeks, including the one on GHQ in Rawalpindi, carry their mark. Even in incidents where they are not the main attackers, they are believed to have put together all the logistics by supplying weapons, procuring transport and arranging board and lodging for the assailants. Reports that two of their top commanders have been arrested should, therefore, mean that they have suffered a setback. The arrests come in the wake of the nabbing of another Punjabi Taliban commander, Aqeel alias Dr Usman, who is said to have masterminded the GHQ attack.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that they have been dealt a fatal blow. The tentacles of the Punjabi Taliban have spread across the province through the activists of banned sectarian organisations and the veterans of jihad in Kashmir and Afghanistan. The arrest of a few leaders cannot render their network ineffective. From Kahuta in north Punjab to Rahimyar Khan in the south, the entire province is strewn with radicalised individuals whose ranks appear to swell, even as they lose some of their leaders. One wonders what strategy the state has in mind to curtail the terror tactics of these militants and to neutralise their organisations. If the government and its law-enforcement agencies fail to act promptly, they may soon find that it is too late to root out the menace.

Helicopter crash in Pakistan kills 3

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Three people were killed Saturday when hostile fire caused a Pakistani military transport helicopter to crash, Pakistani officials said.

The incident occurred in northwestern Pakistan, where Pakistani troops have been fighting Taliban militants.

Senior Pakistani military officials say two pilots were injured in the crash, which occurred around sunset and was under investigation, a military spokesman said.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an intelligence source and a local political official said the helicopter was brought down by hostile fire.

The aircraft was traveling to the northwestern city of Peshawar from the border district of Bajaur, where at least 25 people were killed in a suspected drone strike on Friday.

A local official told CNN the missile attack killed the nephew and son-in-law of Mawlanna Faqir Mohammed, the Taliban commander in Bajaur. Mohammed, himself, appears to have escaped the assault.

7 explosive mines diffused near Peshawar Airport

PESHAWAR: Seven explosive landmines have been recovered under a Canal Bridge in the jurisdiction of Pasta Khara Police Station here on Sunday.According to a private TV channel, miscreants planted seven explosive mines under a Canal Bridge near Peshawar airport. After the information from locals, the bomb disposal squad was called which diffused these explosive mines.Officials of bomb disposal squad said that these mines weighted seven Kilograms have been diffused. After the incident, police started a search operation in the area and security has been enhanced.

Jundullah is common enemy of Iran and Pakistan: Zardari

Tehran Times
TEHRAN -– Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari stated that the terrorist group Jundullah is the common enemy of Iran and Pakistan.

Zardari made the remarks in a meeting with the visiting Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar on Sunday.

Commenting on the recent terror attacks in the southeastern Province of Sistan-Balouchestan by Jundullah which is also known as the Rigi group, because it is led by Abdul-Malek Rigi, the Pakistani president pointed out “Such terror acts cannot disturb the close and friendly ties between Tehran and Islamabad.”

Zardari added, “Islamabad is completely ready to uproot terrorism in the region and especially to detain the members of the Rigi group.”

On Sunday October 18, a terrorist attack killed over 40 people, including five senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in Sistan-Balouchestan.

Jundullah claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out in the city of Pishin, near the border with Pakistan.

The IRGC commanders were on their way to a meeting with local elders of the Shia and Sunni communities when the terrorists carried out the attack.

IRGC Ground Forces Deputy Commander Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Sistan-Baluchestan Province IRGC Commander Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh were among those who lost their lives in the attack.

“Extremism is a serious impediment in the way of the expansion of regional cooperation between countries because the enemies cannot tolerate the close ties among the nations and the governments,” the Pakistani president noted.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Islamic Republic of Iran for the $330 million aid to Pakistan.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Pakistani president stated that Pakistan is seriously pursuing the case of the Iranian diplomat Heshmatollah Attarzadeh who was kidnapped in Peshawar in February 2008.

The Iranian interior minister, for his part, stated Iranian officials are determined to strengthen bilateral ties with Pakistan, adding, “We seriously urge the Pakistani president and administration to detect and detain the terrorist elements who travel back and forth to Pakistan and carry out terror acts against Iran.”

Najjar added that the borders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have always been stable and highly secure for Pakistan and that Iran mutually has higher expectations from Islamabad in this regard.

He also expressed hope that agreements of the negotiations between the Pakistani officials and the Iranian delegation are materialized soon.

At the end of his three-day visit, the Iranian interior minister and the accompanying delegation returned home on Sunday

60 Lashes Ordered for Saudi Woman

NEW YORK TIMES
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A Saudi court sentenced a journalist on Saturday to 60 lashes after she was charged with involvement in a television show in which a Saudi man talked about sex.

The journalist, Rozanna al-Yami, 22, is believed to be the first female Saudi journalist to be given such a punishment. The charges included involvement in preparing the program and advertising it on the Internet. Ms. Yami said she had worked as a coordinator for the program but had not worked on the episode in question. She said the judge, in the western city of Jidda, had handed down the sentence “as a deterrence.”

“I am too frustrated and upset to appeal the sentence,” Ms. Yami said.

Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, the spokesman of the Ministry of Culture and Information, said he had no details of the sentencing and could not comment on it.

In the program, broadcast in July on the Lebanese satellite channel LBC, the Saudi man, Mazen Abdul-Jawad, described his active sex life and showed sex toys, which the station blurred. The same court sentenced Mr. Abdul-Jawad to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes.

The program scandalized this conservative country, and the government shut down LBC’s two offices in the kingdom.

No Conditions on US Aid to Pakistan

VOA.COM
U.S. envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said Friday legislation on new American aid to Pakistan puts no conditions on that country, and that assertions to the contrary are distortions. Holbrooke says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Pakistan in a few days to discuss U.S. aid and related issues.

U.S. officials are providing no details of the Clinton itinerary because of security considerations.

But Holbrooke says the Secretary will visit Islamabad within a few days for talks focusing on the aid issue and the Pakistani government's new military drive against extremists in the Afghan border region.

The Clinton visit comes amid a controversy in Pakistan over a five-year, $7.5 billion civilian assistance package approved by Congress last month aimed at regularizing what has been an up and up-and-down aid relationship.

The measure, which requires periodic White House reports to Congress on, among other things, whether Pakistan's civilian government is exercising effective control overt the military, was attacked in by some in Pakistan as an infringement of the country's sovereignty.

The issue, eased somewhat by clarifications to Pakistan by Congressional leaders, may flare again with approval Friday of a defense spending bill that would require administration reporting that Pakistan is not diverting military aid intended to help fight the Taliban to build defenses against India.

At a news briefing, Holbrooke said the legislative terms are requirements on the U.S. executive branch, not conditions on Pakistan.

"There are no conditions on Pakistan," he said. "There are reporting requirements on us. Almost all legislation now, and for the last 30 years, since the 1970's, Congress began putting reporting requirements on the executive branch. This began in the Nixon-Kissinger era. That's how it works. And there's been a total, and I believe willful distortion of this among some people in Pakistan."

Holbrooke called the defense spending measure approved Friday a pro-Pakistan bill and expressed hope that it is reported on accurately in Pakistan so that there is no repeat of what he termed the misunderstanding about the civilian aid package.

Under questioning, the U.S. regional envoy also predicted that there will be fewer problems with the second-round presidential election in Afghanistan November 7 than in the fraud-tainted first round of voting in August.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed to the run off with his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, after investigators determined that about a third of the votes cast for him in the first round were fraudulent and that he did not get an outright majority.

There are concerns that the same kind of irregularities will cloud the second-round vote, but Holbrooke said he expects it to be a smoother process.

"It is reasonable to hope that there will be less irregularities this time, for several reasons," he said. "One, there are only two candidates. Two, there's the experience factor. Three, the international community including the forces under [U.S.] General McCrystal's command are going to go all-out to help make this a success."

There have been suggestions that relations between U.S. officials including Mr. Holbrooke and President Karzai have become difficult amid reports he resisted the idea of a runoff.

But Holbrooke, who said he expects to meet Mr. Karzai in Kabul in a few days, called his relations with the Afghan leader correct and appropriate and said if he wins re-election, the Obama administration looks forward to working closely with him in pursuit of mutual goals.

Pukhtunkhwa govt decides to keep schools closed for another week

LAHORE: Educational institutions in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan will reopen on Monday, however, schools in the NWFP will remain closed until November 2, a private TV channel reported on Saturday.

According to the channel, Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq has said all educational institutions across the province will reopen from Monday.

The NWFP government announced on Saturday that all government and private schools would remain close until November 2.

However, a University of Peshawar spokesman told Daily Times the university was scheduled to open on October 26 and so far, no extension in closure of the institution was under consideration.

Meanwhile, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has announced that all schools under the supervision of Cantonment and the federal board in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Peshawar would be opened on Monday.

Separately, the Punjab government has decided to open all educational institutions from Monday.

Two new cases of polio confirmed in Pukhtunkhwa

PESHAWAR: Two more cases of polio, one in Hazara division and the other in Swat valley, were confirmed by the National Institute of Health on Friday.
Sources in the health department informed that one case was reported in Matta tehsil of Swat where one-year-old Inayatullah was tested positive for polio, adding that the affected child had not received any dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV) as the vaccination drive could not be run in the restive valley during the current year owing to fragile security situation.
Similarly, they added, the other case was reported in Hazara division where one and half years old Haseena was affected by the dangerous P1 virus.
Sources informed that the total number of polio cases in the province had become 40 while 72 in the country during the current year after the detection of the fresh two cases.
Health officials told the Statesman that the department was facing many challenges in the eradication of the fatal virus including refusals, inaccessibility of health workers to conflict zones, high prevalence of illiteracy among parents, cross-border movement, weakly routine immunisation programme and lack of awareness regarding the significance of polio vaccines.
They were of the view that especially the war on terrorism had been creating problems for vaccinators to visit the troubled areas, urging the mediamen to play their role in raising the level of people's awareness about the deadly ailment.
District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sahibzada Muhammad Anees informed that as many as 7,42,800 children were administered vaccines during the recent polio drive in the province, adding Swat was also included in the anti-polio drive, where polio drive could not be conducted owing to the precarious law and order situation in the past.

Karzai won't insult democracy

CNN.COM
KABUL, Afghanistan-- Afghanistan's president is downplaying accusations of widespread fraud in his country's recent elections, but he's emphasizing the importance of a runoff for the sake of ensuring peace and stability in his nascent and war-torn democracy.


"We must have a second round," Hamid Karzai said in a taped and exclusive interview for the Fareed Zakaria GPS show that airs Sunday on CNN. "If we don't do that, we would be insulting democracy. And I pledge to respect the vote of the people."

In the first interview since a runoff was announced, Karzai said there were so many claims of widespread corruption in the election two months ago that he started to believe that the voting was fraud-laden. In fact, he said, he too began to doubt the results.

"But three days before I made the decision to call for a runoff, I got convinced that all that was said was mostly wrong," said Karzai, who ran for presidential re-election against several candidates.

"There were some mistakes. There were some instances of fraud, but the nation as a whole was clean, and the result was clear. I decided for peace, for stability and for the future of democracy in Afghanistan and for the future of institutional order in Afghanistan to call for a runoff, and I find that in the interest of the Afghan people."

Last month, final uncertified results showed Karzai with 54 percent of the vote, but a report by a U.N.-backed panel of election monitors said there was widespread fraud in the August 20 presidential election.

The U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission invalidated nearly one-third of Karzai's votes because of "clear and convincing evidence of fraud." Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission then certified the voting results, which gave him less than the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

The fraud claims reverberated politically in the United States, where criticism of the Afghan war gained even more traction when citizens and lawmakers began questioning whether it was worth sacrificing troops to support what they viewed as a corrupt government.

In light of the fraud claims and in the face of Western pressure, Karzai agreed to a November 7 runoff with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

"Whatever happens, this election must present a clear result, and that result must be respected," Karzai said. "But of course the international community and us, the Afghans, must do everything that we can to make it better, to make it much more legitimate and to make it worthwhile of the effort of the Afghan people."

Asked whether he was pressured into accepting another round of voting, Karzai said that many world leaders called and asked him to accept the ultimate results, but he said those requests weren't the reason he accepted the runoff.

"It was recognizing that Afghanistan had gone through so many years of difficulty, so many years of internal strife backed by foreign players, and I felt as if Afghanistan was entering that period again. I felt as if Afghans were pitching one against the other, and for that reason, and for the reason of safety and security of the Afghan people and as I mentioned earlier, cementing democratic traditions in Afghanistan, I went to agree to a second round, which I believe is good for Afghanistan, which will eventually be good for all of us," he said.

At the same time, Karzai said, the "last election was not as bad as it was claimed; it was a lot better."

"Afghanistan is a poor country, in Western terminology -- a Third World country," he said, observing that it "has gone through years of war."

"The institutions are just young toddlers in this democracy that resembles a toddler. It walks and falls. We have to understand that, and we have to accept the Afghan elections in the context of the Afghan situation and the poverty and lack of means in this country," Karzai said.

Karzai said in the interview that "Afghanistan always had a national unity government" and that "I will have an inclusive government as always."

"Dr. Abdullah did not vote for me in 2004, but I continued to keep him as the minister of foreign affairs for another year and a half," he said, saying he's "known for consensus."

He was asked to respond to widespread concerns in the United States about his government and a comment from Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that "the key question we face is, is the government in Afghanistan, is Hamid Karzai's government a reliable partner for the United States?"

"Well, we have the same question, too," Karzai said, noting that the partnership "is not a one-way street."

"Is the United States a reliable partner with Afghanistan? Is the West a reliable partner with Afghanistan? Have we received the commitments that we were given? Have we been treated like a partner? How do we define a partnership?"

Karzai noted that his countrymen have been incensed over civilian deaths caused by international airstrikes.

And, he said, the Pashtun people, among whom the Taliban has much support, can't be "weaned away" from the insurgency if they are under attack, feeling insecure and have no hope for the future.

"The trouble between my government and myself and our allies has been these blind bombardments of our villages, the attacks on our people at night, raiding their homes, arresting them and putting them in prison," he said.

He added he supports Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recent report on Afghanistan that calls for protecting the civilian population. McChrystal is the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

McChrystal reportedly is asking for an additional 40,000 additional troops, and Karzai said future numbers would have to be discussed after the election.

"The arrival of forces must enhance the sense of protection of the Afghan people and must give protection to the Afghan people. It must not be a capture and kill pursuit of the Taliban; it must be one that provides protection to the country and must also lead to the enhancement of the abilities of the Afghan military and security forces. Therefore they have to come as liberators as they did in 2002 and not otherwise," he said.

Asked about American skepticism over whether the Afghan government is a "legitimate" partner, Karzai said World Bank and U.N. reports show that the "Afghan government is found more capable of delivering the resources to the Afghan people, that the money spend by the Afghan government is spent much better and more efficiently, and on the right projects."

He said there's a "strong institutional structure" in the banks, the Finance Ministry and the accounting system.

He also cited improvement in the judicial realm.

"We're a lot better, a lot more capable, a lot more able to deliver justice then we were seven years ago. It will take a lot more in many more years, sir, to get to where we desire to, and for that we must have patience."

Asked about Pakistan's massive ground offensive in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, a sanctuary for insurgents bordering Afghanistan, Karzai said Afghanistan is "fully behind any efforts to remove extremists and terrorists" and said Afghanistan and Pakistan have a "very constructive relationship at present." But he cautioned that the war on terrorism shouldn't be a war on the indigenous people in the region.

"We must make sure that no civilians are hurt, that no Pashtun families, because they happen to be Pashtun and happen to be affected by terrorists who have taken place in their midst, they must not be hurt or affected," he said.

"As soon as the election is over, if I win in that election, I will make sure to enhance that relationship with Pakistan," he said.

Karzai was asked whether the Pakistani military will target another region, North Waziristan, and attack the groups that have been striking Afghanistan.

"I can't predict that. I hope we will be able to conduct an effective campaign against terrorism, making sure that every Taliban are not hurt, because every Talib is not a terrorist, the Taliban are thousands of people in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"We must differentiate between the Taliban and the terrorists, attack al Qaeda and the terrorists and leave the civilians and the Taliban who are not part of that structure out and respect their life and their property.

He also disputed charges that many insurgents are inspired by opposition to his government, not global Jihad.

"Well, that sort of story has been going around for some time. I think it's not going to serve anybody in America or NATO to try and make scapegoats out of the Afghan government, or out of the Afghan people. I think we must recognize that we have all made mistakes. Some in Afghanistan, some in the international community. So let's correct those mistakes and lets move forward if we are interested in fighting terrorism effectively," he said.

Restaurants, hotels closed down in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Adding more to the gloom of the provincial capital, all the main restaurants of the city were closed on Saturday, for the first time in the contemporary history of the area.

The Frontier Hotels and Restaurants Association announced closing down their 21 outlets for three days to express solidarity with the owners of Swan Restaurant, attacked with a car bomb on Friday where at least 15 people were injured. The association president, Khalid Ayub, complained of inadequate security for hotels and restaurants, saying they would extend their protest if not provided security.

The general public was of the view this was because of the worsening law and order situation as well as certain visible and invisible threats to the crowded places that forced the owners of restaurants to suspend their business for at least three days.

Many were stunned Saturday evening to see the restaurants on main University Road, where over three dozens food outlets are located, shut.

“This is so disturbing. I was shocked to see all the top restaurants on the University Road shut. This is what I am seeing for the first time in my life,” a senior doctor of the city, Dr Gohar Amin, told The News. He said not only the adults are going through a painful time but even his eight-year-old son asked to shift to safer place in search of peace.

Manager of one of the closed restaurants told this scribe that they were going to shut their outlets to express solidarity with the management of Swan Restaurant.

“We also want to close our restaurants for three days to protest against the inadequate security measures around the food outlets,” stated the manager, wishing not to mention his or his restaurant’s name.

Some of the food outlets, mostly local branches of international chains, had already received threats from different groups to stop their business.

A branch of an international food chain has restricted activities in its Peshawar outlet after several threats. Security was also beefed up in and around the fast food restaurant to protect the visitors. Security was at its best in and around another branch of an international chain on Khyber Road. An Italian restaurant on Ring Road has also been closed owing to the deteriorating law and order and for not being visited by enough number of customers due to insecurity.

Even ahead of closure of the food outlets, the prevailing situation had scared the food lovers who had stopped visiting restaurants to secure their lives and loved ones.

Online adds: Commissioner Peshawar division Azam Khan has directed law enforcement agencies to arrest the insurgents involved in rocket attacks in different areas of the city and to investigate about the specifications and range of fired missiles.

Presiding a high level meeting here Saturday that was attended by senior police officials and political agents, the commissioner directed law enforcement agencies to investigate in details the rocket firing incidents by specifying the designs and range of the fired missiles.

Government not to bow to terrorists: CM

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti Saturday said the nation was united against terrorists and the menace of terrorism would be wiped out from the country at all costs.

“We will not bow to the terrorists. Operation against the militants in South Waziristan has been launched and no one would be allowed to challenge the writ of the government elsewhere,” the chief minister told a cabinet meeting at the Civil Secretariat.

The meeting was convened in the wake of Waziristan operation and subsequent terrorist activities in the province.

Besides cabinet members, the meeting was also attended by the chief secretary and heads of all concerned departments and district coordination officers.

The meeting was briefed in detail about the operation in Waziristan and security arrangements in the province.

The chief minister lauded the sacrifices of the police and said all possible steps were being taken to strengthen the force in the province. He said the government had already decided to increase the strength of police in the districts. “The relatives of the slain cops would be proffered in new appointment,” the chief minister said and directed the concerned authorities to implement the ‘Shuhada Package’ as early as possible.

Hoti also said the police in Peshawar range and southern districts would also get special package soon.

He said a force comprising former soldiers would also be formed for Peshawar on which work was in progress.

'Afghanistan Has Changed'

news.sky.com



The man up against Hamid Karzai for the presidency of Afghanistan tells Sky News that his country has changed from a tribal to a democratic land.

Rs2.5bn released to meet urgent needs of IDPs

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira Saturday said the government has released Rs2.5 billion to meet the urgent needs of the dislocated persons from South Waziristan.

Addressing a joint press conference with Director General ISPR, Major General Athar Abbas here to brief media persons about the updates on the on-going operation in South Waziristan Agency, he said the government would leave no stone unturned to facilitate around 20,872 families from the area.

‘This is our responsibility to meet all needs of the displaced people as the process of registration of around 9,297 new IDP families is going on smoothly, and there is no problem in this regard,’ he added.

He said 11,000 families from South Waziristan Agency have already been registered and each displaced family is being provided with Rs5,000 as food-aid through cash cards, while they would also be provided money for purchase of non-food items.

Kaira said the rehabilitation process of IDPs from Swat and Malakand is in progress and besides taking various steps for their welfare, the government was also planning to initiate financial empowerment programmes there

Security forces capture Taliban chief’s hometown

PESHAWAR: Pakistan said Saturday it had captured Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud’s hometown as the US demonstrated its support for the war on the militants with an air strike that killed more than 14 people.

Security officials said the army overran Mehsud’s town of Kotkai overnight after three days of aerial bombardments which had underlined the huge challenge facing the military in taking on the Taliban in their tribal heartland.

And in another part of the northwest tribal belt, a missile fired by an unmanned US drone spy plane killed more than 14 people including three foreign militants, local officials said.

Although figures are impossible to verify, the army says more than 160 militants and 23 troops have been killed in the week-long South Waziristan offensive. Twelve militants and three soldiers died in the final stages of the battle for Kotkai, it added.

‘Today, after intense fighting, security forces took complete control of the town of Kotkai,’ the army’s chief spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told a press conference.

The army said many of the houses in Kotkai had been converted into bunkers by militants and it was also the site of a training camp for suicide bombers.

‘Security forces are in the process of clearing the build-up area of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), booby-traps and mines,’ the spokesman added.

Abbas said the Taliban had been hit by a large number of desertions, saying that the militants were now trimming their beards to distance themselves from their erstwhile comrades in arms.

The army launched the drive last Saturday, pitting 30,000 troops against estimated 10,000-12,000 Taliban fighters where Al-Qaeda-linked militants are believed to have plotted attacks against the West as well as in Pakistan.

The army had promised to make the Taliban leadership a particular target of their offensive and sealed off the main road into Kotkai last weekend.

There has been no word on the whereabouts of Mehsud since the operation began.

Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt has become a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardliner Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001.

While US ground troops are not free to operate in Pakistan, it has carried out a series of air strikes by unmanned planes.

The latest killed more than 14 people in the Bajaur district, to the north of Waziristan, and officials said the toll was likely to rise.

One security official said that a house was targeted in Damadola village, saying those killed included three foreign militants.

Another security official said a tunnel linked to a bunker in the house of a relative of local Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Maulvi Faqir Mohammad was targeted.

Some of his relatives were among the dead and there were reports Mohammad himself had been in the house but left 10 minutes before the strike, he added.

Announcing plans for both himself and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit soon, Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the region, said the US is ‘very impressed with the Pakistani resolve’.

Although the government has said it will deal a decisive blow to the militants, the rebels have continued to carry out attacks in Pakistani cities since the start of the operation, with the military a major target.

On Friday, a bomb attack outside a Pakistani Air Force base killed six civilians and two air force personnel. On Thursday in Islamabad gunmen killed a brigadier and his driver.

Nearly 200 people have been killed in attacks this month alone.

‘The wave of militancy has adversely affected every segment of society,’ Gilani told a meeting of his top security officials late Friday.

Islamabad on Edge

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Islamabad, once the safest city in the country, feels under siege, as the war has crept across the border from Afghanistan, now slowly into the capital with near daily Taliban bombings and shootings. Constant threats of suicide attacks have spread unaccustomed panic. Schools are closed. Shopping malls are deserted. Traffic has thinned. With winter approaching, evenings are darker and quieter with a foreboding air.

“I’m concerned about my children and their future,” said Saba Sharif, 27, a mother of three children, who range in age from one to five years old. “Yesterday, I was talking to my husband’s sister who is in Canada. She said that we should apply for immigration to Calgary.”

And it’s not just personal safety: Her husband, Usman, 33, leases a coal mine near Islamabad. But the deteriorating security situation is making him feel jittery about his heavy investment.

Though Pakistan is hardly immune to violence, Islamabad, with the grand Hindu Kush to the north and east, once had a serene quality to it.

Now diplomats are drawing contingency plans, fearing bigger attacks and nervous that suicide attackers may enter the city’s heavily guarded diplomatic zone. People have started forwarding short text messages on their cellphones, warning friends and relatives about places that might be possible targets or to ensure that vehicles are locked while idling at traffic signals to deter any hostage-taking attempts by bombers on the loose. Security checkpoints and barriers cause long queues of cars and people fear this might actually attract a terrorist attack.

Madeeha Hazoor, 27, said that while Pakistan has been dangerous for some time, she has only begun to feel it in the capital recently.

“My brother was in a building, which a suicide bomber attacked; a friend’s father was in a target killing and many other people I know were close to an area that was attacked minutes later,” she said.

“ People are avoiding going out, my office has told us to work from home, whenever us friends have to hang out - we try and plan something at someone’s house rather than at a restaurant,” she said. “If I do go to eat out, I visualize which seat would be safest to sit at in case of an attack!”

Beenisch Tahir, a freelance writer for an English-language daily, said: “Being used to a peaceful Islamabad, where safety was the last thing that ever entered our minds, having it ruined because of terrorism in the last two years especially makes me angry.’

“Many of us just refuse to give up our right to normalcy,” she said.

But a new normal is evolving here, which some find as disturbing as the attacks themselves. Grim news, killings and scenes of devastation are now all too frequent and give terrorism a strange, disturbing sense of familiarity.

“Maybe we’re desensitized,” Ms. Tahir said. “Or maybe we’re just sick of living like this for the last few years and just can’t take it anymore. Now I check the news like I check a game for the score.”

“It is sad,” she said.

Look at insurgent groups on Afghan-Pakistan border

Associated Press
A complex network of insurgents is battling U.S. forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The groups include:
_Afghan Taliban: A hard-line Pakistani-sponsored movement that began forming during the 1970s as part of the mujahadeen, or freedom fighters, who battled the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan until the Russians were ousted in 1989. The Taliban emerged as a united entity in 1994 and took control of the country in 1996, instituting a strict and often brutal sharia, or Islamic law.
Led by Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban sheltered Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But the group was toppled shortly after the U.S. and allied invasion a month later. The U.S. government estimates there are roughly 25,000 members of the Afghan Taliban. Mullah Omar remains a fugitive.
Al-Qaida also has strong ties with the network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, Afghans who direct the fight against U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan from the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan.
_Pakistan Taliban: Formed more recently, the group is known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban Movement. It initially was led by Baitullah Mehsud. Largely a loose federation of various tribal and regional faction united by Mehsud, the group is located mainly in strongholds along the northwestern tribal belt, where the militants are also believed to be providing safe havens for senior al-Qaida leaders, including bin laden.
Mehsud was killed in an Aug. 5 CIA missile strike in northwestern Pakistan. He was replaced by his military chief, Hakimullah Mehsud. U.S. officials said it is hard to determine the precise number of Pakistani Taliban along the border, but they say it's in the thousands.
_Al-Qaida: Established by bin Laden in 1988 with the stated goal of uniting Muslims to defeat the West and form an Islamic caliphate. The group is behind a number of high-profile attacks including the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the Sept. 11 attacks that saw 19 al-Qaida members hijack four airlines and slam them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.
While weakened and diminished in Iraq, the group has spawned franchises or affiliates in East Africa, Somalia, Indonesia and other locations around the world. Officials say there are a couple hundred in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, including bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Obama Declares Swine Flu a National Emergency

NewYorkTimes
WASHINGTON — President Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, allowing hospitals and local governments to speedily set up alternate sites and procedures if needed to handle any surge of patients, the White House said on Saturday.

The declaration came when long lines formed around the country for the swine flu vaccine, with distribution that has not met demand.

Flu activity — virtually all of it the swine flu — is now widespread in 46 states, a level that federal officials say equals the peak of a typical winter flu season. Millions of people in the United States have had swine flu, known as H1N1, either in the first wave in the spring or the current wave.

Although no one has an exact count of the flu’s mortality, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it had killed more than 1,000 Americans and hospitalized over 20,000.

The emergency declaration, which Mr. Obama signed Friday night, has to do only with hospital treatment, not with the vaccine.

A spokesman for the C.D.C., David Daigle, said he had not heard of any hospital that has faced a surge of patients so large that it had to set up a triage area or a treatment unit off-site. He knew of hospitals in Texas and Tennessee that had set up triage tents in their parking lots in order to screen patients with fever or other flu symptoms, but those have been on hospital grounds, he said.

Against this backdrop, administration officials emphasized that Mr. Obama’s declaration was largely a bureaucratic move that did not signify any unanticipated worsening of the outbreak of the H1N1 flu nationwide. Nor, they said, does it have anything to do with the recent reports of vaccine shortages.

“This is not a response to any new developments,” said Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman. “It’s an important tool in our kit going forward.”

Public and private health officials were administering swine flu shots at scores of locations around the country this weekend.

In Chicago, health officials began giving free vaccinations at six City College locations on Saturday, and within hours officials were turning away hundreds of people because supplies had been exhausted.

Health officials said that they distributed 1,500 doses at each of the sites and that they began the vaccinations at 9 a.m. But two hours before the centers opened, there were already hundreds of people waiting in line for the numbered cards that were needed to get the vaccination. With the number of patients outrunning the supply, officials said that they would give priority to patients who fell into the higher-risk groups.

The seasonal flu typically hospitalizes 200,000 people in the United States each year and kills 36,000. But over 90 percent of the deaths from seasonal flu are among the elderly, while the swine flu mostly affects the young.

The country is in the midst of a serious shortage of swine flu vaccine; only about 16 million doses are available. There is no overall shortage of seasonal flu vaccine — 85 million doses have already shipped, and the regular flu season has not started. But there are temporary local shortages.

The president’s signature on the declaration fulfills the second of two conditions necessary under federal law to empower Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, to issue waivers expediting health care facilities’ ability to transfer patients to other locations. The first condition was met in April when the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency, which Ms. Sebelius renewed for a second time on Oct. 20.

The declaration allows hospitals to apply to the Department of Health and Human Services for waivers from laws that in normal times are intended to protect patients’ privacy and to ensure that they are not discriminated against based on their source of payment for care, including Medicare, Medicaid and the states’ Children’s Health Insurance Program.

As a practical matter, officials said, the waiver could allow a hospital in danger of being overwhelmed with swine flu patients to remove them, and any emergency room visitors suspected of having the illness, to a location such a local armory to segregate such cases for treatment.

In a few cases, hospitals already have set up tents on their sites. But under federal law, if the patients are sent off-site, the hospital might be refused reimbursement for the care as a sanction.

Since last winter’s more isolated cases of swine flu, the expectation that the virus would return with a vengeance in this flu season had posed a test of the Obama administration’s preparedness. Officials are mindful that the previous administration’s failure to better prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left doubts that dogged President George W. Bush to the end of his term.

Pakistan troops retake Taliban stronghold in Waziristan

Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery recaptured a strategic town from Taliban militants after fierce fighting, officials said on Saturday.

Kotkai town in South Waziristan has changed hands three times since the army launched a major offensive on Taliban strongholds a week ago, highlighting the difficulty of seizing territorial advantage in the rugged mountains and valleys near Afghanistan.

It is also the birthplace of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and the home town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior commander known as "the mentor of suicide bombers".

The offensive is a test of the government's determination to tackle Islamist fundamentalists, and the campaign is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan's growing conflict.


The militants have responded by stepping up a campaign of suicide bomb attacks and commando raids that have killed more than 150 people and wounded even more in the past three weeks.

Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said security forces entered Kotkai on Friday evening and were now clearing the area. Government troops first took the town on Monday, but the Taliban retook control a day later.

"The place was a stronghold of terrorists, with a majority of households turned into bunkers," he told a news conference, adding that militants were abandoning their weapons and shaving their beards to try to blend in with ordinary civilians and avoid capture.

Abbas said the military was ahead of schedule on the offensive but the terrain meant operations were going to slow down.
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in South Waziristan but aid officials do not expect the exodus to become a humanitarian crisis, as did a similar offensive in the Swat Valley earlier this year.

The rise in urban attacks by militants is taking a toll, however, with the country's stock market .KSE -- which has performed well this year after a slump in line with global markets -- dropping 6 percent in a week.

Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan, with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose their appetite for the offensive.

A suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key airforce facility on Friday. Hours later, a car bomb outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar wounded 15 people.

Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, has become a global hub for militants who flit between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A missile believed fired from a U.S. predator drone aircraft on Saturday killed at least 15 militants at a senior Taliban commander's hideout in the neighbouring tribal area of Bajaur, a government official said.

"All of them are militants, including foreigners," a senior government official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

He said the commander, Maulvi Faqir, narrowly escaped, but two of his relatives were killed.

About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hardcore Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.

In the last 24 hours, Abbas said 21 militants and three soldiers had been killed in Waziristan.

Foreign journalists are not allowed anywhere near the battle zone and it is dangerous even for Pakistani reporters to visit, so independent confirmation of casualty figures is difficult to obtain.

Students unite against terrorism

Students from various private universities of Karachi gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Saturday to denounce all acts of terrorism and raise their voice against the closure of educational institutions across the country till Monday.