Pakistan: News and Discussions

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[mod]Politics, military, security, economy, opinions and news and discussions related to Pakistan goes here[/mod]

Taliban bomb two schools in Bajaur in NWFP

Islamabad, June 19: Keeping up their violent campaign against the educational institutions, Taliban militants today blew up two schools in Bajaur tribal areas as Army continued its offensive in the nearby districts in Pakistan's restive northwest frontier province.

"Bombs planted in the schools went off early this morning destroying the buildings," local officials were quoted as saying by the local TV channels.

The entire building housing the schools came down. Militants also bombed boy's degree college in nearby Mamound town, officials said.

No loss of life was reported in the two attacks. With this Taliban militants have firebombed 49 schools in Bajaur during the last one year.

Bajauar lies to the west of Swat where Taliban have carried out a much bigger hate campaign against schools destroying 200 of them, bulk of them girl's educational institutions.

Bureau Report

Taliban bomb two schools in Bajaur in NWFP
 

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Eleven French killed in Pakistan over submarine money: Lawyer

Eleven French killed in Pakistan over submarine money: Lawyer

Cherbourg, June 19: A probe into the 2002 killing of 11 French engineers in Pakistan is focusing on France's failure to pay a commission for the sale of submarines to Pakistan, a lawyer for the victims' families said.

The lawyer, Olivier Morice, said former president Jacques Chirac and former prime minister Edouard Balladur had been mentioned in the decision to halt the payments.

Morice spoke yesterday after two French anti-terrorist investigating magistrates had met with families of the engineers killed in the attack on May 8, 2002 in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

A car packed with explosives was driven into a minibus carrying the Frenchmen, all engineers working for a French state firm, DCN, that was building submarines for Pakistan.

The 11 engineers and three Pakistanis were killed.

Investigators had been looking into an al Qaeda link to the attack.

But Morice said, "The al Qaeda track has been totally abandoned. The motive for the attack appears linked to the non-payment of commissions."

Bureau Report

2002 killing of 11 French engineers in Pakistan related to submarine money

http://www.euronews.net/2009/06/20/french-probe-alleged-pakistani-role-in-bombing/
 

NikSha

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Taliban really wants to bomb them to the stone age it seems. What US didn't do, their home grown terrorists have done in less than a year.

And yet, there are over 42 terrorist camps functioning in Pakistan. Good luck dealing with them as well.
 

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India and other nations(including US) would find greater success if they start dealing with Pakistan as not one entity but several different entities with different power centres.
Pakjab(Pakistan Punjab) is mainly under the control of PA. So, any terror org using Pakjab as a base is directly patronised by PA and hence, PA are responsible for terror activities from Pakjab.
Sindh is partly under MQM and partly controlled by PA. Both of them must made to involve in diplomacy. Infact, we(and others) must use MQM and PA as a counter to each other in Sindh. We can actually arm MQM to take on PA, not to say that MQM wants to take on PA or PA wants to take on MQM. But there is a power struggle going on in Sindh and PA is using Talib proxies to gain ground in Sindh(specially Karachi). So, India(and US) must make sure that power struggle in Sindh doesnt get tilted in one direction. Power balance must be maintained. So, MQM must be brought to negotiating table along with PA when we are dealing with terrorism emanating out of Sindh.
Then there is a wild west: NWFP. NWFP is now, for all practical purposes, controlled and ruled by Taliban(and its other affliates). Any terror activity from this place has to be the accountability of Taliban. India must bring Taliban to negotiating table to see if we can make a peace deal with them in exchange for a promise that the land controlled by them will not be used for any anti-India purposes. Of course, such a deal must be made in shadow.

Lastly, Balochistan. Balochis want independence and have made it very clear(to anyone who is ready to listen). PA uses brutal methods to stomp this independence movement. Iran is the neighbour of Balochistan. When we are dealing with anything related to Balochistan, then we need to involve all stakeholders: Balochis, Iran and PA.

This, IMO, is the way forward to dealing with (what we have come to know as)Pakistan. Treating that nation(if it can be called that) would mean disregarding the obvious power-centres and ground realities. India(for that matter, even US/NATO) cannot afford to do that.
 

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Zardari avoids Sharm El Sheikh meeting with Singh

By Baqir Sajjad Syed
Friday, 19 Jun, 2009 | 03:03 AM PST |


President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh proceed to line up for a photo at the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Yekaterinburg.



ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has dropped his plan to attend the 15th Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh where, according to an announcement, he was to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Pakistan delegation to the summit will now be led by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. ‘Our prime minister will be attending the NAM summit,’ Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said.

The plan was changed after the Yekaterinburg meeting between President Zardari and Prime Minister Singh on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit which, according to diplomatic sources, became ‘unpleasant’ at the outset because of Mr Singh’s ‘rude’ remarks.

Before the start of the ice-breaking meeting, the Indian premier bluntly told President Zardari in presence of reporters that his mandate was limited to telling Pakistan that it should not allow its soil to be used for terrorism against India.

The remark irked President Zardari who immediately asked the media to be escorted out of the conference room. In a press statement issued after the meeting, President Zardari’s office had announced that the two leaders would get together again in Sharm El Sheikh.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had also confirmed the Sharm El Sheikh meeting between the two leaders. Sources here claimed that the president had decided to skip the Sharm El Sheikh trip to avoid another encounter with Mr Singh.

The FO spokesman played down Mr Zardari’s decision not to attend the summit and said: ‘It was agreed that there will be another meeting of the political leadership of the two countries during NAM summit.’

The FO spokesman said Pakistan was satisfied with the outcome of the Yekaterinburg meeting between President Zardari and Prime Minister Singh and it had never expected the interaction to lead to immediate resumption of composite dialogue between the two countries.

‘From our perspective, the SCO summit in Russia provided a good opportunity for Pakistan and India to break the ice,’ he said at his briefing on Thursday, adding that Pakistan had gone to the meeting with all sincerity and seriousness.

Pakistan now appears to be pinning hopes on the secretaries’ level talks and wants them to be ‘result oriented’. ‘We are looking forward to a productive meeting between the foreign secretaries. Normal relations between our two countries, free of disputes and conflict and embedded in the principles of non-interference, equality and mutual respect, are indispensable for peace, security and prosperity in our region,’ said Mr Basit.

APP adds: The spokesman said Pakistan had suffered the most because of extremism and terrorism, adding that there had been 22 terrorist attacks in various parts of the country over the past one year, claiming 300 lives.

Answering a question about shifting of troops, the spokesman said: ‘It is incorrect that troops have been withdrawing from the eastern border for deployment on the western border.’


DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Zardari avoids Sharm El Sheikh meeting with Singh
 

hit&run

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN)
Hundreds of refugees on Wednesday blocked a main road in northwest Pakistan, to protest living conditions for some of the 1.5 million Pakistanis forced to flee their homes in the past three weeks.

The refugee situation in Pakistan could be a bigger threat than fighting with Taliban, U.N. says.


"The government has been making big promises, but none of those were ever fulfilled," said Hazrat Bilal, a protester and refugee whose family has taken up temporary residence in a primary school.

The refugees had blocked the main road in Pakistan's Mardan district since 8 a.m. Wednesday, Bilal said by telephone. The demonstrators were demanding food, water and other government services, he said.

Mardan is a main transit point for the large numbers of Pakistanis fleeing the Swat Valley, the site of fierce fighting between Taliban militants and Pakistani soldiers. Video The first pictures from the fighting »

The refugee crisis could pose a bigger threat to stability in Pakistan than the war itself, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told CNN while touring a refugee camp in the nearby Swabi district last week.

The Pakistani government has been working with international aid agencies to establish camps for refugees, where tents, food, water and basic medical services are provided. But the scale and speed of the displacement -- said to be the worst since the Rwandan genocide in 1994 -- have overwhelmed aid workers, Guterres said.

"The scale of the problem is such that all our resources combined cannot cope with it. And it's very important for this population not to feel abandoned," Guterres said.

"Without massive support of the international community for the Pakistani people, this will become a very dramatic problem, and not only a humanitarian problem."

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced $110 million in humanitarian aid for Pakistani refugees. She also unveiled a system that lets Americans donate to the U.N. refugee effort, by sending a text message on mobile phone, including the word "Swat."

Meanwhile, Pakistan's military said it was continuing the assault on Taliban militants.
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Pakistani forces have targeted regional Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah and Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan, but have "no information about whether we have been successful," said the spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.

He said 80 "terrorists" were killed Tuesday night in "intense fighting" in the town of Sultanwas, located in Buner district. One Pakistani soldier was also killed in recent fighting, Abbas said.
 

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French Bombing Inquiry Takes a New Turn - WSJ.com

* ASIA NEWS
* JUNE 20, 2009

French Bombing Inquiry Takes a New Turn

By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS

PARIS -- Prosecutors investigating a 2002 bombing in Pakistan that killed 11 French citizens are taking their probe in a new direction, looking into whether the attack was retaliation for a failure to pay alleged bribes, according to a lawyer and people close to the probe.

Prosecutors are also looking into whether the arrangement involved planned kickbacks to the campaign of a French prime minister who was running for president.


Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The 2002 wreckage of a bus in which 14 people were
killed in Pakistan, including 11 French citizens.
Prosecutors are probing whether the incident was
linked to a failure to pay alleged bribes.


For the past seven years, French investigators have suspected that Islamic terrorists were behind the bombing of a bus carrying employees of French state-controlled warship maker Direction des Constructions Navales, or DCN, in Karachi.

The blast killed 14 people, including 11 French DCN employees, who were working on the construction of submarines for the Pakistan Navy. France had won a contract to build three submarines in 1994 for 5.5 billion French francs, or about $1 billion at the exchange rate of the time.

This week, Paris-based antiterrorist investigative magistrates informed families of the 11 French victims that they were looking into whether the attack happened because France allegedly reneged on a pledge to pay alleged commissions related to the lucrative submarine-building contract, according to Olivier Morice, a lawyer for the families. The new line of inquiry was also confirmed by people close to the probe.

"There was a terrorist act in which French citizens were killed," Mr. Morice said Friday after a meeting with investigators. "But the motive may be that France did not pay commissions it had pledged to pay."

After examining documents from the time, prosecutors are looking into whether -- as part of the overall submarine contract -- French officials allegedly agreed to pay $33 million to intermediaries who had helped France secure the contract, say Mr. Morice and the people close to the probe.

At the time, such commissions would have been legal: Before France joined an international anticorruption initiative in 2000, it wasn't illegal for French companies to pay commissions to foreign officials to secure contracts overseas. The alleged commissions were supposedly to be paid before 2000.

Investigators are looking into whether part of the money from the commissions was destined to flow back into France to help finance the 1995 presidential bid of then-Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. At the time, Nicolas Sarkozy -- now France's president -- was budget minister and Mr. Balladur's campaign manager.

It would have been illegal for part of the alleged commissions to flow back into France -- a mechanism sometimes known as reverse kickbacks. Prosecutors say they have documents that indicate part of the alleged commission may have been aimed at helping Mr. Balladur's campaign coffers. The prosecutors and investigators say they have no evidence implicating Messrs. Balladur or Sarkozy.

Investigators say they began looking into the new angle after they seized a number of financial documents describing how a web of offshore companies had been created to channel the alleged commission payments, as well as a confidential report written by a former French intelligence officer about the case.

Mr. Balladur ended up losing the presidential election, and investigators are probing whether this prompted French officials not to pay the alleged commissions associated with the submarine deal, according to Mr. Morice and the people familiar with the matt
 

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French Bombing Inquiry Takes a New Turn - WSJ.com

* ASIA NEWS
* JUNE 20, 2009

French Bombing Inquiry Takes a New Turn

By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS

PARIS -- Prosecutors investigating a 2002 bombing in Pakistan that killed 11 French citizens are taking their probe in a new direction, looking into whether the attack was retaliation for a failure to pay alleged bribes, according to a lawyer and people close to the probe.

Prosecutors are also looking into whether the arrangement involved planned kickbacks to the campaign of a French prime minister who was running for president.


Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The 2002 wreckage of a bus in which 14 people were
killed in Pakistan, including 11 French citizens.
Prosecutors are probing whether the incident was
linked to a failure to pay alleged bribes.


For the past seven years, French investigators have suspected that Islamic terrorists were behind the bombing of a bus carrying employees of French state-controlled warship maker Direction des Constructions Navales, or DCN, in Karachi.

The blast killed 14 people, including 11 French DCN employees, who were working on the construction of submarines for the Pakistan Navy. France had won a contract to build three submarines in 1994 for 5.5 billion French francs, or about $1 billion at the exchange rate of the time.

This week, Paris-based antiterrorist investigative magistrates informed families of the 11 French victims that they were looking into whether the attack happened because France allegedly reneged on a pledge to pay alleged commissions related to the lucrative submarine-building contract, according to Olivier Morice, a lawyer for the families. The new line of inquiry was also confirmed by people close to the probe.

"There was a terrorist act in which French citizens were killed," Mr. Morice said Friday after a meeting with investigators. "But the motive may be that France did not pay commissions it had pledged to pay."

After examining documents from the time, prosecutors are looking into whether -- as part of the overall submarine contract -- French officials allegedly agreed to pay $33 million to intermediaries who had helped France secure the contract, say Mr. Morice and the people close to the probe.

At the time, such commissions would have been legal: Before France joined an international anticorruption initiative in 2000, it wasn't illegal for French companies to pay commissions to foreign officials to secure contracts overseas. The alleged commissions were supposedly to be paid before 2000.

Investigators are looking into whether part of the money from the commissions was destined to flow back into France to help finance the 1995 presidential bid of then-Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. At the time, Nicolas Sarkozy -- now France's president -- was budget minister and Mr. Balladur's campaign manager.

It would have been illegal for part of the alleged commissions to flow back into France -- a mechanism sometimes known as reverse kickbacks. Prosecutors say they have documents that indicate part of the alleged commission may have been aimed at helping Mr. Balladur's campaign coffers. The prosecutors and investigators say they have no evidence implicating Messrs. Balladur or Sarkozy.

Investigators say they began looking into the new angle after they seized a number of financial documents describing how a web of offshore companies had been created to channel the alleged commission payments, as well as a confidential report written by a former French intelligence officer about the case.

Mr. Balladur ended up losing the presidential election, and investigators are probing whether this prompted French officials not to pay the alleged commissions associated with the submarine deal, according to Mr. Morice and the people familiar with the matt
Its really seems easy to push every blame on the so called Jihadists and hide the truth .. Pakistani Establishment is really misusing the name of Islam not only in this case but even in its proxy war against India ..
 

hit&run

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India, US, Israel monitor Pak via satellites

Even as the Pakistani Army continues its offensive against the Taliban [ Images ], a top Pakistani daily has reported on its web site that Indian, American, Israeli and French satellites have been secretly monitoring the region, taking images of suspected nuclear sites of Pakistan (particularly the Khushab reactor site) and exchanging collected intelligence with each other.

The Pakistan Observer reported Tuesday that officials in Islamabad are upset over this high level of international scrutiny, and allege that India and Israel have expanding nuclear and thermo-nuclear projects that are being allowed to grow unchecked.

The report states that a recently launched Indian satellite -- Cartosat 2-A -- has been sending telemetry data of the region to the Indian Space Research Organisation's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. It adds that another Indian satellite -- IMS-1, which is equipped with a multi-spectral camera -- is in the region and able to send down high quality imagery to ISRC.

Another Indian angle to the story is that the Israeli satellite TecSAR, which was specially designed as a reconnaissance satellite, and which was launched by India in January 2008, has reportedly been taking pictures of Pakistani and Iranian nuclear sites and sharing them. In addition to the India-launched TecSAR, Israel has another satellite monitoring the area.

According to The Pakistan Observer, the United States, Britain, France and Russia are together maintaining more than a dozen military satellites, all designed to monitor and capture images of suspected nuclear and military sites.

Finally, it's not only nation-sates getting involved. Companies with private satellites in orbit have made available for commercial sale images of sensitive buildings and areas, the Observer reports. Some of these private pictures are of premium quality -- and 'cost buyers up to $200 (Rs 9,500) per square kilometer of imagery, plus an extra $3,000 (Rs 1.43 lakh) for quick turnaround work'. Western news media agencies often pay as much as $500 per picture or image, the Observer reports.

Also being shared among the international military community are photos of sensitive areas and establishments, taken by European photo-reconnaissance planes, including France's Mirage IV-P and Britain's Canberra PR-9. Plus, Pakistani officials fear that Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles have been used to capture particularly remote and well-defended sites, the report states. It goes on to assert that a few years back, the Pakistani Air Force had shot down an Israeli UAV that was being operated by the Indian Air Force over Pakistani territory.

Much of this international scrutiny has come about following rumours that Pakistan's nuclear programme has been expanded in recent years. Though the Western media has featured many stories to this effect, including a detailed report recently shown by MSNBC, experts in Pakistan have denied the veracity of such reports.
 

hit&run

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I think nations monitoring, ever increasing Pakistani nuclear establishments should closely monitor this evil by all means. Especially India; has right to monitor evil Pakistan's moves to prepare and neutralize this threat at right time.
 

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Pak Army more professional than India’s

Pak Army more professional than India’s
:rofl:
WRITTEN BY Pakistan News :: Pakistan Daily
MONDAY, 22 JUNE 2009 00:57

The Pakistan Army is more professional and advanced in its capabilities and spirit to fight despite less salaries, as compared to the armed forces of other neighbouring countries. President Asif Zardari is the second head of the state after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who raised salaries of the armed forces by 100 percent.

President Zardari took the decision with the consultation of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani after receiving summary from Defence Minister Ch Ahmad Mukhtar seeking increase in the salaries.

The president was taken aback after he knew that a lieutenant in the Indian Army is getting Rs 27000 basic salary, while the same officer in the Pakistan Army is receiving Rs 14936 as basic pay.:blum3:

Similarly, the salaries of captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel, brigadier, major general and lieutenant general of the Indian and the Sri Lankan armies are more than that of the Pakistan Army. Among the non-junior commissioned officers, Sri Lanka comes first, India second and Pakistan on third, while among commissioned officers, India comes first, Sri Lanka second and Pakistan on third.

However, the salaries of the lieutenant colonel and the colonel of the Pakistan Army are same. According to official document available with this news service, the basic salary of the army soldier is Rs 4579, while that of the Indian and the Sri Lankan are Rs 9200 and Rs 14720 respectively. The naik in the army is getting Rs 4756 as compared to Indian and Sri Lankan, who are receiving Rs 9600 and Rs 15170 respectively.
 

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First Hats off to Dare Devil to unearth yet another gem from our neighbouring mine of golden treasures ,:D I am sure Pak Army is capable and not getting basic pay lesser than us and Sri Lankan they are compensating the loss by turning into property mafia themselves.

Regards
 

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Are they actually saying what I think they are saying?

Low salary = Better Military?

ROTFL


PS: I say increase the salary actually. They are putting their life on line for measly pay? Indian government should donate those crorepatis minister's income for salary hike for armed forces.
 

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Do you guys know that ,nawaz sharif and zardari are among the top 4 richest men in pakistan!!!
 

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Pak officials behind killing of 11 French engineers: Report
23 Jun 2009, 1929 hrs IST, PTI


LONDON: High-ranking Pakistani officials were behind the killing of eleven French ship-building engineers in Karachi seven years ago, two French judges have ruled.

Until now al-Qaida had been blamed for the bomb attack on a bus in 2002 that killed 11 engineers and three Pakistanis.

The judges suspected that the Pakistanis were retaliating over a decision by former French President Jacques Chirac, to halt payment to Pakistani officers of millions of pounds in secret commission from an 720 million pounds contract signed in 1994, for three French submarines, the Time reported on Tuesday.

The dead engineers were working on the submarine contract for DCN, the French naval shipbuilding enterprise.

Some of the money was kicked back to France to finance the 1995 presidential campaign of Edouard Balladur, Chirac's Prime Minister and rival, according to claims disclosed by the judges.

The chief of Balladur's unsuccessful campaign that year was Nicolas Sarkozy, who was then the Budget Minister.

According to media reports, the French secret service retaliated after the 2002 attack, breaking the legs of two Pakistan navy admirals and killing a lower-ranking officer.

Sarkozy, now the President of France, has dismissed as "a fable" the suspicions of the judges, Marc Trevidic and Yves Janier.

"This is ridiculous... grotesque," Sarkozy said. "Who would believe such a tale," Balladur said that everything about the submarine deal had been "completely regular".

The judges, however, told the surviving victims and their relatives that they have uncovered a trail that tied the bombing to Pakistani officials.

Investigators have also seized documents describing a web of offshore companies created to channel the commission payments, the judges said.

Pak officials behind killing of 11 French engineers: Report - Europe - World - The Times of India
 

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Germany Is Poised to Sell Submarines to Pakistan

Germany Is Poised to Sell Submarines to Pakistan

By Patrick Donahue and Brian Parkin

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition will probably go ahead with the sale of three submarines to Pakistan, ignoring opposition concerns about the delivery of military hardware to the nuclear-armed state, two German government officials said.

The Federal Security Council, a body made up of ministers that vets all military hardware sales, is prepared to back the sale of the Class 214 submarines made by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG, the officials said on condition of anonymity because the decision is not yet final.

A Pakistani delegation including army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is in Berlin today for meetings with German officials. Opposition lawmakers are wary of sales to Pakistan as it struggles with Islamist radicals along the border with neighboring Afghanistan.

“We have to ask ourselves whether such an unstable country really needs such submarine technology,” said Alexander Bonde, a Green Party lawmaker leading opposition to the sale in the lower house of parliament in Berlin. Bonde said a final decision will probably be made after German national elections Sept. 27.

Taliban Offensive

Pakistan has struggled in a seven-week campaign to push back radicals after Taliban fighters advanced to within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the capital, Islamabad. The army is preparing to mount an offensive in South Waziristan to drive out militants from its northwest tribal areas.

A Pakistani delegation visited Berlin several weeks ago to express interest in the submarines, said Muhammad Azam, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Berlin. No official orders have yet been tendered, he said.

A preliminary inquiry from Pakistan has been “positively assessed” by the German government, though no official request yet been processed, Economy Ministry spokesman Steffen Moritz said in a phone interview.

Andrea Wessel, a spokeswoman for ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, a unit of Dusseldorf-based ThyssenKrupp AG, said the company wouldn’t comment on “ongoing projects.”

“Pakistan’s interest in these submarines shows it still sees India as the traditional enemy, even though bilateral tensions have eased somewhat since 2004,” Christian Wagner, an analyst at the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said in an interview. “The money would be better spent on equipping and training its land forces to combat terrorist insurgents.”

The 65-meter (213-foot) submarines, non-nuclear vessels equipped with eight torpedo tubes, rely on a fuel-cell system to remain silent beneath the water for longer periods than previous models. ThyssenKrupp describes the vessels as having “extraordinarily developed stealth characteristics and an impressive weapon and sensor payload.”
 

I-G

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'57 PAF men court-martialled for links with militants'

Islamabad, June 24: A total of 57 personnel of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) have been arrested and court-martialled during the past two years for links with militants and six of them were given death sentence, media reports said on wednesday.

The personnel were arrested and dismissed from service for links with militants or for having sympathies for banned groups, TV news channels reported.

Almost all the 57 personnel against whom the PAF had taken action were airmen and no officer figured in the list of those who were arrested or dismissed, the channels reported.

The six personnel given the capital punishment were currently on death row.

The personnel were arrested from different airbases across the country, including those in Peshawar and Karachi

`57 PAF men court-martialled for links with militants`
 

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Taliban created by government, military as hedge against India: Pak Experts

Taliban created by government, military as hedge against India: Pak Experts | Sindh Today - Online News


Islamabad, June 24 (ANI): While Pakistan does not leave any stone unturned in blaming foreign countries, including India and the US for the Taliban menace, Pakistan based experts have refuted such notions saying that the insurgents are a local product.

Speaking at a conference, ‘Countering Talibanisation: The Way Forward’ here, several experts blamed the government and the military for nurturing the Taliban and other extremist organizations to use them against rival countries, particularly India.

“If someone calls Taliban agents of the US, I will not accept it. They are a local product,” said Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, a famous analyst.

Hoodbhoy stressed that Taliban was neither the product of US nor Israel or India, as claimed by a certain fraternity; rather, he said the extremists were produced at local seminaries.

Speaking on the occasion, the Awami National Party (ANP) Senator, Afrasiab Khattak opined that Pakistan must stop nurturing terror against its neighbours, and learn to live peacefully with Iran, China, Afghanistan and India.

“There is no smoke without fire,” said Khattak.

He blamed several former military generals for creating the Taliban in their bid to gain strategic depth in the region, and in case of an altercation with India.

Khattak also charged the United States of providing help and funding the extremists in the past to crush communism.

“Thousands of seminaries were set up to produce Taliban, who were described as Mujahideen lovingly by the West. The West funded the Taliban to defeat communism and this derailed Pakistan,” The News quoted Khattak, as saying.

Chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on National Security, Raza Rabbani also highlighted that militants have been funded by foreign powers over the last several years, and this practice which must be stopped if Pakistan actually wants to alienate itself from the menace which has now turned into a monster.

“The problem of militancy is not so simple. It is multi-dimensional. The world powers know it well from where it has been funded and nurtured. There is a need to stop the outside funding,” said Rabbani. (ANI)
 

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