Troops, ships, radar _ Europeans cast net wide for solutions to securing Gaza border

PARIS- French troops, Turkish monitors, British ships, German tunnel detectors, European radar equipment — officials say all these options are being weighed as they try to cement the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

The key to a solution is finding a way to choke off smuggling through tunnels under the slender border between Gaza and Egypt while opening the aboveground crossings to travel and trade. The eight-mile frontier is at the heart of secretive diplomacy across Europe and the Middle East this week.

Dozens of European monitors and experts are ready to deploy immediately, but not until Egypt — and preferably someone on Hamas' side of the border — agree.

Securing that border means it could open up again to aid and trade that have been cut off since it was closed by Egypt when Hamas took over Gaza in 2007. Opening the frontier would mean removing a key grievance that Hamas militants used to justify the frequent rocket attacks on Israel. Recent rocket attacks provoked the 23-day Israeli offensive that ended in a cease-fire last weekend.

The road to a safe border may be a long one. Potential obstacles include divisions within Europe over how robust an international border control presence should be, Western discord over how to deal with Hamas, and Egypt's resistance to a foreign military presence on its soil.

In his first presidential speech on the Mideast, President Barack Obama offered no clear policy shift, reaffirming U.S. backing of Israel's right to self-defense, while also urging continuing diplomatic efforts. He did signal more active efforts, though, by assigning former Sen. George Mitchell as a special envoy for the Mideast.

In Europe, diplomats are trying for some agreement, even temporary, that would assure Israel that Hamas will not use the cease-fire to rearm.

The diplomats will have to move fast. In the border town of Rafah, Gaza smugglers have been repairing their tunnels and bringing in food, fuel and other goods barely four days after Israel stopped its bombardment.

Smugglers estimate there were about 1,000 tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border before Israel's offensive, some used to bring in weapons and others for basic goods.

Israel wants an armed force — one that will shut down tunnels after spotting them — while the Palestinians and many in Europe do not.

Germany has offered to send experts in tunnel detection to train Egyptian authorities to shut down this activity. A four-man German team is ready to go to Egypt to determine what kind of equipment is needed, Deputy Interior Minister August Hanning said.

German officials stress that such help is not meant to undermine Egypt's control of its borders. "Germany will not take on any enforcement role," Manning said.

France, which has taken the European lead on diplomacy in Gaza, says that may not be enough and has suggested a European peacekeeping force for the region.

France is pressing other European allies and Egypt to consider an armed border force, possibly under European Union or United Nations auspices, said a French official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

Neither the U.N. nor NATO is making any commitment to monitoring or peacekeeping for now.

A key hurdle is the possible embarrassment of Egypt appearing unable to patrol its borders.

Egypt may be holding out on the nature of a foreign presence on its soil as a way to negotiate for increasing its own troops in Sinai; their numbers are limited by the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty. For now, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and senior officials say a foreign presence on Egyptian soil is a "red line" they are not willing to cross.

Europe is eager for a more active U.S. role, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner noting Wednesday that the Americans were absent from most major diplomatic action during the Gaza campaign. He called on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to urge the immediate opening of border passages.

The U.S. promised last week to supply detection and surveillance equipment, along with logistical help and training, to monitor Gaza's land and sea borders, but it has made no commitment about border monitors or guards.

One idea is to revive and expand an EU border mission at Rafah that was suspended in 2007. About 30 unarmed EU monitors from the mission are ready to return, and the EU is mobilizing dozens more, just in case.

If all sides agree, the mission could be expanded to three other points on the Israel-Gaza border, at Erez, Kerem Shalom and Qarni, another French diplomat said, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

The EU monitors had no enforcement power. One thing under discussion is giving the force a stronger mandate, including possibly allowing monitors to intervene to prevent potential conflicts, the diplomat said.

France, Britain and Germany last week offered to provide technical devices to control arms smuggling through the tunnels, which could mean drones or ground-penetrating radar.

Beyond the EU, a special Turkish peacekeeping unit outside Ankara is ready to deploy to the border if needed, Turkish officials have said. But Turkey is officially insisting it is only talking for now about sending monitors, not armed peacekeepers.

Turkey enjoys, to some extent, the trust of both Israel and Hamas. It has also offered to mediate between Hamas and the moderate Palestinian movement Fatah led by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.

A Turkish official said there is an "implicit agreement" that the corridors must be reopened for trade and travel for the cease-fire to hold. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Turkey's discussions.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also offered Britain's Royal Navy to help interdict arms shipments bound for Hamas.

Diplomats are hoping for progress Sunday when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels with their counterparts from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority.

But the crucial question is whether Hamas would go along.

The Islamic fundamentalist group is under pressure to improve the quality of life in Gaza. It insists that because it won Palestinian elections in 2006, it should have a role monitoring the crossings.

However, the EU and the U.S. consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and it is certainly distrusted by both Israel and Egypt.

Reviving the EU mission could put EU monitors in direct contact with Hamas officials, an option no diplomat is eager to discuss. That would also mean indirect recognition of the Hamas-run authority in Gaza, until now unthinkable for the international community.

Russia says ready to work with U.S. on Afghanistan

TASHKENT– Russia welcomes President Barack Obama's decision to review policy in Afghanistan and is ready to cooperate, including on supply routes for NATO forces, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.
"Let us hope the new U.S. administration will be more successful in the Afghan settlement than its predecessor," Medvedev told a news conference after talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov.
"We are ready for fully fledged and equal cooperation on security in Afghanistan, including with the United States," he added. "We are ready to work on the most complicated issues ... including the transit of non-military goods."
Cooperation on Afghanistan has been the most successful project uniting NATO and Russia, whose relations froze after Moscow's brief war in Georgia last August.
Before the war, Russia agreed to allow non-military NATO supplies to be delivered to Afghanistan across its territory bypassing Pakistan, where supply convoys face security risks.
NATO and Russia are expected to hold on Monday the first session of their council since the South Ossetia war. Russian officials have made clear the fate of the Afghan transit depends on how relations between Moscow and the alliance develop.
Medvedev's overtures to Obama are part of an effort by the Kremlin to use change in the White House to mend bilateral relations.
Russia, alarmed by a threat from Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to its Central Asian allies, had backed a U.S. drive to topple them in 2001.
But it later became more critical of the U.S.-led operation in Afghanistan saying it had stopped short of stabilizing the country and failed to lessen the threat of Islamic radicalism and drug trafficking.
"The number of radicals is not declining in Afghanistan," Medvedev said. "Poverty continues to produce terrorism."
Security risks are high for many regional leaders, including Karimov who violently stamped out a rebellion by opponents in the town of Andizhan in 2005.
Karimov told a news conference that apart from violence in Afghanistan he was concerned about rising tensions in Pakistan. "Radicals (in Uzbekistan) may be reinvigorated by the recent events in Pakistan," he said.
He said countries in the region should have a stronger say in efforts to restore peace in Afghanistan. "We offer to solve the problem through the involvement of regional states."
Earlier on Friday Karimov and Medvedev suggested the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation -- grouping Russia, China and four ex-Soviet Central Asian states -- could initiate an international conference on Afghanistan.

Suspected U.S. Missile Strikes Kill at Least 20 in Pakistan

Attacks in Northwest Border Province Are First Since Obama's Inauguration.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 23 -- At least 20 people were killed in northwest Pakistan near the border of Afghanistan on Friday in two suspected U.S. missile strikes, marking the first such attack in Pakistan's tribal areas since President Obama's inauguration.A U.S. Predator drone fired three missiles at a compound about two miles from the town of Mirali in the tribal area of North Waziristan about 5:15 p.m., according to a Pakistani security official and local residents. The precision strike leveled a compound, which was owned by local tribal elder Khalil Malik, killing at least 10 suspected militants, including five foreign nationals, according to the Pakistani security official. The site of the attack is about 30 miles east of the Afghan border.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Malik was killed along with his brother and nephew. Authorities in North Waziristan, however, said they have been so far unable to identify any of those killed because militants immediately cordoned off the area. "I suspect a high-value target may be among the dead," the Pakistani security official said.Jan Mohammad, a local tribesman, said Malik and his relatives probably died in the strike, which sparked panic among Malik's neighbors. Mohammad said that Malik was an influential tribal elder but that he was not known to have links with the Pakistani Taliban or other insurgent groups in the area.There were conflicting accounts about the number of casualties in the first attack. Local residents said there were at least 11 bodies, but Pakistani television channels said 10 were killed.
The second strike occurred about three hours later near the tribal capital of Wana in South Waziristan, according to a Pakistani political official in the area. A U.S. drone fired two missiles at a compound in the small village of Gangikhel, a little less than 20 miles from the border with Afghanistan. Few details of that attack were available, but local residents said at least 10 were killed and two injured.Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a spokesman for the Pakistani army, declined to comment on the strike, referring calls to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry also declined to comment.The United States generally does not comment on or confirm whether it is behind missile attacks. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs refused to take questions about the incident at his regular briefing for reporters in Washington on Friday.The two targeted areas are separated by about 60 miles and long stretches of rugged, ungoverned mountainous terrain. Yet they are bound together by a common allegiance among many ethnic Pashtun tribesmen to two separate insurgent networks in North and South Waziristan. In North Waziristan, hundreds of tribesman have joined a group led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a rebel Afghan fighter, and his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani. The Haqqani Network has been linked to dozens of suicide and roadside bomb attacks on U.S., coalition and Afghan government forces in Afghanistan, including an assassination attempt last April on Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Although Jalaluddin Haqqani, who received backing from the CIA during the Soviet incursion in Afghanistan in the 1980s, is considered the spiritual head of the group, Sirajuddin is frequently credited with being head of operations.The Haqqani Network has been battered by missile strikes in Pakistan and aggressive U.S.-led ground raids into territory controlled by the group in the eastern Afghan provinces of Khost and Paktika. Reports of arrests of suspected operatives and strikes on bomb-making compounds have increased within in the past three months with dozens killed and scores detained by coalition forces operating near the border.In South Waziristan, a number of missile attacks have targeted compounds linked to Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Nazir. Nazir was appointed the top Taliban commander of the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe in 2006, two years after a U.S. missile strike killed another top Taliban leader known to foster foreign fighters, Nek Mohammed.At least 132 people have been killed in 38 suspected U.S. missile strikes inside Pakistan since August as the administration of President George W. Bush stepped up pressure on Pakistan to pursue more aggressively Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents in the country's tribal areas.
Regional and intelligence experts say the strikes have improved in precision and have hit several top insurgent commanders in recent months. The notable change in tempo and reported accuracy could be partly attributed to a growing sense of urgency inside the Bush White House as the progress in the seven-year long war in Afghanistan stalled during the waning days of the administration.Samina Ahmed, director of the International Crisis Group in Pakistan, attributes some of the change to increased cooperation between the United States and Pakistan."Given the fact that the past few strikes have actually gotten their targets with minimal or no civilian casualties, there is obviously better cooperation between the U.S. military and Pakistan," Ahmed said. "Now is that coming because of better cooperation from the U.S. military and Pakistani military? That's what the U.S. military seems to be saying. But you have to also consider whether it's not just the military but better cooperation with the civilian government and better human intelligence."Ahmed and other experts have also noted a shift among U.S. intelligence officials from the use of technology to the use of human surveillance on the ground to pinpoint militant safe havens for such strikes. Suspicions among Taliban militants that coalition forces have deployed local spies in otherwise inaccessible tribal areas has sparked a wave of public executions that have killed dozens in recent months."As much as there has been an increase in strikes, there has been an increase in people executed as American spies. The militants don't need to give a reason to kill someone. So that it seems they're taking the threat of possible spies in their midst seriously," Ahmed said. "That type of human intelligence was missing before and perhaps is better now."Although the Obama administration has signaled its intention to make a sharp break with some Bush policies, including using the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a detention facility for suspected terrorists, the White House indicated that it will proceed cautiously in Pakistan and Afghanistan where the CIA has dominated U.S. strategy since 2001. Pakistani officials have said they are hopeful that the change in the White House will foster greater cooperation on security issues, particularly in the tribal areas where more than 2,000 people died last year in militant-related violence.Zardari and other Pakistani officials were critical of the United States in the wake of several missile strikes last year. But there was notable silence in Islamabad about Friday's missile strikes with few public officials commenting on the attacks.

PESHAWAR FEMALE TEACHERS SEEK PROTECTION

PESHAWAR: The female teachers of Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency, Thursday staged protest demonstration against torture and snatching of their vehicle by some unknown criminals.

The protesters, who gathered outside Peshawar Press Club, were holding placards inscribed with slogans demanding of the government to provide them protection and arrest the culprits.

Talking to media, they said on January 19, four people stopped their vehicle and tortured the driver and female teachers. The snatchers, they said, dragged the driver out of the car and took their vehicle.

The lady teachers demanded of NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani to make proper arrangements for protection of female staff working in various schools of the area, adding that their vehicle should also be recovered and exemplary punishment should be awarded to culprits.

‘Unclaimed zone’ between settled, tribal areas irks people

‘Unclaimed zone’ between settled, tribal areas irks people
Female teachers shocked at coach hijacking

PESHAWAR: The deteriorating law and order situation while creating a scare among the public has also caused dereliction of duty among employees of various departments in the law-enforcing agencies, thereby leading the emergence of an ‘unclaimed zone’ between the settled and the tribal areas.Snatching of flying coach (Hiace), aboard female schoolteachers, on main Peshawar-Bara Road on January 19 is testimony to the creation of the ‘unclaimed zone’ because neither the political administration of Bara teshil of Khyber Agency nor police is ready to even register a complaint. Both the authorities——-SHO of Sarband Police Station and tehsildar Bara ——are reluctant to accept the fact that the incident took place in the area of their jurisdiction.
Interestingly, the coach was snatched in broad daylight at Bajri stop on main Peshawar-Bara Road. The area is situated between Peshawar district and Bara tehsil of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas——Khyber Agency. The former governed by the NWFP and the latter controlled by the federal government.The law-enforcing agencies have refused to entertain the complaint, let alone recovering the vehicle, which shows how effective is the government’s writ. Instead of trying to recover the vehicle and provide protection to female teachers serving in the area, the authorities concerned are resorting to dereliction of duty as well as creation of an ‘unclaimed or unmanned zone’ between the settled and tribal areas.The brazen accused disembarked 20 schoolteachers, dragged the driver out and drove away the vehicle towards an unknown location. Not only the female teachers serving in the agency have been shocked and are crying for protection, but also they are reluctant to attend duty in such uncertain situation.Muhammad Rafiq, the driver and owner of the flying coach, is running from pillar to post for getting his vehicle traced and recovered.Rafiq told The News the women schoolteachers had hired his coach for travelling to their place of duty in Khyber Agency and vice versa. He said at 1:00 p.m. on January 19, he was bringing back about 20 teachers when four armed masked men stopped him at Bajri stop on Peshawar-Bara Road, dragged him out ruthlessly, disembarked all the teachers on board and drove away the vehicle. They did not say any thing as to what message they wanted to convey, he added. Rafique said it was not known who were they - militants, car-snatchers or robbers. Just after the incident, he brought the case to the notice of political tehsildar of Bara and SHO of Sarband Police Station, but both of them refused to register a complaint, saying the area did not lie in their jurisdiction.“Now I don’t know where to go to lodge an FIR,” the helpless man complained.Rafique said the teachers were also afraid of travelling to the agency for duty without proper assurance of protection by the administration. The area where the vehicle was snatched and the inmates were forced to alight was not a far-flung or deserted one, but nobody was ready to accept the responsibility of its jurisdiction, the grim-faced Rafiq said.

Clinton vows robust diplomacy as State Dept chief

WASHINGTON – Hillary Rodham Clinton took charge of the State Department on Thursday, proclaiming the start of a new era of robust U.S. diplomacy to tackle the world's crises and improve America's standing abroad.
Before a raucous, cheering crowd of about 1,000 people, the nation's 67th secretary of state pledged to boost the morale and resources of the diplomatic corps and promised them a difficult but exciting road ahead.
"I believe with all of my heart that this is a new era for America," she said to loud applause in the main lobby of the department's headquarters, which President Barack Obama visited later in the day to underscore his administration's commitment to diplomacy.
With Obama at her side in the ornate Ben Franklin Room, Clinton introduced former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, D-Maine, as a special envoy for the Middle East. Former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke was announced as a special adviser on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

SCENARIOS-Holbrooke faces big test in Afghanistan/Pakistan

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Thursday appointed foreign policy veteran Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Holbrooke, a former ambassador to the United Nations who negotiated the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war, faces an array of challenges in dealing with the war in Afghanistan and its tense and fragile border with Pakistan.

Here are some of the problems and possibilities for U.S. action in the region:

- President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. He promised during the campaign to bolster troop levels there to battle growing violence and a resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda, but new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at her confirmation hearing that a broader strategy was needed in Afghanistan that included diplomacy, defense and development.

In addition to more troops in Afghanistan, the United States has promised more nonmilitary aid to Pakistan devoted in part to developing tribal areas where al Qaeda militants have flourished. Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda militants are believed to be hiding in the mountainous border region of Pakistan near Afghanistan.

- Clinton has suggested a U.S. envoy would need to shuttle between Pakistan and Afghanistan to help guide the efforts in the border region between the two countries, and has suggested she will be looking for more regional support. The United States could look to India, central Asian states and even China or Russia for help. The United States also has stepped up pressure on Pakistan to battle jihadi groups since the Mumbai attacks in November that killed 179 people and raised tensions between the two south Asian nuclear rivals.

- In developing a comprehensive approach to the region, the Obama administration must also wrestle with the growing tension between India and Pakistan. The two have fought three wars since 1947, and relations between the countries have deteriorated since the Mumbai attacks. India blames the attacks on Pakistani militants, but Islamabad has denied any involvement by state agencies. India has paused a peace process that started in 2004, and the United States must decide how hard it will press for a resumption -- particularly before Indian elections in May.

- The United States must decide how involved to become in the dispute over Kashmir, a region claimed by both India and Pakistan that has been a flashpoint between the countries for decades. Pakistan sees a settlement as essential to normalizing relations. India rejects any outside effort to influence its approach to Kashmir and has been nervous about Obama's suggestion during the campaign that a special envoy was needed there. A solution to that dispute could free Islamabad to focus more on Afghanistan.

11 militants killed in Swat

PESHAWAR :The security forces backed by gunship helicopters on Thursday killed 11 more militants and injured nine at Qambar and Mata Tehsil in restive Swat district.

The Swat Media Centre press release issued here said that in Qambar Mingora, the gunship helicopters destroyed militants hideouts, killing four militants and injuring six. Those militants who were killed are Abu Hamza, Ismail, Abdul Rauf and Qari Ghaffar.

In Kuza Dureskhela of Tehsil Matta, the security forces during an action killed 7 militants and injured three.

Two dead bodies of militants took into possession by security forces

50 things you didn't know about Michelle Obama

1. Her nickname is "Miche" (pronounced "Meesh").
2. Her husband calls her "My Rock".
3. Her father worked the swing shift in the boiler room at Chicago's water purification plant.
4. She grew up with her older brother, Craig, and parents in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. She shared the living room with her brother, which was separated by a room divider.
5. She and her brother both skipped a year at school - second grade.
6. As a girl, she loved her "Easy-Bake Oven", a toy cooker.
7. Michelle was student council treasurer in high school.
8. Growing up, she practised playing the piano so much that she had to be told to stop.
9. Although a great athlete, she shied away from competitive sports because, her big brother says, "she hated losing".
10. Her father died of complications from multiple sclerosis when she was in her 20s.
11. Michelle attended only public schools while growing up in Chicago.
12. She was assigned Barack's mentor when he came to her Chicago firm for a summer job.
13. Her first impression of Barack wasn't great; after seeing a photo of him in the law firm directory she decided he had a big nose.
14. She declined Barack's first invitations to go out on a date, saying it would be inappropriate.
15. Her father and brother had always said you could tell a lot about someone's character on the court, so before agreeing to date Barack, she asked her brother to take him on on the basketball court.
16. Her university dissertation was entitled, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community."
17. Barack proposed at a Chicago restaurant and the ring arrived on a tray with the dessert.
18. Their first dance at their wedding was to "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole.
19. Santita Jackson, Jesse Jackson's daughter and Michelle's high school classmate, sang at the wedding.
20. She works out "like a gladiator," according to friends.
21. She hates tights - too "painful."
22. At the Democratic National Convention in 2004, moments before her husband went on stage to give his speech, she said: "Just don't screw it up, buddy!"
23. She watches reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
24. For breakfast she likes fruit, eggs and bacon.
25. When she got to Princeton she said the tutors weren't teaching French correctly.
26. She refused to accompany her husband for walks in the cold Chicago winters.
27. She is the former associate dean at the University of Chicago.
28. On their first date Barack took her to see Do The Right Thing, a Spike Lee movie set in Harlem.
29. Her brother, Craig Robinson, is the basketball coach at Oregon State University.
30. At Princeton, Michelle majored in sociology. She got her law degree from Harvard.
31. She worked for Chicago's Mayor Daley in the city's office of planning and development.
32. She uses a webcam to stay in touch with Barack while separated.
33. She cooks shrimp linguini - her husband's fabvourite meal.
34. Michelle wrote her own stump speech during the campaign and delivered it without notes.
35. Michelle made Barack promise to quit smoking if he stood for president.
36. She plans not to have any more children.
37. She graduated from high school second in her year.
38. She cut back from her six-figure salary with the University of Chicago hospital system to help her husband with his campaign.
39. Michelle makes Barack do the dishes.
40. As vice president of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Centre, Michelle supervised a five hundred per cent increase of volunteerism in the hospital.
41. She was on the board of six major organisations, including the prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and Tree House Foods; and Vice President, Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals.
42. She routinely drew audiences of 1,000-plus supporters, even when she was campaigning on her own, on the trail
43. Her inauguration dress was designed by Cuban-American designer, Isabel Toledo. Her green gloves were J Crew and her shoes by Jimmy Choo.
44. After her husband's election to the US Senate, Michelle decided to stay in Chicago with their daughters instead of relocating to Washington, DC.
45. Her great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, was a slave in South Carolina before the Civil War.
46. Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama are the only First Ladies to receive master's degrees.
47. Less than 24 hours after the inaugural balls, replicas of Mrs Obama's dress were being drawn up – they will be available for sale within weeks, ranging in price from $99 to $400.
48. At 5 ft 11ins, she is tied with Eleanor Roosevelt for tallest First Lady.
49. Her secret service codename is "Renaissance".
50. She has committed each episode of The Brady Bunch to memory.

Obama orders Guantanamo closure

US President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as well as all overseas CIA detention centres for terror suspects.

Signing the orders, Mr Obama said the US would continue to fight terror, but maintain "our values and our ideals".

Two days after his inauguration, he also ordered a review of military trials of terror suspects and a ban on harsh interrogation methods.

About 250 suspects have been held at Guantanamo Bay for years without trial.

At Mr Obama's request, military judges have suspended several of the trials of suspects at Guantanamo so that the legal process can be reviewed.

'Ongoing struggle'

Mr Obama signed the three executive orders on Thursday, further distancing his new administration from the policies of his predecessor, George W Bush.

He said the Guantanamo prison "will be closed no later than one year from now."

The US would continue to fight terror, he said, but maintain American values while doing so.

"The United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism," he said.

"We are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals."

Mr Obama believed Americans will be safer with the prison closed, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in his first media briefing.

Mr Obama has repeatedly promised to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, where some 250 inmates accused of having links to terrorism remain and 21 cases are pending.

The legal process for these prisoners has been widely criticised because the US military acts as jailer, judge and jury, the BBC's Jonathan Beale reports from Guantanamo.

However, closing the prison will not be easy, he says.

Questions remain over where those charged will be tried and where those freed can be safely sent.

Secret CIA "black site" prisons around the world are also to be closed, although the time frame for this is unclear.

The rendition - or transfer - of terror suspects to these prisons was widely criticised after they came to light in the wake of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Mr Obama has also limited the methods investigators can use to question terrorism suspects.

Threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding are now all banned.

Clinton cheered

Also on Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination of Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary, despite questions over his late payment of taxes earlier this decade.

The full Senate next votes on Mr Obama's choice to be the point man in steering America through its sharpest economic downturn in decades.

Mr Obama was also due to visit the state department with Vice-President Joe Biden, where new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived on Thursday morning to applause and cheers from staff members. The Senate confirmed her in the role on Wednesday.

She said defence, diplomacy and development were the three pillars of US national security and that the state department was in charge of two of them.

Outlining her priorities, Mrs Clinton said it was a new era for America.

"President Obama set the tone with his inaugural address, and the work of the Obama-Biden administration is committed to advancing America's national security, furthering America's interests, and respecting and exemplifying America's values around the world."

Death sentences given in Chinese milk scandal

BEIJING: Chinese courts sentenced two men to death and three other defendants, including a top dairy company executive, to life in prison on Thursday for endangering public safety in a tainted milk scandal that killed at least six children, according to state-run news media.

Another defendant received a suspended death sentence and 15 others, mostly dairy producers and middlemen, were given terms ranging from two years to life in prison. In all, 21 people were sentenced for their roles in one of the worst food-safety scandals in China in decades.

The Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang, in the northern province of Hebei, said the defendants had intentionally produced or sold dairy products laced with a toxic chemical called melamine, which was used to give falsely high protein readings but caused kidney stones and other ailments in about 300,000 children last year.

Among those sentenced to death was Zhang Yujun, a dairy middleman whom the government called one of the "principal criminals." He had been convicted of selling 600 tons of melamine-tainted "protein powder" to dairy companies.

Another dairy producer, Geng Jinpin, was also sentenced to death. A third man, Gao Junjie, received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, which means he could be spared execution.

Tian Wenhua, the 66-year-old former chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, one of China's biggest dairy companies, was sentenced to life in prison for her failure to stop producing and selling the tainted goods even after her company learned that the products were flawed. She was the highest-ranking corporate executive brought to trial last year. She pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to act properly in the case. She was also fined 20 million yuan, or about $3 million.

Three other former executives at Sanlu, once China's leading producer of baby formula, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 15 years for their roles in the scandal.

One of those executives appeared in court late last year in a wheelchair after what the state-controlled media said was a failed suicide attempt.

The other five defendants received jail sentences ranging from five years to life. The tough sentences were the government's latest effort to deal with a scandal that erupted last September, triggering a global recall of Chinese-made dairy products, shaking consumer confidence and devastating the nation's fast-growing dairy industry.

But parents of some victims protested Thursday afternoon outside the courthouse in Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is headquartered, saying they were dissatisfied with the verdict. "I feel sorry for them, but they are just scapegoats," said Liu Donglin, 28, whose 21-month-old son suffered from kidney stones after drinking tainted milk powder. "The ones who should take the responsibility are the government, like the quality supervision bureau and the Health Ministry. I spent nearly 20,000 yuan taking care of my son, and the government only compensated me with 2,000."

Some lawyers and victims have accused Beijing of failing to properly regulate the dairy industry, and some believe the government covered up the scandal before the Olympics in August, only disclosing the news in September.

Former Sanlu officials acknowledged in testimony last month that they knew there were complaints and serious problems with their dairy products as early as May of last year.

But the government has placed the blame on a group of unscrupulous dairy company executives, farmers and middlemen who prosecutors say intentionally sold goods spiked with melamine to save money and increase profits. Melamine, which is used to produce plastics and fertilizer, was often added as a cheap filler or replacement for protein powder.

The case has angered many consumers and is so sensitive that the government has tried to calm angry protesters and parents. On Thursday, the police in Beijing even attempted to detain or block parents from traveling to Shijiazhuang to listen to the verdicts. Foreign journalists have also been barred from attending some of the court sessions.

A group of China's biggest dairy companies agreed late last year to compensate victims of the scandal, but some parents have rejected the settlement offer, saying that it was too little and that their children faced long-term health problems.

Many children suffered from kidney stones or kidney failure after consuming formula contaminated with extremely high levels of melamine.

The Sanlu Group, which was jointly owned by the Fonterra Group of New Zealand, filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. But Thursday, the court in Shijiazhuang fined the company 50 million yuan for its role in the scandal.

Mitchell and Holbrooke to be Named Envoys

Now that Hillary Clinton has been confirmed as Secretary of State, the Obama administration will announce Thursday two high-profile appointments -- former senate majority leader George Mitchell (D-Me.) as Middle East envoy and former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke as envoy for Afghanistan, Pakistan "and related matters," sources close to the administration said.

Mitchell will be charged with rebuilding the Middle East peace process in the wake of the three weeks of violence between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Holbrooke will take on the difficult job of soothing relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, whose border is a haven for the Taliban and is believed to harbor Osama Bin Laden. Left unsaid is that Holbrooke's brief could extend to India, which has been a victim of Islamic terrorism from Pakistan but is suspicious of third-party intervention in the dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir.

Both men are highly regarded for their diplomatic skills but have vastly different styles. Mitchell, a former federal judge, calmly and patiently approaches difficult issues while the hard-charging Holbrooke is known as a demanding task-master.

During the Clinton administration, Mitchell was instrumental in the settlement of the Northern Ireland conflict and in 2000 headed a commission that looked into the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The Mitchell report, issued in 2001, won praise for being impartial, so much so that both sides accepted it. The recommendations in the report helped form the basis for the international "road map" plan that has been a hallmark of all later peace efforts.

Holbrooke was the chief architect of the Dayton peace accords that ended the Bosnian conflict in the mid-1990s, a peace that has held to this day in the ethnically divided country.

Swat waiting for justice and peace that has been denied

THESE IGNORANT MULLAHS AND TALIBAN HAVE NO RIGHT TO IMPOSE THEIR VIEWS ON PEACEFUL PUKHTOONS,THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO STOP GIRLS FROM GOING TO SCHOOLS,ANYONE WHO IS READING THIS PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS STORY.


The power of FM radio was never recognized to this extent before in any part of world. Maulana Fazlullah first used it to create a militant mindset and later creating one. FM radio initially gave Maulana Fazlullah popularity all around Pakistan when he was being recognized as “Maulana radio” but no one ever had the slightest idea what actually was going on. First FM radio, then the militia turning into a force with most sophisticated technology making it impossible for government to block their station, then burning of schools, then the Shariah courts. Isn’t this giving a concept of state within state?

Imagine the rising vigour of these militants that now the same FM radio broadcasts the name and identities of those who would be next victims of militants the next dawn. Many innocent people have been killed in most inhuman ways for being termed as spy’s working for United States. But reality of matter is that whoever tries to resist in any manner in this area against the norms imposed by these militants is termed as an agent /spy. Figures for killing of such people are though calculated as 13 but many independent sources suggest that they are far more then this as there are many reports that identify people beheaded and hanged on trees and poles at the unfortunate ‘Grain chowk’ now identified as ‘khooni chowk’ (The bloody crossing).

Where is the writ of government? Why isn’t anything being done is the questions generally raised by people after reading the bloody incidents taking place in Swat on daily basis. Pakistan has always been a victim of inappropriate functioning’s of its departments. And in the case of swat, it has been reported that security forces are not satisfied with the policies of government. It has been mentioned by security forces officialdoms that government policies have been undoing whatever results have been attained by the army. For instance; it was mentioned by security forces officials that militants that they arrested were again released by government for some peace deal that is time and again fragmented by militants and it seems that the government has been appeasing them.

While scrutinizing the theory of Taliban aiming at enforcement of Shariah one can see that the brutal acts done by them on daily basis do not justify any context of Islamic preaching. One can find many references and quotations made by the Holy Prophet and Kalifas of Islam that instead condemn these acts. For instance; in a hadith narrated by the Caliph Omar (Bukhari, 4:258): Abu Bakr, the first caliph and friend of the Prophet Mohammad, summarizing the Prophet's message, telling the leaders of his armies, "Do not kill a woman, a child, or an old man. Do not cut down a blossoming tree, do not destroy a building, and do not kill a sheep or camel, except for the purpose of eating it. Do not submerge or cut down a palm tree. Do not be excessive, and do not be cowardly."



What Islam do they want to preach? Today Swat is also waiting for justice that has been denied to many in the pages of history.

Taliban Fill NATO’s Big Gaps in Afghan South

Afghanistan — The Taliban are everywhere the soldiers are not, the saying goes in the southern part of the country.

And that is a lot of places.

For starters, there is the 550 miles of border with Pakistan, where the Taliban’s busiest infiltration routes lie.

“We’re not there,” said Brig. Gen. John W. Nicholson, the deputy commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan. “The borders are wide open.”

Then there is the 100-mile stretch of Helmand River running south from the town of Garmser, where the Taliban and their money crop, poppy, bloom in isolation.

“No one,” General Nicholson said, pointing to the area on the map.

Then there is Nimroz Province, all of it, which borders Iran. No troops there. And the Ghorak district northwest of Kandahar, which officers refer to as the “jet stream” for the Taliban fighters who flow through.

Ditto the districts of Shah Wali Kot, Kharkrez and Nesh, where the presence of NATO troops is minimal or nil.

“We don’t have enough forces to secure the population,” General Nicholson said.

The general is going to get a lot more troops very soon. American commanders in southern Afghanistan have been told to make plans to accept nearly all of the 20,000 to 30,000 additional troops that the Obama administration has agreed to deploy.

The influx promises to significantly reshape the environment of southern Afghanistan, the birthplace of the Taliban. The region now produces an estimated 90 percent of the world’s opium, which bankrolls the Taliban.

While the American-led coalition holds the cities and highways, it appears to have ceded much of the countryside to the Taliban, because it lacks sufficient forces to confront them.

A force of about 20,000 American, British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers have been trying for years to secure the 78,000 square miles of villages, cities, mountains and deserts that make up southern Afghanistan. The region is one of the two centers of the Taliban insurgency, which has made a remarkable resurgence since being booted from power in November 2001.

The other center is in the eastern mountains, where 22,500 American troops are battling a multiheaded enemy, which includes Al Qaeda. Its operational center is based in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Here in southern Afghanistan, the insurgency is homegrown and self-sustaining. The home village of the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, is 30 miles from here. Poppy fields, now fallow in winter, dot the countryside here and in neighboring Helmand Province. The United Nations estimates that the opium trade provides the Taliban with about $300 million a year.

American commanders say the open borders allow the opium to move unimpeded into Pakistan and other places, and for weapons and other supplies to flow in. Five of the six busiest Taliban infiltration routes are in the south, American officers said.

“Drugs out,” one American officer said, “guns in.”

The commanders here call the current situation “stalemate,” meaning they can hold what they have but cannot do much else. Of the 20,000 British, American and other troops here, only roughly 300 — a group of British Royal Marines — can be moved around the region to strike the Taliban. All the other units must stay where they are, lest the area they hold slip from their grasp.

It is perhaps in Kandahar, one of the provincial capitals, where the lack of troops is most evident. About 3,000 Canadian soldiers are assigned to secure the city, home to about 500,000 people. In a recent visit, this reporter traveled the city for five days and did not see a single Canadian soldier on the streets.

The lack of troops has allowed the Taliban to mount significant attacks inside the city. Two clerics who joined a pro-government advisory council, for instance, have been gunned down in the past two months, bringing the total assassinated council members to 24. Over the summer, a Taliban force invaded Kandahar and stormed its main prison, freeing more than 1,200 inmates.

But whether extra troops will have the desired impact is unclear. Adding 20,000 new troops to the 20,000 Western soldiers already here — in addition to an equal number of Afghan policemen and army personnel — would bring the total to 60,000. The six provinces that make up southern Afghanistan have a population of 3.2 million. In that case, the ratio of troops to population would just match that recommended by the United States Army’s counterinsurgency manual: 50 people per soldier or police officer.

American commanders say the extra troops will better enable them to pursue a more sophisticated campaign against the insurgents; the overriding objective, rather than killing Taliban fighters, is to provide security for the civilian population and thereby isolate the insurgents.

Even so, many of the Western troops already here are not deployed among the population. And Afghanistan, with its predominantly rural population living in mostly small villages, presents unique challenges.

Across much of the countryside, the Taliban appear to hold the upper hand, not necessarily because they are popular, but because they are unopposed. Hediatullah Hediat, for instance, is a businessman from Musa Qala, a city in Helmand Province that was occupied by the Taliban for much of 2007 until the insurgents were expelled by British troops at the end of that year. (The British have about 8,000 troops in Helmand Province.) The British, Mr. Hediat said, control the center of Musa Qala and nothing more.

“The Taliban are everywhere,” Mr. Hediat said in an interview in Kandahar, where he had come for business. “The Taliban are so near to the city that you can see them from the city itself. The British can see them. They can see each other.”

Mr. Hediat said he had no great gripes with the British soldiers who were occupying the town — for one thing, he said, they do not raid houses and peer at the women. But the biggest complaint, he said, was the Afghan the British installed as the district governor, Mullah Salam. The governor is unpopular and corrupt, demanding bribes and tributes from anyone who needs something.

“This is why people hate the British, because they put Mullah Salam in power, and they keep him there,” he said.

In the mud-brick villages that line the Arghandab River, winning over the people is no easy job. The Taliban are here, in the villages; earlier this month, a suicide bomber killed two American soldiers and nine Afghans in the Maiwand bazaar. But the Taliban are mostly invisible.

On a recent foot patrol through the village of Tsapowzai, about thirty miles west of Kandahar, a platoon of American soldiers ventured inside and found empty streets. It was a sunny day. A pair of Afghans stared at them from a wheat field, and neither of them waved. No one stepped from his house to say hello.

“Where’s everybody at, Jimmy?” Lt. Brian James asked a comrade.

“Don’t know,” Lt. James Holloway replied.

Finally, the soldiers came across three Afghan men. They were sitting on a blanket and listening to music on a radio. What followed seemed, more than anything, a game.

“So, seen any Taliban lately?” Lieutenant Holloway asked the men.

“We haven’t seen the Taliban in eight months,” a man named Niamatullah said, looking up.

“Do you ever see anyone moving through here at night?” Lieutenant Holloway asked.

“We don’t go outside at night,” said Mr. Niamatullah, who, like many Afghans, uses one name. “When we do, you guys search us and hold us for hours. And you never find anything.”

Lieutenant Holloway shook his head.

“The last person we stopped in this village, we held for 20 minutes,” the lieutenant said. “We never detain anyone.”

“We are afraid of you,” Mr. Niamatullah said.

“Is there a Taliban curfew?” Lieutenant Holloway asked.

“Only a man with a white shawl is allowed outside at night,” Mr. Niamatullah said.

“A white shawl?” Lieutenant Holloway squinted.

Mr. Niamatullah did not offer to explain.

“But he has no gun, so you cannot detain him.”

After several minutes, Lieutenant Holloway gave up.

“Everybody knows something,” Lieutenant Holloway said, walking away, “But no one tells us anything.”

The President has given a green signal to the renaming of NWFP as Pukhtunkhwa

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Thursday said use of force is the last option in the war against terrorism.Addressing a high level meeting here, the President said the social and economic structures of Pukhtunkhwa and tribal societies are being strenghtehned.He said the needs and requirements of the law enforcement agencies will be fulfilled in NWFP.
According to sources, the President has given a green signal to the renaming of NWFP as Pukhtunkhwa, saying the Constitutional requirements in this regard will be met.
President Zardari said struggle is being made to strengthen the federation.
He said the government will engage in dialogue only with those who do not challenge the writ of the government.

President Obama gets to work

WASHINGTON — President Obama opened his White House term with a flurry of activity Wednesday, from new ethics rules to steps designed to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.
During his first morning in the Oval Office, Obama called four Middle East leaders to promise early engagement in the peace process.

Obama started his day with 10 minutes alone in the Oval Office, reading a note left to him by former president George W. Bush in an envelope marked "To: #44, From: #43."

After a briefing with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel at 8:45 a.m., first lady Michelle Obama joined the president in the Oval Office.

US 'agrees Afghan supply route'

The US says a new supply path to Afghanistan has been agreed with Central Asian states and Russia as an option to the troubled Pakistan route.

US Central Command chief Gen David Petraeus made the announcement on a visit to Islamabad.

The route through the Khyber Pass has been closed several times in recent months after militants attacks.

Gen David Petraeus met President Asif Ali Zardari and other leading figures on his one-day trip.

Meanwhile, Pakistani security forces say they have killed 60 militants in the past 24 hours in an operation in the tribal agency of Mohmand near the Afghan border.

There is no independent confirmation of the casualty figures.

Public anger

Gen Petraeus's visit came after a week-long tour of Central Asian states.

He said the Pakistan route had been flowing "generally freely" in recent weeks but that the US and Nato had sought "additional logistical routes from the north".

He added: "There have been agreements reached and there are transit lines now and transit agreements for commercial goods and services in particular that include several countries in the Central Asian states and also Russia."

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says most of Nato's supplies are transported overland through Pakistan, but support for the Nato war effort in Afghanistan is unpopular in Pakistan and supply trucks have increasingly been attacked by local militants.

She says reports from the meetings also suggest that Pakistan expressed concern about US missile strikes against suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda militants in its border region.

The attacks have been blamed for many civilian casualties.

Islamabad says this triggers public anger, which undermines its own counter-terrorism efforts.

Our correspondent says there has been no formal indication that this policy might change under the new US administration, although a senior official of Barack Obama's Democratic party has questioned whether the missile strikes are counterproductive.

At his press conference, Gen Petraeus said the US would continue to help Pakistan tackle terrorism and militancy in the tribal areas.

"It is clearly in the interest of all countries involved that Pakistan succeed in dealing with its internal problems," he said.

Pakistan's actions and arrests following the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks were also discussed.

The general said the US and the international community would continue to support Pakistan, but Pakistan must also put its house in order on the issue of militants.

'Risky'

Gen Petraeus is a key advocate of a major US troop surge in Afghanistan.

The US has said it is sending up to 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan this year to take on a resurgent Taleban. They will join 33,000 US and 32,000 other Nato troops already in the country.

This is Gen Petraeus's second visit to Pakistan since taking up his new position.

He was until recently commander of the US military in Iraq.

He was widely credited with improving security there through the "surge" plan, which saw nearly 30,000 US troops deployed to trouble spots.

However, Afghanistan's ambassador to the US, Said Jawad, recently said that a plan similar to the one in Iraq that formed local tribal groups to help combat the insurgency was "very risky".

Rankers replace PSPs to improve Peshawar law, order

PESHAWAR: The officers of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) and Provincial Civil Service (PCS) serving in the capital city police were replaced with seasoned cops promoted from the lower ranks in yet another experiment to improve the law and order situation in this troubled provincial capital.

The capital city police used to have majority of the superintendents of police (SPs) from the PSP or on some occasions from the PCS cadre till the recent past. On occasions, the entire administration, comprising the capital city police officer (CCPO), SSP operations, SSP investigation, SPs in Rural, Cantt and City Circles, SP headquarter and SP traffic, were from the PSP group. In some set-ups, the PCS officers assisted the PSPs to run affairs of the city police.

The same city police force was giving a completely different look Wednesday as a number of cops promoted from lower ranks were posted against senior positions. Many of these officers were given shoulder promotion to qualify requirement for the positions they were posted on. All these policemen replaced officers from the elite PSP cadre who till recent past were ruling the provincial metropolis and the rest of the Frontier.

The share of PCS officers and rankers has already been increased in other districts of the province for the past few years against PSPs after the latter preferred to be transferred out of the NWFP.

According to the Wednesday’s notification, Nasirul Mulk Bangash was made SSP traffic while Chaudhry Ashraf was posted vice SSP, a brand new position in the city police administration. Furthermore, Nisar Marwat was appointed SP Cantt, Ijaz Abid was posted SP City, Bashirullah SP Rural and Rasheed Marwat was posted as SP traffic.

A source said that the newly created post of vice SSP would also cover the Nowshera and Charsadda districts. Another position of SSP coordination was also created recently. Nisar, Rasheed Marwat and Bashirullah are DSPs serving in Grade 17, but were given shoulder promotion to take charge of their new offices on acting basis. There was no mention as to where previous SP Traffic Waqas and SP Cantt Abdul Qadir Qamar were posted. Both the officers were from the PSP cadre.

Except the senior command positions, CCPO, SSP operations and SP headquarters, the rankers have occupied the rest of the key offices of the city police in the new set up. PCS hardly occupy a few positions in Peshawar in the new set-up.

Search is on for a seasoned officer to replace SSP operations, who has been serving in the city for almost six months. The new CCPO, according to sources, feels more comfortable with experienced officers from the lower ranks and that was why they were preferred to the young PSPs to improve the law and order in the provincial metropolis.

The reason could be that all the newly posted officers have served in many of the local police stations for years in different capacities. A number of rankers were recently posted as SDPOs and on other key positions after the new city police chief took over in November last. However, the force is still struggling against innumerable rings of kidnappers, robbers and other criminals that are playing havoc with the peace of the town.

UN deplores attacks on girl schools

UNITED NATIONS: A top UN official has strongly condemned the increasing number of attacks claimed by Taliban militants and other armed groups, using and targeting the children. In a statement released in New York, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said she was particularly appalled by recent incidents, including the blowing up of five schools in northwestern Pakistan. she also expressed concern over the increase in the number of child victims of the attacks on schools by Taliban, who deny children the right to education. The throwing of acid to prevent girl children and female teachers from going to school was deplorable, she stressed.

Déjà vu: Foreign hand involved in NWFP, Fata situation

PESHAWAR: People from various walks of life suspect foreign involvement in the poor law and order situation in the Frontier province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), with many pointing finger to an international conspiracy to isolate and separate the region from the rest of the country and the world.

Each and every dweller of the NWFP and Fata is concerned over what has been happening in this part of the world for the past many years. The disturbing situation has badly affected the local industry, trade, education — especially that of girls — media and politics. The entire political scenario has changed and the prime focus of the rulers is no more development of the area under their jurisdiction, but to struggle against the elements bent upon disturbing law and order.

“I think the situation worsened after the army was involved at a time when there was no need for it. The issue of militancy in some parts of Fata should have been settled politically and not by force,” remarked Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel, the senior vice president of the Awami National Party (ANP) that shares coalition governments in the Centre and NWFP.

The senator also said the area inhabited by Pakhtuns had attraction for the international powers, including the United States, China, Russia, Arab countries, India and Iran. “It is up to the government in Centre to decide whether to fight or settle the issue through dialogue. We, the politicians, believe in negotiations but the situation is complex,” he opined.

Situation in the Frontier and Fata is alarming as people are migrating to safer places. The insecurity, uncertainty and the government failure to deliver have resulted in utmost disappointment among around 23 million people of Frontier and Fata.

“It is not clear whether the government is deliberately silent over whatever is happening around or it has failed to address the issue of militancy properly. The fact is that each and every citizen of the Frontier and Fata believes the situation has isolated them from the rest of the country,” Ali Kamran, a student of the University of Peshawar, expressed himself.

Bomb blasts, suicide attacks, explosions at educational institutions and threats to others and kidnapping for ransom have made life a hell for commoners in the tribal belt and Peshawar, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Hangu, Kohat, Nowshera, Mardan, Charsadda, Swat, Buner and Dir districts.

Asif Luqman Qazi, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), blamed the previous federal government for the turmoil in Fata and Frontier. He, however, added that the situation deteriorated after the rulers declared Pakistan as front-line state against “war on terror”.

“The people of Pakistan consider it a war against Islam and Muslims, but the government acted against the sentiments of the public. The incumbent regime replaced President Musharraf but the policy has not been changed because they have come into power under a deal with the Americans and Pakistani establishment,” stated the young Qazi.

“There are foreign conspiracies, and clearly Indian and American hand behind it, but the responsibility for the country’s security rests upon our own government,” the Jamaat-e-Islami Nowshera district chief added.

Asif Luqman Qazi said, however, it was the Pakistan government that provided opportunity to the enemies to take advantage of the situation. “We condemn the sabotage acts and killing of innocent people and consider it against the teachings of Islam and Quran. Even in the military operations, innocent people, and not militants, are killed and their houses demolished,” he said.

The Jamaat-e-Islami leader offered that his party could play its role and mediate if the government showed sincerity and willingness to resolve the issue. It was because of the area situation that for the first time in history a Federal Minister, Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, assured the NWFP business community to take up the issue of declaring Frontier a war-hit province. It is a fact what has been happening in Peshawar and other parts of the Frontier and Fata is worse than many war-hit countries. Peshawar has been rated one of the most dangerous towns of the world, given its two-year history.

“Many know about a map issued by an American think-tank that had a different look of the region, with a divided Pakistan. If there is really an international conspiracy to separate and isolate the region, then the question is what our rulers and our institutions are doing to counter it,” opined Sharafat Ali Mubarak, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz provincial vice president and the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SCCI) president.

The SCCI president also accused the previous rulers of unwise policies on two important occasions: When Russia invaded Afghanistan and again after the 9/11 incident. “All the stakeholders and representatives from various walks of life need to be consulted over the issue. The people of the province should be taken into confidence and talks held with militants for restoring peace in the region and country,” concluded Sharafat.

The government formed in the Centre and province after last year’s general elections was the last hope for the NWFP residents, who have been bearing the brunt of the poor law and order. Though the performance of the federal and NWFP governments during the last 10 months has not been up to the public expectations, hopes are still alive that peace would be restored in the region provided the rulers made sincere efforts.

With Palestine in limelight, Swat Valley burns silently

PESHAWAR: One could not differentiate between two pictures in Tuesday’s papers showing the widely scattered rubble of the destroyed buildings in Gaza and blown up schools in Swat valley until reading their captions.

The valley is replete with such scenes, as more than 170 schools have been bombed or torched besides other government-owned buildings. Also, more people have been killed in violence and military operations in the valley than the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, but the people have been unfortunate not to get due attention of the government, politico-religious parties and civil society, who have been crowding streets to protest the killing of Palestinians.

The blowing up of five schools on Monday in the heart of Mingora city belied the tall claims of the provincial and federal governments vis-‡-vis ensuring security to schools in Mingora in particular and rest of the valley in general. It added to the worries of the people and girls students and pointed towards the vulnerability of schools.

The federal and provincial governments insisted that they were capable of providing security to schools against the militants’ threat. “Education is the basic right of every citizen and the government will ensure it. We will provide security to schools. The militants are not capable to materialise their threat, but have been spreading propaganda to blackmail the government,” NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the other day.

Federal Minister for Information Sherry Rahman has also expressed the same resolve. However, their words proved to be hollow meant to give a false solace to the worried countrymen, particularly Swatis. “No special security was provided to schools. Protection to schools is impossible until improvement in the overall security situation. It’s writ of the government that ensures security to schools and all other installations, which is non-existent at the moment,” an officer of the administration said. However, he said that patrolling had been started to secure the city and more steps were afoot to block entry and exit points of the city during nights.

Interestingly, incapable to stop militants from destroying schools, Iftikhar still claimed that the schools would be reopened on March 1 despite militants’ threat. “We have requested donors to provide finances to re-build and reopen the ruined schools,” he added, declaring as he usually does, to take militants head-on.

It has also been learnt that after the refusal of 600-800 officials of the Elite Police force to perform duty in the militant-teemed valley, the military is also in trouble to provide security to schools. So the girls of the valley seem to be destined to face a bleak future.

Maulana Fazlullah-led militants had asked the administration of all schools to stop imparting female education by January 15, or else the buildings would be blown up. It led private schools management to announce closure of female classes in 400 schools. The government came under heavy flak for failing to check the militants in the valley, where more than 120 girls schools have been destroyed, and ensuring female education there. The private schools refused to trust the government and security forces against the militants, saying they could not risk the lives of students and would open institutes only after restoration of peace in toto or go-ahead after assurance from the powerful militants.

Commenting on their failure in the valley, a member of the NWFP cabinet said while requesting anonymity that they were serious in not only protecting schools but also restoring peace to the entire valley.

About accelerating the operation, he said the government was satisfied with the operation in the valley and had passed a resolution to ask the army make the operation effective. “Democratic governments convey acts in this manner but here resolutions by legislatures mean nothing, unfortunately.”

He said ANP had been rendering sacrifices for the sake of peace but it could quit government if conspiracies hatched to fail the ANP efforts for peace. “Power is not indispensable for us,” he made it clear.

Pakistan tells powers to stop demanding more

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's military issued a blunt call on Tuesday for outside powers to stop demanding it do more and prove its sincerity in the campaign against militancy as the U.S. regional military chief visited.

Pakistan has been a close ally in U.S.-led efforts against terrorism since the September 11 attacks on the United States although it has never been able to dispel suspicion in some quarters that it had maintained links to some militants.

Such suspicion has been renewed by Indian accusations that some Pakistani state agencies were linked to November's militant attacks on Mumbai.

Western powers have not supported those Indian accusations, although they often call on Pakistan to do more in fighting Taliban and al Qaeda militants, especially those on the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan.

The chief of the Pakistani armed forces, General Tariq Majid, bemoaned "repetitive rhetoric by some of the external players asking Pakistan to do more and prove sincerity."

"Such unhelpful statements must stop," Majid said.

He did not refer to any country or to U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus, who arrived in Pakistan earlier for talks with government and military leaders.

British Defence Secretary John Hutton was also in Pakistan this week. Britain has the second largest contingent of soldiers in Afghanistan, behind the United States, and is also worried about militant infiltration from Pakistan.

Both the United States and Britain are major donors of aid to Pakistan, including help to tackle terrorism.

"International players must come out from the coercive mindset and instead start delivering on the promised capacity assistance," Majid said in a statement.

The thinly veiled criticism of the United States follows Pakistani anger over about 30 U.S. air strikes on militants on the Pakistani side of the border last year.

Pakistan says the attacks violate its sovereignty and are counter-productive. Support for the U.S. campaign against militancy is deeply unpopular with many Pakistanis.

"CAN'T MATCH SACRIFICES"

Pakistan has in the past used Islamist militants to further foreign policy objectives and it was the main supporter of the Taliban until the September 11 attacks.

But Majid said Pakistan did not need to prove its sincerity considering the sacrifices it was making "which cannot be matched by any of those players making these demands."

About 1,000 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in fighting against militants in the northwest since 2001.

Petraeus met President Asif Ali Zardari and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani for talks that included Pakistan's response to the Mumbai attacks, which India and the United States said was carried out by a banned Pakistani-based militant group.

"It is clearly in the interests of all countries involved that Pakistan succeed in dealing with its internal problems," Petraeus told reporters.

He did not refer to Majid's statement.

Petraeus said he had also discussed cross-border movement of militants and U.S. reinforcements in Afghanistan. The United States has about 32,000 troops in Afghanistan but that number is expected to go up considerably this year.

Petraeus has been credited with helping pull Iraq back from the brink of civil war with a strategy that brought a "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops. President-elect Barack Obama has said he would put more focus on defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan.

'Fighters killed' in Pakistan raid

Mohmand, a mainly ethnic Pashtun region on the Afghan border, is a known al-Qaeda stronghold
Pakistani government and paramilitary officials say security forces backed by aircraft have killed 38 Taliban fighters in an offensive in the Mohmand region on the Afghan border.A paramilitary official was quoted by the AFP news agency on Tuesday as saying that "60 hardcore militants" were killed in the last 24 hours, including local field commanders.Mohmand is a known al-Qaeda stronghold.The reports of fighting came as General David Petraeus, the US Central Command chief, arrived in Pakistan for talks with government and military leaders.He met Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, and General Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief, for talks on regional security, a spokesman for Zardari said.
'Operation successful
Referring to the fighters, a senior government official in Mohmand, Shahidullah Khan, told the Reuters news agency by telephone: "The operation has been successful. Their power has been reduced, we're facing less resistance."Khan and the paramilitary Mohmand Rifles force said 38 fighters had been killed on Tuesday. The force said 22 fighters had been killed in fighting on Monday.
Khan said there had been no casualties on the government side.
A Pakistani security official said the fighters suffered losses in attacks by "war planes, helicopter gunships and use of artillery and shelling by tanks".
Those killed included two commanders of the Taliban fighters, he said.
"We have confirmation that commander Anwar Sayed and commander Shakirullah were killed in the operation today," a security official said.
Their bases were also destroyed, he said.
He also said that troops demolished or torched at least 27 houses belonging to tribesmen who offered shelter to the fighters.
Five civilians were wounded in the shelling, he said.
A Mohmand Rifles official told AFP on the condition of anonymity: "The operation is going on in Mohmand. The forces have secured a large area in the troubled district and militant strongholds have been destroyed."
The force said two fighters' strongholds had been destroyed and another two were being attacked. Several Taliban commanders had been killed, it said in a release.

Border villages
A spokesman for the Mohmad Rifles said earlier the assault was focused on five border villages controlled by fighters.
Villagers said the soldiers were also using tanks and artillery in the fighting and at least 12 civilians had been wounded in air strikes.

None of the statistics given out by the Pakistani security officials could be confirmed through independent sources.

Last week, more than 600 fighters, many from Afghanistan, attacked a military camp and two checkpoints in Mohmand and six soldiers and 40 fighters were killed, the military said.

Intensified Pakistani efforts against the fighters have led to what some officials call reverse infiltration, with some Taliban coming back into Pakistan to protect their rear bases.

Official released

Separately, Taliban fighters released a senior government official in the South Waziristan region, on the Afghan border to the southwest of Mohmand, after more than a week in captivity, a government official said.

Residents and intelligence officials said that Taliban fighters also shot dead six people and dumped their bodies by a road in the North Waziristan region after accusing them of being US spies.

A note left with the bodies said they were a "gift for Obama, Karzai and Zardari", referring to the new US president and the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

North Waziristan is a known sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.