Pakistan takes risk letting Islamists have their law

ISLAMABAD- Pakistan has gambled that an offer to introduce Islamic law to parts of the northwest will bring peace to the troubled Swat valley, but analysts fear any lull won't last long and appeasement will embolden the Taliban.Western officials fear Pakistan is taking a slippery road that will only benefit al Qaeda and the Taliban, but Pakistani authorities believe the alternative of using overwhelming force on people who are, afterall, Pakistani posed a greater danger.The central government has said the Sharia Nizam-e-Adl, or the judicial system governed by Islamic sharia law, won't be implemented in the Malakand division of North West Frontier Province, which includes Swat, unless the guns fall silent.The Taliban announced a 10-day ceasefire on Sunday, while the NWFP government has said that while the military will remain deployed in Swat, there won't be any offensives, only reactive actions.Amnesty International estimates that between 250,000 and 500,000 people have fled their homes since late 2007, when the Taliban revolt began in Swat, an alpine region 130 km (80 miles northwest of Islamabad.Tens of thousands have fled since August last year after an earlier peace deal broke down.
PUBLIC BEHEADINGS
Known as Pakistan's "Switzerland" and once a popular tourist destination, Swat has become associated with sickening sights.People in the scenic valley witnessed public beheadings and summary executions by Taliban fighters administering their brand of justice.Bombs have targeted security forces, schools have been torched as part of a campaign against female education, and aid workers running immunization programs for children have been chased away by Islamists."If peace comes through this agreement, then we wholeheartedly accept it. Afterall, we're Muslims and want Islamic system," said Mohammad Naeem, a teacher in Mingora, the main town in Swat, whose own school was destroyed.Analysts, however, see the pact as little more than a tactic to buy time, as the government seeks a firmer foothold in a region over which it had lost control.They fear reluctance to permanently deal with reactionary forces will lead to greater problems later on. That has certainly been Swat's history in the last two decades."I think this is going to be another blunder by the government," said Khadim Hussain of the private Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy."There may be a lull for awhile, but I think the government will again be trapped in more fighting. There will be more violence."Monday's agreement was the third such pact signed by Pakistani authorities with Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a radical cleric who began a violent campaign for the enforcement of Islamic sharia law in the region in the 1990s.The first agreement provided for the appointment of a Qazi, or an Islamic jurist, to assist a judge in deciding disputes in line with Islamic injunctions, though the jurist's advice was non-binding.In the second pact signed in 1999, the advice of the jurist was made binding though it was never enforced.The latest accord, sets time limits on how long a court can take to decide a case, and establishes a designated appellate bench, meeting two key desires by the people for better justice.
Analysts say the government may be trying to drive a wedge between hardline followers of the elderly Mohammad and even more radical militants led by his young son-in-law, Fazlullah.
BAD PRECEDENT?
It is a risk.
Even if the laws being brought are far softer interpretation of sharia than the harsh Taliban version, giving ground to the Islamists would set a "bad precedent," analysts said.It could convince the most irreconcilable militants that their violent campaign was working."The present Talibanization is not just a movement for enforcement of sharia," Asad Munir, a former military intelligence official who served in NWFP and adjoining tribal areas in the wrote in The News daily."The mullahs want power, authority and a defined role in decision-making in the social system of Pashtun society." Pakistani authorities have struck a number of deals in the past with militants in the tribal areas, known sanctuaries for al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Generally, the violence dies down for awhile and then flares again. Analysts didn't foresee Fazlullah and his fighters staying quiet for long."The militants are not going to give up their control... They will be getting more capability to launch more strikes, more violence if the agreement does not work," Hussain said.

Commentary: Pakistan gives in to terrorists

SHAMEFUL DAY FOR ZARDARI REGIME,DARK DAY FOR INNOCENT PEOPLE OF SWAT VALLEY........................

ANP-laid trap

The Frontier Post
Commitment to Journalism
ANP-laid trap
What kind of a trap is it the ANP honchos have laid out? After wangling jammers to block Swati thugs’ vile FM broadcasts and some 340 million rupees for compensating families of victims of suicide bombings and terrorist acts, Frontier chief minister Haidar Hoti returned to Peshawar triumphantly from a high-level security meeting in Islamabad, where he sat in the affectionate company of his maternal uncle, Asfandyar Wali Khan, happening to be the ANP’s head honcho. In that meeting, President Asif Zardari had vowed fighting the militants to the finish. But Hoti, instead, set about Nizam-e-Adl’s enforcement in the Malakand division. But when was it that a referendum was held in Malakand to ascertain if its people want this nizam? In the 2008 poll, the people, particularly in Swat, had voted overwhelmingly for the ANP? Had it fought the election on this nizam’s poll plank? Hadn’t it on the promise of security and peace to the Swatis and of development to the electorate all over the province? And if the Swatis and others in the region are now asking for this nazim, what does it tell if not that the ANP has failed utterly delivering on any of its election pledges and has come a cropper in giving security and peace to them? And that it is in desperation that the beleaguered Swatis are asking for this nizam, hoping this could perhaps relieve them of the thuggery of Fazlullah and his wicked brigands? And that the others in the region are asking for it, if at all, for their lack of trust in the ANP’s capability to secure them against the Swati thug’s creeping onslaught to their areas as well? But if it was a party interlocutor with Sufi Mohammad of the outlawed TNSM fame, who had it to be? Information minister, Iftikhar Hussain of Pubbi and Afrasiab Khattak of Peshawar hideout? Not Afzal Khan Lala of Swat? That brave Pakhtun has held the fort defiantly against the Swati thug while the rest of the ANP clan took to its heels in the face of his bullying and bluster to hole up in safe havens afar? The Lala knows the pulse of the people in Swat and around as he has stood by them while the rest just betrayed them for their own safety. He should have been the prime figure in any political initiative concerning Swat or Malakand. But neither was he taken aboard when the party’s select grandees struck a hasty deal with the thug; nor is he anywhere in sight in the party’s present expedient foray. But what has flung the ANP honchos into the sweet dream that this contrivance of theirs will not go the way of their previous one and again fail in deflecting the people’s attention from the inept, incompetent and corrupt administration they have inflicted on them? The problem of Swat or Malakand is not nizam, their scourge is the Swati thug and his vile brigand. It is they who have to be curbed. Beheading and slaughtering whoever they wish, stringing up on poles their hapless victims’ bodies, bombing and threatening out helpless people from their livelihoods and businesses, forbidding girls from education and blasting off schools have nothing to do with Islam, an admittedly religion of enlightenment, tolerance and moderation. It is not Islam that the thug wants. It is his own rule he wants to impose on a frightened people. This is the agenda his masterminds, financiers and arms supplier have tasked him to accomplish. His acts call for the rope, not for mollycoddling. But isn’t shamefully demeaning for this ANP clan that instead of being in the dock, he has anointed himself as monitor, judge and prosecutor of its accord with the Sufi? Quite magnanimously has he decreed to this spineless clan that for ten days he would watch its act and then pass his verdict. And for those days the crafty thug says he would unilaterally keep truce. But what for? Isn’t it to regroup and relocate his brigand, believably badly mauled in the military operation, as indeed he did in the past? But it would be very foolish if the Centre walks into this ANP-laid trap. It should know if it surrenders here, it will open up a floodgate to all sorts of sit-ins, surrendering all the way. If there is a sit-in in Peshawar, will it agree to opening up casinos, gambling dens and flesh shops in the city? It must think twice before getting into this ANP gambit, having nothing to do with counter-terrorism.
Saved from: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ed&nid=258&ad=17-02-200
Dated: Tuesday,February 17, 2009, Safar Al-Muzaffar 21, 1430 A.H.

SWAT VALLEY PUSHED INTO DARKNESS

Another shameful day for Pukhtuns.Bad news that the government has given in to demands of the scoundrels in Swat...they say that Nizam i adl is to be imposed in Malakand/Swat now...thus giving in to the mullahs by the authorities...a black day, sad and shameful...how could you let murderors and criminals to have their way like this...instead of crushing them like pests and vermin that they are, they're being rewarded by giving in to their medieval, absurd, and contorted demands. Way to go! Be that as it may, looks like this cancer will spread and spread until it will eventually remove the smug smirks. from the faces of johnies who call themselves arjuns, jaypees, ajeyas, nkgs and stuff...and all their baniya's hard painstaking work that they have done for themselves in business finagling would eventually come down to aught.So called leaders of pukhtuns and Pakistani regime surrendered to thugs and criminal and killers of Pukhtuns. This is indeed a shameful day, when the elected representatives of the swati people were ignored and the state put under the tender mercies of the scoundrels who wear the mask of "islam" and "sharia" to hide their power-grab.Will these mullahs and ignorant Taliban leaders will be punished for killing so many people?, destroying busnises, destroying schools,will they be punished for using bombs and suicide bombers for imposing their views on majority?
Pakistani elite,bourgeious and corrupt politicians,one more time pushed Pukhtuns in backwardness.

Zardari orders prompt payment of money to terror victims

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari called on the NWFP government on Sunday to immediately hand over compensation cheques to families of victims of terrorism, after the federal government yesterday released Rs 283 million for FATA and another Rs 340 million for NWFP for this purpose.

“My office should be kept posted with the progress on a daily basis,” said the president soon after the funds were released in line with Zardari’s announcement during a recent visit to NWFP to compensate the families of victims of suicide bombings. Relatives of each dead person will get Rs 300,000, while families of those injured will get Rs 100,000.

“Now that the funds have already been transferred to the provincial government, it is important the money is disbursed properly without delay,” said Zardari.

The president said although the sums being handed out were meagre and could not compensate for the loss and sufferings of victims’ families, it reflected the government’s will not to abandon the affected people and the administration’s determination to fight the war on terror. Zardari said that rehabilitation of victims’ families was not only a moral responsibility for the government, but also an essential component of the fight on terror.

He said that he had been raising the issue with world leaders and international bodies, and expressed the hope the world community would also step forward to play its role in compensating and rehabilitating the victims of terrorism.

“Those who refused to bow down and died and suffered while standing up in the war on terror are our national heroes and heroines who must be honoured ... they will be,” said the president.

US to include Afghans in review

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7891107.stm
Afghanistan will send a team to the US to take part in a major policy review of the region, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has announced.In a joint news conference with the new US envoy in the region, Richard Holbrooke, Mr Karzai said he was "very thankful" to be involved in the talks.In recent weeks US officials have been critical of Mr Karzai's leadership.US President Barack Obama, who regards Afghanistan as a priority, accused his government of being "very detached".The BBC's Martin Patience, in Kabul, says Mr Karzai and Mr Holbrooke appeared keen to smooth over any apparent discord at the news conference on Sunday.But our correspondent says it is widely thought that Mr Karzai is no longer popular in the White House - and it may take more than a news conference to change that perception.
Civilian deaths
Mr Holbrooke said he hoped at least one senior US official would be in Afghanistan every month "to find ways to improve our joint effort".Meanwhile, Mr Karzai said he had requested permission to send a delegation to the US as part of Obama government's review."I'm very very thankful that President Obama has accepted my proposal of Afghanistan joining the strategic review of the war against terrorism in the United States," Mr Karzai said.The Afghan leader also said that "very specific measures" had been agreed between Nato, the US and his government to prevent civilian casualties.
According to UN figures 1,800 civilians died in the conflict between January to October last year.
Taleban militants and local warlords were blamed for about 1,000 of the fatalities.
US and Nato forces were held responsible for 700 deaths, mainly through air strikes.
Inherited 'mess'.Mr Holbrooke, the new envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has also visited Pakistan as part of his tour - but has so far made only brief statements.
He said earlier he was in the region to "listen and learn".
Before his trip, Mr Holbrooke said Afghanistan would be "much tougher" than Iraq and he had not "seen anything like the mess we have inherited".During talks with Pakistani leaders, reports say the envoy stressed Washington's financial commitments to the country but underlined the need to purge militant safe havens in the north-west region, along the Afghan border.Analysts say Mr Holbrooke will be a key player in a renewed effort to reverse the deteriorating security situation on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.Mr Holbrooke is expected to visit India later.

Venezuelans set for key referendum

The Venezuelans will cast their votes on Sunday in a referendum to decide whether to grant President Hugo Chavez the right to stand again in office, or to maintain the current presidential term limits.Polling stations are due to open at 6 am (1030 GMT) for more than 16 million Venezuelans who are eligible to vote "Si" or "No" in the fifth referendum since Chavez was first elected in 1999.Chavez said victory in the referendum is a key to his transformation of Venezuela into a socialist state, and shrugged off opposition claims that it would send the country on a dangerous path toward dictatorship."On Monday I'll wake up looking beyond 2013, and that will give me more confidence in what we're doing ... and greatly diminish political uncertainties," Chavez said on Saturday.Chavez lost a vote on constitutional reform including the extension of presidential terms in December 2007, his only electoral defeat in 10 years in office. His current term expires in 2013.
In depth
Opponents say a Chavez victory would remove the last remaining check on his power.
Around 100 international observers have been accredited to observe the referendum, but neither the Organization of American States (OAS) nor the European Union have official observers in Venezuela.Chavez holds a slim lead in opinion polls but many Venezuelans remain undecided how to vote.Two pollsters on Saturday -- Datanalisis, which works for the public and private sector, and Consultores 30.11, which works for the government -- gave the 'Yes' vote a lead of between 5 points and 7 points. Chavez has been widening his lead slightly since January, the pollsters said.Both surveys conducted during the final week of the campaign also said more than 10 per cent of Venezuelans who planned to vote still had not made up their minds, making the outcome hard to predict.

Abductee Chinese engineer released in Swat

MINGORA: The Chinese engineer, kidnapped by insurgents six months ago from Dir district, has reportedly been released in Swat here on late Saturday while sources said, curfew has been imposed across Dir since 6pm Saturday, Geo News reported.
According to sources, militants kidnapped two Chinese engineers on August 2008 as they (engineers) were fixing a tower of a private mobile phone company in Dir district but one of the kidnapped engineers succeeded to flee from militants’ custody three months ago during security forces’ bombardments on militants hideouts in Matta tehsil while other engineer could not escape.Sources added, the released engineer has been shifted to Peshawar but said nothing about the conditions over which militants released him.

US envoy meets Afghan president

KABUL — President Barack Obama's new envoy to Afghanistan met with President Hamid Karzai on Saturday amid a downturn in U.S.-Afghan relations.
Karzai says he still has not spoken with Obama almost a month after his inauguration, a sign the Afghan president no longer enjoys the favored status he had under former President George W. Bush.
"There is tension between us and the U.S. government on issues of civilian casualties, arrests of Afghans, nightly raids on homes and the casualties they cause," Karzai told al-Jazeera television in an interview Friday.
Obama has said the U.S. will increase its attention on Afghanistan under his tenure as the U.S. transitions out of Iraq. But the administration is still debating how to stem the Taliban tide and tackle the endemic corruption in Karzai's government more than seven years after the 2001 invasion.
Taliban militants have increased attacks and swept up wide areas of countryside over the last three years. The U.S. is contemplating sending up to 30,000 more American forces to back up the 33,000 already in Afghanistan.
Richard Holbrooke, Obama's new envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, met with Karzai at the heavily guarded presidential palace in central Kabul on Saturday. Neither Holbrooke nor Karzai made any public statements.
Holbrooke earlier met with Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, whose spokesman said Holbrooke reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the anti-terrorism fight, reconstruction projects and the training of Afghan forces. Holbrooke has met with Afghan officials, international military leaders and U.N. diplomats during a fact-finding trip that began Thursday.
Holbrooke has made no public comments during the Afghan leg of his trip. He previously visited Pakistan and also is to stop in India.
Karzai in recent weeks has publicly pressed the U.S. to use Afghan troops on nighttime raids in order to prevent civilian casualties. Karzai's public criticism of the raids and the civilian deaths caused by U.S. troops has added to recent tensions in the U.S.-Afghan relationship.
The U.S. military and Afghan Defense Ministry announced Thursday that Afghan officials and troops would take greater part in U.S. missions, particularly night raids.
"There will be better coordination to minimize risk of civilian casualties and ensure Afghans search Afghan homes and conduct arrest operations," a joint U.S.-Afghan statement said. It wasn't yet clear how soon Afghans would be placed on those missions.
U.S. Special Operations Forces conduct targeted night raids against known militant leaders, but the operations have resulted in many Afghan civilian deaths, an issue that has increasingly angered Karzai.
The specially trained U.S. forces typically enter Afghan villages at night and call out for their target to surrender. But innocent villagers often try to defend their neighbors' homes from what they fear are Taliban attackers or hostile tribesmen, and the U.S. forces end up killing innocent Afghans.
In the latest civilian deaths case, Australia's ambassador to Afghanistan sent a letter of apology on Saturday to Karzai for the deaths of five Afghan children in an Australian military mission Thursday.
In the latest violence, three separate roadside bombs killed seven police and a government official in a spate of attacks around Afghanistan, officials said.
A bomb in Khost province on Saturday killed the chief government official in Nadir Shah Kot district. A day earlier, a bomb elsewhere in Khost killed three border police while four policeman were killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province to the south.
Taliban militants frequently target Afghan police in their attacks. Police have less training and carry fewer weapons than the Afghan army or U.S. or NATO troops. Close to 900 police have died in militant attacks in each of the last two years.

US needs talks with Taliban, says ex-Soviet general

US needs talks with Taliban, says ex-Soviet general
A Russian general who served in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation said the US needed to start talking to the Taliban.A Russian general who served in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation said on Wednesday the United States needed to start talking to the Taliban if it was going to succeed in the invasion there.Ruslan Aushev, who commanded forces in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s and later became president of the Ingushetia region, said the United States was right to send more troops to Afghanistan but would not succeed by military might alone."We made a political mistake and that political mistake led to military mistakes," he said of the 1979-89 Soviet occupation, saying that the more than 70,000 U.S. and NATO troops now serving there should not make the same errors. "Today, the coalition have been there for eight years but what has the average Afghan got from it? Nothing. The rich have remained rich and the poor have remained poor. "When we were in Afghanistan there was no fanatical religious movement called the Taliban. Now the Taliban are very strong and influential... They need to be engaged if their ideas are going to be defeated. "At some point you have to talk," he said, speaking via videolink from Moscow during a discussion to mark the 20th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, which falls on Feb. 15. The event was hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
Negotiation call
Other Russian experts on the panel, which was debating Afghanistan's future with regional specialists in London, agreed that without some form of negotiation it would be impossible to defeat the Taliban insurgency. "I think we should follow the path of dialogue, there is no other way," said Victor Korgun, head of the Afghanistan department at the Russian Academy of Sciences. "The Taliban is not a single entity... there are elements within it with which we can communicate and negotiate. Russia is in favour of dialogue." Former U.S. President George W. Bush, who sent U.S. troops into Afghanistan in late 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks, always ruled out any form of negotiation with insurgents. President Barack Obama has talked broadly about the need for dialogue with enemies, such as Iran, but has said nothing about making contact with groups such as the Taliban, toppled ruling of Afghanistan.U.S. ally Saudi Arabia last September hosted what were described as preliminary talks with former Taliban members about the possibility of more formal discussions, but the initiative petered out before a second round could be held.The Taliban, which has stepped up attacks against foreign troops and its allies throughout Afghanistan in the past year, has rejected the idea of any negotiations as long as foreign troops remain in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has hinted at the possibility of talks with "elements" of the insurgency in an effort to draw the poison from a militancy that shows little sign of weakening and is well funded by the drugs trade.

Karzai admits tensions with US

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has admitted that there is tension between his government and the new US administration.The acknowledgement came in an interview to Al Jazeera's David Frost as the US special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, met high-level officials of the Afghan government.
Karzai also admitted that he has not heard from the US president since Barack Obama moved into the White House last month.After leading Afghanistan for over eight years, Karzai is now seen by many Western officials as part of the problem rather than one who can force through solutions.Obama is expected to approve the deployment of about 30,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan in the next few days, despite fears in some circles that the mistakes of the Soviet Union are being repeated.The deployment is seen as vital for securing presidential elections - only the second in Afghanistan's history - set for August 20 after being postponed for three months largely because of security concerns.
Karzai's fate
The comments by Karzai to Al Jazeera come as speculation grows over his political fate.Reporting from Kabul on Friday, Al Jazeera's Hamish MacDonald said Holbrooke was due to meet Afghanistan's defence and interior ministers before holding talks with Karzai on Saturday.

House Passes $787B Stimulus Bill

Handing the new administration a big win, House Democrats passed President Barack Obama's $787 billion plan to resuscitate the economy on Friday despite a wall of Republican opposition. The bill was approved 246-183 and sent to the Senate, where a vote was scheduled late Friday afternoon. That vote was to be held open for hours, waiting for Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, who was attending a memorial service for his mother and then flying back to cast the deciding vote. Senate passage would meet a deadline of sending the bill to Obama before a congressional recess begins next week.

The 1,071 page, 8-inch-thick measure combines $281 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses with more than a half-trillion dollars in government spending. The money would go for infrastructure, health care and help for cash-starved state governments, among scores of programs. Seniors would get a $250 bonus Social Security check.

Asked for his reaction to House passage of the bill, Obama said "thumbs up" while giving a thumbs-up sign as he left the White House with his family for a long weekend in Chicago.

Told that no Republican backed the measure, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs reacted by citing another number: "3.5 million jobs that we look forward to saving or creating."

Seven Democrats voted against the bill.

Republicans said the package won't work because it has too little in tax cuts and spreads too much money around to everyday projects like computer upgrades for federal agencies. "This legislation falls woefully short," said House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio. "With a price tag of more than $1 trillion when you factor in interest, it costs every family almost $10,000 in added debt. This is an act of generational theft that our children and grandchildren will be paying for far into the future."

The final $787 billion measure has been pared back from versions previously debated in order to attract support from three Senate GOP moderates — Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Their help is essential to meeting a 60-vote threshold in the Senate, required to overcome a Republican objection that the bill adds to the deficit.

The bill originally passed the Senate by a 61-37 tally, but Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., suffering from brain cancer, is not expected to vote this time.

Video of kidnapped UN Official

ANOTHER TRAGIC EVENT....


ISLAMABAD — A kidnapped American UN official abducted in Pakistan 11 days ago was apparently shown in a video aired by Pakistani television on Friday, appealing for his release and saying he was unwell.
The video, broadcast by private channel Dunya and rival station Geo, shows a close up of the face of a blindfolded man, apparently John Solecki, although the person was not identified.Solecki, who heads the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Quetta -- the capital of Pakistan's restive southwestern Baluchistan province -- was abducted at gunpoint on February 2 while travelling to work. His driver was killed.
"This is a message to the United Nations. I am not feeling well, I am sick and in trouble. Please help solve the problems soon so I can gain my release," said the person shown in the video.It was not clear if he was speaking under threat, nor was it immediately clear when the video was taken.Dunya announced that the video was shot on a mobile phone and delivered on a memory card to the television station.
The picture on the video was unclear and poor quality, said an AFP correspondent who watched the broadcast. The man was heavily blindfolded but what could be seen of his face looked pale, against a blurred background.Dunya said the Baluch United Liberation Front, which claimed Solecki's abduction in a telephone call to local media, demanded the release of 141 women Baluch detainees apparently in Pakistani custody within 72 hours.The shadowy group also demanded to know the whereabouts of 6,000 young men whom they said went missing during Pakistani military operations to put down an insurgency in Baluchistan.Shah Nawaz, the local police official in charge of the area in Quetta where Solecki was kidnapped, had no immediate comment.
"We are also watching this video tape like others," he told AFP.The United Nations has expressed deep concerned over the fate of Solecki, saying he has a medical condition that requires regular medication.His abduction is the most high profile Western kidnapping in Pakistan since US journalist Daniel Pearl was snatched in 2002 and beheaded by Al-Qaeda militants.A spokesman for the purported kidnappers said in a recent telephone call to the local Online news agency that they snatched Solecki to draw attention to "excesses being inflicted on (the) Baluch Nation".Hundreds of people have died in insurgent unrest in Baluchistan since 2004, when rebels rose up demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits in the province's rich natural resources.Pakistan has condemned the kidnapping as a "dastardly terrorist act" and offered a reward of one million rupees (12,610 dollars) for information leading to Solecki's rescue.Kidnappings of foreigners in Baluchistan are rare, although they have multiplied in northwest Pakistan, which also borders Afghanistan.

Plane crashes into suburban Buffalo-area home; 49 killed

NEW YORK -- A Continental Airlines plane crashed into a home near Buffalo, New York, late Thursday, killing 44 passengers and four crew members on board, according to New York State police.Authorities said one person in the Clarence Center, New York, home was also killed. Two people in the home suffered minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital, authorities said.Continental Connection Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air, was en route from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo when it went down at around 10:20 p.m. ET. The crash occurred about seven miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport.Dave Bissonette, Clarence Center's natural disaster services coordinator, said it was "clearly a direct hit" on the house."The only recognizable piece of the plane left is the tail," Bissonette said.The ferocity of the fire was such that officials don't expect the crash site to be safe for investigators until about noon Friday, nearly 14 hours after the crash. iReport.com: Flames rise from crash siteCNN has listened to a tape of communications between air traffic control and the flight crew. The first officer had no sign of stress in her voice. The plane was cleared for approach. About two minutes later, the air traffic controller came back, with stress in his voice. Radar contact was lost.The question goes out: Can other planes see anything? No one responds. The controller says they might have a plane down. The pilot's last comment was "Colgan Flight 3407." There were no sounds of distress.It was not clear whether the mix of sleet and snow in the area played any role in the crash of Flight 3407. Other planes continued to arrive and land safely at Buffalo about the time the flight went down. A Northwest Airlines flight landed at approximately 10:17 p.m.One plane taking off about that time reported rime icing -- a condition in which ice quickly builds up on the leading edge of the wings.Authorities said the plane went down near a local fire hall, so firefighters were quick to respond to the crash site. At least nine volunteer fire departments responded to the scene. iReport.com: Are you there? Let us know .Area resident Keith Burtis said he was driving to the store about a mile from the crash site when he heard the plane go down."It was a high-pitched sound," Burtis said. "It felt like a mini-earthquake." Watch officials on the scene: 'This is not a rescue mission' Shortly after the crash, Burtis said he saw a steady stream of fire trucks rush by him as smoke billowed into the sky. Other witnesses told CNN they saw the plane nose-dive toward the ground.
According to CNN affiliate WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, one of the crash victims, Beverly Eckert, was the widow of 9/11 terror attack victim Sean Rooney, a Buffalo native. Eckert was traveling to Buffalo for a weekend celebration of what would have been her husband's 58th birthday.She also had planned to take part in presentation of a scholarship award at Canisius High School that she established in honor of her late husband, the Buffalo News newspaper reported.Twelve residents were evacuated from the area of the plane crash. Law enforcement officials are asking people not to go to the crash site in fear they may hinder the investigation."I felt the impact ... sounded like a large explosion," said Brendan Biddlecon, who told CNN he lives two blocks from where the plane crashed. Watch report from witness: "All I saw was flames" Biddlecon ran out his home and to within a couple hundred yards of the crash. The smoke was thick and acrid, and the heat was intense, he said.Chris Kausner, who had a sister on the flight, rushed to the Clarence Municipal Center, where he waited for additional information after emergency teams turned him back from the scene.
"My parents are on vacation in Florida and I had to call down there and tell my father what was going on," he told CNN affiliate WIVB.
When asked how his parents were handling the news, a shaken Kausner responded "To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a sound that I have never heard before.
The Erie County Medical Examiner's Office established a command post at the scene and had investigators there, a statement from the office said. Officials said relatives of passengers aboard the flight should call 800-621-3263 for information.
A statement from the airline said: "At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air's accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them."
Continental Airlines confirmed that the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, a 74-seat turboprop, was operating between Newark Liberty International Airport and Buffalo.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) permanently grounded its fleet of Dash 8s after three crash landings during a two-month period in 2007 that were blamed on the aircraft's landing gear.
"Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft," Mats Jansson, president and CEO of SAS, said at the time. "I have decided to immediately remove Dash 8 Q400 aircraft from service."
The National Transportation Safety Board said early Friday that was preparing a "go team" to head to Buffalo to investigate the crash.
According to the National Weather Service weather observation for Buffalo, there was light snow, fog and mist shortly before 10 p.m. Flight 3407 was originally scheduled to depart at 7:45 p.m., but it was delayed.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the crew, the passengers and our residents on Long Street," said Clarence Supervisor Scott Blylewski.
Thursday's incident is the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since August 2006 when Comair Flight 5191 crashed when it attempted to take off from the wrong runway.

NATO has failed to stop Afghan heroin trade: Russia

MOSCOW- Russia on Thursday blamed NATO's failure to stamp out heroin production in Afghanistan for a rise in domestic drugs use.U.S.-led forces entered Afghanistan to chase out Taliban Islamists after the al Qaeda attacks on the United States in 2001, but NATO members only agreed last year they could carry out direct strikes on drug traffickers.This was too late to prevent drug addiction becoming a serious problem in Russia, Viktor Ivanov, head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Agency, told a news briefing.Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world's heroin."The growth of narcotics from abroad has continued since the appearance of troops (in Afghanistan) in 2001," Ivanov said."This organization (NATO) had a remit to combat terrorism and not to combat drugs."Ivanov said 80 people died in Russia every day from drugs and another 250 people became addicts.About 80 percent of people with the HIV virus in Russia are drug users injecting themselves with infected needles, U.N. officials said at a conference in Moscow last year.Ties between NATO and Russia -- which lies on the main drugs transit route to Europe -- have been strained since August's war in Georgia.However, NATO is trying to enlist Russia's help to ensure supplies reach its forces in Afghanistan as Taliban attacks threaten NATO's main supply line from Pakistan.

President Obama honors legacy of Abraham Lincoln

China pledges to increase aid to Africa

Bamako -- China will continue to increase aid to Africa despite the impact of the current global financial crisis upon itself so that China and African countries will be able to weather the difficult times together through mutual support, President Hu Jintao announced on Thursday.

Hu made the pledge on behalf of the Chinese government while meeting the press with Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure.

China will also, within its capability, reduce or cancel African countries' debt and expand its trade and increase investment in Africa, to fulfill the commitments it made during the China-Africa Cooperation Forum Beijing Summit in 2006, Hu said.

The financial crunch that started in the United States last year has now spread across the world. In China, hundreds of thousands businesses have closed down and millions of migrant workers lost their jobs.

While acknowledging that China's economic development also face many difficulties due to the global economic crisis, Hu said the grave challenges rising in the times of economic downturn makes it all the more important for China and Africa to unite and cooperate with each other.

As a genuine friend of Africa, China will further take concrete actions to enrich such the cooperation, Hu said.

Meanwhile, China will also call for the international society to pay close attention to the severe adverse effect of the global economic slow-down on Africa and honor their pledge of aid to Africa, Hu said.

China-Mali Relations

Hu arrived on Thursday in Mali, the second leg of his current "Journey of Friendship and Cooperation".

Immediately after the grandiose welcoming ceremony, Hu exchanged views with Toure over bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concerns.

During the talk, Hu made four proposals to cement the two countries' 49-year friendship and cooperation.

While continuing high level exchanges, Hu said the two countries should also expand such interactions between the two governments, parliaments, military and non-government organizations, to enhance mutual political trust.

As far as further enriching bilateral collaborations to promote mutual development, he said Chinese government will continue to encourage and support competent Chinese firms to invest in Mali and strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of telecommunications, agriculture, infrastructure construction, including the third sugar processing factory in Mali and the No 3 bridge in Mali's capital.

The two countries will set up a joint committee on economy, trade and technology to coordinate and improve the level of collaboration.

In terms of expanding people-to-people and cultural exchanges, Hu said China welcomes Mali to participate the World Expo in Shanghai next year, to display Mali's ancient civilization and culture.

He told the media that China will offer additional 34 scholarships for Mali students to study in China and help train 65 professionals.

Meanwhile, China will ensure the completion of the 10 centers for women and children and furnish with medicines and medical facilities for a new center for treatment of malaria, which Hu will unveil Friday.

He also proposed to enhance coordination and mutual support to safeguard the interests of the developing countries.

During their talk, Hu also said China will work with Mali and other African countries to actively prepare for the fourth China-Africa Cooperation Forum and push forward the new type of strategic partnership between China and African countries to benefit the Chinese and African people.

Extending his warm welcome to President Hu Jintao's visit, Malian president said Malian people are proud of their brotherly friendship with the Chinese.

China helped Mali to make its first step towards modernization since its independence in 1960, Toure told the media.

"The collaborations between Mali and China are fruitful and of high quality," Toure said. "All the major projects that have appeared in Mali have borne the Chinese mark."

As all countries are facing the global financial crisis, Toure said that Mali and Africa need China's assistance and he is thankful for China's pledge to continue providing the support.

Toure also praised China for honoring its promises made during the China-Africa Cooperation Forum Beijing Summit three years ago.

Since the summit, progress has been made in the eight policy measures that China committed itself to support development in African countries.

For instance, the value of China-Africa trade last year surpassed $100 billion for the first time.

Hu's talk to the media, which drew the local as well as international media organizations such as BBC, AFP and Reuters, has aroused warm response from some local journalists.

Alassane Souleymane, a reporter from the Mali Broadcasting Corporation, told China Daily that China places the Malian people's interest first as its aid projects always cover education, agriculture and health.

"Hu's talk today show that our collaboration in these traditional fields are still strong and Malian and Chinese people are true friends," Souleymane said.

India welcomes Mumbai admission

India has described the admission by Pakistan that last year's Mumbai terror attacks were partly planned on its soil as a "positive development".A foreign ministry statement said India also expected Pakistan to take steps to dismantle the "infrastructure of terrorism" on its territory.Pakistan's interior minister said suspects arrested could be prosecuted.The admission was condemned by militant groups in Kashmir, who accused the government of bowing to US pressure.This is the first sign of an easing in tension between the countries over the attacks, a BBC correspondent says.Many in Delhi are genuinely surprised at what some see as a major turn-around by the Pakistani authorities, Sanjoy Majumder reports from the Indian capital.Relations had deteriorated considerably after the attacks by 10 gunmen which claimed 170 lives.Pakistan denied any responsibility in the immediate aftermath of the attacks but later admitted that the sole gunman captured alive was one of its citizens.Top Indian officials are now meeting to examine the information that has been handed over before determining their next move.
'By boat from Karachi'
"It remains India's goal to bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai to book and to follow this process through to the end," the Indian foreign ministry statement said."We would also expect that the government of Pakistan take credible steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan."Earlier, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said eight suspects from the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group could face prosecution."Some part of the conspiracy has taken place in Pakistan," he told a news conference in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.He said six of the suspects were in custody while two others remained at large."The attackers left from Karachi on a boat hired from Balochistan [Province]," Mr Malik said.
"An e-mail claiming responsibility for the attack was sent by Zarrar Shah of the Lashkar-e-Taiba."Mr Shah was arrested at a Lashkar camp in December in Pakistani-administered Kashmir by security forces.Another man arrested at the time was Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, described as Lashkar's chief of operations.Mr Malik named Hamad Amin, a Karachi resident currently in Pakistani custody, as the mastermind behind the attacks.
Militant anger
The main alliance of militant groups in Kashmir, the United Jihad Council (UJC), condemned the Pakistani government for admitting to Lashkar-e-Taiba's involvement.
A UJC spokesman, Syed Sadaqat Hussain, said the government had done an about-turn after US envoy Richard Holbrooke's visit."Pakistan has succumbed to American pressure and fallen victim to an Indo-US conspiracy," he said.Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that Pakistan did "not have an independent foreign policy" and had "bowed before the US".

TTP threatens to kill more ANP leaders

TTP threatens to kill more ANP leaders
PESHAWAR: A close aide of Baitullah Mehsud and senior commander of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Thursday claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Awami National Party (ANP) MPA Alam Zeb Khan in Peshawar.“We carried out this attack and will continue such attacks on ANP leaders in future,” Hakeemullah Mehsud, who heads the TTP in Orakzai, Kurram and Khyber tribal regions, said in telephone calls to media offices in Peshawar. Alam Zeb Khan died of excessive injuries when a powerful bomb went off near his car in Peshawar on Wednesday. He became the first target of the Taliban since the Pukhtoon nationalist party took power last year. The ANP became a major target of the outlawed TTP after its peace deal with Maulana Fazlullah in Swat collapsed and a military operation began to target the Taliban. Asfandyar Wali Khan, central ANP president, survived a suicide attack on Eid Day at his Wali Bagh residence last year, while relatives of several ANP MPAs from Swat have also been targeted. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti announced Rs 5 million for the grieved family and recommended the federal government’s higher gallantry award for the deceased MPA. The CM’s Gallantry Medal, along with Rs 500,000 in cash, was also announced for the late MPA’s family.The chief minister assured the family members that the ANP government would bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice.

Taliban Gains Under Weak Karzai Rule, U.S. Aide Says

WASHINGTON — The new director of national intelligence warned Thursday that Afghanistan’s weak and corrupt government is failing to halt the spread of Taliban control, and said public support for the Taliban and local warlords was increasing. The assessment underscored in stark terms the obstacles facing the Obama administration as it vows to focus more American troops and attention on deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. The intelligence chief, Dennis C. Blair, described the American-backed government of Hamid Karzai as increasingly ineffective and unpopular.Mr. Blair delivered his assessment in written testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, offering the government’s first public accounting of the national security challenges facing the new administration. Mr. Blair also reiterated that no improvement in Afghanistan was possible without Pakistan taking control of its border region but said that Pakistan’s government was losing authority over that territory and that even more developed parts of Pakistan were coming under the sway of Islamic radicalism.Mr. Blair did say that a top echelon of Al Qaeda’s leadership hiding in the Pakistani mountains has been battered in recent months — the result of a barrage of strikes by drone aircraft operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. But American intelligence officials have long said that dismantling Al Qaeda’s safe haven in Pakistan would take more than a campaign of airstrikes against the group’s leadership, but a sustained effort by Islamabad to develop and govern the semiautonomous tribal lands.Mr. Blair’s written testimony was made public as he prepared to appear in person before the intelligence committee on Thursday afternoon. For the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks, the annual threat report does not list Al Qaeda as the most immediate threat facing the United States. Instead, Mr. Blair devoted the beginning of his testimony to the implications of the economic crisis and the “likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests.”The crisis spawned by American markets, the report read, “has increased questioning of U.S. stewardship of the global economy and the international financial structure.”Mr. Blair also cited growing concern among American spies that North Korea could be using a covert uranium enrichment program to produce fissile material for its small arsenal of nuclear weapons. Officials in Washington believe that North Korea is preparing for another long-range missile test, in an attempt to demonstrate an ability to threaten cities along the west coast of the United States.Reversing Afghanistan’s downward spiral is a top priority for President Obama, who has pledged to send thousands more American troops there. In his testimony on Thursday, Mr. Blair, the president’s top intelligence adviser, laid bare the challenges standing in the way of the White House meeting its goals.His critique of Mr. Karzai’s government was withering.“Kabul’s inability to build effective, honest, and loyal provincial and district-level institutions capable of providing basic services and sustainable, licit livelihoods erodes its popular legitimacy and increases the influence of local warlords and the Taliban,” Mr. Blair reported.Taliban gunmen on Wednesday demonstrated just how far they could penetrate the inner workings of the Afghan government, storming government buildings and even taking control of the Ministry of Justice.In a departure from previous years, when the heads of several intelligence agencies joined the director of national intelligence to deliver the threat testimony, Mr. Blair on Thursday is facing the committee alone. The message was clear: that the Obama administration plans for Mr. Blair to exert greater control over American spy agencies and for him to take on a more public role at the top of the intelligence pyramid.

Mehdi Hassan admitted to hospital

KARACHI: Veteran ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan was brought to a private hospital in Karachi Thursday after his heath deteriorated.The singer was hospitalised following a lung infection and was getting treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU). Talking to Geo news, Hassan’s son Arif Mehdi requested Sindh government to bear the expenses for his father’s treatment. Mehdi Hasan has been bestowed with the title “Shahenshah-e-Ghazal”. He is a legendry Ghazal singer and a former playback singer for Lollywood films.

Pakistan ‘must take responsibility’ for fighting terrorists: UK

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed on Thursday that "Pakistan has responsibilities upon itself" to fight war against terrorism due to the continued presence of al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan.
Gordon Brown said that Britain was ready to help Pakistan to deal with terrorism problem. "We can see the flow, unfortunately, of terrorists from Pakistan to Afghanistan, and we know that if we are dealing with the al-Qaeda problem we are dealing with a problem that exists in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan," the British leader said.
Answering questions at a hearing of the chairpersons of British parliamentary committees, Brown welcomed a two-month review of Afghanistan and Pakistan policies announced by the Obama administration.
He said he had met the US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke in the last few days to discuss the review.
"It is important to recognise that, first of all, we have got to take action against the new type of threat that we have got. Secondly, that means taking action on the borders, working with the Pakistani authorities, to deal with the terrorist problem there," Brown said.
However, he said, British policy in Afghanistan must complement military action in order to ensure the country's social and economic development and strengthen army, police and local government.
He said he expected a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) April 03 and 04 to come up with "a new set of proposals about how we deal with the evolving situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan"

Zardari, Asfandyar discuss political, law & order situation

Zardari, Asfandyar discuss political, law & order situation F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali on Thursday discussed the current political and law and order situation of the country. The meeting, held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, also discussed the latest development in investigations of the Mumbai terror attacks and the forthcoming Senate elections. According to sources the President while talking to the ANP Chief, reiterated Pakistan's commitment to bring the culprits of the Mumbai terror attacks to the justice. He said that Pakistan has fulfilled its obligation as was pledged earlier to the international community by sharing with Indian authorities of the findings by Federal Investigative Agency based on information based on the information given by the Indian authorities. The President urged the Indian government to positively respond to the questions given by Pakistan in order to continue the investigations in an effectively way. The sources said that President Zardari said that terrorists were common enemy of the both neighbouring countries and called for joint efforts to eradicate terrorism. The leaders also discussed the overall law and order situation of the country particularly the Frontier Province. The President condoled with the ANP leader on the sad demise of MPA Alamzeb Khan who was killed in a bomb attack in Peshawar on Wednesday. Zardari strongly condemned the terror attack saying that the government was committed to wipe out terrorism and extremism and such kind of incidents would not discourage the government. The sources said that the ANP leader apprised the President of the NWFP government commitment to eradicate the terrorism and extremism and help restore peace in the troubled areas. They said that the two leaders also discussed the forthcoming Senate elections.

US envoy arrives in Afghanistan

The new US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has arrived in Kabul on what is being described as a fact-finding mission.He is to meet senior Afghan officials to discuss issues including the worsening security situation.On Wednesday, co-ordinated Taleban attacks in the Afghan capital killed at least 27 people.President Obama has repeatedly said that Afghanistan's problems cannot be addressed in isolation.Some analysts have suggested that Wednesday's attacks may have been an attempt by the Taleban to overshadow Mr Holbrooke's visit.Mr Holbrooke's trip to Afghanistan follows a four-day visit to neighbouring Pakistan.Reports say that in talks with Pakistani leaders he stressed Washington's financial commitments to the country but underlined the need to purge militant sanctuaries in the north-west region, along the Afghan border.
Politician killed
Mr Holbrooke also visited the North West Frontier Province to see the security situation there at first hand.While in Peshawar, a local politician was killed by a roadside bomb.Before leaving for Afghanistan, Mr Holbrooke met Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and leader of Pakistan's main opposition party.After their meeting, Mr Sharif told reporters that Mr Holbrooke said he understood many Pakistanis' feelings about US drone attacks inside the country.The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan, in Islamabad, says Mr Holbrooke is being seen as a key player in a renewed effort to reverse the deteriorating situation on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.Mr Holbrooke has said he is in the region to "listen and learn", before reporting back to President Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Before his trip the envoy called the situation in Pakistan "dire".

Pakistan wish list exposes Holbrooke challenge

Pakistan— US envoy Richard Holbrooke leaves Pakistan Thursday with a wish list for aid, but in no doubt about the challenge of eradicating Islamist havens in the nuclear-armed Muslim nation.Paying a first visit to Pakistan, Afghanistan and India to conduct a major review of US policy in the "war on terror", Holbrooke spent three days hearing a litany of woes and requests from the government and the military.
Pakistan has been a vital US ally since former president George W. Bush invaded neighbouring Afghanistan to oust the extremist Taliban regime in Kabul for sheltering Al-Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 attacks.But relations between Washington and Islamabad have soured, not least in the wake of dozens of suspected US missile strikes against militants on Pakistani territory, which has weakened and embarrassed an already unpopular government.The United States is impatient over Pakistan's reluctance or inability to eradicate Islamist "safe havens" used to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.Pakistan wants an end to US missile strikes and billions of dollars in military and civilian aid to combat the Islamist threat in their own backyard.Military commanders say they urgently need attack and transport helicopters, drones for surveillance and targeting locations, night vision goggles for pilots and foot soldiers; and jammers to neutralise landmines and roadside bombs.
Pakistan, whose 500,000-strong military -- the fifth largest in the world -- has deployed 110,000 troops in the semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border -- says it has only dozens of night-vision goggles.Lack of equipment precludes military operations at night, allowing Taliban fighters to operate with impunity under the cover of darkness."This is an absolute must for the army to sustain its operations. It has to be better equipped and it must get these things," one senior military official told AFP on condition of anonymity."We hope that with the change in administration, the offer to review policy and to understand Pakistan's perspective we'll get these things," he said.On the surface, the signals have been encouraging.
Pakistan declared that new US President Barack Obama and President Asif Ali Zardari agreed on "active engagement" to turn the tide in the war on extremism.Officials here are quietly optimistic that the days of Bush unilateralism -- when they felt Pakistan was undermined and intelligence ignored -- are over."A new package of economic assistance with a separate military component is expected. US reports say it involves 1.5 billion dollars a year, but we have to see what finally comes out," said defence analyst Talat Masood."It (the visit) was meant to convey in strong terms that Pakistan has to eliminate Al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries in the tribal area and Pakistan has to get control of these areas," said Masood.But Pakistan and the United States have so far disagreed on the enemy.Pakistan draws a distinction between those Taliban who confine their attacks to US troops in Afghanistan and others, like the Taliban in its Swat valley, who attack Pakistani soldiers and carry out suicide bombings here.But the United States wants Pakistan to take direct action against militants who are fighting its forces across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan says first it must secure its own backyard -- more than 1,500 people have been killed in extremist bombings across the country in 20 months and more than 1,500 troops have died since Pakistan joined the "war on terror".Neither is Pakistan reassured that its perceived number one threat -- from India and the dispute over Kashmir -- is not in Holbrooke's mandate.The next step for Pakistan will be Washington.Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office said Holbrooke invited officials for talks in March. Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani is scheduled to visit Washington later this month for the first time since taking office.

Special Envoy Heads to Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Barack Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan was due to arrive in the Afghan capital Thursday afternoon, one day after a coordinated series of Taliban suicide attacks here underscored the deteriorating security in Kabul and across the country.Security forces here remained on high alert Thursday, not only in preparation for the arrival of the U.S. envoy, Richard C. Holbrooke, but also because a Taliban spokesman claimed eight bombers remained at large in the city and were still “looking for a chance.” The spokesman described Wednesday’s attacks as retaliation for the mistreatment and torture of Taliban prisoners.The suicide bombers and Taliban gunmen struck government buildings at three sites in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 57. It was a complex and highly organized attack that demonstrated the ease with which the insurgents could penetrate even a heavily fortified place like Kabul.At the Justice Ministry, five Taliban guerrillas armed with explosives and Kalashnikov rifles killed two guards, stormed inside and took control of the building for more than an hour. Frightened employees, including the justice minister, barricaded themselves in their offices while the armed men stalked the halls for victims. At least 10 people were killed, including 2 who were shot in the cross-fire between government forces and the insurgents, security officials said.Afterward, security forces carried the mangled bodies of the attackers out of the building and, in a sign of deep disrespect, dumped the bodies unceremoniously on the concrete forecourt. All eight attackers at the three sites were killed in addition to their 20 victims, the Interior Ministry said.
Earlier Thursday, Mr. Holbrooke met with the former Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, in the Pakistani city of Lahore. His tour of the region was part of a ground-up review of American policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan ordered by Mr. Obama, who met with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday to discuss plans to bolster American force levels here.The brazen nature of the attacks was certain to influence the debate among administration officials over the strength of the Taliban, who control much of the countryside and have steadily encroached on Kabul.The attacks also highlighted the fluid and murky nature of the insurgents’ ties with terrorist networks in Pakistan’s tribal areas, which Mr. Holbrooke visited briefly on Wednesday under Pakistani military escort.One senior official in Washington said initial intelligence indicated that Wednesday’s attack was probably planned or supported by the Pakistan-based network of Jalaluddin Haqqani.Mr. Haqqani’s group was also implicated in the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul last summer and might have had the assistance of members of Pakistan’s intelligence agency in that operation, American officials have said.The attacks on Wednesday were the most audacious since the embassy assault. And in an eerie echo of the attacks in Mumbai, India, in November, which Indian and American intelligence officials say have been traced to a Pakistani militant group, the Taliban gunmen on Wednesday sent three messages to Pakistan seeking the “blessing of their mastermind,” said Amrullah Saleh, director of the Afghan national intelligence service.Moments later, they began “indiscriminate killing” inside the Justice Ministry, Mr. Saleh said. Officials said 21 people had been detained, but it was not clear what linked them to the attacks.The multiple coordinated strikes cloaked Kabul, a dusty and chaotic city of four million, in panic for the entire day. Miles of Kabul’s principal thoroughfares were blocked off, as police officers and soldiers rushed to reinforce scores of checkpoints.Hours later, there were fears that other bombers were still roaming Kabul. In addition to the eight bombers who struck the Justice Ministry, the Education Ministry and the directorate for prisons.Across the city, many streets were empty as residents were too scared to go outside. The attacks clearly unnerved Afghan officials.“The enemy still has the capability to bring this amount of weapons and explosives inside the city of Kabul and find their way to government institutions,” said Hanif Atmar, the interior minister. He promised new and strict security measures that would be “uncomfortable” for residents, but necessary. Many parts of the capital are already sectioned off for security, and foreign embassies sit behind layers of checkpoints and blast walls.The most confidence-shaking attack, at the Justice Ministry, began about 10 a.m., when five Taliban fighters took over three of the building’s four floors. The ministry is in the heart of the capital, a few hundred yards from the presidential palace.Employees locked their doors and dived for cover inside their offices. There was “chaos on all four floors,” said Habib Mushakhas, a senior ministry official, after the police rushed him out of the building. “I heard an explosion, then a firefight. There was a lot of blood in the corridors. I saw one dead body.”A little more than an hour after the attack, security forces counterattacked. Scores of soldiers and police officers rushed into the building and scaled ladders onto upper floors. More than 20 shots were fired. Soon after, ambulances took several police officers and soldiers away, their feet hanging off of stretchers poking out the open doors. It was not clear whether they were wounded or dead.Eventually, the police and soldiers retook enough of the building to begin evacuating dozens of survivors. Then they rushed children out from the kindergarten classroom inside the ministry.The police also began removing civilian bodies. By early afternoon they said they felt confident that they had defeated the gunmen, and they called an impromptu news conference in the Justice Ministry’s forecourt.But minutes later they realized that one Taliban attacker was still inside, and a handful of different security forces — the police, the Afghan Army and national intelligence officers — went searching for him. A nervous commander barked into his radio, “Try to recognize each other, and don’t shoot our own guys.”A radio call came from a commander inside the building. “We’ve cornered him,” he said. “Could you order us to shoot? We are worried because we think there are children and other civilians around.”Two commanders outside talked. “What should we do?” one said. “Shoot him!” said the other.Moments passed, and the commander inside the building said: “There’s nobody here. We should attack.”
“Attack!” came the response from a commander outside.
About 60 shots were fired over the next 20 minutes. Finally, the last gunman was dead. But so, too, were two more civilians whose bodies were brought outside and laid on stretchers. Security officials later said two hostages were killed in the cross-fire as government forces killed the last gunman.All of the gunmen had worn suicide-bomb vests, but none of the vests had detonated. The government forces had defused and stripped them from the bodies, which bore large gashes and bullet holes, or had arms ripped partly from shattered shoulders.As security forces fought to take back control of the Justice Ministry, a single Taliban suicide bomber was killed as he tried to attack the Education Ministry.Across town, two more Taliban bombers killed and wounded more people at the Prisons Department. One bomber blew himself up at a security checkpoint in front of the prisons building, while witnesses said the other bomber used the distraction to run inside.Gholam Farouk Wafa, a 35-year-old policeman, said he was attending a training class inside with 60 other policemen when they saw a clean-shaven man with a large backpack come to the door. One of the policemen fired two shots at him, and the man fled upstairs, where he detonated his bomb, Mr. Wafa said.Reporting was contributed by Lynsey Addario, Abdul Waheed Wafa and Sangar Rahimi from Kabul; Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan; David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt from Washington; and Mark McDonald from Hong Kong.

Turkey condemns attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan

ANKARA, Feb. 12-- Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that Turkey harshly condemned the heinous attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Turkey strongly condemns the terrorist attacks in Afghan capital city of Kabul and Pakistani city of Peshawar, those attacks harmed regional peace, security and stability," said a statement posted on the ministry's website."The attacks once more indicated the heinous face of terrorism," it added.The statement said that Turkey was following the developments in Kabul with concern. It also expressed sorrow over death of a Pakistani lawmaker, Alam Zeb Khan, in the Peshawar attack.The statement also said Turkey attached vital importance to efficient international cooperation and solidarity in fighting against terrorism and it would continue to support efforts aimed to restore regional peace and stability.A bomb killed a lawmaker and wounded six others Wednesday in Peshawar.On the same day, eight Taliban gunmen attacked three Afghan government buildings in a coordinated assault that killed 20 people in the heart of Kabul.

Suicide Attackers Storm Kabul Offices, Killing 19

KABUL, Afghanistan — Attackers firing automatic rifles and wearing explosive vests stormed the Justice Ministry in central Kabul on Wednesday while others burst into another government building in the north of the city, triggering chaos as ministry workers fled, witnesses said.

At least 19 people were killed and 54 wounded in the coordinated attacks, the ministry of public health said. Eight attackers also died, the authorities said. The Taliban took responsibility for the assaults.

Coming on the eve of a scheduled visit by Richard C. Holbrooke, President’s Obama’s newly appointed special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the attacks displayed the apparent ease with which Taliban insurgents who control much of the Afghan countryside can also breach the defenses of the heavily-fortified capital.

That, in turn, underlined the severity of the challenge facing American policy-makers who have declared the war in Afghanistan a high priority for the new administration in Washington and who plan to almost double American troops levels with the deployment of some 30,000 additional soldiers.

In one incident on Wednesday, assailants stormed into the Justice Ministry in central Kabul. In another at around the same time, suicide bombers blew themselves up at the ministry’s corrections department in northern Kabul, according to Gen. Mohammad Arif, a senior officer in the prisons service.

The Taliban claimed that several other suicide bombers may still be at large in the city.

Police officials said five gunmen wearing suicide vests burst into the Justice Ministry, shot dead an official at the entrance and then spread out into the building. The police initially said all of them were killed by Afghan intelligence officers who entered the building in pursuit.

Hours after the attack, the police said they believed one assailant had been cornered in the ministry but security forces were unable to move in further because children were trapped at a kindergarten inside the building.

But, after a gun battle in which 60 shots were fired, the police said that the attacker had been killed.

By mid-morning in Kabul, the police said, explosives experts were trying to defuse the explosive vests on the bodies of dead attackers. In tallying the dead, it was nt immediately clear where the bulk of the killing had happened.

“There’s chaos on all four floors,” Habib Mushakhas, a senior ministry official, said after he was evacuated from the building. “I heard an explosion, then a firefight. There was a lot of blood in the corridors. I saw one dead body.”

At one point in the melée, Justice Minister Sarwar Danesh told The Associated Press by mobile telephone that he was holed up in the building, where a number of gunmen were also hiding.

“There is still fighting. They used grenades and AK-47s,” Mr. Danesh said. “There are workers still inside the building in their offices,” the A.P. reported.

At around the same time as the assault on the ministry, gunmen attacked the Justice Ministry’s corrections department in northern Kabul, the authorities said.

“Suicide bombers armed with assault rifles tried to storm inside the building but faced resistance from our security guards,” General Arif, the senior prisons department officer, said. “One of the suicide bombers succeeded to enter the ground floor and blew himself up in the lobby, where we are teaching police officers. The other suicide bomber blew himself up outside the building.”

Sabawoon Gulzay, 22, a student who witnessed the attack, said he saw two people with assault rifles attacking security guards at the government building.

“I was very afraid,” he said. He ran back into his house and heard two loud explosions which shattered all the windows of his home.

Zabiullah Mujaheed, a Taliban spokesman, said the militants sent 16 suicide attackers into Kabul and five of them entered the Justice Ministry. The whereabouts of the others was not immediately clear. “Five of them entered the ministry and the others are around Kabul,” the spokesman said.

Beheading of Polish engineer.......A SAD NEWS !!!!

This video is from youtube.com,I am not sure if its reaaly him,but its very sad and I offer my condolences to his family in Poland,Readers comments are welcome on this story.This is regarding recent beheading of a Polish engineer! This is so shocking and disappointing for Pakistan and Pakistanis. I on behalf of my country want to console the grieved family of Polish engineer. I want to appeal to the government of Pakistan to catch hold of these terrorists who not only involve in henious crimes but also defaming Pakistan and Islam. I am, sometimes, amazed that some of our people say that negotiations may be done with such people. How come negotiations can be done with such criminals. The government should first establish its writ over areas under control of Taliban who have approximately captured 12,000 sq km. These terrorists are to be handled with iron hand and to crush like Sri Lankan forces crushed Tamil Tigers. By doing this the terrorists are defaming Pakistan. Polish company has already left Pakistan and again no Polish company will visit this country as they have such terrible experience. No foreign country will like to invest in Pakistan again as what we do to our guests. Similarly what our people did it with UNHCR representative who was here to help earthquake affected people of Balochistan. Will ever UN send his representative to Pakistan again! I am sure if people of Pakistan do not take a united stand against Taliban we are heading for self destruction.ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani authorities have not confirmed that a kidnapped Polish engineer is the man that was beheaded on a Taliban video, despite assertions from Polish officials that they are certain the man is Piotr Stanczak.
"We want to be absolutely sure," said Abdual Basit, a spokesman for Pakistan's foreign office."Hopefully we would be able to confirm it shortly, but unless we are 100 percent sure, it would be premature for us to react."He noted that the Pakistani government is waiting to be informed by "concerned authorities."News of Stanczak's death came on Friday. Polish officials have said they were kept in the dark during negotiations for his release, but Basit denied that.Stanczak was kidnapped September 28 from the city of Attock in the Punjab province. He had been based there for a Polish survey company searching for natural gas.Polish embassy spokesman Peter Adams said there had been no demands for ransom. The Taliban had demanded the release of Taliban prisoners being held by the government and a pullout of government security forces from the tribal areas.Adams said all efforts had been made by Polish authorities to pressure the Pakistani government to do whatever it could to secure Stanczak's release."From the Polish side we did whatever we could, pressuring the Pakistani government on the presidential and prime minister level," Adams said. "Problem was, this was solely Pakistan's responsibility. Demands were only towards (the) Pakistan government."While there were assurances that the Pakistani government was doing everything it could and that Stanczak would be freed soon, Adams said it was never clear what the government was actually doing to secure his release."We are waiting for confirmation and waiting for any answer (about) how this happened and why did this happen," Adams said.Kidnappings and attacks against foreigners have risen sharply in recent months throughout the country. Most recently, an American working for the United Nations was kidnapped in Quetta, and Peshawar has also been the scene of various attacks against foreign diplomats and journalists.

Poland condemns killing of citizen in Pakistan

WORLD COMMUNITY MUST TAKE ACTION ON THESE SHAMEFUL CRIMES BY IGNORANT RELIGIOUS FANATICS,TALIBAN.
Pakistan — Poland condemned as "bestial" the apparent beheading of one its citizens by Pakistani militants, a killing that underscored the challenges facing a new U.S. envoy who arrived in the region Monday to try to stem the terror threat.
Pakistan has witnessed several attacks on foreigners in recent months as its overall security has deteriorated amid a growing al-Qaida and Taliban-led insurgency that is also destabilizing neighboring Afghanistan. In early February, an American U.N. worker was abducted in the southwestern city of Quetta, purportedly by separatists.
The Polish hostage, Piotr Stanczak, was abducted close to the Afghan border on Sept. 28 by armed men.On Sunday, the Taliban released to local and foreign media organizations a seven-minute video of him apparently being beheaded. A man on the film says Stanczak was killed because the Pakistan government refused to exchange him for Taliban prisoners.If confirmed, Stanczak's death would apparently be the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl was beheaded in 2002.Polish security services minister Jacek Cichocki said Monday in Poland that in his opinion "that is the Pole and the film is authentic," adding final confirmation would have to wait until diplomatic and consular services receive the body.Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said the video showed a "bestial execution" and that he would try to ensure the killers were punished.Stanczak was surveying oil and gas fields for Geofizyka Krakow, a Polish geophysics institute."We believed the whole time, even up to the last minute, that the kidnapping affair would end well. Now, we know that's not the case," Leopold Sulkowski, president of the institute, told reporters in Krakow, Poland."At this sad and tragic moment, we can't find clear or strong enough words to condemn the monstrous and criminal act."The video was given to an Associated Press reporter Sunday in northwestern Pakistan on a flash drive by an intermediary who said he obtained it from the Taliban. The AP has elected not to distribute the images. Other international media also reported receiving or viewing footage of the killing.Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman Shahidullah Baig said Sunday the government was investigating the existence of the video. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.Violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan has soared since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. Many militants fled across the border to Pakistan, establishing bases and continuing to attack U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.President Barack Obama has made resolving the Afghan war a key focus of his foreign policy, appointing diplomat Richard Holbrooke as a special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan.Holbrooke, who was the White House envoy to the Balkans in the Kosovo conflict, arrived in Pakistan late Monday on a trip that is also scheduled to take him to Afghanistan and India."The United States looks forward to reviewing our policies and renewing our commitment and friendship with the people of Pakistan," he said in a statement. He is scheduled to stay in the country until Thursday, according to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.The State Department has described the visit as a listening tour to help form the basis of future American policy decisions in the region.
At a security conference in Germany over the weekend, Holbrooke described the Afghan campaign as "one theater of war straddling an ill-defined border.""We have to think of it that way and not distinguish between the two," he said.Also Monday, at least 14 people died and six others were wounded when mortar shells hit a house twice in the Darra Adam Khel area, a local government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.It was unclear who fired the shells, but the second landed as people gathered to help those struck by the first.
Darra Adam Khel lies just outside the semiautonomous tribal regions, where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have long had strongholds.