By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers
Pakistan — Even the Pakistan army conducts military operations against Taliban guerrillas in northwest tribal areas bordering Afghanistan , banned al Qaida -linked groups are operating openly in the Pakistani heartland of Punjab, which itself has been the target of dozens of terror attacks.
The province on Pakistan's eastern border with India is home to more than half the country's population and functions as its economic and political powerhouse, as well as the main recruiting ground for the military.
It is the stronghold of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif , who leads the opposition to President Asif Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party , which rules nationally from Islamabad .
Critics accuse Sharif and his brother, the chief minister, of accommodating extremist groups like Sipah-e-Sahaba, a banned sectarian group blamed for the killing of hundreds of Shiites, the minority sect of Islam. The Sharifs draw political support from the religious right.
During a recent election campaign, Punjab's law minister, Rana Sanaullah , who is close to the Sharifs, seemed to endorse Sipah-e-Sahaba when he traveled in a triumphal motorcade with Ahmed Ludhianvi, the alleged leader of the group in the town of Jhang, in southern Punjab province.
They were surrounded by the green and red flags of Sipah-e-Sahaba, and the group's gunmen provided security, working alongside the Punjab police. The crowd showered rose petals on the pair, who stood in an open vehicle, garlands around their necks.
Sanaullah denied that there was any danger of extremists taking over parts of Punjab.
"There is no Talibanization in Punjab. Not a single street where you can say there is a no-go area," Sanaullah told McClatchy .
The federally appointed provincial governor disagreed.
"The Sharifs are creating a potential bomb here in Punjab," Salman Taseer , the governor, told McClatchy in an interview. "These (militant) groups are armed and dangerous. There is no way you can accommodate these people. There has to be zero tolerance."
Punjab government officials and police personnel insist that Sipah-e-Sahaba, and Jaish-e-Mohammad, another major military group, are not involved in terror activity within Pakistan .
That view is not shared by U.S. officials, who are now broadening their attention from what had been a singular focus on Pakistan's northwest fringe. Both Punjabi groups are thought to have links to al Qaida .
"We think there also needs to be progress against these Punjab-based groups, many of which, by the way, are targeting Pakistan , as well," Robert Blake , an assistant secretary of state, told reporters in Washington earlier this month after returning from Pakistan .
Although security in the provinces is a local responsibility, the growth of the banned groups in Pakistan's industrial and political heartland raises new questions about the commitment of the country's security services, especially its Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, to cracking down on the Islamic extremists they created to wage a proxy war against rival India over the divided Kashmir region.
In March, Nawaz Sharif's younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif , who is chief minister of Punjab, provoked an outcry when he appealed in a speech to the Taliban to spare his province violence because his party, known as PML-N, shared their ideals. He contrasted his party's position to that of Pakistan's previous ruler, military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf .
"Gen. Musharraf planned a bloodbath of innocent Muslims at the behest of others only to prolong his rule, but we in the PML-N opposed his policies and rejected dictation from abroad," Shahbaz Sharif said in an address delivered at a religious seminary in Lahore , the provincial capital."If the Taliban are also fighting for the same cause then they should not carry out acts of terror in Punjab."
Militancy appears to be on the rise. Police in recent weeks have traced a spate of armed robberies and kidnappings of the Ahmedi religious sect in the central Punjabi city of Faisalabad to members of Jamaat ud Dawa, the group previously known as Lashkar-e- Taiba that was blamed for the devastating 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, India .
Three Ahmedis were also shot dead, in what was likely to be the work of the same outfit. Jamaat ud Dawa is focused against India and was not previously known for violence inside Paksitan. The United Nations labeled Jamaat ud Dawa a terrorist group in the wake of the Mumbai attack.
In March, Jamaat ud Dawa held a public rally in Lahore , marching down the colonial-era Mall Road , the city's main thoroughfare, to protest against India "stealing" water from rivers that flow from its territory into Pakistan .
The recent admission in U.S. federal court by an American citizen, David Headley , that he scouted targets for the Mumbai attacks raised the profile of Lashkar-e- Taiba , with which he was affiliated. A recent Pentagon report found that Lashkar-e- Taiba was active in the insurgency in Afghanistan .
McClatchy reported in September that another banned group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, whose orientation is anti- India , was operating openly from Bahawalpur, another town in Punjab, and had expanded to a new site on the outskirts of town.
Sheikh Waqas Akram , an opposition member of parliament from Jhang, which is the headquarters of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, likened the situation in Punjab to the Swat valley, where official inaction led to the area being taken over by Taliban in 2008.
"There can be ten Swats in Punjab, if you don't check them (extremists)," said Akram. "These groups are connecting up, they are increasing their political influence, they are spreading to new districts."
Unlike the Taliban in the northwest, extremist groups in the Punjab have not sought to capture territory or enforce Islamic law but operate out of seminaries and compounds amid the population.
Sanaullah insisted that groups based in the north west were behind the terrorist attacks in Punjab, not local groups and that "95 percent of the people of Sipah-e-Sahaba are not terrorists".
"We must persuade these persons to put aside their guns, to participate in elections," said Sanaullah. "They have the right to vote, so why can't I ask them (Sipah-e-Sahaba) for votes?"
But independent experts believe that the attempt to distinguish among militant groups overlooks the fluidity of individual membership in the groups. The Pakistani Taliban's leader, Hakimullah Mehsud is a former member of Sipah-e-Sahaba, as is the head of the Taliban's suicide training squad, Qari Hussain . The Pakistani Taliban's spokesman calls himself after a former head of Sipah-e-Sahaba. Jaish-e-Mohammad, another group supposedly not involved in domestic terrorism, provided many of the commanders and for the Taliban's takeover of Swat valley.
Mehsud was reported dead in February from a U.S. missile attack in Pakistan's tribal area. But Pakistani intelligence reported Thursday that it now believed him to be alive.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
India, Pakistan leaders agree on new peace talks
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan agreed Thursday to resume peace talks between their top diplomats and work toward rebuilding trust shattered by the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani militants.
Officials said India's Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gilani, agreed on the need to normalize relations, dogged by more than six decades of hostility since both gained independence from Britain. They deputed their foreign ministers to meet at a later date to discuss the resumption of a wide-ranging formal dialogue that began in 2004 but was suspended after the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
The two prime ministers met for more than one hour in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, on the sidelines of a summit of South Asian leaders. It was their first meeting in eight months.
India's foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, said Gilani assured India that Pakistan would not allow its territory to be used for terrorist activity directed against India and it would expedite the trial of suspects of the Mumbai attacks it is holding in Pakistan.
The two prime ministers "agreed that relations between the two countries should be normalized and the channels of contact should work effectively to enlarge the constituency of peace in both countries," Rao told reporters.
Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, described it as a "very friendly" meeting and signaled that he thought the resumption of the dialogue — which covers a range of issues from border disputes, nuclear weapons and the two countries' dispute over Kashmir — was a formality.
"The two prime ministers have agreed to resume a dialogue process that remained suspended for so many months. Both foreign ministers have been asked to work out modalities of engagement. The climate has changed," Qureshi told reporters.
"I don't think that either side was expecting such a positive turn in dialogue."
Rao was more equivocal. She said India was willing to discuss and resolve all outstanding issues with Pakistan — including terrorism and the rise in infiltration by Islamic insurgents. She said the foreign ministers have been charged with "thinking afresh and working out ways to restore trust and confidence in the relationship." No date has been set for the meeting.
India and Pakistan have been under pressure to resume their peace dialogue — which eased historic tensions although it made little headway on the key issue of Kashmir, which they both claim in entirety and have fought two of their three wars over since gaining independence in 1947.
The United States hopes that if tensions on the subcontinent ease, Pakistan will be able to deploy resources to fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida on its western border with Afghanistan.
"The issue of terrorism was holding back progress," Singh was quoted as telling his Pakistani counterpart. "Pakistan has to address the issue of terrorism. The terror machine that operates from Pakistan needs to be eliminated."
Pakistan is trying seven men on charges they planned and carried out the Mumbai attacks, but the militant network blamed for the assault continues to operate relatively freely in the country.
India also accuses Pakistan of supporting militants fighting Indian rule in the portion of Kashmir it controls — a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives over two decades.
Shakira visiting Phoenix over immigration law
Colombian singer Shakira planned to visit Phoenix on Thursday over concerns that a sweeping new state law cracking down on illegal immigration will lead to racial profiling.The Grammy winner was set to meet with Phoenix's police chief and mayor to learn more about how the law will be implemented if it goes into effect this summer, said Trevor Nielson, her political and philanthropic adviser.
The law, signed Friday by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, is viewed as the toughest on illegal immigration in the nation and has drawn criticism from President Barack Obama, who questioned its legality. The law makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally and directs police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they're illegal immigrants.
"Shakira is deeply concerned about the impact of this law on hardworking Latino families," Nielson said. "She is coming to Arizona to try to learn more about how law enforcement is reacting to this new law and how we can ensure that people in the state of Arizona are not being targeted because of the color of their skin."
He said Shakira canceled other commitments to make the visit and also planned to meet with Hispanic families in Phoenix to see how they'd be affected by the law.
Nielson said Shakira also sought to meet with Brewer during her visit to Phoenix, but that the governor's director of scheduling told Nielson it wouldn't be possible because the governor was booked.
The new law thrust Arizona into the international spotlight last week, with civil rights leaders and others demanding a boycott of the state, and the Mexican government warning its citizens about an "adverse political atmosphere" in Arizona. At least three Arizona cities are considering lawsuits to block the law, and there are two efforts to put a referendum on Arizona's November ballot to repeal it.
Supporters of the law say it takes the handcuffs off police and is necessary to protect Arizonans, while opponents say it will lead to rampant racial profiling.
Shakira is perhaps best known for her nimble dance moves and songs including "Hips Don't Lie" and "She-Wolf," but recently she has become more active in political and social issues.
She visited earthquake-ravaged Haiti earlier this month, expressed her support for Cuban dissident group Ladies in White and has worked as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. Her Barefoot foundation provides nutrition to more than 6,000 children in Colombia, and she is a member of the ALAS foundation that advocates for children across Latin America.
Last month, the U.N. labor agency gave the singer a medal for her work to help impoverished children.
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Obama: Congress may not tackle immigration soon
President Barack Obama says there "may not be an appetite" in Congress to deal with immigration immediately after going through a tough legislative year.
With energy legislation on the table and midterm elections approaching, Obama said Wednesday he didn't want to force an immigration bill through Congress "just for the sake of politics." Still, he said discussions on the issue must move forward in a way that can garner the support of the American people.
"We've gone though a very tough year and I've been working Congress very hard, so I know there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue," the president told reporters aboard Air Force One returning with him to Washington from a Midwest trip.
The issue of immigration bubbled to the surface in recent weeks after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial bill into law requiring local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally. The law also makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally.
Obama has sharply criticized the law, asking the Justice Department to look into whether it violates civil rights. On Wednesday, he said he understands the frustrations of people in Arizona who are faced with thousands of immigrants coming into their state illegally, but he said the state's new immigration law would only end up polarizing the debate over reform.
"What I think is a mistake is when we start having local law enforcement officials given the power to stop people on the suspicions that they may be undocumented workers," Obama told reporters. "That carries a great amount of risk."
The president said that while he believed he could get a majority of Democrats to support immigration reform, he still needs help from Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had talked about moving immigration ahead of climate change legislation, a suggestion that splintered bipartisan support for the climate bill. Then Reid said Tuesday he was willing to bring up climate change legislation ahead of an immigration bill, but Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was still angry that Reid considered putting off the climate bill.
Reid said the long-delayed climate bill "is much further down the road in terms of a product" than the immigration measure, which remains unwritten.
An immigration proposal by three Democratic senators calls for more federal enforcement agents and other border security-tightening benchmarks before illegal immigrants could become legal U.S. residents, according to a draft of the legislation obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The bill is being developed by Reid of Nevada, Chuck Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
Hispanics, Democrats to rally against Arizona immigrant law
Hispanics and Democratic lawmakers furious over Arizona's harsh crackdown on illegal immigrants expect huge weekend rallies across the United States, piling pressure on President Barack Obama to overhaul immigration laws in this election year.
Protest organizers said on Wednesday outrage over the Arizona law -- which seeks to drive illegal immigrants out of the state bordering Mexico -- has galvanized Latinos and would translate into a higher turnout for May Day rallies in more than 70 U.S. cities.
"The marches and demonstrations are going to be far more massive than they otherwise would have been," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, a Los Angeles rally organizer who runs an immigration assistance company.
The backlash began on Friday after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law a measure that requires state and local police to determine a person's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" they are undocumented. Critics say it is unconstitutional and opens the door to racial profiling.
Republican backers of the law say it is needed to curb crime in the desert state, which is a key corridor for drug and migrant smugglers from Mexico.
A Rasmussen Reports poll on Wednesday found that almost two-thirds -- 64 percent -- of voters in the state favored the measure. A telephone survey earlier in the week showed that 60 percent of voters nationwide favored such a law.
The crowds on the streets, from Los Angeles to New York, could be the biggest since 2006, when hundreds of thousands of marchers urged former President George W. Bush to overhaul of federal immigration laws. He tried, but failed in Congress.
"With what's going on in Arizona we see renewed energy for folks to fight for immigration reform," said Marissa Graciosa, of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, an organizer of rallies and vigils on Friday and Saturday.
In Washington, a diverse group of more than two dozen lawmakers -- Hispanics, blacks, Asians, whites -- held a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to denounce the Arizona law as a violation of civil rights.
"What Arizona has done is that it has galvanized, united, fortified, focused our immigration movement," Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez declared at the news conference.
MEXICAN TAXI BOYCOTT
The Arizona law has catapulted the immigration issue back to the front and center of U.S. politics in this congressional election year, and ratcheted up pressure on Obama to keep a pledge to Hispanics to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Obama said on Wednesday there may not be an "appetite" in Congress to immediately tackle the divisive issue while plenty of work remained on energy legislation ahead of the November congressional elections.
U.S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, who faces a tough re-election battle in Nevada where Latinos helped clinch victory for Obama in 2008, said on Wednesday he would work to pass energy legislation before tackling immigration reform, although both are seen as election-year long shots.
Passing an overhaul offering a path to citizenship for many of the 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States would consolidate support for Democrats among Hispanics, the country's largest minority, but would run the risk of energizing Republican opposition to Democratic lawmakers in swing states and districts.
Arizona's bold move reverberated well beyond its borders, sparking calls for economic boycotts and celebrity interventions.
Colombian-born pop star Shakira said she will travel to Phoenix on Thursday to help campaign against the new law, and would meet with Mayor Phil Gordon, police and Latino families. She sought a meeting with Governor Brewer but was turned down, her publicist said.
Adding to calls to shun the state, Saint Paul, Minnesota, Mayor Chris Coleman on Wednesday banned publicly funded travel to Arizona. The state law set a "dangerous example to the rest of the country," he said, by creating a culture that made racial profiling acceptable.
The National Conference of State Legislatures said similar state immigration enforcement laws may be proposed in Georgia and Texas in coming months, following a summer recess.
In Mexico, where the government has warned its citizens living in or traveling to Arizona that they could be harassed, taxi drivers organized their own peculiar boycott.
"We don't give service to gringos from Arizona," was the phrase some Mexico City taxi drivers painted in white on their rear windows.
Afghan support for Karzai's government low: Pentagon report
The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai commands support or sympathy in only a quarter of 121 Afghan areas considered ‘key’ by the US military, a Pentagon report said on Wednesday."The overall assessment indicates that the population sympathizes with or supports the Afghan government in 24 percent (29 of 121) of all Key Terrain and Area of Interest districts," the quarterly report to Congress said."The establishment of effective governance is a critical enabler for improving development and security."Karzai has gone from a darling of the international powers who placed him at the head of the Afghan state in 2001 to facing accusations from the United States and other nations that he has allowed unchecked corruption.
Popular anger at Karzai's government, which is widely seen as corrupt and inefficient, has allowed the Taliban to "perceive 2009 as their most successful year," the Pentagon report said."Expanded violence is viewed as an insurgent victory, and insurgents perceive low voter turnout and reports of fraud during the past presidential election (in August 2009) as further signs of their success," the 150-page report said.According to the Pentagon, "violence is sharply above the seasonal average for the previous year -- an 87 percent increase from February 2009 to March 2010."
"Although the overall security situation has stabilized somewhat since the end of 2009, violence during the current reporting period is still double that for the same period in 2008-2009," the report said.
The Pentagon said increased action by coalition forces in the country meant the Taliban has "been under unprecedented pressure.""Reporting indicates increased and often strained efforts to resource the fight, which has led to tension and sporadic dips in morale," the report said.It added that the decline in stability seen in the last report submitted to Congress "has leveled off in many areas over the last three months of this reporting period."
"Polls consistently illustrate that Afghans see security as improved from a year ago," the report added.
Popular anger at Karzai's government, which is widely seen as corrupt and inefficient, has allowed the Taliban to "perceive 2009 as their most successful year," the Pentagon report said."Expanded violence is viewed as an insurgent victory, and insurgents perceive low voter turnout and reports of fraud during the past presidential election (in August 2009) as further signs of their success," the 150-page report said.According to the Pentagon, "violence is sharply above the seasonal average for the previous year -- an 87 percent increase from February 2009 to March 2010."
"Although the overall security situation has stabilized somewhat since the end of 2009, violence during the current reporting period is still double that for the same period in 2008-2009," the report said.
The Pentagon said increased action by coalition forces in the country meant the Taliban has "been under unprecedented pressure.""Reporting indicates increased and often strained efforts to resource the fight, which has led to tension and sporadic dips in morale," the report said.It added that the decline in stability seen in the last report submitted to Congress "has leveled off in many areas over the last three months of this reporting period."
"Polls consistently illustrate that Afghans see security as improved from a year ago," the report added.
U.N. Report says 1.6 Billion Still Lack Access to Electricity
A new U.N. report calls for expanding access to energy to more than two-billion people and boosting efforts for clean, efficient and renewable energy.The Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change report - Energy for a Sustainable Future - says many people still lack access to electricity, describing it as a “significant barrier” to development.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released the report Wednesday in New York, saying, “I convened this group last year for one simple reason. We need to urgently transform this global energy system.”Moon adds, “The decisions we make today on energy will have a profound impact on global climate, on sustainable development, on economic growth and global security.”He says a “clean energy revolution” is needed in developing countries to meet rising demand and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Findings
Moon says affordable, modern energy sources are necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals by their target date of 2015.“One-point-six-billion people lack access to electricity. Without electricity you cannot do anything in this world. Two to three billion people still rely on traditional energy sources, such as firewood, peat or dung. This affects their health and keeps people trapped in poverty,” he says.The report calls for “universal access to basic modern energy services” by 2030. It says this can be achieved “without significantly increasing greenhouse emissions.”
New industrial revolution
Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, chairs the advisory group.
“What we advocate for here is a transition to a low carbon economy, investing in new energy systems. But these investments must also enhance access for all.”He says there was much debate among advisory group members about reaching the energy goals by 2030.“You can look at the composition of our group – more private sector than U.N. types. And that was a deliberate choice by the Secretary-General because, given the many dimensions and its linkages to so many things, we wanted fresh thinking from the private sector,” says Yumkella.
Clean, renewable energy is a major recommendation in the report.
“We believe that’s part of the transformative change,” he says, “that will in fact engender a new industrial revolution that will lift people out of poverty and also deal with some of the issues of climate change.”
United Nations Foundation President Timothy Wirth calls energy the “oxygen of commerce and wealth creation.” He adds, “Producing more with less makes economic sense and is fast approaching an environmental imperative.”
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released the report Wednesday in New York, saying, “I convened this group last year for one simple reason. We need to urgently transform this global energy system.”Moon adds, “The decisions we make today on energy will have a profound impact on global climate, on sustainable development, on economic growth and global security.”He says a “clean energy revolution” is needed in developing countries to meet rising demand and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Findings
Moon says affordable, modern energy sources are necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals by their target date of 2015.“One-point-six-billion people lack access to electricity. Without electricity you cannot do anything in this world. Two to three billion people still rely on traditional energy sources, such as firewood, peat or dung. This affects their health and keeps people trapped in poverty,” he says.The report calls for “universal access to basic modern energy services” by 2030. It says this can be achieved “without significantly increasing greenhouse emissions.”
New industrial revolution
Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, chairs the advisory group.
“What we advocate for here is a transition to a low carbon economy, investing in new energy systems. But these investments must also enhance access for all.”He says there was much debate among advisory group members about reaching the energy goals by 2030.“You can look at the composition of our group – more private sector than U.N. types. And that was a deliberate choice by the Secretary-General because, given the many dimensions and its linkages to so many things, we wanted fresh thinking from the private sector,” says Yumkella.
Clean, renewable energy is a major recommendation in the report.
“We believe that’s part of the transformative change,” he says, “that will in fact engender a new industrial revolution that will lift people out of poverty and also deal with some of the issues of climate change.”
United Nations Foundation President Timothy Wirth calls energy the “oxygen of commerce and wealth creation.” He adds, “Producing more with less makes economic sense and is fast approaching an environmental imperative.”
Pakhtunkhwa govt, Hazara MPAs agree to resolve issues peacefully
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and members of the Provincial Assembly from Hazara division on Wednesday agreed to resolve the issues of Hazara province and Abaseen division through political means and proposed that the provincial assembly would take up the matter in its upcoming session.
The proposal came at a consultative meeting between the government and the assembly members belonging to Hazara. The meeting was called by speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Karamtullah Khan. Except a couple of lawmakers from Hazara, all other members from the area attended the meeting.
After the meeting, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain briefed members of the media. He said the government was ready to hold negotiations with the Hazara Action Committee. He said the meeting discussed in detail both the demands — Hazara province and Abaseen division — and it was decided that the issues would be debated in the next session of the provincial assembly. He said the participants condemned the sad incident of April 12 and demanded a judicial inquiry, which had already been initiated by the government.
Mian Iftikhar said the sentiments of Hazara people would be respected and the lawmakers from the area would be taken into confidence and efforts would be made for maintaining peace in the region.
The minister said protest was the constitutional and democratic right of the Hazara people, but added that it should remain within the ambit of law. He warned that no one would be allowed to damage public property and violate the law. He said the government had called another meeting with the Hazara lawmakers today to discuss the issue further in presence of the chief minister.
Sources privy to the meeting said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PML-Quaid members had an argument over the happenings of April 12 in Abbottabad and Haripur district.
The PML-Q lawmakers opined that despite the fact that the people of Hazara division voted for PML-N, the party did not take them into confidence while agreeing on the new name for the province.
The PML-N lawmakers pointed out that the 18th Amendment was not only confined to renaming of the province but had resolved many longstanding demands of the provinces, which would strengthen the federal parliamentary system. They said that despite imposition of Section 144 in Abbottabad, the PML-Q workers took to the streets and looted shops and attacked police station.
The proposal came at a consultative meeting between the government and the assembly members belonging to Hazara. The meeting was called by speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Karamtullah Khan. Except a couple of lawmakers from Hazara, all other members from the area attended the meeting.
After the meeting, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain briefed members of the media. He said the government was ready to hold negotiations with the Hazara Action Committee. He said the meeting discussed in detail both the demands — Hazara province and Abaseen division — and it was decided that the issues would be debated in the next session of the provincial assembly. He said the participants condemned the sad incident of April 12 and demanded a judicial inquiry, which had already been initiated by the government.
Mian Iftikhar said the sentiments of Hazara people would be respected and the lawmakers from the area would be taken into confidence and efforts would be made for maintaining peace in the region.
The minister said protest was the constitutional and democratic right of the Hazara people, but added that it should remain within the ambit of law. He warned that no one would be allowed to damage public property and violate the law. He said the government had called another meeting with the Hazara lawmakers today to discuss the issue further in presence of the chief minister.
Sources privy to the meeting said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PML-Quaid members had an argument over the happenings of April 12 in Abbottabad and Haripur district.
The PML-Q lawmakers opined that despite the fact that the people of Hazara division voted for PML-N, the party did not take them into confidence while agreeing on the new name for the province.
The PML-N lawmakers pointed out that the 18th Amendment was not only confined to renaming of the province but had resolved many longstanding demands of the provinces, which would strengthen the federal parliamentary system. They said that despite imposition of Section 144 in Abbottabad, the PML-Q workers took to the streets and looted shops and attacked police station.
Curfew imposed in Kohat region
The Hangu police have imposed curfew in Thall tehsil from morning till afternoon to allow a safe passage to an army convoy to Parachinar.
The Kohat-Parachinar road was opened for general traffic in the afternoon when the authorities decided to lift the curfew.
The in-charge of the Thall police station in a late night announcement had advised the people to remain inside their homes from 5am till 4pm and close the bazaar as a huge military was scheduled to cross over to Parachinar.
The precaution had been taken in view of the imminent threats of terrorism due to ongoing military operation in Orakzai Agency and strict vigilance of the security forces in Tootkas area which had been vacated by the people on the orders of the local army high command.
The outskirts of Thall were the most infested ones with banned militants from TTP who had started suicide attacks and IEDs blasts at army and police while ambushing the passengers more frequently in recent months
The Kohat-Parachinar road was opened for general traffic in the afternoon when the authorities decided to lift the curfew.
The in-charge of the Thall police station in a late night announcement had advised the people to remain inside their homes from 5am till 4pm and close the bazaar as a huge military was scheduled to cross over to Parachinar.
The precaution had been taken in view of the imminent threats of terrorism due to ongoing military operation in Orakzai Agency and strict vigilance of the security forces in Tootkas area which had been vacated by the people on the orders of the local army high command.
The outskirts of Thall were the most infested ones with banned militants from TTP who had started suicide attacks and IEDs blasts at army and police while ambushing the passengers more frequently in recent months
US inaugurates $25m Peshawar Ring Road
The United States has started a $25 million project to reconstruct 25 kilometres of the Peshawar Southern Ring Road to strengthen security and generate greater trade opportunities.The project was inaugurated by the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, at a function in Peshawar early this week, the State Department said yesterday.The project, overseen by the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in close cooperation with the Government of Pakistan, will provide USD 25 million in upgrades to the important provincial thoroughfare for the purpose of strengthening security and bolstering economic development, it said.The inauguration of the Peshawar Ring Road project follows the signature of a Letter of Intent between Deputy Secretary of State Jacob J Lew and Pakistan's Finance Secretary Salman Siddique on March 25, as part of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue.The Ring Road will be widened and improved from two lanes to three lanes, including construction of service roads, green belts, centre medians, and drainage on both sides.The refurbished road will also include a bypass of the Hayatabad residential area and a transit link to the Matani bypass road, the construction of which the US is currently supporting."The new Ring Road will ease traffic between Charsadda and Hayatabad, improve security, and generate greater trade opportunities," Patterson said."We are proud to partner with the Government of Pakistan to deliver this vital infrastructure that will benefit the citizens of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas," she said.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
‘People of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should unite’
President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday called on the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to prevent outsiders from “entering your ranks” and unite to protect the country from the challenges confronting it.
Addressing a tribal jirga at Governor’s House, Zardari said every citizen had a role to play, as there was no room for complacency in such challenging times. He said the people of the province needed to check if their neighbours were “illegal foreigners or were involved in unlawful activities”. The president – who was on a daylong visit to the provincial capital – said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had better understanding of their surroundings and social customs, and called on them to work together for a safe environment. He assured the jirga that the government would fully back the province in this context.
“We will not let anyone take even an inch of our land, and will protect it at the cost of our lives ... as we know how much sacrifices were made for Independence.”
The president said the families of those who had lost their lives in terrorist attacks would be compensated. He said the budget for the province had increased by 30 percent, and the “total budget would be around Rs 21 billion after adding foreign aid and additional resources” to be given by the federal government.
About the distribution of Benazir Income Support Programme Cards (BISP), Zardari said all deserving people would be given cards in a transparent manner. He said the government was pursuing a policy of reconciliation, and described the NFC Award and 18th Amendment as “small steps in this context”. He asked the governors of all provinces to visit Islamabad to discuss their problems, and vowed to resolve the problems confronting the masses. He said he would try to visit at least two tribal agencies each year.
Also, the president laid the foundation stones of four development projects for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The president unveiled the plaques for the projects as he arrived in the province for the daylong visit.
Under the projects, Peshawar Ring Road would be extended at a cost of Rs 303 million, Peshawar-Warsak Road would be made dual at a cost of Rs 363.94 million, 21 destroyed schools in Swat would be reconstructed at an estimated cost of Rs 87 billion and a 60-bed “burn and trauma centre” would be established at a cost of Rs 532.24 million in 24 months.
In addition, Zardari also gave a Rs 30 million cheque to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council Ahmed Vice Chairman Farooq Khattak. Addressing a separate ceremony at Governor’s House, the president said the Benazir Income Support Programme would be improved to attract international donor organisations. Addressing a meeting of the PPP’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, Zardari said the government believed in politics of reconciliation, and would steer the country through challenges in collaboration with all political parties.
According to a private TV channel, Zardari also said that those given refuge 30 years ago had stabbed Pakistan in the back and also killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Addressing a tribal jirga at Governor’s House, Zardari said every citizen had a role to play, as there was no room for complacency in such challenging times. He said the people of the province needed to check if their neighbours were “illegal foreigners or were involved in unlawful activities”. The president – who was on a daylong visit to the provincial capital – said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had better understanding of their surroundings and social customs, and called on them to work together for a safe environment. He assured the jirga that the government would fully back the province in this context.
“We will not let anyone take even an inch of our land, and will protect it at the cost of our lives ... as we know how much sacrifices were made for Independence.”
The president said the families of those who had lost their lives in terrorist attacks would be compensated. He said the budget for the province had increased by 30 percent, and the “total budget would be around Rs 21 billion after adding foreign aid and additional resources” to be given by the federal government.
About the distribution of Benazir Income Support Programme Cards (BISP), Zardari said all deserving people would be given cards in a transparent manner. He said the government was pursuing a policy of reconciliation, and described the NFC Award and 18th Amendment as “small steps in this context”. He asked the governors of all provinces to visit Islamabad to discuss their problems, and vowed to resolve the problems confronting the masses. He said he would try to visit at least two tribal agencies each year.
Also, the president laid the foundation stones of four development projects for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The president unveiled the plaques for the projects as he arrived in the province for the daylong visit.
Under the projects, Peshawar Ring Road would be extended at a cost of Rs 303 million, Peshawar-Warsak Road would be made dual at a cost of Rs 363.94 million, 21 destroyed schools in Swat would be reconstructed at an estimated cost of Rs 87 billion and a 60-bed “burn and trauma centre” would be established at a cost of Rs 532.24 million in 24 months.
In addition, Zardari also gave a Rs 30 million cheque to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council Ahmed Vice Chairman Farooq Khattak. Addressing a separate ceremony at Governor’s House, the president said the Benazir Income Support Programme would be improved to attract international donor organisations. Addressing a meeting of the PPP’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, Zardari said the government believed in politics of reconciliation, and would steer the country through challenges in collaboration with all political parties.
According to a private TV channel, Zardari also said that those given refuge 30 years ago had stabbed Pakistan in the back and also killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Budget of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa increased to Rs 21bn
PESHAWAR : President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday urged the people of province not to let outsiders enter their ranks and unite to protect their motherland against all challenges.
Addressing a tribal jirga here at the Governor House, the President said every citizen has to play his role as complacency has no place in such challenging times.
He said the people of the province need to check that their neighbours were not illegal foreigners or involved in unlawful activities so that they might not create problems for the locals.
The President who was on a day-long visit to the provincial metropolis said, the people here have a better understanding of their surroundings, social customs and must work together to create a safe environment. He assured full support of the government in this regard.
"We will not let anyone take even an inch of our land and will protect it at the cost of our lives as we know how much sacrifices were rendered to get liberation from the British," he said.
He said it was his vision that Pakistan emerges as a major world trade route and added the government was committed to achieve all these goals with the help of the people.
The President greeted the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for getting their true recognition and thanked Allah Almighty for bestowing the present government the honour of giving the province its new identity.
He said the decision of the new name was the result of a consensus that reflected the political maturity of the people and the political party.
President Zardari said the government was facing several challenges but added that all these would be surmounted. He recalled the past when there was no crime in Fata and the area was totally peaceful. However, he regretted that all those who were granted a refuge in these areas, turned out to be bitter enemies in the end.
President pointed that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto lost her life and said her supreme sacrifice was for the sovereignty of Pakistan. He invited the tribal elders to visit Islamabad at their convenience and assured that all their problems would be resolved.
He also assured that all those who lost their lives in the province be given equal compensation. He said the budget of the province has increased 30 per cent. The president said the total budget would touch Rs 21 billion after adding foreign aid and additional resources of Rs 8 billion from the federal government.
President pointed at the distribution of the new BISP cards and said all the deserving people would get their cards through a transparent and clean system.
President Zardari said the government was pursuing the policy of reconciliation of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and said the NFC award and 18th amendment were small steps in this regard and assured that much more would be done by the government.
The President said jirgas need to be formed and consensus will be achieved to take along the people of Fata and to address their problems.
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Owais Ahmed Ghani thanked the President for his support to the province and in particular the Fata, to counter the challenges the province was facing.
Addressing a tribal jirga here at the Governor House, the President said every citizen has to play his role as complacency has no place in such challenging times.
He said the people of the province need to check that their neighbours were not illegal foreigners or involved in unlawful activities so that they might not create problems for the locals.
The President who was on a day-long visit to the provincial metropolis said, the people here have a better understanding of their surroundings, social customs and must work together to create a safe environment. He assured full support of the government in this regard.
"We will not let anyone take even an inch of our land and will protect it at the cost of our lives as we know how much sacrifices were rendered to get liberation from the British," he said.
He said it was his vision that Pakistan emerges as a major world trade route and added the government was committed to achieve all these goals with the help of the people.
The President greeted the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for getting their true recognition and thanked Allah Almighty for bestowing the present government the honour of giving the province its new identity.
He said the decision of the new name was the result of a consensus that reflected the political maturity of the people and the political party.
President Zardari said the government was facing several challenges but added that all these would be surmounted. He recalled the past when there was no crime in Fata and the area was totally peaceful. However, he regretted that all those who were granted a refuge in these areas, turned out to be bitter enemies in the end.
President pointed that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto lost her life and said her supreme sacrifice was for the sovereignty of Pakistan. He invited the tribal elders to visit Islamabad at their convenience and assured that all their problems would be resolved.
He also assured that all those who lost their lives in the province be given equal compensation. He said the budget of the province has increased 30 per cent. The president said the total budget would touch Rs 21 billion after adding foreign aid and additional resources of Rs 8 billion from the federal government.
President pointed at the distribution of the new BISP cards and said all the deserving people would get their cards through a transparent and clean system.
President Zardari said the government was pursuing the policy of reconciliation of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and said the NFC award and 18th amendment were small steps in this regard and assured that much more would be done by the government.
The President said jirgas need to be formed and consensus will be achieved to take along the people of Fata and to address their problems.
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Owais Ahmed Ghani thanked the President for his support to the province and in particular the Fata, to counter the challenges the province was facing.
Karzai's brother says UN should not leave south
A.P.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The powerful half brother of President Hamid Karzai urged the international aid community Tuesday not to pull out of the troubled southern city of Kandahar, where a deteriorating security situation prompted the U.N. to scale back its operations.
The world body said Monday it had relocated several foreign employees to Kabul and told more than 200 Afghan workers to stay home.The announcement came hours after three bombings — one targeting a local police official — shook the city. A recent rash of attacks comes ahead of a joint Afghan-NATO operation to try to wrest control of the area from Taliban militants."We are not facing a big threat," said Ahmad Wali Karzai, a top official in Kandahar province and the most important power broker in southern Afghanistan. He added that the security situation was far worse a few years ago."You get one or two incidents once or twice a week," he told The Associated Press. "That shouldn't be a concern. A suicide attack can happen anywhere."
Later, Karzai told reporters in Kandahar that pulling out of the city plays into the Taliban's hands and will affect humanitarian assistance.
Since April 12, at least 20 civilians, including eight children, have been killed in Kandahar, according to an AP count. Local officials, aid workers and contractors for U.S. development projects have been targeted by Taliban fighters trying to disrupt the upcoming military operation, expected to accelerate this summer.
A senior Western official familiar with U.N. operations said 16 U.N. workers based in Kandahar were moved to a more heavily secured compound Sunday night before going to Kabul and perhaps other destinations. The official spoke anonymously because the information had not been publicly released by the United Nations.
The U.N. has been on the defensive in Afghanistan since October, when three suicide attackers stormed a Kabul residence where dozens of staffers lived. Five U.N. employees and three Afghan citizens were killed in a two-hour siege.
After that attack, the U.N. sent about 600 of its 1,100 foreign staffers either out of the country or relocated them to safer quarters. Many eventually were recalled to Kabul; others chose not to renew their contracts or terminated their tours in Afghanistan early.The U.N. had previously used only Afghan police officers to protect most staff living quarters. Since then, it has added international armed guards to all its buildings.On Tuesday, the Afghan government renounced a U.N. report that says friendly fire from Afghan security forces may have killed four of the five U.N. staffers that died during the assault.An Interior Ministry spokesman said a separate investigation by the Afghan government and the European Union police mission reached another conclusion."Our findings show that these people were killed as a result of the shootings of the bombers, the terrorists who were wearing police uniforms," ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. He said that the U.N. had ignored requests from the government to share their evidence and called for NATO to launch an independent investigation into the event.Regarding the situation in Kandahar, Bashary said the Afghan government is committed to providing security to U.N. staffers throughout the country.
In Kabul, security forces were setting up extra roadblocks and checkpoints ahead of Wednesday's celebration to mark the Mujahedeen victory over the Soviets in the 1980s war. The deputy police chief in Kabul said a rocket hit the ground near the Ministry of Urban Development in the capital early Tuesday, but there were no casualties.
In April 2008, insurgents tried to assassinate President Karzai during the celebration. Three people were killed and eight others were wounded.On Tuesday, a NATO service member was killed in eastern Afghanistan in a small-arms attack. NATO did not release the service member's name or nationality.Also Tuesday, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said a rocket attack killed three civilians and wounded three others inside a home in the northern Kunduz province. The ministry blamed insurgents for the Monday night attack.Kunduz had been relatively quiet until a few years ago when Taliban activity began to increase, threatening NATO supply routes south from Central Asia.In the Argandab district of Kandahar on Tuesday morning, a roadside bomb exploded near a school while NATO troops tried to defuse it, but nobody was hurt, NATO said.In Helmand and Ghazni provinces, gunbattles killed eight militants Monday — two in Helmand and six in Ghazni, the Interior Ministry said. Both battles pitted militants against private security workers.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The powerful half brother of President Hamid Karzai urged the international aid community Tuesday not to pull out of the troubled southern city of Kandahar, where a deteriorating security situation prompted the U.N. to scale back its operations.
The world body said Monday it had relocated several foreign employees to Kabul and told more than 200 Afghan workers to stay home.The announcement came hours after three bombings — one targeting a local police official — shook the city. A recent rash of attacks comes ahead of a joint Afghan-NATO operation to try to wrest control of the area from Taliban militants."We are not facing a big threat," said Ahmad Wali Karzai, a top official in Kandahar province and the most important power broker in southern Afghanistan. He added that the security situation was far worse a few years ago."You get one or two incidents once or twice a week," he told The Associated Press. "That shouldn't be a concern. A suicide attack can happen anywhere."
Later, Karzai told reporters in Kandahar that pulling out of the city plays into the Taliban's hands and will affect humanitarian assistance.
Since April 12, at least 20 civilians, including eight children, have been killed in Kandahar, according to an AP count. Local officials, aid workers and contractors for U.S. development projects have been targeted by Taliban fighters trying to disrupt the upcoming military operation, expected to accelerate this summer.
A senior Western official familiar with U.N. operations said 16 U.N. workers based in Kandahar were moved to a more heavily secured compound Sunday night before going to Kabul and perhaps other destinations. The official spoke anonymously because the information had not been publicly released by the United Nations.
The U.N. has been on the defensive in Afghanistan since October, when three suicide attackers stormed a Kabul residence where dozens of staffers lived. Five U.N. employees and three Afghan citizens were killed in a two-hour siege.
After that attack, the U.N. sent about 600 of its 1,100 foreign staffers either out of the country or relocated them to safer quarters. Many eventually were recalled to Kabul; others chose not to renew their contracts or terminated their tours in Afghanistan early.The U.N. had previously used only Afghan police officers to protect most staff living quarters. Since then, it has added international armed guards to all its buildings.On Tuesday, the Afghan government renounced a U.N. report that says friendly fire from Afghan security forces may have killed four of the five U.N. staffers that died during the assault.An Interior Ministry spokesman said a separate investigation by the Afghan government and the European Union police mission reached another conclusion."Our findings show that these people were killed as a result of the shootings of the bombers, the terrorists who were wearing police uniforms," ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. He said that the U.N. had ignored requests from the government to share their evidence and called for NATO to launch an independent investigation into the event.Regarding the situation in Kandahar, Bashary said the Afghan government is committed to providing security to U.N. staffers throughout the country.
In Kabul, security forces were setting up extra roadblocks and checkpoints ahead of Wednesday's celebration to mark the Mujahedeen victory over the Soviets in the 1980s war. The deputy police chief in Kabul said a rocket hit the ground near the Ministry of Urban Development in the capital early Tuesday, but there were no casualties.
In April 2008, insurgents tried to assassinate President Karzai during the celebration. Three people were killed and eight others were wounded.On Tuesday, a NATO service member was killed in eastern Afghanistan in a small-arms attack. NATO did not release the service member's name or nationality.Also Tuesday, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said a rocket attack killed three civilians and wounded three others inside a home in the northern Kunduz province. The ministry blamed insurgents for the Monday night attack.Kunduz had been relatively quiet until a few years ago when Taliban activity began to increase, threatening NATO supply routes south from Central Asia.In the Argandab district of Kandahar on Tuesday morning, a roadside bomb exploded near a school while NATO troops tried to defuse it, but nobody was hurt, NATO said.In Helmand and Ghazni provinces, gunbattles killed eight militants Monday — two in Helmand and six in Ghazni, the Interior Ministry said. Both battles pitted militants against private security workers.
Militant assassinations sow new fear in Afghan city
On Sunday evening in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar two masked men on a motorbike stopped in the middle of a bazaar, pulled out guns, killed a man and then sped off.The dead man was Haji Abdul-Hai, a tribal chieftain with strong connections to the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, which is the target of a bitter Taliban insurgency.The assassination of government officials, their associates or anyone notably linked to the government has become routine in the volatile city.A series of shockingly audacious murders in recent months has spread fear throughout the city and as far as the highest levels of leadership in Kabul.The UN on Monday ordered its 200 Afghan staff in the city to remain indoors for their own safety, and relocated foreign staff to Kabul, a spokesman said.Karzai held a National Security Council meeting at the weekend to discuss the deadly surge of attacks against officials in his home town.The security chiefs presented Karzai with a plan aimed at countering the attacks, said his spokesman, Waheed Omar, adding: "The president will personally follow this."Since late February, when Taliban assailants killed Abdul Majid Babai, provincial director of information and culture, 12 people, mostly working for the provincial government, have been murdered.The killing spree has emerged as US and NATO troops have been conducting military operations in and around the city as part of a stealthy offensive to eradicate the militant threat.Kandahar was the birthplace of the Taliban movement in the 1990s, capital of their 1996-2001 regime, and has long been the heartland of the insurgency.
Much of the city, as well as large swathes of the province, are under Taliban control.
NATO and the United States have 126,000 troops in Afghanistan battling the insurgency, with the number set to reach 150,000 by August. Many are heading south, military officials have said, with the aim of neutralizing the Taliban by the time the Ramadan religious festival begins in August.
As the campaign intensifies, the Taliban are adapting their own tactics, adding assassination to crude mines and suicide bombings.
The recent killings have been almost identical. So far this month, four people have been shot by men on motorbikes: Abdul-Hai, as well as a deputy mayor, an agriculture official and a young Afghan woman working for a US aid organisation.
The militants have claimed responsibility, with a spokesman saying Abdul-Hai was killed "because his brothers are working for the puppet government".
Yousuf Ahmadi, the Taliban spokesman, told AFP by phone from an unknown location that the deadly campaign "will continue".
"We will kill anyone working for the puppet government," he said.
The killings appear to have had the desired effect.
"Lots of people are scared, I'm scared," said a senior government official in Kandahar, requesting anonymity.The official said many people in his department had resigned in recent weeks and more were threatening to do so, fearful of becoming targets.Even worse, he said, their fear could prompt them to get close to the militants as a way of ensuring their safety."If this situation continues, if these assassinations are not stopped, I tell you lots of government officials will establish contact with the Taliban."They will have to. They'll make contact with the Taliban to protect themselves," the official told AFP, adding: "This has to stop."
The assassinations are eroding support for the Karzai government, already unpopular across much of the south and east, where the Taliban presence is strongest.
"This government can't protect us," said Dost Mohammad, a baker in downtown Kandahar.
"We already had lots of problems with Taliban bomb attacks and suicide attacks," he said. "Now we have one more thing. Every day I sit by the radio to see who else has been assassinated."
Kandahar authorities are working on a plan to try to deal with this new challenge, said Zalmai Ayoubi, a provincial government spokesman.
"The assassination of prominent people has escalated. We're working on a plan and hope with the implementation of that plan that the situation improves," he said, without going into detail.
Much of the city, as well as large swathes of the province, are under Taliban control.
NATO and the United States have 126,000 troops in Afghanistan battling the insurgency, with the number set to reach 150,000 by August. Many are heading south, military officials have said, with the aim of neutralizing the Taliban by the time the Ramadan religious festival begins in August.
As the campaign intensifies, the Taliban are adapting their own tactics, adding assassination to crude mines and suicide bombings.
The recent killings have been almost identical. So far this month, four people have been shot by men on motorbikes: Abdul-Hai, as well as a deputy mayor, an agriculture official and a young Afghan woman working for a US aid organisation.
The militants have claimed responsibility, with a spokesman saying Abdul-Hai was killed "because his brothers are working for the puppet government".
Yousuf Ahmadi, the Taliban spokesman, told AFP by phone from an unknown location that the deadly campaign "will continue".
"We will kill anyone working for the puppet government," he said.
The killings appear to have had the desired effect.
"Lots of people are scared, I'm scared," said a senior government official in Kandahar, requesting anonymity.The official said many people in his department had resigned in recent weeks and more were threatening to do so, fearful of becoming targets.Even worse, he said, their fear could prompt them to get close to the militants as a way of ensuring their safety."If this situation continues, if these assassinations are not stopped, I tell you lots of government officials will establish contact with the Taliban."They will have to. They'll make contact with the Taliban to protect themselves," the official told AFP, adding: "This has to stop."
The assassinations are eroding support for the Karzai government, already unpopular across much of the south and east, where the Taliban presence is strongest.
"This government can't protect us," said Dost Mohammad, a baker in downtown Kandahar.
"We already had lots of problems with Taliban bomb attacks and suicide attacks," he said. "Now we have one more thing. Every day I sit by the radio to see who else has been assassinated."
Kandahar authorities are working on a plan to try to deal with this new challenge, said Zalmai Ayoubi, a provincial government spokesman.
"The assassination of prominent people has escalated. We're working on a plan and hope with the implementation of that plan that the situation improves," he said, without going into detail.
Pakistanis Living on Brink, and Often in the Dark
New York Times
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
LAHORE, Pakistan — The Taliban may be plotting bombings, and the economy is on the brink. But these days, the single biggest woe tormenting Pakistanis is as basic as an electric light bulb.
Pakistan is in the throes of an energy crisis, with Pakistanis now enduring about 12 hours of power cuts a day, a grueling schedule that is melting ice, stopping fans and enraging an already exhausted populace just as the blast furnace of summer gets started.
In an effort to stem that frustration, Pakistan’s government held an emergency meeting last week, bringing together top bureaucrats from across the country. But instead of easing the problem, it aggravated it, ordering power-saving measures that seemed calculated to smother some Pakistanis’ last remaining pleasures.
“They are playing a joke on us,” said Amina Ali, the mother of a bride at a wedding hall that was under orders to close early as part of the new energy-saving restrictions. Her brother chimed in: “The Pakistani people are a toy in the hands of the government.”The power failures could prove destabilizing if they go unchecked, analysts said. Pakistan badly needs its economy to expand to make space for its bulging young population, and chronic power cuts work against that.
It is a concern for the United States, which is trying to help steady Pakistan’s wobbly finances and keep its democratically elected government afloat. The Obama administration has pledged about $1 billion for energy over the next five years.
The crisis is a snarl of unmet responsibilities, and untangling it will not be easy. It has a cast of guilty characters that goes back years: governments that are incapable of planning ahead; bureaucrats who take bribes; even ordinary people who steal about 30 percent of all the power produced. The tribal areas in the west, for example, have no meters and have never paid for power.
The result is about $2 billion a year in energy that is generated but not paid for. Industry experts said they were skeptical the government had a way to close the growing gap between Pakistan’s demand for power and the energy sector’s ability to produce it.
“There is nobody in Islamabad who is working on a coherent, integrated plan,” said one industry executive who asked not to be identified because he did not want to be seen as being critical of the government. “The discussion just keeps going in circles.”
Which was why it seemed particularly galling when the government ordered stores to be shut at prime shopping time, 8 p.m., and wedding halls closed by 10. Weddings are important entertainment in Pakistan, and go on late into the night, with dancing, lights and finery.
“Should we just sit at home in the darkness and go to sleep?” sputtered Ms. Ali, waiting outside the Mughal-e-Azam banquet hall, whose owners had been warned the night before that it should be closed by 10 p.m. One of the owners, Moazzam Ilyas, was nervously trying to coax the event along, even though at 9:45, the groom had still not arrived.
Here in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, the power failures have been disastrous for small businesses. Ali Raza, a printing press owner, has watched his once-prospering label business sag as power cuts bite into printing time, delaying orders and frustrating clients.
Late last year, he sold two large Swedish presses and fired half his 35-member staff. He has given up much of his upper-middle-class lifestyle, selling his Toyota, quitting his gym and limiting purchases of fruit and meat.
As his life and business shrink, so does his determination to stay in Pakistan. “I should move from here before I have nothing,” he said, sitting in his office next to a blank computer monitor and motionless fan. “Staying means committing suicide.”
Poorer Pakistanis have it worse. In Lahore’s old city, an ancient warren of narrow streets full of cavelike workshops for metal and leather, the sound of circular saws stops suddenly at 4 p.m. Candles are lighted. The only noise is the tapping of hammers.
“There’s no income; we are very worried,” said Mirza Arif Beg, 33, a metal polisher whose family business is collapsing. “We feel helpless. Should we do crime?”
Stealing electricity seems to be an option available mostly to those with enough money to afford a bribe. It also might require some relation to the storied meter men, who are paid a pittance but are reported to live well off the proceeds.
“They have big houses, big cars,” said Muhamed E. Baderi, a plastic-tube maker who said he knew a metal-works company that regularly bribed its meter man to reduce its electric bill. “They know the art of meter tampering.”
Those who cannot afford to bribe have to pay or face being shut off. Muhamed Faqir, a 45-year-old buffalo farmer with five children, said he had to borrow from relatives to pay $50 in bills after his power was cut for eight days this winter.
The energy industry was already beginning to spiral when the current government took office in 2008, and to a large extent, the problem is inherited. Even so, the government and President Asif Ali Zardari are the lightning rods for public anger, which has begun to bubble up in the form of protests in some places in Punjab.
A basement full of cobblers in the old city, when asked to describe where they thought the crisis had come from, could come up with only curse words for their leaders.
The opposition party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has played on that anger, trumpeting the crisis to score political points, analysts said, even though its government’s record in the 1990s was no better.
On Saturday, city government officials marched around Lahore’s most important markets at 8 p.m., demanding that merchants shutter their stores. Men with sticks from the local trade union made the final argument for those who were slow to comply.
“We want to shop,” said a woman glaring at the lowered gates of a shoe store. “People don’t get up early, and it’s hot. Now I’ll have to come back on Monday.”
The restrictions look menacing, but few believe they will last. Follow-through has never been Pakistan’s strong point, and the power-saving measures seemed unlikely to be an exception.
When the groom finally arrived at the marriage hall, it was after 10 p.m., and Mr. Ilyas looked distressed. A thick river of guests inched into the hall for dinner, which had been ready since 7, as a marching band played behind them in the dark.
But by 11, no one had come to shut the hall down. A basic truth about Pakistan had been revealed.
“It will be like this for 10 days, and after that will go back to the way it was,” Mr. Ilyas said. “This is the Pakistani way.”
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
LAHORE, Pakistan — The Taliban may be plotting bombings, and the economy is on the brink. But these days, the single biggest woe tormenting Pakistanis is as basic as an electric light bulb.
Pakistan is in the throes of an energy crisis, with Pakistanis now enduring about 12 hours of power cuts a day, a grueling schedule that is melting ice, stopping fans and enraging an already exhausted populace just as the blast furnace of summer gets started.
In an effort to stem that frustration, Pakistan’s government held an emergency meeting last week, bringing together top bureaucrats from across the country. But instead of easing the problem, it aggravated it, ordering power-saving measures that seemed calculated to smother some Pakistanis’ last remaining pleasures.
“They are playing a joke on us,” said Amina Ali, the mother of a bride at a wedding hall that was under orders to close early as part of the new energy-saving restrictions. Her brother chimed in: “The Pakistani people are a toy in the hands of the government.”The power failures could prove destabilizing if they go unchecked, analysts said. Pakistan badly needs its economy to expand to make space for its bulging young population, and chronic power cuts work against that.
It is a concern for the United States, which is trying to help steady Pakistan’s wobbly finances and keep its democratically elected government afloat. The Obama administration has pledged about $1 billion for energy over the next five years.
The crisis is a snarl of unmet responsibilities, and untangling it will not be easy. It has a cast of guilty characters that goes back years: governments that are incapable of planning ahead; bureaucrats who take bribes; even ordinary people who steal about 30 percent of all the power produced. The tribal areas in the west, for example, have no meters and have never paid for power.
The result is about $2 billion a year in energy that is generated but not paid for. Industry experts said they were skeptical the government had a way to close the growing gap between Pakistan’s demand for power and the energy sector’s ability to produce it.
“There is nobody in Islamabad who is working on a coherent, integrated plan,” said one industry executive who asked not to be identified because he did not want to be seen as being critical of the government. “The discussion just keeps going in circles.”
Which was why it seemed particularly galling when the government ordered stores to be shut at prime shopping time, 8 p.m., and wedding halls closed by 10. Weddings are important entertainment in Pakistan, and go on late into the night, with dancing, lights and finery.
“Should we just sit at home in the darkness and go to sleep?” sputtered Ms. Ali, waiting outside the Mughal-e-Azam banquet hall, whose owners had been warned the night before that it should be closed by 10 p.m. One of the owners, Moazzam Ilyas, was nervously trying to coax the event along, even though at 9:45, the groom had still not arrived.
Here in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, the power failures have been disastrous for small businesses. Ali Raza, a printing press owner, has watched his once-prospering label business sag as power cuts bite into printing time, delaying orders and frustrating clients.
Late last year, he sold two large Swedish presses and fired half his 35-member staff. He has given up much of his upper-middle-class lifestyle, selling his Toyota, quitting his gym and limiting purchases of fruit and meat.
As his life and business shrink, so does his determination to stay in Pakistan. “I should move from here before I have nothing,” he said, sitting in his office next to a blank computer monitor and motionless fan. “Staying means committing suicide.”
Poorer Pakistanis have it worse. In Lahore’s old city, an ancient warren of narrow streets full of cavelike workshops for metal and leather, the sound of circular saws stops suddenly at 4 p.m. Candles are lighted. The only noise is the tapping of hammers.
“There’s no income; we are very worried,” said Mirza Arif Beg, 33, a metal polisher whose family business is collapsing. “We feel helpless. Should we do crime?”
Stealing electricity seems to be an option available mostly to those with enough money to afford a bribe. It also might require some relation to the storied meter men, who are paid a pittance but are reported to live well off the proceeds.
“They have big houses, big cars,” said Muhamed E. Baderi, a plastic-tube maker who said he knew a metal-works company that regularly bribed its meter man to reduce its electric bill. “They know the art of meter tampering.”
Those who cannot afford to bribe have to pay or face being shut off. Muhamed Faqir, a 45-year-old buffalo farmer with five children, said he had to borrow from relatives to pay $50 in bills after his power was cut for eight days this winter.
The energy industry was already beginning to spiral when the current government took office in 2008, and to a large extent, the problem is inherited. Even so, the government and President Asif Ali Zardari are the lightning rods for public anger, which has begun to bubble up in the form of protests in some places in Punjab.
A basement full of cobblers in the old city, when asked to describe where they thought the crisis had come from, could come up with only curse words for their leaders.
The opposition party, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has played on that anger, trumpeting the crisis to score political points, analysts said, even though its government’s record in the 1990s was no better.
On Saturday, city government officials marched around Lahore’s most important markets at 8 p.m., demanding that merchants shutter their stores. Men with sticks from the local trade union made the final argument for those who were slow to comply.
“We want to shop,” said a woman glaring at the lowered gates of a shoe store. “People don’t get up early, and it’s hot. Now I’ll have to come back on Monday.”
The restrictions look menacing, but few believe they will last. Follow-through has never been Pakistan’s strong point, and the power-saving measures seemed unlikely to be an exception.
When the groom finally arrived at the marriage hall, it was after 10 p.m., and Mr. Ilyas looked distressed. A thick river of guests inched into the hall for dinner, which had been ready since 7, as a marching band played behind them in the dark.
But by 11, no one had come to shut the hall down. A basic truth about Pakistan had been revealed.
“It will be like this for 10 days, and after that will go back to the way it was,” Mr. Ilyas said. “This is the Pakistani way.”
Bhutto panel to question senior Pakistan army officer
A panel of Pakistani civilians is to question a senior army officer over the murder of former PM Benazir Bhutto in 2007, officials say.No serving army officer has ever faced a civilian inquiry in Pakistan before.
The committee was set up by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to investigate questions raised by a UN inquiry into the assassination.It said the murder site had been hosed down too quickly by police, apparently on the orders of Maj Gen Nadeem Ijaz.The panel will interrogate a number of police officials as well as Gen Ijaz, who was then chief of the army's Military Intelligence (MI).
Preventable?
The committee is led by Cabinet Secretary Chaudhry Abdur Rauf. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial Home Secretary Fayyaz Toru and an army officer, Maj Gen Sajjad Ghani, are among its members.The committee is led by Cabinet Secretary Chaudhry Abdur Rauf. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial Home Secretary Fayyaz Toru and an army officer, Maj Gen Sajjad Ghani, are among its members.It was formed to determine why the crime scene was hosed down by police soon after Ms Bhutto's assassination in December 2007, and to submit a report to the prime minister within a week.
The committee met late on Monday evening to work out its terms of reference and to issue summonses to officers.
The UN report quotes at least two sources who suggest that top police official Saud Aziz - who ordered the hosing down of the crime scene - was not acting "independently" and was being leaned on by the army.
Ms Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi soon after addressing an election rally.
The military government at the time, headed by President Pervez Musharraf, blamed militant leader Baitullah Mehsud for ordering the assassination, a charge which he denied.
Many in Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) believe that the country's powerful security establishment may have been involved in eliminating Ms Bhutto.
The UN report published earlier this month said the assassination of Ms Bhutto could have been prevented and the subsequent inquiry was bungled.
The committee was set up by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to investigate questions raised by a UN inquiry into the assassination.It said the murder site had been hosed down too quickly by police, apparently on the orders of Maj Gen Nadeem Ijaz.The panel will interrogate a number of police officials as well as Gen Ijaz, who was then chief of the army's Military Intelligence (MI).
Preventable?
The committee is led by Cabinet Secretary Chaudhry Abdur Rauf. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial Home Secretary Fayyaz Toru and an army officer, Maj Gen Sajjad Ghani, are among its members.The committee is led by Cabinet Secretary Chaudhry Abdur Rauf. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial Home Secretary Fayyaz Toru and an army officer, Maj Gen Sajjad Ghani, are among its members.It was formed to determine why the crime scene was hosed down by police soon after Ms Bhutto's assassination in December 2007, and to submit a report to the prime minister within a week.
The committee met late on Monday evening to work out its terms of reference and to issue summonses to officers.
The UN report quotes at least two sources who suggest that top police official Saud Aziz - who ordered the hosing down of the crime scene - was not acting "independently" and was being leaned on by the army.
Ms Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi soon after addressing an election rally.
The military government at the time, headed by President Pervez Musharraf, blamed militant leader Baitullah Mehsud for ordering the assassination, a charge which he denied.
Many in Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) believe that the country's powerful security establishment may have been involved in eliminating Ms Bhutto.
The UN report published earlier this month said the assassination of Ms Bhutto could have been prevented and the subsequent inquiry was bungled.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Afghan schoolgirls fall ill; poison feared
Dozens of Afghan schoolgirls have fallen ill in recent days after reporting a strange odor in their classrooms in northern Afghanistan, prompting an investigation into whether they were targeted by militants who oppose education for girls or victims of mass hysteria.
Either way, the reports from three schools within 2 miles (3 kilometers) of one another in Kunduz province have raised alarm in a city threatened by the Taliban and their militant allies.
The latest cases occurred Sunday, when 13 girls became sick, Kunduz provincial spokesman Mahbobullah Sayedi said. Another 47 complained of dizziness and nausea the day before, and 23 fell ill last Wednesday.
All complained of a strange smell in class before they fell ill.
"I came out from the main hall, and I saw lots of other girls scattered everywhere," Anesa, a 9-year-old who was hospitalized briefly Sunday, told The Associated Press. "Then suddenly, I felt that I was losing my balance and falling."
None of the illnesses was serious and the girls were only hospitalized for a short time. The Health Ministry said blood samples were inconclusive and were being sent to Kabul for further testing to determine the cause of the illnesses.
"This is a matter of concern not only for us but for the families," Sayedi said, blaming the sicknesses on "enemies" who oppose education for girls.
In the capital of Kabul, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omar, said any attempt to keep girls out of school is a "terrorist act."
Kunduz had been relatively quiet until a few years ago when Taliban activity began to increase, threatening NATO supply routes south from Central Asia. Late Saturday, NATO and Afghan troops killed one militant and detained several others in Kunduz province.
Girls were not allowed to attend school when the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan. The group was ousted from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The Taliban and other conservative extremist groups have been known to target schoolgirls.
In one of the most chilling attacks, men on motorbikes sprayed acid from squirt guns and water bottles onto 15 schoolgirls and teachers in 2008 as they walked to a girls school in Kandahar, the southern city that is the spiritual birthplace of the militant movement.
Previous cases of sudden illness in schools have left families too frightened to send their daughters to school.
Last year, dozens of girls were hospitalized in Kapisa province, just northeast of Kabul, after many collapsed with headaches and nausea following reports of a strange odor in their schoolyard. The Taliban was blamed, but research into similar mass sickenings elsewhere has suggested that some might be the result of group hysteria.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Sunday, hundreds of people blocked a main road in Logar province, west of Kabul, and burned several trucks to protest what they said were civilian deaths in NATO operations. They gathered hours after NATO said coalition troops killed several insurgents and captured a Taliban sub-commander.
"The man they killed was a schoolteacher and a mullah," said businessman Jan Mohammed. "They killed him inside his house and because of that the people came and burned my gas station, my car and my house."
He complained that if NATO thought the mullah was with the Taliban, "they should have arrested him at his school not gone to his house at midnight."
"The people are very angry. They are saying these people killed are innocent civilians," provincial spokesman Din Mohammad Darwesh said.
Civilian deaths caused by U.S. and other international forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan. Public outrage over such deaths prompted the top commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, last year to tighten the rules on the use of airstrikes and other weaponry if civilians are at risk.
Last week, hundreds of residents in Logar protested another NATO operation, saying they were not convinced the victims were actually Taliban fighters. Logar is a strategic province because it controls southern land routes into Kabul, allowing weapons, explosives and fighters to move into the capital.
Also Sunday, NATO said a helicopter belonging to a civilian contractor made an emergency landing in Farah due to mechanical problems. There were no reports of injuries, NATO said. The Taliban claimed they shot down the helicopter.
In southeastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked private security guards while they were at a bazaar, killing four Afghans and wounding 12, the government said.
Two of the dead and five of the wounded worked for the U.S. Protection and Investigations security firm, an Interior Ministry statement said. The other victims were civilians.
The Houston-based company could not immediately be reached for comment.
The suicide attacker, who was on foot, targeted the guards at a bazaar in Sahjoy district of Zabul province, the ministry said.
Either way, the reports from three schools within 2 miles (3 kilometers) of one another in Kunduz province have raised alarm in a city threatened by the Taliban and their militant allies.
The latest cases occurred Sunday, when 13 girls became sick, Kunduz provincial spokesman Mahbobullah Sayedi said. Another 47 complained of dizziness and nausea the day before, and 23 fell ill last Wednesday.
All complained of a strange smell in class before they fell ill.
"I came out from the main hall, and I saw lots of other girls scattered everywhere," Anesa, a 9-year-old who was hospitalized briefly Sunday, told The Associated Press. "Then suddenly, I felt that I was losing my balance and falling."
None of the illnesses was serious and the girls were only hospitalized for a short time. The Health Ministry said blood samples were inconclusive and were being sent to Kabul for further testing to determine the cause of the illnesses.
"This is a matter of concern not only for us but for the families," Sayedi said, blaming the sicknesses on "enemies" who oppose education for girls.
In the capital of Kabul, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omar, said any attempt to keep girls out of school is a "terrorist act."
Kunduz had been relatively quiet until a few years ago when Taliban activity began to increase, threatening NATO supply routes south from Central Asia. Late Saturday, NATO and Afghan troops killed one militant and detained several others in Kunduz province.
Girls were not allowed to attend school when the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan. The group was ousted from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The Taliban and other conservative extremist groups have been known to target schoolgirls.
In one of the most chilling attacks, men on motorbikes sprayed acid from squirt guns and water bottles onto 15 schoolgirls and teachers in 2008 as they walked to a girls school in Kandahar, the southern city that is the spiritual birthplace of the militant movement.
Previous cases of sudden illness in schools have left families too frightened to send their daughters to school.
Last year, dozens of girls were hospitalized in Kapisa province, just northeast of Kabul, after many collapsed with headaches and nausea following reports of a strange odor in their schoolyard. The Taliban was blamed, but research into similar mass sickenings elsewhere has suggested that some might be the result of group hysteria.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Sunday, hundreds of people blocked a main road in Logar province, west of Kabul, and burned several trucks to protest what they said were civilian deaths in NATO operations. They gathered hours after NATO said coalition troops killed several insurgents and captured a Taliban sub-commander.
"The man they killed was a schoolteacher and a mullah," said businessman Jan Mohammed. "They killed him inside his house and because of that the people came and burned my gas station, my car and my house."
He complained that if NATO thought the mullah was with the Taliban, "they should have arrested him at his school not gone to his house at midnight."
"The people are very angry. They are saying these people killed are innocent civilians," provincial spokesman Din Mohammad Darwesh said.
Civilian deaths caused by U.S. and other international forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan. Public outrage over such deaths prompted the top commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, last year to tighten the rules on the use of airstrikes and other weaponry if civilians are at risk.
Last week, hundreds of residents in Logar protested another NATO operation, saying they were not convinced the victims were actually Taliban fighters. Logar is a strategic province because it controls southern land routes into Kabul, allowing weapons, explosives and fighters to move into the capital.
Also Sunday, NATO said a helicopter belonging to a civilian contractor made an emergency landing in Farah due to mechanical problems. There were no reports of injuries, NATO said. The Taliban claimed they shot down the helicopter.
In southeastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked private security guards while they were at a bazaar, killing four Afghans and wounding 12, the government said.
Two of the dead and five of the wounded worked for the U.S. Protection and Investigations security firm, an Interior Ministry statement said. The other victims were civilians.
The Houston-based company could not immediately be reached for comment.
The suicide attacker, who was on foot, targeted the guards at a bazaar in Sahjoy district of Zabul province, the ministry said.
Afghan war winnable says NZ Defence chief
Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae says there has been a positive change in the security situation in Afghanistan in the last eight to nine months.
Speaking from Gallipoli on TVNZ's Q+A programme , he said the majority of Afghanis just want to go about their daily lives, don't want to have a conflict in their backyard and are supportive of the international effort in Afghanistan.Mateparae says it's a matter of holding the course and providing confidence to Afghanis that there is an alternative to what they've had."And my understanding is that there has been a marked improvement in security and in the development lines around the south, and certainly where we are in Bamiyan (province)."We've had remarkable successes there, and if you use Bamiyan as the example of what it could be like, you know where you have a governor who is able to govern effectively, who is able to put development into the appropriate spaces, who's able to carry the people, then it is very very much a winnable war."
Mateparae also says the Taliban should be part of the solution.
To my mind speaking to the Taliban is important, I think it's part of the reconciliation process that is necessary and indeed you know absolutely required in Afghanistan."
And he is adamant New Zealand troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by the middle of next year saying they have got other things to do.Mateparae says the deployment of New Zealand Forces in Afghanistan finishes in September 2011, while the SAS has an 18 month deployment which started last September-October.
"So we're matching how we operate in Afghanistan to the conditions in Afghanistan, and also to the conditions at home in relation to just how much the Defence Force can commit, in the event that we've got other things that we need to be concerned about in our own area. We've got modernisation plans that are unrolling, we've got other things to look to."
Speaking from Gallipoli on TVNZ's Q+A programme , he said the majority of Afghanis just want to go about their daily lives, don't want to have a conflict in their backyard and are supportive of the international effort in Afghanistan.Mateparae says it's a matter of holding the course and providing confidence to Afghanis that there is an alternative to what they've had."And my understanding is that there has been a marked improvement in security and in the development lines around the south, and certainly where we are in Bamiyan (province)."We've had remarkable successes there, and if you use Bamiyan as the example of what it could be like, you know where you have a governor who is able to govern effectively, who is able to put development into the appropriate spaces, who's able to carry the people, then it is very very much a winnable war."
Mateparae also says the Taliban should be part of the solution.
To my mind speaking to the Taliban is important, I think it's part of the reconciliation process that is necessary and indeed you know absolutely required in Afghanistan."
And he is adamant New Zealand troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by the middle of next year saying they have got other things to do.Mateparae says the deployment of New Zealand Forces in Afghanistan finishes in September 2011, while the SAS has an 18 month deployment which started last September-October.
"So we're matching how we operate in Afghanistan to the conditions in Afghanistan, and also to the conditions at home in relation to just how much the Defence Force can commit, in the event that we've got other things that we need to be concerned about in our own area. We've got modernisation plans that are unrolling, we've got other things to look to."
UNICEF needs 4.5m dollars for IDPs
PESHAWAR: UNICEF in Pakistan urgently needs 4.5 million dollars to provide drinking water and life-saving health and nutrition interventions to the most vulnerable displaced children.
The children's agency is facing a severe lack of funding, which may result in thousands of children and women displaced by the crisis in FATA and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa being deprived of essential services.
UNICEF has received a third installment of 58 million dollars it requested as part of a joint humanitarian appeal to provide vital support to the people displaced from the militancy-hit areas into camps and host communities, as well as those returning to Swat and other pacified areas.
As a result, 6,000 malnourished children recently displaced from restive Orakzai and Kurram agencies in tribal areas could be left without nutritional support if UNICEF does not quickly receive the 1 million dollars needed to assist them.
They include 1,000 children who are severely malnourished, and at risk of death without immediate assistance.
If 3 million dollars are not received by early June, critical water services in crowded IDP camps may be at risk from July, exposing about 1,25,000 people, including 1,06,000 in Jalozai camp alone, to potentially deadly diseases such as diarrhoea during summer.
Health services are also dramatically under-funded: UNICEF urgently requires 500,000 dollars to ensure that 42,000 children and 12,000 mothers living in Upper Swat have immunisation and other vital health services.
"Children and women are invariably the most vulnerable members of the community during a crisis like this one," UNICEF acting Deputy Representative, Dr Pirkko Heinonen, said.
"Coming as they do from historically disadvantaged areas, they need our timely support to ensure that they can come through this crisis safely, in good health and with good prospects for their future." Eight Pakistani children die of diarrhoea every hour, amongst IDPs, living in crowded and unsanitary conditions, this rate may soar if clean drinking water is not available.
Lack of services has an especially strong impact on women and children.
In a recent survey, half of women IDPs and a third of children reported illness during the past two weeks, compared to only a quarter of men. "Thanks to support from the international community last year, we were able to help IDPs weather months of displacement," said Dr Heinonen.
The children's agency is facing a severe lack of funding, which may result in thousands of children and women displaced by the crisis in FATA and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa being deprived of essential services.
UNICEF has received a third installment of 58 million dollars it requested as part of a joint humanitarian appeal to provide vital support to the people displaced from the militancy-hit areas into camps and host communities, as well as those returning to Swat and other pacified areas.
As a result, 6,000 malnourished children recently displaced from restive Orakzai and Kurram agencies in tribal areas could be left without nutritional support if UNICEF does not quickly receive the 1 million dollars needed to assist them.
They include 1,000 children who are severely malnourished, and at risk of death without immediate assistance.
If 3 million dollars are not received by early June, critical water services in crowded IDP camps may be at risk from July, exposing about 1,25,000 people, including 1,06,000 in Jalozai camp alone, to potentially deadly diseases such as diarrhoea during summer.
Health services are also dramatically under-funded: UNICEF urgently requires 500,000 dollars to ensure that 42,000 children and 12,000 mothers living in Upper Swat have immunisation and other vital health services.
"Children and women are invariably the most vulnerable members of the community during a crisis like this one," UNICEF acting Deputy Representative, Dr Pirkko Heinonen, said.
"Coming as they do from historically disadvantaged areas, they need our timely support to ensure that they can come through this crisis safely, in good health and with good prospects for their future." Eight Pakistani children die of diarrhoea every hour, amongst IDPs, living in crowded and unsanitary conditions, this rate may soar if clean drinking water is not available.
Lack of services has an especially strong impact on women and children.
In a recent survey, half of women IDPs and a third of children reported illness during the past two weeks, compared to only a quarter of men. "Thanks to support from the international community last year, we were able to help IDPs weather months of displacement," said Dr Heinonen.
Swatis firm against militants despite target killings
PESHAWAR: The recent target killings in Swat valley have caused a wave of fear among the militancy fed-up residents and alarmed many personalities opposed to Taliban but the people are not only resolute to fight them but also trust the military to stop the militants from regaining the valley.
“Neither the target killings nor any other tactic of the militants could frighten us,” said former district nazim of Swat Jamal Nasir Khan. He is the son of former provincial minister, Shujaat Ali Khan. Taliban have attacked Jamal Nasir and his family members several times and torched his house in Shangwatai area in Matta.
“We have witnessed more horrible situation than this one. It could not shake our resolve. We will continue to side with the government and oppose terrorism,” he vowed and said if the militants killed them, the young members of his family would continue the fight. Unidentified attackers, believed to be Taliban, recently killed five persons opposed to them. However, Taliban have not claimed responsibility for the killings.
A former union council nazim Sajjad Khan was killed in Mingora along with two others on April 13. Alamgir Khan and Mukaram Khan were gunned down in Dherai while Bahre Karam and Aqil Shah were shot dead in former Taliban stronghold of Koza Bandai in Kabal tehsil. The three incidents took place within 10 days.
Son of veteran Awami National Party leader Afzal Khan Lala is also upbeat. “Life has started and people have got the courage now,” Muhammad Farooq told The News by phone. He said Taliban’s return was out of question, given the people’s resolve and military presence. Led by his father, he and his family did not leave Swat even when Taliban held sway in the valley. Afzal Khan Lala was officially rewarded for bravely fighting the Taliban.
The military routed Taliban in an operation last year. Though the militants could not recapture any nook in Swat, the deadly suicide attacks proved their presence. The target killings have led several analysts to believe that the militants are not going to give up and have been trying to regroup. The militants dispersed by military action appear to have established some kind of communication, evident from this year’s suicide attacks in Swat and Dir Lower.
“We are investigating to establish whether these are connected incidents or acts against individuals,” said police chief for the Malakand division, Qazi Jamilur Rahman. He had no doubt that the targeted persons were pro-government and said the police would make efforts to stave off such happenings in future. He said three separate investigation teams were probing the cases.
Whatever may be the level of people’s resolve, the target killings have alarmed many. “Its a more serious threat than suicide bombings,” said spokesman for the Swat Qaumi Jirga, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who has been speaking out against the Taliban.
People particularly those opposed to Taliban have reduced their movements. “We avoid attending functions and condolence gatherings,” said Jamal Nasir, who returned to Swat after spending time in Islamabad during the Taliban rule in the valley.
The anti-Taliban people feel insecure because of the enemy being faceless and unidentifiable. Ziauddin thought the target killings, carried out by remnants of Taliban, had caused fear among the residents. But he also sounds optimistic. “I think the wave of target killing may not continue for long, as the security forces are resolute to eliminate the militants.”
The recent incidents also point to lack of intelligence gathering. The Swat Quami Jirga in the first week of April had warned the shift in security forces’ focus to reconstruction from security could cause problems. “Not the lashkars, but effective intelligence-gathering could ensure victory in this war,” opined Ziauddin.
“Neither the target killings nor any other tactic of the militants could frighten us,” said former district nazim of Swat Jamal Nasir Khan. He is the son of former provincial minister, Shujaat Ali Khan. Taliban have attacked Jamal Nasir and his family members several times and torched his house in Shangwatai area in Matta.
“We have witnessed more horrible situation than this one. It could not shake our resolve. We will continue to side with the government and oppose terrorism,” he vowed and said if the militants killed them, the young members of his family would continue the fight. Unidentified attackers, believed to be Taliban, recently killed five persons opposed to them. However, Taliban have not claimed responsibility for the killings.
A former union council nazim Sajjad Khan was killed in Mingora along with two others on April 13. Alamgir Khan and Mukaram Khan were gunned down in Dherai while Bahre Karam and Aqil Shah were shot dead in former Taliban stronghold of Koza Bandai in Kabal tehsil. The three incidents took place within 10 days.
Son of veteran Awami National Party leader Afzal Khan Lala is also upbeat. “Life has started and people have got the courage now,” Muhammad Farooq told The News by phone. He said Taliban’s return was out of question, given the people’s resolve and military presence. Led by his father, he and his family did not leave Swat even when Taliban held sway in the valley. Afzal Khan Lala was officially rewarded for bravely fighting the Taliban.
The military routed Taliban in an operation last year. Though the militants could not recapture any nook in Swat, the deadly suicide attacks proved their presence. The target killings have led several analysts to believe that the militants are not going to give up and have been trying to regroup. The militants dispersed by military action appear to have established some kind of communication, evident from this year’s suicide attacks in Swat and Dir Lower.
“We are investigating to establish whether these are connected incidents or acts against individuals,” said police chief for the Malakand division, Qazi Jamilur Rahman. He had no doubt that the targeted persons were pro-government and said the police would make efforts to stave off such happenings in future. He said three separate investigation teams were probing the cases.
Whatever may be the level of people’s resolve, the target killings have alarmed many. “Its a more serious threat than suicide bombings,” said spokesman for the Swat Qaumi Jirga, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who has been speaking out against the Taliban.
People particularly those opposed to Taliban have reduced their movements. “We avoid attending functions and condolence gatherings,” said Jamal Nasir, who returned to Swat after spending time in Islamabad during the Taliban rule in the valley.
The anti-Taliban people feel insecure because of the enemy being faceless and unidentifiable. Ziauddin thought the target killings, carried out by remnants of Taliban, had caused fear among the residents. But he also sounds optimistic. “I think the wave of target killing may not continue for long, as the security forces are resolute to eliminate the militants.”
The recent incidents also point to lack of intelligence gathering. The Swat Quami Jirga in the first week of April had warned the shift in security forces’ focus to reconstruction from security could cause problems. “Not the lashkars, but effective intelligence-gathering could ensure victory in this war,” opined Ziauddin.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Extremists in Pakistan fighting back: Gen Petraeus
WASHINGTON: The extremists in Pakistan are killing innocent civilians as they are trying to fight back against a successful government campaign to uproot them, says the US military commander for the Afghan and Iraq wars.In an interview to PBS, Gen David Petraeus also observed that while he would be careful in describing US military gains in Afghanistan as ‘real success’, in Pakistan the government-led campaign against the militants had shown ‘considerable progress’.“I would be careful about describing, quote, ‘real success’ in Afghanistan,” said the commander of the US Central Command.“In Pakistan, there has indeed been considerable progress by the Pakistani army and the Frontier Corps against the Pakistani Taliban.”He noted that in the northwest, particularly in Swat and some of the tribal areas, the Pakistani armed forces had shown real progress, “but clearly (it is) very tough work”.The extremists in Pakistan, including the Taliban and their confederates, had “sought to fight back by doing what they do, which is carry out acts of indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians”.Gen Petraeus recalled that the extremists had always targeted civilians, “as they assassinated Benazir Bhutto and blew up visiting cricket teams and thousands and thousands of innocent Pakistani civilians and security force members.”What, according to him, enabled Pakistan to make ‘considerable progress’ in the fight against the extremists was “the determination and the perseverance they have demonstrated and the popular support for the continuing operations against extremists”.The Pakistani people, he noted, saw the extremists as representing the most pressing threat to their country’s existence.The people believed that the extremists wanted to turn the clock back several centuries instead of allowing Pakistan to move forward the way the bulk of the population wanted, he added.Gen Petraeus noted that while Ambassador Richard Holbrooke’s jurisdiction did not include India, he had been consulting the Indians very regularly.“I think, again, it’s not in the title, but he has certainly had a lot of activity with our Indian partners,” he said.The US military commander also drew a distinction between the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, he said, the US was “in the lead” as it had its troops there.“In Pakistan, supporting very much providing assistance, equipment, funding in some cases, occasionally sharing some information or what have you,” said Gen Petraeus while explaining the US engagement with Pakistan.The purpose behind this policy was “to enable the country to do it itself rather than for us to do it” for them.
Obama urges overhaul to immigration
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has renewed calls to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, saying a failure to do so would lead to ''misguided'' efforts such as legislation just passed in Arizona.
That state's legislature passed a bill that would make it a state crime to be in the US illegally and require police to determine the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country without proper documentation.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill into law at a ceremony early yesterday.
At a White House naturalisation ceremony for 24 members of the US military, Mr Obama said: ''Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona.''
Mrs Brewer said she expected the measure to face constitutional challenges. The bill sparked protests in the state, where Census Bureau figures show about a quarter of the population is of Hispanic descent. Arizona shares a border with Mexico and has an estimated 460,000 residents living there illegally, the seventh-highest total in the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr Obama said the actions by the Arizona legislature threatened ''to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans''. It could also hamper trust between residents and law enforcement authorities, he said.
He said he had instructed US authorities to monitor the state's actions and to ''examine the civil rights and other implications'' of the legislation.
The President's comments came at a naturalisation ceremony for 24 US soldiers from 16 countries who took the oath to become citizens.
Democratic congressional leaders have said an overhaul of US immigration law could advance through Congress this year if Senate majority leader Harry Reid could pick up enough Republican support to get it through.
The last attempt to revamp the law to create a guest worker program and provide a path to citizenship for some of those living in the US illegally was in 2007.
That was blocked amid opposition from Republicans and some Democrats.
''Surely we can all agree that when 11 million people in our country are living here illegally, outside the system, that's unacceptable,'' Mr Obama said.
''The American people demand and deserve a solution.''
That state's legislature passed a bill that would make it a state crime to be in the US illegally and require police to determine the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country without proper documentation.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill into law at a ceremony early yesterday.
At a White House naturalisation ceremony for 24 members of the US military, Mr Obama said: ''Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona.''
Mrs Brewer said she expected the measure to face constitutional challenges. The bill sparked protests in the state, where Census Bureau figures show about a quarter of the population is of Hispanic descent. Arizona shares a border with Mexico and has an estimated 460,000 residents living there illegally, the seventh-highest total in the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr Obama said the actions by the Arizona legislature threatened ''to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans''. It could also hamper trust between residents and law enforcement authorities, he said.
He said he had instructed US authorities to monitor the state's actions and to ''examine the civil rights and other implications'' of the legislation.
The President's comments came at a naturalisation ceremony for 24 US soldiers from 16 countries who took the oath to become citizens.
Democratic congressional leaders have said an overhaul of US immigration law could advance through Congress this year if Senate majority leader Harry Reid could pick up enough Republican support to get it through.
The last attempt to revamp the law to create a guest worker program and provide a path to citizenship for some of those living in the US illegally was in 2007.
That was blocked amid opposition from Republicans and some Democrats.
''Surely we can all agree that when 11 million people in our country are living here illegally, outside the system, that's unacceptable,'' Mr Obama said.
''The American people demand and deserve a solution.''
Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon
Somewhere above earth is America’s latest spaceship, a 30ft craft so classified that the Pentagon will not divulge its mission nor how much it cost to build.
The mysterious X37B, launched successfully by the US Air Force from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, using an Atlas V rocket, looks like a mini-Space Shuttle — but its mission is top secret.
It is officially described as an orbital test vehicle. However, one of its potential uses appears to be to launch a surge of small satellites during periods of high international tension. This would enable America to have eyes and ears orbiting above any potential troublespot in the world.
The X37B can stay in orbit for up to 270 days, whereas the Shuttle can last only 16 days. This will provide the US with the ability to carry out experiments for long periods, including the testing of new laser weapon systems. This would bring accusations that the launch of X37B, and a second vehicle planned for later this year, could lead to the militarisation of space.US defence officials, who would not say how much the project had cost, insisted, however, that it was “just an updated version of the Space Shuttle activities”.
Thursday’s launch was more about testing the craft, a new generation of silica tile and a wealth of other advances that make the Shuttle look like yesterday’s space technology.
Nasa’s X37B programme began in 1999 and ran until September 2004 when it was transferred to the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency before being taken over by the US Air Force.
The flight of the X37B is being managed by the US Air Force Space Command’s 3rd Space Experimental Squadron.
“This bird has been through all of the shake, rattle and roll, the vibration tests, the acoustic tests that any spacecraft would go through,” said Gary Payton, Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programmes.
With all the focus on the launch of the secret X37B, another space launch by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California received less attention.
It was carrying the prototype of a new weapon that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour.
The Prompt Global Strike is designed as the conventional weapon of the future. It could hit Osama bin Laden’s cave, an Iranian nuclear site or a North Korean missile with a huge conventional warhead.
Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon
Somewhere above earth is America’s latest spaceship, a 30ft craft so classified that the Pentagon will not divulge its mission nor how much it cost to build.
The mysterious X37B, launched successfully by the US Air Force from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, using an Atlas V rocket, looks like a mini-Space Shuttle — but its mission is top secret.
It is officially described as an orbital test vehicle. However, one of its potential uses appears to be to launch a surge of small satellites during periods of high international tension. This would enable America to have eyes and ears orbiting above any potential troublespot in the world.
The X37B can stay in orbit for up to 270 days, whereas the Shuttle can last only 16 days. This will provide the US with the ability to carry out experiments for long periods, including the testing of new laser weapon systems. This would bring accusations that the launch of X37B, and a second vehicle planned for later this year, could lead to the militarisation of space.US defence officials, who would not say how much the project had cost, insisted, however, that it was “just an updated version of the Space Shuttle activities”.
Thursday’s launch was more about testing the craft, a new generation of silica tile and a wealth of other advances that make the Shuttle look like yesterday’s space technology.
Nasa’s X37B programme began in 1999 and ran until September 2004 when it was transferred to the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency before being taken over by the US Air Force.
The flight of the X37B is being managed by the US Air Force Space Command’s 3rd Space Experimental Squadron.
“This bird has been through all of the shake, rattle and roll, the vibration tests, the acoustic tests that any spacecraft would go through,” said Gary Payton, Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programmes.
With all the focus on the launch of the secret X37B, another space launch by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California received less attention.
It was carrying the prototype of a new weapon that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour.
The Prompt Global Strike is designed as the conventional weapon of the future. It could hit Osama bin Laden’s cave, an Iranian nuclear site or a North Korean missile with a huge conventional warhead.
Taliban, On the run, militants find new haven
DAWN.COM
They were never routed, no matter what Pakistan claimed. Instead, the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have merely relocated. They're still near the Afghan border.
Months after Pakistani troops chased them from South Waziristan, these militants have established a new base farther north under the protection of an insurgent leader who has cut past deals with the Pakistani army, according to residents, militants and reports from Associated Press correspondents who visited recently.
The fighters — including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks — roam through markets, frequent restaurants and watch jihadi movies or surf the web at Internet cafes, their weapons propped up against the table. Pakistani troops wave them through checkpoints even though they're armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers.
These are the new VIPs in Pakistan's most dangerous region, North Waziristan.
The influx of these militants in North Waziristan in recent months adds to pressure on the army to launch an offensive there, and raises questions over its policy of making agreements with Gul Bahadur and other insurgent commanders who threaten US forces in Afghanistan but do not attack targets in Pakistan.
Bahadur agreed not to help his fellow militants during last year's offensive in South Waziristan as part of an understanding reached with the army. In exchange, the army would not attack his territory to the north. Now it appears that this pact has backfired on the army, enabling militants whom Pakistan considers a threat to its security to regroup on Bahadur's lands.
The military says it is not moving into North Waziristan because it does not have enough troops to do so effectively. Critics say the force is holding back because it does not want to sever alliances with militant factions fighting just across the border in Afghanistan, believing they will one day serve Pakistan's interests there.
That makes North Waziristan an enticing destination for extremists, even with US missiles regularly pounding the region. All but two of the 27 missile strikes fired from unmanned drones since January have hit targets in the north, according to a count by the AP.
Newly arrived Pakistani Taliban, Arab and Uzbek militants from South Waziristan are now commonly seen in the north's major towns, Mir Ali and Miramshah, which are under the control of Bahadur, according to residents there and two AP reporters in the region.
The Pakistani Taliban has set up a command and control center in Mir Ali bazaar, where it communicates by radio with other groups in the tribal belt, witnesses say.
All those interviewed declined to give their names, citing fear of retribution by either the Taliban or Pakistani security forces. The AP reporters also asked to remain anonymous for the same reason.
"Under tribal customs and traditions, we are bound to host brothers from South Waziristan. We are like brothers and we support each other," said a close aide to Bahadur. "We have no concern that our attitude toward the Pakistani Taliban in our area will invite an army offensive. Why should it? Neither we nor the Pakistani Taliban men have caused any problems for the army in North Waziristan."
Before launching the offensive in South Waziristan, the Pakistani army acknowledged striking the deal with Bahadur.
On Wednesday, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied the force had any ongoing deal with Bahadur not to attack his territory, saying the local administration may have an arrangement with tribal leaders in the area to ensure peace there.
But security analysts and residents disputed this, saying there was clearly a truce of some sort in the region.
Abbas insisted the army had not ceded the north to militants, saying the army had about 25,000 troops stationed there that carry out small-scale, targeted operations against insurgents.
Any such operations are rarely reported.
Despite the remarks by Bahadur's aide, there are signs the new arrivals may be straining relations with their hosts.
The Pakistani Taliban circulated a leaflet two months ago calling on their fighters to avoid any "criminal activity" and interference in the internal affairs of the region.
The army began its operations in South Waziristan in October against the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella grouping of militants that has claimed responsibility for many of the hundreds of suicide bombs to hit the country over the last two years.
It retook the area in about two months, but most of the insurgents fled rather than fight and none of the top commanders were captured or killed.
In Washington, a senior military official confirmed that fighters scattered from South Waziristan, including some to the north and others into Afghanistan. They included foreign fighters, he said on condition of anonymity because it involves intelligence.
The army has since launched air and ground operations in the Orakzai tribal area, where it says many of those who fled South Waziristan have ended up. But several analysts said they believed North Waziristan was home to most of the insurgents, including their leaders.
"The Taliban are receiving undeclared protection and shelter there in North Waziristan. The issue is now for how long this can be sustained," said Imtiaz Gul, director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. "If you look at the growing convergence between the Pakistan and the US military, it will be difficult for Gul Bahadur to keep these people and not be disturbed."
Bahadur, whose forces do not carry out attacks within Pakistan, is regarded as "good Taliban" by Pakistani security agencies. But he and other allied insurgents leaders in the north, among them Jalaluddin Haqqani, regularly dispatch men to fight US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.
US officials have praised Pakistan's actions against the Taliban in the northwest over the last 18 months, a change from two years ago when their refrain was a near constant "Pakistan must do more." They have also said they understood Pakistan's reasons for not going into North Waziristan immediately.
But an uptick in bombings in recent weeks in Pakistani cities after three month of relative calm will add to calls for action in the north.
"The strikes over the last couple of days mean the Taliban have reorganized," said Mahmood Shah, a former security chief for Pakistan's tribal regions. "I understand the complexities of launching an operation in North Waziristan, but I think it will become a compulsion."
Some residents said they saw signs that a military offensive might come — from soldiers repairing checkpoints on previously abandoned roads, to Pakistani Taliban fighters using the north as a base.
"After the military operation in South Waziristan we have seen Arabs, Uzbeks and Pakistani Taliban in Miran Shah market," said a school teacher in that town near the Afghan border. "I am happy with the agreement between Gul Bahadur and Pakistan, but I fear another military operation in our area when I see these people having free movement."
The owner of a pharmacy in the same town had similar fears.
"I am not hopeful about the future of the Gul Bahadur agreement when I see what's happening on the ground," he said.
They were never routed, no matter what Pakistan claimed. Instead, the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have merely relocated. They're still near the Afghan border.
Months after Pakistani troops chased them from South Waziristan, these militants have established a new base farther north under the protection of an insurgent leader who has cut past deals with the Pakistani army, according to residents, militants and reports from Associated Press correspondents who visited recently.
The fighters — including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks — roam through markets, frequent restaurants and watch jihadi movies or surf the web at Internet cafes, their weapons propped up against the table. Pakistani troops wave them through checkpoints even though they're armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers.
These are the new VIPs in Pakistan's most dangerous region, North Waziristan.
The influx of these militants in North Waziristan in recent months adds to pressure on the army to launch an offensive there, and raises questions over its policy of making agreements with Gul Bahadur and other insurgent commanders who threaten US forces in Afghanistan but do not attack targets in Pakistan.
Bahadur agreed not to help his fellow militants during last year's offensive in South Waziristan as part of an understanding reached with the army. In exchange, the army would not attack his territory to the north. Now it appears that this pact has backfired on the army, enabling militants whom Pakistan considers a threat to its security to regroup on Bahadur's lands.
The military says it is not moving into North Waziristan because it does not have enough troops to do so effectively. Critics say the force is holding back because it does not want to sever alliances with militant factions fighting just across the border in Afghanistan, believing they will one day serve Pakistan's interests there.
That makes North Waziristan an enticing destination for extremists, even with US missiles regularly pounding the region. All but two of the 27 missile strikes fired from unmanned drones since January have hit targets in the north, according to a count by the AP.
Newly arrived Pakistani Taliban, Arab and Uzbek militants from South Waziristan are now commonly seen in the north's major towns, Mir Ali and Miramshah, which are under the control of Bahadur, according to residents there and two AP reporters in the region.
The Pakistani Taliban has set up a command and control center in Mir Ali bazaar, where it communicates by radio with other groups in the tribal belt, witnesses say.
All those interviewed declined to give their names, citing fear of retribution by either the Taliban or Pakistani security forces. The AP reporters also asked to remain anonymous for the same reason.
"Under tribal customs and traditions, we are bound to host brothers from South Waziristan. We are like brothers and we support each other," said a close aide to Bahadur. "We have no concern that our attitude toward the Pakistani Taliban in our area will invite an army offensive. Why should it? Neither we nor the Pakistani Taliban men have caused any problems for the army in North Waziristan."
Before launching the offensive in South Waziristan, the Pakistani army acknowledged striking the deal with Bahadur.
On Wednesday, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied the force had any ongoing deal with Bahadur not to attack his territory, saying the local administration may have an arrangement with tribal leaders in the area to ensure peace there.
But security analysts and residents disputed this, saying there was clearly a truce of some sort in the region.
Abbas insisted the army had not ceded the north to militants, saying the army had about 25,000 troops stationed there that carry out small-scale, targeted operations against insurgents.
Any such operations are rarely reported.
Despite the remarks by Bahadur's aide, there are signs the new arrivals may be straining relations with their hosts.
The Pakistani Taliban circulated a leaflet two months ago calling on their fighters to avoid any "criminal activity" and interference in the internal affairs of the region.
The army began its operations in South Waziristan in October against the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella grouping of militants that has claimed responsibility for many of the hundreds of suicide bombs to hit the country over the last two years.
It retook the area in about two months, but most of the insurgents fled rather than fight and none of the top commanders were captured or killed.
In Washington, a senior military official confirmed that fighters scattered from South Waziristan, including some to the north and others into Afghanistan. They included foreign fighters, he said on condition of anonymity because it involves intelligence.
The army has since launched air and ground operations in the Orakzai tribal area, where it says many of those who fled South Waziristan have ended up. But several analysts said they believed North Waziristan was home to most of the insurgents, including their leaders.
"The Taliban are receiving undeclared protection and shelter there in North Waziristan. The issue is now for how long this can be sustained," said Imtiaz Gul, director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. "If you look at the growing convergence between the Pakistan and the US military, it will be difficult for Gul Bahadur to keep these people and not be disturbed."
Bahadur, whose forces do not carry out attacks within Pakistan, is regarded as "good Taliban" by Pakistani security agencies. But he and other allied insurgents leaders in the north, among them Jalaluddin Haqqani, regularly dispatch men to fight US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.
US officials have praised Pakistan's actions against the Taliban in the northwest over the last 18 months, a change from two years ago when their refrain was a near constant "Pakistan must do more." They have also said they understood Pakistan's reasons for not going into North Waziristan immediately.
But an uptick in bombings in recent weeks in Pakistani cities after three month of relative calm will add to calls for action in the north.
"The strikes over the last couple of days mean the Taliban have reorganized," said Mahmood Shah, a former security chief for Pakistan's tribal regions. "I understand the complexities of launching an operation in North Waziristan, but I think it will become a compulsion."
Some residents said they saw signs that a military offensive might come — from soldiers repairing checkpoints on previously abandoned roads, to Pakistani Taliban fighters using the north as a base.
"After the military operation in South Waziristan we have seen Arabs, Uzbeks and Pakistani Taliban in Miran Shah market," said a school teacher in that town near the Afghan border. "I am happy with the agreement between Gul Bahadur and Pakistan, but I fear another military operation in our area when I see these people having free movement."
The owner of a pharmacy in the same town had similar fears.
"I am not hopeful about the future of the Gul Bahadur agreement when I see what's happening on the ground," he said.
10 policemen wounded in suicide attack in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide attack on a prison van in northwest Pakistan wounded at least 10 policemen on Saturday, authorities said.
A car bomber targeted the van as it arrived at a jail in Timergarah, before it picked up prisoners to take to nearby Swat Valley, senior police official Shakeel Khan said. No prisoners were in the van at the time.
Police were planning to use the van to take some of the militants detained during last year's military operation in the region, Khan said.
Timergarah is in deeply conservative Lower Dir district, which is near the Afghan border.
It was a militant stronghold until mid-2009 when the military launched a major offensive and took it back from insurgents. Sporadic violence has continued.
A car bomber targeted the van as it arrived at a jail in Timergarah, before it picked up prisoners to take to nearby Swat Valley, senior police official Shakeel Khan said. No prisoners were in the van at the time.
Police were planning to use the van to take some of the militants detained during last year's military operation in the region, Khan said.
Timergarah is in deeply conservative Lower Dir district, which is near the Afghan border.
It was a militant stronghold until mid-2009 when the military launched a major offensive and took it back from insurgents. Sporadic violence has continued.
Abbas: No Palestinian state in temporary borders
– Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders, an idea he said was recently proposed for restarting peace talks.
In a speech to leaders of his Fatah movement, Abbas urged Israel to resume serious negotiations on the terms of full Palestinian statehood, adding that such talks should wrap up within two years.
Israel and the Palestinians remain far apart on the framework for such talks, and U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell returned to the region on Friday for a new push to narrow the differences.
The U.S. has proposed indirect talks in which Mitchell would shuttle between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. However, the Palestinians say they won't engage unless Israel agrees not to start new housing projects for Jews in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians as a capital. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected a building freeze in east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. They also seek a freeze of all settlement construction before a resumption of peace talks.
In his speech, Abbas referred to recent proposals — apparently from Israel — for a temporary state but did not elaborate. "Frankly, we will not accept the state with temporary borders, because it is being offered these days," he said.
He said the Palestinians were being asked to "take a state with provisional borders on 40 or 50 percent, and after that we will see."
Israeli government officials were not immediately available for comment on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh denied that Israel officially raised the idea.
However, a Palestinian academic said Israel offered Abbas such a state on more than 50 percent of the West Bank. The academic said he served as a go-between for the two sides and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
A Palestinian state with provisional borders is part of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan as an interim step toward full independence.
The temporary state would only be established on parts of the territory the Palestinians want for their state. However, the road map never got off the ground and the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected provisional statehood, fearing the temporary borders would become the final ones.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also brushed aside the notion when asked about it Friday. "So there's a lot of ideas that have been floated around, but at the end of the day it's only the Israelis and Palestinians who can make decisions for themselves," she said.
Abbas, meanwhile, called for an open dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, saying time for a so-called two-state solution is running out, despite strong support on both sides.
"I call for an open dialogue with all Israeli factions, leaders, an open dialogue," he said. "We are ready for dialogue, because we know the overwhelming majority of Israelis support the two-state solution."
___
Arizona's immigration law
Arizona's governor vows the state's tough new law targeting illegal immigration will be implemented with no tolerance for racial profiling, but at least two advocacy groups were preparing legal challenges and Mexico has warned that the law could affect cross-border relations.
Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill that supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation's busiest gateway for human and drug smuggling from Mexico and home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants.
With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were "overreacting" and that she wouldn't tolerate racial profiling.
"We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act," Brewer said after signing the law. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation."
Earlier Friday, President Barack Obama called the Arizona bill "misguided" and instructed the Justice Department to examine it to see if it's legal. He also said the federal government must enact immigration reform at the national level — or leave the door open to "irresponsibility by others."
"That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe," Obama said.
The law makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants; allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws; and makes it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund said it plans a legal challenge to the law, which it said "launches Arizona into a spiral of pervasive fear, community distrust, increased crime and costly litigation, with nationwide repercussions."
William Sanchez, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders Legal Defense Fund, said his group is preparing a federal lawsuit against Arizona to stop the law from being applied. The group represents 30,000 Evangelical churches nationwide, including 300 Latino pastors in Arizona.
"Millions of Latinos around the country are shocked," Sanchez said.
Brewer ordered the state's law enforcement licensing agency to develop a training course on how to implement it without violating civil rights. The bill will take effect in late July or early August, depending on when the current legislative session ends.
"We must enforce the law evenly, and without regard to skin color, accent, or social status," she said. "We must prove the alarmists and the cynics wrong."
Many of the demonstrators at the Capitol complex booed when Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox she announced that "the governor did not listen to our prayers."
"It's going to change our lives," said Emilio Almodovar, a 13-year-old American citizen from Phoenix. "We can't walk to school any more. We can't be in the streets anymore without the pigs thinking we're illegal immigrants."
Mexico warned the proposal could affect cross-border relations, with Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa saying her country would have to "consider whether the cooperation agreements that have been developed with Arizona are viable and useful."
Francisco Loureiro, a pro-migrant activist who runs a migrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico, called the new law "racist" and said it would lead to more police abuse of migrants.
"Police in Arizona already treat migrants worse than animals," he said. "There is already a hunt for migrants and now it will be open season under the cover of a law."
Loureiro said about 250 deported migrants have been arriving at his shelter every night and that most tell him they were detained by police.
On Thursday, Mexico's Senate unanimously passed a resolution urging Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto the law.
Clinton, NATO plan exit from west Afghanistan
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to press other NATO nations to provide more trainers for Afghanistan's police and military forces as part of preparations to withdraw Western troops from there by summer 2011.Clinton and representatives of 27 other NATO countries — all of which contribute to the war effort — also are expected on Friday to review broader plans for turning the conflict over to Afghan forces starting the middle of next year, a goal set by the White House.
NATO's assessment of its exit strategy comes just five months after President Barack Obama sharply escalated troop strength in the rugged mountain nation to challenge a resurgent Taliban movement.
NATO has struggled, in some cases, to coordinate military operations with Afghan civilian authorities and agencies.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's top ranking civilian, said Thursday that an additional 450 trainers are needed for Afghanistan's security forces. Clinton aides, meanwhile, said she planned to appeal to the alliance to provide the required trainers.
The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because Clinton's plans were still being made, as NATO foreign ministers gathered here to discuss alliance nuclear policy, missile defense and other issues.
In a speech Thursday before the two-day NATO meeting began, Fogh Rasmussen called Afghanistan the most challenging military operation undertaken by NATO in its history.
NATO was founded 61 years ago this month with the signing of a treaty of collective defense against a feared land invasion by the Soviet Union.
Today, Fogh Rasmussen said, instability in places far from Europe can threaten NATO member states.
"We all want to see a stable and secure Afghanistan — an Afghanistan that is no longer a threat to its region and to the rest of the world," he said in his speech. "We will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to achieve that goal. We want to continue to empower the Afghans. And gradually hand over to them greater responsibility for the security of their own country when conditions permit."
During Thursday's talks, Clinton ruled out an early withdrawal of about 200 short-range U.S. nuclear weapons from bases in five European countries.
She said any reductions should be tied to a negotiated nuclear pullback by Russia, which has far more of the weapons in range of European targets.
No such talks are in the offing, and Moscow has shown little interest thus far in bargaining away its tactical nuclear arms.
Clinton also said the Obama administration wants NATO to accept missile defense as a core mission of the alliance.
The U.S. sees anti-missile systems as part of a broader effort to combat the dangers posed by nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the rockets that can deliver them.
Some European members of NATO, including Germany, have said it's time for the U.S. to withdraw its remaining Cold War-era nuclear weapons from Europe and cite Obama's pledge in Prague last year to seek a nuclear-free world.
Late last year, Germany was joined by NATO members Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Luxembourg in requesting that the nuclear issue be put on the agenda of the Tallinn meeting.
But some newer NATO members in central and eastern Europe, which lay within Moscow's orbit during the Cold War, oppose a U.S. nuclear withdrawal. They argue that the presence of the weapons is the surest guarantee of their territorial integrity.
Fogh Rasmussen told reportders here that U.S. nuclear weapons play a vital defensive role in Europe and should not be removed as long as other countries possess them.
"I do believe that the presence of the American nuclear weapons in Europe is an essential part of a credible deterrent," Fogh Rasmussen said.
NATO's assessment of its exit strategy comes just five months after President Barack Obama sharply escalated troop strength in the rugged mountain nation to challenge a resurgent Taliban movement.
NATO has struggled, in some cases, to coordinate military operations with Afghan civilian authorities and agencies.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's top ranking civilian, said Thursday that an additional 450 trainers are needed for Afghanistan's security forces. Clinton aides, meanwhile, said she planned to appeal to the alliance to provide the required trainers.
The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because Clinton's plans were still being made, as NATO foreign ministers gathered here to discuss alliance nuclear policy, missile defense and other issues.
In a speech Thursday before the two-day NATO meeting began, Fogh Rasmussen called Afghanistan the most challenging military operation undertaken by NATO in its history.
NATO was founded 61 years ago this month with the signing of a treaty of collective defense against a feared land invasion by the Soviet Union.
Today, Fogh Rasmussen said, instability in places far from Europe can threaten NATO member states.
"We all want to see a stable and secure Afghanistan — an Afghanistan that is no longer a threat to its region and to the rest of the world," he said in his speech. "We will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to achieve that goal. We want to continue to empower the Afghans. And gradually hand over to them greater responsibility for the security of their own country when conditions permit."
During Thursday's talks, Clinton ruled out an early withdrawal of about 200 short-range U.S. nuclear weapons from bases in five European countries.
She said any reductions should be tied to a negotiated nuclear pullback by Russia, which has far more of the weapons in range of European targets.
No such talks are in the offing, and Moscow has shown little interest thus far in bargaining away its tactical nuclear arms.
Clinton also said the Obama administration wants NATO to accept missile defense as a core mission of the alliance.
The U.S. sees anti-missile systems as part of a broader effort to combat the dangers posed by nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the rockets that can deliver them.
Some European members of NATO, including Germany, have said it's time for the U.S. to withdraw its remaining Cold War-era nuclear weapons from Europe and cite Obama's pledge in Prague last year to seek a nuclear-free world.
Late last year, Germany was joined by NATO members Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Luxembourg in requesting that the nuclear issue be put on the agenda of the Tallinn meeting.
But some newer NATO members in central and eastern Europe, which lay within Moscow's orbit during the Cold War, oppose a U.S. nuclear withdrawal. They argue that the presence of the weapons is the surest guarantee of their territorial integrity.
Fogh Rasmussen told reportders here that U.S. nuclear weapons play a vital defensive role in Europe and should not be removed as long as other countries possess them.
"I do believe that the presence of the American nuclear weapons in Europe is an essential part of a credible deterrent," Fogh Rasmussen said.
Benazir Bhutto gave me responsibility to negotiate with Bush Admin for her return: Seigel
ISLAMABAD: Mark Seigel, advisor and a close friend of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, has said that Benazir Bhutto had given him the responsibility to negotiate with Bush Administration to convince Pervez Musharraf for holding direct responsibility for her security but it did not happen.
In an interview with a private TV channel here on Friday he said that Benazir Bhutto wanted Musharraf to conduct free and fair elections in the country. Musharraf wanted BB not to return before the general elections but she did listen, therefore he became angry and she was not given proper security, he added.
Musharraf did not want her to come back and she was in confrontation with him but she refused President Musharraf and said that she would never run away and she would lead the party in her own country and serve the people of Pakistan.
He said that they spoke so often about physical danger to her. "She fundamentally believed in serving people of Pakistan. She was woman of deep faith. After October 18 attack she e-mailed me and gave me the responsibility to investigate the incident. She wanted the culprits to be brought to justice," he said. "Nothing God willing will happen but if it does then Gen. Musharraf, former DG ISI Hamid Gul and another close companion of him would be responsible", he added.
He said she was being denied all the protection arrangements a leader or former PM deserved. He said that she used to seek his advice.
He further said that Charter of Democracy was a good document between PPP and PML-N.
In response to a question he said that he is close to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and he is also working with the present government for promoting Pakistan's image in the USA.He said that the graph of PPP-led government in the world has increased after approval of the 18th amendment.
He said that BB and Mian Nawaz Sharif wanted elimination of the ban on third time prime ministership. No country has sacrificed in war against terror as people of Pakistan had and the whole world was aware of this fact.
He said that in prison Asif Ali Zardari was offered that if BB stayed out of the country for 10 years then he would be given a ministry of his own choice and all the cases against them would be eliminated.
He said that the incumbent government should be given its due time of 5 years to deliver to the masses but he was also aware of the fact that it never happened in past.
He said that UN commission also approached him and the UN report was very strong and clear.
In an interview with a private TV channel here on Friday he said that Benazir Bhutto wanted Musharraf to conduct free and fair elections in the country. Musharraf wanted BB not to return before the general elections but she did listen, therefore he became angry and she was not given proper security, he added.
Musharraf did not want her to come back and she was in confrontation with him but she refused President Musharraf and said that she would never run away and she would lead the party in her own country and serve the people of Pakistan.
He said that they spoke so often about physical danger to her. "She fundamentally believed in serving people of Pakistan. She was woman of deep faith. After October 18 attack she e-mailed me and gave me the responsibility to investigate the incident. She wanted the culprits to be brought to justice," he said. "Nothing God willing will happen but if it does then Gen. Musharraf, former DG ISI Hamid Gul and another close companion of him would be responsible", he added.
He said she was being denied all the protection arrangements a leader or former PM deserved. He said that she used to seek his advice.
He further said that Charter of Democracy was a good document between PPP and PML-N.
In response to a question he said that he is close to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and he is also working with the present government for promoting Pakistan's image in the USA.He said that the graph of PPP-led government in the world has increased after approval of the 18th amendment.
He said that BB and Mian Nawaz Sharif wanted elimination of the ban on third time prime ministership. No country has sacrificed in war against terror as people of Pakistan had and the whole world was aware of this fact.
He said that in prison Asif Ali Zardari was offered that if BB stayed out of the country for 10 years then he would be given a ministry of his own choice and all the cases against them would be eliminated.
He said that the incumbent government should be given its due time of 5 years to deliver to the masses but he was also aware of the fact that it never happened in past.
He said that UN commission also approached him and the UN report was very strong and clear.
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