Pakistan News

One day they tell us training camps of so-called ‘Baloch’ separatists are closed. Next day Brahamdagh Bugti springs up in Kandahar or Helmand.

The recent visit to Kabul has produced strange results for me. Though it was very informative, it has created more confusion in my mind. This time round, I had the opportunity to listen to many parties to the conflict in Afghanistan. I held long discussions with Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Ahsan Iqbal, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Gen (r) Asad Durrani, Afrasiyab Khattak, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and Najmuddin Sheikh as all these prominent personalities were invited, like the scribe, to attend the second conference of the Abu Dhabi process held under the auspices of the East-West Institute and the UAE government.

This time my meetings in Kabul were not restricted to ministers and advisers of the Karzai government. Rather I held meetings with former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mulla Abdus Salam Zaeef, ex-foreign minister of the Taliban regime Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakkil, some old-time friends from Hizb-e-Islami, Afghan intellectuals and the UAE and German ambassadors to Kabul. We also enjoyed the hospitality of the intellectual but very active Pakistani ambassador to Kabul, Mr Muhammad Sadiq. All these discussions and meetings were very useful as I listened to almost all parties to the Afghan conflict. continue

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Pakistani army units believed to have killed unarmed prisoners or civilians during anti-Taliban offensives are to be denied training and equipment from US forces, according to reports.

Pakistani army soldiers patrol a street in Miranshah, the main North Waziristan town
along the Pakistan Photo: AFP/GETTY

The aid cuts are the latest in a series of developments highlighting the uneasy relationship between Washington and its vital ally, sometimes seen as hindering the fight against al-Qaeda. The White House has not yet informed Pakistan of its decision even though senior Pakistani officials are in Washington for a series of talks this week, according to The New York Times, citing officials from both countries.

It comes just as the two nations seek to smooth over their latest crisis after Nato helicopters killed Pakistani troops along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and Islamabad responded by blocking the main transit point for US war supplies. Barack Obama's administration has "a lot of concern about not embarrassing" the Pakistani military, a senior official told the Times. continue

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National Logistics Cell, NLC, a successful public sector company created by dedicated officers from the Pakistani military and the talented Pakistani private sector, nosedived under three Army generals during the reign of former President Musharraf. In violation of clear instructions by former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the three men invested the entire pension fund of the company, a large amount of its surplus cash and a bank loan of two billion rupees into the stock market. If the probe by the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is correct, the three men conspired with brokers to enrich themselves. Bad apples in our midst must be removed and punished.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is to recommend action against three former lieutenant generals accused of causing Rs4 billion loss to the National Logistics Cell (NLC) by throwing money in the country`s volatile stock exchange during the Musharraf regime without any lawful authority.  continue

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US should pay arrears for using our facilities for its Afghan war, stop the drones, exclude India from future Afghan arrangements, and firmly include Pakistan in those arrangements.

The Pakistan-US strategic dialogue, which has become more of a “taking-Pakistan-to-task” for the US, is about to take place again from 22 October, and in preparation of the agenda from the Pakistani side, the Troika (President, Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff) held a meeting on Saturday. It appears that Pakistan will take up the drone attacks issue as well as the US arrears on payment of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF). It is good if the Pakistani side has finally decided to withdraw its support for the drone attacks in which primarily Pakistani civilians are being killed and one hopes that the Pakistani side will categorically state that it will respond in kind if any drone attacks take place. One hopes that the Pakistani side will not lose resolve in the face of US pressure in Washington. As for the CSF arrears, since the CSF is purely for services rendered by the Pakistani military for the US “war on terror”, Pakistan needs to take a stand that states clearly that all services for the US stand suspended till the arrears are cleared. After all, this is no aid but purely money for services rendered and which has reduced our military to a quasi-mercenary status. continue

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At an event organized by the British Army for world militaries to compete in toughness, with 750 soldiers participating worldwide, Pakistani soldiers bagged the Gold Medal for being the toughest soldiers capable of patrolling in the most difficult conditions.

A patrol from the Pakistan Army at the start of Cambrian Patrol

Beating hundreds of soldiers from major armies of the world, Pakistan Army has won the coveted Gold Award at the prestigious Cambrian Patrol Exercise held in Wales with participation from armies of India, Australia, Canada, United States and France among others.

750 soldiers from across the world descended on the Brecon Beacons in Wales to suffer through one of the toughest exercises ever devised. The Cambrian patrol tested the soldiering skills of the teams as they crossed some of the most arduous terrain one can imagine. During the marches, the teams had to complete challenges including observation and reconnaissance of enemy forces, cold-river crossings in full kit without access to boats, first-aid and defensive shooting under attack.

The exercise is organized by the British Army [HQ 160 (W) Brigade on behalf of HQ 5 Div] with an aim to provide a challenging patrols exercise in order to develop operational capability. Cambrian Patrol is arduous and concentrates on leadership, teamwork, physical fitness and achieving the mission by drawing participants from foreign countries. 

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Hillary Clinton and Shah Mehmood Qureshi participated in a discussion
at the State Department in Washington. — Photo by AFP (File)

By Khaleeq Kiani – The Dawn 

In the run-up to the third round of strategic dialogue, Pakistani authorities are getting irritated over the lack of US interest in resolving the country’s long-term regional issues and in providing economic support despite publicly declaring it a key ally in the war on terror and appreciating its sacrifices.

The authorities are also dissatisfied with the ‘triple accounting’ by the United States of its economic assistance to Pakistan, although the overall assistance remained less than $1.5 billion in a year. They also grumble that Pakistan has not been given market access for its products they believe it deserves in comparison to other countries.

“Since our engagement with US after 9/11 about more than nine years ago, the United States has made wide-ranging trading arrangements with Latin American countries, African nations and even some states in the Middle East but greater market access to Pakistan still remains far off,” said a government official.

Officials said that these were some of the issues Pakistani delegation led by Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would raise again with the US authorities as part of the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue to be held in Washington next week. continue

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Global Research - Sherwood Ross

By assigning covert action roles to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), it is as if the White House and Congress had legitimized the Ku Klux Klan to operate globally. That's because the CIA today resembles nothing so much as the "Invisible Empire" of the KKK that once spread terror across the South and Midwest. Fiery crosses aside, this is what the CIA is doing globally.

The CIA today is committing many of the same sort of gruesome crimes against foreigners that the KKK once inflicted on Americans of color. The principal difference is that the KKK consisted of self-appointed vigilantes who regarded themselves as both outside and above the law when they perpetrated their crimes. By contrast, the CIA acts as the agent of the American government, often at the highest levels, and at times at the direction of the White House. Its crimes typically are committed in contravention of the highest established international law such as the Charter of the United Nations as well as the U.S. Constitution. What's more, the "Agency," as it is known, derives its funding largely from an imperialist-minded Congress; additionally, it has no qualms about fattening its budget from drug money and other illegal sources. It is a mirror-image of the lawless entity the U.S. has become since achieving superpower status. And it is incredible that the White House grants license to this violent Agency to commit its crimes with no accountability. The Ku Klux Klan was founded shortly after the end of the U.S. Civil War. Klansman concealed their identities behind flowing white robes and white hoods as they terrorized the newly emancipated blacks to keep them from voting or to drive them from their property. continue

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  Special Report – Pakistan Nationalist

Husain Haqqani fancies himself as "Pakistan's Mr. America". But on 5 Oct. he was left stranded at the gate of the White House as other diplomats passed him by to attend President's Obama's glittering dinner for diplomatic corp. The incident hurt Mr. Haqqani's carefully cultivated image as the most wired Pakistani in Washington DC.

The reputation of Ambassador Husain Haqqani in Pakistan as the most influential Pakistani in the US capital received a beating last week when it became known he was denied entry to the While House and was abandoned at the gate during a high-powered dinner hosted by US president for foreign diplomats.

The incident occurred on 5 Oct. 2010, when Ambassador Haqqani was seen arguing with US Secret Service officers at the gate of the White House. The officers refused to allow him entry because his data conflicted with the information in the computer database.

As President Obama and his wife toasted the diplomats in the glittering reception in the East Room of the White House, Ambassador Haqqani and some thirty other diplomats from several countries were refused entry to the reception. Some ambassadors left in protest.

The White House kept the incident under wraps in order not to hurt foreign bilateral relations. continue

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By Hamid Mir – The News

Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the US was supporting some common enemies of Pakistan and Turkey and the time has come to unmask them and act together. In an exclusive chat with this correspondent in the presence of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Turkish prime minister very candidly answered critical questions not only about Turkey-Pakistan relations but also on some other important issues before leaving Pakistan on Tuesday night.

The Turkish premier said that the people of Pakistan should not fight with each other and they must concentrate on rehabilitation of 20 million flood victims. “Instability and infighting will only help your enemies who are looking for an opportunity to use Pakistanis against Pakistanis. continue

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Military official says there are no immediate plans for an operation in North Waziristan. PHOTO: AFP

Overstretched with consolidating the gains of previous campaigns against militancy, the Pakistan Army has no immediate plans to launch an offensive in the North Waziristan Agency, which the Americans consider the epicentre of al Qaeda. A military official told The Express Tribune here on Thursday that the operation in North Waziristan would be launched only if it is in Pakistan’s ‘interest.’ His comments came after US President Barack Obama’s top military adviser said the Pakistan Army had pledged to go after militants in North Waziristan, which the US believes is harbouring al Qaeda.

“We have never said that we won’t launch an operation in North Waziristan, but its timing will be decided by Pakistan alone,” said the military official, requesting anonymity. He said the military had already been overstretched in six tribal agencies and their engagement in relief activities in flood-hit areas made it difficult for them to open another front. continue

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Ahmed Quraishi – The Lounge

The outgoing US ambassador to Pakistan needs to be congratulated for one thing: she did an excellent job of meddling in Pakistani media and politics. She is credited with organizing a pro-US cabal inside Pakistan that springs into action whenever the US is criticized in Pakistani media. Ironically, this cabal, which consists of Pakistanis, never shows equal passion when the US officials and media demonize Pakistan worldwide.

Ms. Patterson has not been working alone. She received full support from the ruling PPPP's media managers. That is why I am mentioning Pakistan's own wunderkid: Ambassador Husain Haqqani who is said by sources in his won party to be responsible for organizing PPPP's media plans while sitting in Washington DC.

Today the pro-US Zardari-Haqqani cabal in Pakistan [read: PPPP Media Cell] are seething with anger that I criticized Nobel's cheap shot against China. A version of my op-ed, titled, A 'Nobel' Mob Ambush, Chicago Style, was published by the blog section of the Pakistani affiliate of International Herald Tribune. The comments section makes for an interesting read.

They are livid that I linked Nobel's China swipe to the unusual wave of anti-China political ads during the current mid-term election campaign in the US. I explained how the Indian lobby in the US is contributing to the 'Blame China' campaign to divert attention from US public's anger at outsourcing jobs to India.

So guess what? The pro-US Zardari-Haqqani cabal teams up with Indian net surfers to bash China on this excellent Pakistani website.

But no one should worry: Their comments and arguments don't even begin to scratch the surface. The best answer to their ramblings cames from Mr. Ghias Ahmed whose half-line was both pithy and shrewd:

"‎2012 Nobel Prize will be paid in Chinese Yuan…".

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By Shahid R. Siddiqi. Axis of Logic Exclusive

Fears have been expressed for a long time that successful resistance by the Pashtun Taliban against American occupation of Afghanistan and the imminent defeat of the "International Security Assistance Force" (ISAF which amounts to NATO led by the U.S.) would force Pentagon to broaden the theatre of war into Pakistan citing the presence of Taliban and Al Qaeda in its tribal areas to prolong the war.

If, as the polls indicate, the Republicans gain control of the US Senate in the coming mid terms, the Neocons, Tea Partiers and the conservatives can push for more attacks inside Pakistan on the plea that Taliban cannot be defeated unless their sanctuaries in Pakistan are not destroyed, a line that Pentagon takes.

Some American writers opine that Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (or FATA) would likely become the war zone on the pattern of ‘mission creep’ of Vietnam. Just as the Americans blundered into Cambodia and Laos to destroy the communist camps and lost the war, they are itching to make a similar mistake again.

But the Pentagon seems to be in no mood to wind down the Afghan war in compliance with President Obama’s plans. Its escalation into Pakistan would enable the Pentagon to put off America’s Soviet-style humiliation for another day and try to save its international power from being undermined. And then one must not forget it is wars that feed the American ‘military industrial complex’, as President Eisenhower pointed out in his famous speech.

The danger of such an eventuality is real, despite President Obama’s assurances of a lasting friendly relationship with Pakistan, unless the Obama White House reigns in its military leadership, which has shown signs of defiance, and assert civilian control over the nation’s war policies. continue

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An artistic concept of Paksat 1R, the telecommunication satellite of Pakistan which
will boost the confidence and knowledge of Pakistani experts. – Illustration by Muhammad Aamir Patni

Pakistan will launch its telecommunication satellite “PakSat 1R” on August 14, 2011. The satellite will replace the current telecommunication satellite developed by Hughes System. This was stated by Secretary SUPARCO, Arshad H Siraj on Monday. Talking to Dawn.com, Siraj said that the satellite will replace the existing PakSat 1 which will be inactive and outdated next year. The satellite already has shown signal eclipse of 88 days in a year. In PakSat 1R, the “R” means replacement. continue

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Amy Minsky, Postmedia News

Capt. Nichola Goddard who in 2006 became the first female Canadian combat death, wrote to her husband that women working at bases in Afghanistan were often victims of sexual harassment or assault, and that in one week there had been six rapes at her camp.

“OK. Now for all the stuff I can’t say over the phone,” she wrote in a personal letter to her husband of three years, Jason Beam, on Feb. 3, 2006, a little more than three months before she was killed in a firefight with the Taliban, west of Kandahar.

“There were six rapes in the camp last week, so we have to work out an escort at night.”

Capt. Goddard, who had arrived in Afghanistan one month prior, said in that letter that she was “pissed” because all the troops had been told about the rapes, yet because one of her peers forgot to tell her, she walked the 300 metres to and from the showers unaccompanied on her first night at camp.

“You know how freaked out I get about that kind of stuff,” she wrote. “At least I had my pistol.”

Capt. Goddard’s letters are the basis of Calgary Herald columnist Valerie Fortney’s new book, Sunray: The Death and Life of Captain Nichola Goddard. continue

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has hinted that the US and its Western allies are not serious enough in hunting down terrorists in the country. Karzai made the remarks at the presidential palace in Kabul in a Saturday meeting with visiting Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Australia has 1,500 soldiers in Afghanistan and 21 Australian soldiers have been killed in the country since 2002. The Afghan president said the security situation in Afghanistan does not improve as the US-led foreign forces have not been targeting the militants' main hideouts in the war-torn country, the office of Karzai's spokesman said in a Sunday statement, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Karzai said on Saturday that the US-led foreign forces were pursuing their own national security interests in Afghanistan. The Afghan president has recently increased criticism of the US airstrikes that have caused a large number of civilian casualties. Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months. 

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BY SYED FAWAD ALI SHAH
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

Rampant corruption and a weak Pakistani state are helping the entry into Pakistan of spies and terrorists from multiple foreign intelligence agencies operating in Afghanistan. Almost all terror in Pakistan is coming from Afghanistan. This American woman tried to sneak into Pakistan through Torkham on Afghan border today, Saturday, Mar. 13, 2010, around early afternoon. She was wearing an Afghan woman’s burqa and apparently spoke local dialects. She would have successfully crossed into Pakistan safely hidden among a group of Afghan women but something about her demeanor raised the suspicion of a Pakistani border guard.

However, the border guards, known as Khasadars, made sure that Pakistani intelligence officers posted in the area are not told about this arrest. Torkham is considered a hot station within Kasadar tribal force circles. With salaries that go less than PKR 10,000 per month [less than US$ 130], major checkpoints such as Torkham provide an extra source of income for the Khasadars through bribes from travelers.

The guards kept the woman in a room for about thirty minutes and then let her enter Pakistan in her burqa. She paid the Khasadar guards a handsome amount of money as bribe. According a source in the Khasadar Force who witnessed the whole thing, the woman didn’t panic. She appeared composed and familiar with the ways of the border guards. She knew what to do in such a situation. continue

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The apology is only for killing Pakistani soldiers and not for illegally entering Pakistan. Apology is unacceptable until US and NATO concede they have no legal right to violate international borders. Pakistan must continue to block supply lines.

So the US and NATO have apologized for the Kurram incident in which NATO gunship helicopters attacked an FC post and killed FC personnel – deliberately and in contravention of established SOPs. However, this is not enough because the apology is not for NATO’s illegal incursions into Pakistani territory repeatedly and the killing of Pakistani civilians and until NATO and the US concede that they have no legally justifiable reason to enter Pakistani territory and kill Pakistani citizens, the Pakistan government must continue to keep NATO supply routes closed – including the one that is presently still open. Why should NATO only acknowledge its mistake in the killing of FC personnel? Does the state of Pakistan not value the lives of its civilians? Surely the Pakistan government should have responded to this half-baked apology with a demand for a proper apology for all the NATO intrusions into FATA which have killed Pakistani citizens?

It is this lack of respect for civilian lives – what President Zardari, according to Bob Woodward’s latest book – simply dismisses as “collateral damage” – that has allowed the US and NATO to go on a killing spree against Pakistani civilians. It is not just the recent upping of the ante by these forces with the advent of NATO gunship helicopters into Pakistan; it is also the drone attacks which have increased substantially since Obama came to power in the US and the present government’s advent into power in Pakistan.

The NATO violence against Pakistan and the increasing targeting of NATO supplies within Pakistan shows the necessity of delinking from the US-led so-called war on terror. NATO and the US still have not paid up their backlog of payments to Pakistan but it is not simply a question of money – it is now a question of Pakistan’s security – including the threat from the NATO supply convoys themselves to Pakistanis living in the areas where they pass through. It is also the time for the government to stop allowing drone attacks which are a major cause for creating more space for militants in Pakistan. The justification for the drones is becoming ever more farcical and nothing reflects this more than Envoy Husain Haqqani explaining that the drone attacks were necessary to prevent anticipated terrorism in Europe – in other words killing of Pakistani citizens by drones to save Europe!

How much down this bizarre path will our rulers go to defend the indefensible? Every day scores of innocent Pakistanis are being killed with the occasional militant also becoming a target. It is truly despicable that a government that has been elected by the people and a military that is supposed to defend the country’s borders and the citizens are both allowing the borders to be violated and citizens to be killed at will by the US and NATO. Such is the tragedy of the Pakistani nation today.

This editorial was published by The Nation. Reach Dr. Mazari at callstr@hotmail.com

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SHIREEN M. MAZARI

The Nation

• Ambassador Haroon has provided Pakistani support in the Asian Group for India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council

• When Indian foreign minister blasted Pakistan at the UN, our envoy refused to reply to avoid criticizing India. Other diplomats call him and the Indian ambassador an ‘Inseparable Twin’

• Pakistan has an India-sympathizer as its UN Representative

• ‘Banana-Republic’ Pakistan under US tutelage appoints the likes of Haroon and Haqqani to crucial diplomatic posts

• Even ZAB (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto), PPP’s founder, had better sense when he countered India’s moves inside UN
  

Finally, Pakistan has a pro-Indian ambassador at the United Nations. He refuses to respond when Indian foreign minister blasts Pakistan at the UN and is so close to the Indian ambassador that other diplomats call them the 'inseparable twins'. The icing on the cake is that Pakistan's envoy has supported India's bid for a permanent UN seat. Tell me this is not a 'banana republic' under American tutelage?

In these trying times, when India is hysterically accusing Pakistan of all manner of fanciful evils of terrorism to divert attention from its quagmire in Occupied Kashmir, our diplomacy has suffered an unexpected blow from an unexpected source.

On crucial matters at the UN or any other international forum one expects the most senior diplomat – the Envoy himself – to stand up and state the country’s case. Unfortunately, this is not happening in the UN in New York, especially in cases where a condemnation of India is expected.

For instance, on Wednesday 29 September, in the rights-of-reply during the high level debate in the UNGA, following Krishna's statement on Kashmir, Pakistani Envoy Hussain Haroon did not exercise his right of reply because it he would have had to say that Indians won’t like. Instead, he let a junior foreign office official do that job while he sat in the routine UNSC debate on Afghanistan, which was not as important at that time. continue

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Grabs from a TV video show (clockwise) a NATO helicopter hovering over hills near Mandato Kandao post inside Pakistan’s Kurram Agency

Video footage of the Sept. 30 attack by US helicopters working for NATO in Afghanistan proves beyond doubt that US and NATO officials have been lying and misleading the international opinion. In this incident, the US military in Afghanistan is involved in the deliberate murder of three Pakistani soldiers.

A dramatic footage of the deadly attack on Mandato Kandao in Upper Kurram Agency last week leaves little doubt about the violation by Afghanistan-based foreign forces.

Contrary to NATO commanders’ claim of firing in self-defense on September 30, the images shown on DawnNews TV of the smoldering security post tells a different story. The video shows NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) aircraft hovering over the security post before blowing it up. Three paramilitary soldiers were killed in the attack.

Official sources told DawnNews that the helicopters had carried out two attacks, first at about 5:25am and the second at 9:40am.
The video filmed from a distance shows the post being reduced to rubble. According to local people, the dead and injured had suffered severe burn injuries. continue

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Salim Bokhari

After having failed to malign Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) as an institution and its chief Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the biased Indo-US media has now turned their guns at Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani.

American newspapers and Indian print and electronic media is on the rampage, using unauthentic references from sponsored books and hearsay, bidding to cast aspersions on the professionalism of the Pakistani Army Chief. His sin, according to a series of statements issued by low level American officials, is that he (Mr Kayani) is paying no heed to US demand for decisive action against terrorists' safe heavens in North Waziristan.

In a report published in the New York Times by Jane Perlez, another attempt was made to malign the Pakistan Army. The report said: "General Kayani, angered by the inept handling of the country's devastating floods and alarmed by a collapse of the economy, is pushing for a shake-up of the elected government, and in the longer term, the removal of President Asif Ali Zardari and his top lieutenants".

But in the second paragraph, the author of the report denies his own fact by saying: "The military, preoccupied by a war against militants and reluctant to assume direct responsibility for the economic crisis, has made it clear it is not eager to take over the government, as it has many times before". continue

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By Shaun Tandon (AFP)

Pakistan appears to have stepped up construction of a new atomic reactor that could help the country produce easier-to-deliver nuclear weapons, a US research institute said. Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is one of the most sensitive topics for the United States as it tries to improve relations with its frontline partner in the campaign against Islamic extremism.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a private US group which is critical of nuclear weapons, said Tuesday it observed progress at Pakistan's tightly guarded Khushab site which is key to plutonium production. In a September satellite image of the site in Punjab province, the institute said it observed a completed row of mechanical draft cooling towers at a third reactor, where construction began in 2006.

It marks a faster pace than for the second reactor, where such towers appeared after six years of construction, it said.
"Based on what I see in the image, it wouldn't surprise me if they started it up in 2011," said Paul Brannan, a senior analyst at the institute. The institute noticed steam from the second reactor in a December 31 image, indicating it was running. It did not see steam in the latest image, but said reactors were not operated continuously during early phases and that weather conditions may have reduced visibility. continue

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Truck owners examining the wreckage after trucks carrying NATO supplies were attacked in Rawalpindi.  photo: afp

Pakistan has refused to give a timeline for the resumption of Nato supplies, suspended last week after the US-led coalition forces’ incursions into the country’s tribal belt.

As two Nato oil tankers were set on fire near Mangochar area of Kalat district on Monday, the supply of goods to Nato troops in Afghanistan remained suspended at Torkham border for the sixth consecutive day with the US hoping that the restriction will be lifted ‘very soon’. The oil tankers, which were heading towards Kandahar from Karachi, were intercepted by armed men on the national highway. The assailants set both the tankers ablaze and fled the scene. The oil tankers were completely destroyed in the attack. However, no casualty was reported. On Sunday night, at least three people were killed and nine others were injured when unknown militants attacked one of the private Nato depots in Rawalpindi. Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and vowed to target Nato supplies in a bid to “avenge” the increased number of US drone attacks and Nato helicopter strikes in the tribal areas.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who met the Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels, said reopening of border will depend on the cooling down of public anger. “Unless the reaction cools down and we make sure that the supply line is secured, we cannot reopen it,” a Foreign Office statement quoted Qureshi as telling the Nato’s secretary general.
Foreign Minister Qureshi also conveyed Pakistan’s “deep concern” over the cross- border violations. The minister made clear that the UN’s mandate for International Assistance Security Forces was confined to the Afghan border, urging the US-led coalition force to refrain from violating Pakistan’s sovereignty.  continue

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The Nation

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has warned that the Pakistan will explore every available option if NATO does not apologize for violation of its territory.

Responding to a point of order in the National Assembly on Friday, Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan’s cooperation with NATO and US in the war on terror does not mean that Pakistan has compromised on its sovereignty. "War on terror is our own war and we are fighting it to curb the menace of terrorism from our country," Premier Gilani added.

He said the government has raised the issue with NATO in accordance with international principles. "We have discussed it with Senator Kerry and it will also be raised in Brussels," Prime Minister told the House. He said Pakistan has intelligence, defence, political and economic cooperation with the US and if the allied forces have any credible information regarding terrorist activities they should share it with Pakistani authorities. continue

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By SHAMS Z. ABBAS
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

Former President Musharraf has tendered an apology to the nation for accepting the advice of his politicians to invoke the NRO and withdraw corruption cases against Benazir Bhutto as demanded by her. Although the ultimate responsibility remains his, Benazir Bhutto is equally culpable. But, as Head of the State, it is appropriate that he has accepted the mistake. Remembering that, ‘Forgiveness is the economy of the heart. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.(Hannah Moore)’, we now should leave this debate behind and move forward with the prosecution of the NRO beneficiaries.

President Zardari and his cohorts are trying to wriggle their way out either by tampering with the NAB law through an ordinance or hiding behind the Law of Immunity. Sadly, some known lawyers, e.g. Aitizaz Ahsan, etc. defend these beneficiaries on grounds of immunity.  continue

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By GULPARI MEHSUD
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

· It is the first time that China provided such an unprecedented large scale of humanitarian aid to a foreign country
· It is the first time that China sent out overseas so many rescue and medical teams in its history
· It is the first time that Chinese military helicopters carry out an overseas humanitarian rescue and relief mission
· It is the first time that China send a large amount of humanitarian aid to the neighbor through land route

A Chinese Spokesman to PakNationalists.com: ‘The Chinese government and people have been lending a helping hand in a variety of ways to help their Pakistan brothers and sisters to show love and care. This testifies to the brotherly friendship between the two governments and peoples and writes a new chapter in China-Pakistan history.’

No sooner a UN helicopter carrying 12 Pakistani and foreign aid workers crash-landed in Pakistan’s Sindh province today than the medical team of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was ready to save their lives, in an incident that highlights one of the rare humanitarian missions of the Chinese military outside China’s borders.

Normally, the Chinese military has not been known to deploy military equipment outside China’s borders for humanitarian work. But in Pakistan’s case, PLA sent medical teams and military helicopters to help Pakistani authorities in post-flood relief effort.

In addition to the helicopters, PLA also set up a field hospital in Sahwan Sharif in Sindh.

This Chinese field hospital came handy when a UN relief helicopter made a crash landing today. Luckily, all 12 passengers survived with nonfatal injuries.

“A medical team of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) treated 12 injured UN aid workers in the field hospital which it set up in Sahwan of Sindh province of Pakistan on October 1,” a spokesman for the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Islamabad told PakNationalists.com

The UN flood relief helicopter carrying 12 aid workers including Pakistanis and foreigners crashed into a lake in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh on Friday morning due to a technical problem and caused injuries. The injured were sent to the Chinese hospital immediately. continue

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By SHIREEN M. MAZARI – The Nation

9/11: The War To Cripple Pakistan

1. Sovereign Guarantees’ vs. Sovereignty
   
2. Will the Pakistani military exercise self-defense and respond to NATO attack?
   
3. NATO has no mandate in Afghanistan, only ISAF does

How far is the Pakistani state prepared to go to undermining its national sovereignty and the safety of the lives of its citizens? Since 2004 mainly innocent Pakistani citizens have been killed by US drone strikes inside Pakistan. This is beyond the list of those Pakistanis handed over to the US in renditions by the Musharraf government, the most high profile being Dr. Aafia. The claim that she was not handed over but was whisked away by US covert operatives reflects even more badly on that state of our security establishment – that they cannot protect their own citizens in their own country from being kidnapped by foreign agencies!

Coming back to the drones, the advent of Obama to the Presidency led to an immediate upsurge of drone attacks, and as the US has always maintained, these attacks have the permission and cooperation of the Pakistan civilian leadership and its military. As a result, despite a national consensus against these drones, they continue to kill Pakistanis and the government continues with its lies to the people on this issue. This month, September, has seen the highest number of drone attacks for any month since the attacks began in 2004, with 20 strikes recorded so far and the month is not yet over.

Accompanying the drone attacks has been the growing presence of US overt and covert operatives across the length and breadth of Pakistan. This includes not only US Special Forces personnel, but also CIA, FBI operatives and the worse of the lot – the private contractors DynCorp and Xe (formerly Blackwater) aided and abetted by Pakistani mercenaries. And, not a squeak of protest from Pakistani officialdom. It is as if the whole state machinery has become an amalgam of mercenaries selling out Pakistan and its people.

The argument from the present political government is that they are merely implementing the sovereign guarantees given by the Musharraf regime to the US, but this is not plausible because the same government has also been claiming it is undoing the dictatorial legacies of the Musharraf government. In any case, how can this democratically elected government abide by sovereign guarantees to allow the killing of its own people? This is not to deny the presence of militants and even terrorists but they must be dealt with by our own people and under the law of the land. The state and government cannot abdicate their own responsibility towards its citizens – especially not a democratic government that has come to power – as they never tire of telling us these days – by a mandate from the people.

Worse still is, killing someone simply on suspicion of being a potential militant. But then the President’s remarks on the collateral damage being done by drones, as cited in Bob Woodward’s book, Obama’s Wars, says it all for the current political dispensation. continue

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    By A. KHOKAR
    WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

All the proxies carry a sell-by date. Mr. Pervez Musharraf, who used to fancy himself as a wizard and a maestro in Pakistan, was eventually deposed under a chalked US plan to replace him and install yet another proxy: Benazir Bhutto.

Sadly, BB was eliminated before she could even take charge from Musharraf. And even sadder to comply fast with the orders given by his US masters Musharraf hastily handed over the rein of government to a known band of goons of BB’s party.

Mr. Musharraf left the Pakistanis high and dry and this country is now caught up in the clutches of savages like Mr. Zardari who have been imposed upon Pakistanis, while, on the other hand, natural and man-made calamities like the devastating floods, inflation and power shortages are unleashing havoc. Pakistanis are expected to remain stuck in a state of turmoil for a long time to come.

Musharraf might be trying to capitalize on some goodwill he left behind in some areas like the economy. But realistically speaking, he is a spent cartridge and may not carry any reusable value. His case fits the saying, No spark may ignite the ashes and No charity may bring back the dead to life. continue

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By ASHRAF MUMTAZ

Former [Pakistan] Army Chief General Mirza Aslam Beg on Tuesday bitterly criticised the [PPPP] government for involving [Pakistan Army Chief] General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in the conflict between the Executive and the Judiciary, and demanded that the Pakistan Air Force [PAF] should be tasked to shoot down the helicopters and drones involved in attacks on Pakistan's territories.

Talking to The Nation, General Beg also felt upset by the growing frequency of [American military & US CIA] drone attacks on Pakistan's territory, as a result of which many [Pakistani] people had been killed so far. He said the attacks [on Pakistan] by [US or NATO] ISAF helicopters are a new development, which is a matter of serious concern.

"We have got the means to avert threats to our security", said the former Army Chief, calling on the [Pakistan] Government to put the PAF on alert and order it to shoot down the [US] drones or helicopters violating Pakistan's territorial sovereignty. General Beg said it was very painful for him to hear that [US War Criminal] Richard Holbrooke had said in a statement that the [US] drone attacks were being carried out with the consent of the Pakistan [PPP] government and the [Pakistan Army's] GHQ. He said Pakistan has the right to come up with an appropriate response. "Armed Forces should be tasked not to let anyone attack Pakistan's territory again." continue

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By SALIM BOKHARI - The Daily Mail of Pakistan

· Bob Woodward’s book ‘Obama’s war’ part of smear campaign
· Author concocted ISI chief’s confession on Mumbai attacks
· CIA-RAW Nexus Out To Malign ISI

This is now common knowledge that the infamous American spy outfit Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) carries out overt and covert operations across the world. Its latest target has been Pakistan’s national intelligence agency, the ISI.

CIA has launched a smear campaign to malign Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency by suggesting an ISI role in the Mumbai attacks. This time, the CIA has used the services of Mr. Bob Woodward who has authored and published a book titled ‘Obama’s war’. The book, page after page, alleges that the Mumbai attacks were the doing of an ISI-sponsored squad. continue

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By AHMED QURAISHI - WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

The paranoid elected government of President Asif Zardari has been out battling shadows and ghosts, whipping up anti-military sentiment when the military never planned a coup of any sort against him. His problems are with the Supreme Court on legal grounds. To calm frayed nerves, it appears Gen. Kayani agreed to let Zardari and Gilani issue a statement on the three's commitment to 'defending' democracy. Pakistani military could also be bound by 'sovereign guarantees' given as back as 2007 stating that Pakistani military won't destabilize a government created through the US-sponsored NRO deal.

Monday’s well-timed meeting between the so-called ‘troika’ – the President, Prime Minister, and the Army chief – is being widely interpreted as having averted a possible collapse of the elected Zardari-Gilani government. There is no word from the military’s media people on the meeting but the president’s media office took the liberty of releasing a statement renewing the commitment of Gen. Kayani, and that of the President and Prime Minister, to defending democracy.

If there’s anyone who created a frenzy about an extra-constitutional [read: military-engineered] change, it is the elected government when it opened indiscriminate fire at shadowy and unseen enemies, warning it will defend democracy, pleading its American friends to issue pro-democracy statements, prodding ministries and NGOs to place newspaper advertisements extolling the virtues of democracy, and unleashing a frontman like Abdul Qayum Jatoi to whip up anti-military sentiment. By choosing Balochistan and Akbar Bugti’s house as a venue for Mr. Jatoi’s provocative lines, it was a clear message to the Pakistani military that, if toppled, the Zardari government will use Balochistan against the federation. It was naked blackmail. It came on top of other forms of blackmail – the waving of the so-called Sindh card, Zulfiqar Mirza’s statement about breaking away from Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto’s death, and coalition partner ANP’s recent bold statement linking respect for the military to respect for the elected government. continue

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By MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT

The C.I.A. has drastically increased its bombing campaign in the mountains of Pakistan in recent weeks, American officials said. The strikes are part of an effort by military and intelligence operatives to try to cripple the Taliban in a stronghold being used to plan attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.

As part of its covert war in the region, the C.I.A. has launched 20 attacks with armed drone aircraft thus far in September, the most ever during a single month, and more than twice the number in a typical month. This expanded air campaign comes as top officials are racing to stem the rise of American casualties before the Obama administration’s comprehensive review of its Afghanistan strategy set for December. American and European officials are also evaluating reports of possible terrorist plots in the West from militants based in Pakistan.

The strikes also reflect mounting frustration both in Afghanistan and the United States that Pakistan’s government has not been aggressive enough in dislodging militants from their bases in the country’s western mountains. In particular, the officials said, the Americans believe the Pakistanis are unlikely to launch military operations inside North Waziristan, a haven for Taliban and Qaeda operatives that has long been used as a base for attacks against troops in Afghanistan. Some Pakistani troops have also been diverted from counterinsurgency missions to help provide relief to victims of the country’s massive flooding.

Beyond the C.I.A. drone strikes, the war in the region is escalating in other ways. In recent days, American military helicopters have launched three airstrikes into Pakistan that military officials estimate killed more than 50 people suspected of being members of the militant group known as the Haqqani network, which is responsible for a spate of deadly attacks against American troops.

Such air raids by the military remain rare, and officials in Kabul said Monday that the helicopters entered Pakistani airspace on only one of the three raids, and acted in self-defense after militants fired rockets at an allied base just across the border in Afghanistan. At the same time, the strikes point to a new willingness by military officials to expand the boundaries of the campaign against the Taliban and Haqqani network — and to an acute concern in military and intelligence circles about the limited time to attack Taliban strongholds while American “surge” forces are in Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials have angrily criticized the helicopter attacks, saying that NATO’s mandate in Afghanistan does not extend across the border in Pakistan. continue

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By PAUL THOMPSON

Pentagon buys and destroys 9,500 copies of soldier's Afghanistan book 'to protect military secrets'

Pentagon officials bought and destroyed all 9,500 copies of a soldier's book about Afghanistan amid fears it revealed military secrets.The entire first print run of Lt Col Anthony Shaffer's book 'Operation Dark Heart' was snapped up by officials at a cost of $250,000. The 299-page book was pulped on the orders of Pentagon chiefs

Despite giving their approval to the book they feared it contain details about secret operations in Afghanistan. Secret activities of the U.S. Special Operations Command, CIA and National Security Agency were said to be covered in the book. According to Fox News, one of the most contentious chapters concerned US authorities identifying one of the 9/11 hijackers as a threat months before the terror attack.

It claimed US authorities had identified Mohammad Atta as a possible threat prior to his involvement in the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York that claimed almost 3,000 lives.Shaffer claimed in the book that there was no mention of Atta being flagged up in the Government Commission ordered to probe the 2001 terror attacks.In the memoir, Army reservist Shaffer recalls his time in Afghanistan leading a black-ops team during the Bush administration.

He claimed his superiors gave the go ahead for the project when her returned to the US.But after the manuscript was read by the CIA and other agencies they objected to its content.Shaffer, who won a Bronze Star while serving in Afghanistan,said: 'The whole premise smacks of retaliation.Someone buying 10,000 books to suppress a story in this digital age is ludicrous.'

Lt. April Cunningham, a Defence Department spokeswoman, said military officials oversaw the destruction of about 9,500 copies of the memoir on September 20th before they could hit bookstores. 'DoD decided to purchase copies of the first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to national security,' Cunningham said.Shaffer's publisher has released a second printing of the book.

St. Martin's Press said it made some changes the government wanted 'while redacting other text he Shaffer was told was classified.'Blacked out lines appear throughout the book's 299 pages. Source: Daily Mail UK

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India's carefully created, and airbrushed, image of an 'emerging superpower' and the 'second-fastest growing economy' in the world rots in the piles of rubbish.

Shobhan Saxena, Times of India

A couple of days ago, a Scottish delegate got a shock of his life when he saw a dog shitting on a bed inside a 'swanky' apartment at the Commonwealth Games village in Delhi. The Scotsman clicked a photo of the dog, and now the picture is part of the evidence submitted by the Scottish delegation to the Organising Committee to prove that the multi-million dollar village is not "fit for human habitation". In the past few days, foreign TV crews and photographers have been busy chasing and clicking photos of dogs – peeing and shitting in the apartments, running on practice tracks, jumping into swimming pools and sleeping under the police cars and other vehicles parked at Games sites and venues. The foreigners are horrified – and scared to death – by the sight of street dogs running wild in the "sanitized areas". For them, it's a sign that India is not ready for the Games and the infrastructure here is not "world class". continue

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By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

The assassination on September 16 of exiled Pakistani Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) [United National Movement] leader Imran Farooq outside of his Edgware, London home has been linked to the ongoing joint CIA-Israeli Mossad-Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Pakistan destabilization program, according to WMR’s Asian intelligence sources who have been closely monitoring the attempts by the three foreign intelligence agencies to bring about chaos in Pakistan.

The subsequent blaming of Farooq’s stabbing death on the Pakistani Taliban has been linked to a global media disinformation network that includes such media outlets at Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News, CNN, IBN-CNN of India, NBC, Pakistan’s GEO-TV, India’s Aaj Tak TV, and the Voice of America (VOA) whose “news” operations are being coordinated by the State Department.

The disinformation operation, which sees independent news blogs as “national security threats,” has also been linked to the American Jewish Committee and the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, led by Cass Sunstein, a proponent of draconian Internet controls.

continue

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The Pakistan Navy is in disrepair. It is facing acute shortage of helicopters, SAR aircraft and modern frigates. Seen in the backdrop of the massive Indian naval buildup which is sporting a numerical and qualitatively superior fleet many times the size and capability of the Pakistan Navy, composed of nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, modern frigates and destroyers, the Pakistan Navy fleet appears in poor light.

In the increasingly unstable world and open Indian ambitions of the Indian Ocean, the demand for naval competence and capability for the Pakistan Navy becomes a vital bottleneck for Pakistan's national security and foreign policy. The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Noman Basheer however, is busy filling his private coffers. With close ties and in partnership with Pakistani President Asif Zardari, a billionaire known infamously in Pakistan as Mr. 10%, CNS Noman Basheer is filling his pockets with the nation's meager treasures. continue

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Petra Bartosiewicz, Harper’s Magazine

When I first read the U.S. government’s complaint against Aafia Siddiqui, who is awaiting trial in a Brooklyn detention center on charges of attempting to murder a group of U.S. Army officers and FBI agents in Afghanistan, the case it described was so impossibly convoluted—and yet so absurdly incriminating—that I simply assumed she was innocent. According to the complaint, on the evening of July 17, 2008, several local policemen discovered Siddiqui and a young boy loitering about a public square in Ghazni. She was carrying instructions for creating “weapons involving biological material,” descriptions of U.S. “military assets,” and numerous unnamed “chemical substances in gel and liquid form that were sealed in bottles and glass jars.” Siddiqui, an MIT-trained neuro scientist who lived in the United States for eleven years, had vanished from her hometown in Pakistan in 2003, along with all three of her children, two of whom were U.S. citizens. The complaint does not address where she was those five years or why she suddenly decided to emerge into a public square outside Pakistan and far from the United States, nor does it address why she would do so in the company of her American son. Various reports had her married to a high-level Al Qaeda operative, running diamonds out of Liberia for Osama bin Laden, and abetting the entry of terrorists into the United States. But those reports were countered by rumors that Siddiqui actually had spent the previous five years in the maw of the U.S. intelligence system—that she was a ghost prisoner, kidnapped by Pakistani spies, held in secret detention at a U.S. military prison, interrogated until she could provide no further intelligence, then spat back into the world in the manner most likely to render her story implausible. These dueling narratives of terrorist intrigue and imperial overreach were only further confounded when Siddiqui finally appeared before a judge in a Manhattan courtroom on August 5. Now, two weeks after her capture, she was bandaged and doubled over in a wheelchair, barely able to speak, because—somehow—she had been shot in the stomach by one of the very soldiers she stands accused of attempting to murder.

continue

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The Washington Post has reported that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, an infamous CIA Actor, illegally authorized the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to unlawfully murder thousands of innocent Pakistani citizens in Pakistan with American military/CIA drone-bombs.

The Washington Post news report of 23 September 2010, headlined "CIA Drones Killed U.S. Citizens in Pakistan, Book Says", states:

[American] CIA drones killed "many Westerners, including some U.S. passport holders" in Pakistan's tribal area during the George W. Bush administration, the new book by Bob Woodward says. Woodward, a longtime Washington Post journalist, writes in "Obama's Wars" that then-CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden disclosed the killings to Pakistani [PPP] president Asif Ali Zardari during a meeting in New York on Nov. 12, 2008. Hayden was succeeded by Leon J. Panetta in 2009.

Hayden and his deputy, Stephen Kappes, had gone to meet with Zardari, elected only two months earlier, to gauge his reaction to
the [US] drone strikes, which were generating widespread protests in Pakistan. According to Woodward's account of the meeting, Zardari said: "Kill the seniors. Collateral damage worries you Americans. It does not worry me." continue

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India bribed 72 Commonwealth countries $100,000 each to get the hosting rights for the scandal-hit 19th edition of the Games which will start in Delhi from October 3-14, a media report claimed.

A report in the Daily Telegraph claimed that Delhi pipped Hamilton in the bid after offering huge sums of money to the 72 Commonwealth countries during the final presentation in Jamaica.

The report also said that Australia received a kickback of $125,000 from India.

"Delhi sealed the right to host the Games when their delegates emerged at the final presentation in Jamaica and offered all 72 nations $100,000 (then about $140,000) each for athlete training schemes if they were the successful bidders," the newspaper reported.

"The money, subsequently paid to all nations, was not significant to Australia because it had already decided to vote for India and the payment was not an exceptionally large one.

"But for small nations who have minimal interest in the Games, it clinched their vote and India went on to beat Canadian city Hamilton 46-22 in the final poll. Hamilton had offered the nations about $70,000 each.

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SPECIAL REPORT
Friday, 24 September 2010.
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

Stunning revelations about Husain Haqqani’s secret moves to scuttle Dr. Aafia’s case.

British investigative journalist Yvonne Ridley, who first broke the story on Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s detention by US military in Afghanistan, has uncovered another scandal in her case. This time it’s the role of Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington Mr. Husain Haqqani in obstructing the efforts of the Pakistani government to secure her release from US custody.

It appears that Mr. Haqqani has been active behind the scenes in complicating Dr. Siddiqui’s case. Several American and British journalists say Ambassador Haqqani has been briefing them off-the-record about Dr. Siddiqui’s guilt.

It is not clear if such briefings were part of instructions received by Mr. Haqqani from Pakistan Foreign Office, or if those briefings represented Ambassador Haqqani’s personal views.

Moreover, Mr. Haqqani stands accused of influencing Judge Richard Berman negatively on Dr. Aafia’s innocence. continue

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Foreign powers are exploiting Pakistan’s need for flood aid to force policies that would lead to a collapse. They have already succeeded in forcing on us their handpicked economic managers: Dr. Hafeez Sheikh and Dr. Nadeem ul Haq, Tweedledum and Tweedledee of World Bank and IMF

· The latest move by the Shaikh-Haq duo – the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of the IMF – has been to move in on destroying higher education in Pakistan in the public sector

By SHIREEN M. MAZARI
The Nation Newspaper continue

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Bob Woodward's new book is coming out on Monday (the one with the bad cover art), and both the New York Times and the Washington Post have preview pieces today. You can read those stories here and here. So what will we likely be hearing about for the next month? Gen. David Petraeus once referred to top Obama advisor David Axelrod as "a complete spin doctor," according to the book, titled "Obama's Wars." Joe Biden once called Afghanistan guru Richard Holbrooke "the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met." And national security advisor James Jones once called Obama's political aides "water bugs."

But what should we be talking about from the book?

The undeclared, undebated secret war in Pakistan is bigger than we knew, and it's being conducted in part by CIA-trained Afghans:

The CIA created, controls and pays for a clandestine 3,000-man paramilitary army of local Afghans, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. Woodward describes these teams as elite, well-trained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.

The Obama administration seems to be enamored with a drone-based foreign policy: continue

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Pakistan on Tuesday urged the United States to pressure India over Kashmir, saying recent unrest showed that New Delhi and not Islamabad was to blame for trouble in the Himalayan territory.

On a visit to New York for a UN session on Pakistan’s devastating floods, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi insisted his government wanted peace with India but tore into its rule of Kashmir which he called “oppression.”

“The occupation cannot continue. The rights of the Kashmiri people cannot continue to be denied,” Qureshi said at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank.

“We call upon the United States particularly, which is pressing so responsibly for peace in the Middle East, to also invest its political capital in trying to help seek an accommodation on Kashmir,” he said.

“Such an accommodation would not only be just for the people of Kashmir but would be critical for peace in the region,” he said, warning that “terrorism… has fueled and thrived on blatant examples of social and political injustice.”
President Barack Obama’s administration is seeking a broader relationship with India but also friendlier ties with Pakistan, a key battleground in the fight against extremism.

India considers Kashmir a domestic issue and rejects any foreign involvement. The Obama administration has steered clear of Kashmir after early statements triggered a backlash in India. Kashmir, a Himalayan territory with a Muslim majority but a sizeable Hindu minority, has been disputed between India and Pakistan since independence and triggered two full-fledged wars between them.  continue

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US defence department attempts to prevent book by former intelligence officer Anthony Shaffer from reaching the shops

It's every author's dream – to write a book that's so sensationally popular it's impossible to find a copy in the shops, even as it keeps climbing up the bestseller lists. And so it is for Anthony Shaffer, thanks to the Pentagon's desire to buy up all 10,000 copies of the first printing of his new book, Operation Dark Heart. And then pulp them.

The US defence department is scrambling to dispose of what threatens to be a highly embarrassing expose by the former intelligence officer of secret operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and of how the US military top brass missed the opportunity to win the war against the Taliban.

The department of defence is in talks with St Martin's Press to purchase the entire first print run on the grounds of national security.
The publisher is content to sell the books but the two sides are in a grinding dispute over what should appear in a censored version and when it should be released.

Now St Martin's Press says it will put the partly redacted manuscript on sale next week whether or not the defence department likes it – and there doesn't appear much the authorities can do. The army had cleared the book by Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer, about "black ops" in the Afghan war when he was based at Bagram in 2003, for publication after relatively minor changes.
But when the intelligence services and defence department officials saw it they were alarmed.

They said it contained highly classified material including the names of American intelligence agents and accounts of clandestine operations, and demanded the book be withdrawn on the grounds it "could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to national security".

The Pentagon is using Shaffer's status as a reserve officer to block him from speaking to the press, but a source close to the publication of the book said that some of the sensitive material had been removed but the defence department was still seeking to purge it of other information that is 20 years old or even in the public domain.

For that reason, there is suspicion that the defence department is less concerned with the nitty gritty of classified material than its broader story of intelligence forays in to Pakistan and his claim that top US military leaders blew an opportunity to win the war years ago.

Shaffer describes in the book how he was part of the "dark side of the force" that operates outside the usual constraints of the military system. He led a group that called themselves the Jedi Knights and specialised in "black ops" including "striking at the core of the Taliban" inside Pakistan. He says that US forces were gaining the upper hand until the military brass involved itself, curbing operations in Pakistan and permitting the Taliban to strengthen …

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China's main nuclear power company is in talks with Pakistan to build a one-gigawatt nuclear power plant in the South Asian country, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The state-run China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC), which has already helped Pakistan build a civilian reactor at Chashma in Punjab province, is also finishing a second one there and has agreed contracts to build two others. "Both sides are in discussions over the CNNC exporting a one-gigawatt nuclear plant to Pakistan," company vice president Qiu Jiangang was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal.

Qiu added that the first reactor was running safely, and that the second would be onstream by year's end. Officials at CNNC had no immediate comment when contacted by a French news agency. The United States has conveyed its concerns to Pakistan over the contracts for the third and fourth reactors, saying such plans required special approval from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

The group brings together nuclear energy states that forbid exports to nations lacking strict International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. China joined the NSG in 2004. Pakistan has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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In his latest write up for BBC, Pentagon adviser Ahmed Rashid proposes putting Pakistan under an international trusteeship. Too bad he forgot that Pakistan is not under US or NATO occupation. Ahmed Rashid leads the pack of pro-US and pro-UK activists in Pakistan, whose work is tailored to please a foreign audience. But he is not alone. There is Dr. Hafeez Shaikh and Dr. Nadeem ul Haq, Pakistan’s key economic managers. The United States does not need to invade and occupy Pakistan and execute a regime-change like it did in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Pakistan, Washington is using apologists in politics, media and intelligentsia who are willing accomplices without Washington having to fire a single bullet.

The more one observes the Pakistan-US relationship, the more one realizes that to understand fully its multiple dimensions, one really needs to look at it through a Gramscian [Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci] framework of hegemony where the hegemon has so entrenched its value system in the ruling elite of the subservient nation that it does not need to exercise the use of force or brute power. In other words, it has established its hegemony, which Gramsci distinguishes from power through use of force – to explain the depth of Gramscian thought in a simplistic but comprehensible fashion. That is, the ruling elite imbibe the value system of the hegemon – in this case the US – as its own and relate to it, rather than to its own indigenous influences and realities. Aiding and abetting this external value system’s adoption are of course the “organic intellectuals” in the Gramscian sense, who are linked to the ruling class and have to be won over by the hegemon since it is this group in a society that create an awareness not only of a class’s functions in the economic sense, but also in the social and political fields. But an even more important group of “intellectuals” are the “traditional intellectuals” who claim to be autonomous and independent of any class in society, including the ruling class but are not always so. If one now examines the extensive definition of intellectuals by Gramsci, it includes not just those who think in society – which he says everyone does – but who have “the function of intellectuals” and included in this are business managers, media persons, researchers, engineers, politicians and so on. continue

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Five Taliban militants sought pardon from a public gathering for "crimes" they committed during their rule in Swat valley in northwest Pakistan, a media report said in Islamabad on Saturday.

The militants told the gathering of residents of Kabal sub-division that they had made a mistake by joining the Taliban, whose leadership is "anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam."

They requested the people to forgive them for their crimes, the Daily Times newspaper reported.

The Taliban fighters appeared before the public at a gathering held at the 'hujra' or guesthouse of local defence committee chief Idress Khan in Bara Bande village. The militants are residents of Kabal, a former Taliban stronghold, and were arrested during the operation conducted by the army in Swat last year. This was the first time that Taliban militants appeared at a public gathering in Swat, located 160 kms from Islamabad.

The militants were later taken away to a detention centre located at an unknown place, witnesses said. The army has asked residents of Kabal to keep an eye on suspicious elements and to inform it if any wanted terrorists are spotted.

The Taliban had set up a parallel administration in most parts of Swat valley. This prompted the government to launch an army operation to flush out the militants from Swat and surrounding districts.

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