Pakistan: News and Discussions

Daredevil

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Arrested ex-MNA carried Baitullah’s letter (Hamid Gul?)

Arrested ex-MNA carried Baitullah’s letter

Sunday, June 28, 2009

By Rauf Klasra

ISLAMABAD: The case of ‘missing’ former MNA Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz, who was picked up by an intelligence agency after his meeting with Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz as it transpired later, took an alarming new turn with the damning revelation that he may have been carrying a letter of Baitullah Mehsud addressing to a former high profile ISI general, known for his strong pro-Taliban views, it was reliably learnt.

The former MNA belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) had contested and won the 2002 elections from Karak District after defeating PTI supremo Imran Khan. The alleged secret letter of Baitullah Mehsud recovered from Shah Abdul Aziz was reportedly in the possession of the top khaki spy outfit.

When asked about the contents of the letter, sources within the Interior Ministry said the TTP chief in this letter had expressed his deep gratitude for the justifications, the former general had been offering to the media while defending the Taliban and their philosophy. More importantly, sources said the TTP chief was really happy with the retired general for opposing the military operation against the Taliban.

The sources said the letter was however significant only to the extent that it was allegedly written by Baitullah and the fact that it was being carried by Shah Aziz confirmed the nexus between the two, but it did not in any manner whatsoever suggest any link, direct or indirect, between the retired general and Baitullah Mehsud. Also, it was told that in all probability, the general was not even aware of the existence of such a letter.

A top level source in the Interior Ministry claimed that despite the fact that Shah Aziz was being monitored closely for some time, the secret agency did not have any intention to formally arrest him solely on the basis of his perceived links with the Taliban, fearing his arrest could lead to serious agitation in the ranks of pro-Taliban religious parties both within and outside the parliament. But much to the surprise of these agencies, Shah Aziz was found travelling with Fidaullah, one of the Taliban leaders and considered to be the mastermind of the suicide bombing in Islamabad and other areas in the recent past. His presence in the company of Fidaullah had alarmed the intelligence agency, which decided to take him in for further interrogations.

The sources said even at the point of actual arrest of Shah Abdul Aziz, the agency was still toying with the possibility of letting him go out of sheer political considerations but it all changed when one of the officers searching the vehicle in which Shah Abdul Aziz was travelling with Fidaullah found the letter in Shah Aziz’s briefcase. Shah Abdul Aziz reportedly had been tasked with delivering this letter to the retired general.

The source said the recovery of Baitullah Mehsud’s letter addressing to a top former spymaster had surprised even those who were deputed to investigate the former MNA known for his close links with the Taliban.

The sources said this secret letter had actually confused the intelligence agency officials, as they were wondering how to produce this letter in the court of law to justify the custody of Shah Abdul Aziz, as they believed that it would open a Pandora box and might bring a bad name to the army itself.

The sources said such a decision could seriously jeopardise the state’s case in the court of law. The sources said the intelligence agency had only two charges to frame against Shah Aziz, if it was serious in punishing him for his links with the Taliban and their suicide bombers. The sources said one potential charge that could be brought against him was that he was travelling with a wanted terrorist, Fidaullah. The second charge could be that he was carrying a secret letter written by the top terrorist of the country. But, the sources said, the intelligence agency had decided not to produce this letter in any court of law for the image of the institution.

Sources close to the intelligence agency said that though the detainee admitted that the letter was written by Baitullah to the retired general, they were trying to get to the bottom of the matter. They said the letter can be fake or sent with ulterior motives. They said the agency officials are also trying to verify the statement of the detainee about the letter.

This correspondent could not contact the retired general despite efforts. However, the generalís close circle suspected a plot to fix up the general. They believed that such efforts were made in the past but remained futile.

Separately, after remaining quiet for over a month since Shah Abdul Aziz was picked up by the top secret agency, a writ petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court by his brother, seeking his release.

Mehboob Elahi, the brother of Shah Abdul Aziz, confirmed in his petition that his brother was arrested when he was with Fidaullah, a young man from NWFP. The Islamabad SSP in his press conference had claimed on June 1 that Fidaullah was involved in a number of terrorist activities. But Mehboob Elahi in his petition alleged that his brother was kept in illegal confinement in the Aabpara police station along with Fidaullah as both were arrested together. He said his brother was innocent and police did not register an FIR against those who he believed had kidnapped his brother. He rejects all kinds of charges against his brother.

This correspondent contacted ISPR DG General Athar Abbas and sought his comment on the report that Shah Abdul Aziz was arrested by a secret agency and that he was carrying the letter by Baitullah Mehsud, his reply was crisp and short as he said: “I have no information on this subject”.
 

Payeng

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Thousands of Pakistanis hold anti-US rally

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:33:46 GMT


housands of Pakistanis march in the southern port city of Karachi to denounce the 'unwelcome' influence of the US in the nuclear-armed country.

About 10,000 participants, holding party flags, banners and placards, chanted anti US slogans and demanded the government to Washington's policies on Sunday.

Member of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a religious political party, also burnt American flags and chanted anti-US slogans.

The protesters also accused US president Barack Obama of pursuing the same policies of his predecessor in the volatile region.

The demonstrators chanted slogans like "Leave America, Leave!" and "Down with the US," while holding banners which read "No to American Slavery," a Press TV correspondent reported.

Addressing the rally, JI chief Munawar Hassan held US responsible for political and economic instabilities in Pakistan.

While condemning the US drone attacks in Pakistani tribal region, protestors held President Obama responsible for the killing of what they believe "innocent people".

Washington says the drone attacks are aimed at suspected militants, but Pakistani media say only one-sixth of US missiles actually hit militant hideouts.

Hundreds of Pakistani civilians have lost their lives in such attacks, which started under the Bush administration. Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the US raids, demanding an immediate end to the imprecise drone attacks.

The demonstration comes as the Pakistani military is preparing to mount an all-out assault on pro-Taliban militants in the South Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border.

At least Thirteen Pakistani troops and 18 Taliban insurgents were killed in clashes in the volatile region over some past 24 hours.
Press TV
 

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First Pakistani-Built JF-17 To Fly by Year's End

First Pakistani-Built JF-17 To Fly by Year's End - Defense News


Published: 29 Jun 2009 17:10

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Chief of the air staff, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, told graduates at the thirty-eighth Combat Commander's Course at PAF Base Mushaf, Sargodha, that the first Pakistani-built JF-17 Thunder multirole combat aircraft will begin construction this week, and fly by the end of the year, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.

The first operational squadron of JF-17s is based at Peshawar and is set to fully enter service by the end of the year. The Peshawar-based JF-17s initially are to be tasked with the air-to-air role, with air-to-ground capabilities being retrofitted at a later date.


However, these aircraft were manufactured in China and flown to Pakistan as air freight before they were reassembled. The Pakistani-built aircraft initially will have some components delivered from China, but with increasing indigenous content as production progresses. It is planned that the second batch of JF-17s will have a large degree of Western sourced systems, reducing Chinese input further.

However, according to retired Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail, domestic JF-17 production heralds for Pakistan, "cutting-edge technology in the hands of Pakistani engineers and technicians."

He further stated, "Since the production is being done at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex [an Air Force outfit], it also helps the Air Force gain first-hand experience in aircraft production, which is not a bad thing at all, even though aircraft production has usually been a civilian domain worldwide."

Domestic production also means that in the long term, potential upgrades would be implemented faster due to reduced bureaucratic red tape from dealing with foreign companies, especially if aircraft had to be sent overseas.

A more short-term effect, however, would be to boost national morale in seeing "a locally manufactured aircraft taking to the skies," he said.

The program itself is also set to receive a boost from seeing "an all-Pakistani aircraft, rather than a part-Chinese-part-Pakistani one, becoming operational, as there have been some detractors across the border [in India] who have not been able to digest the success of the JF-17 project, particularly when compared to the Tejas Project," he said.

National pride aside, however, Tufail said the most important aspect was that the Air Force will not "have to worry about sanctions when we have production in our hands." This has been the overriding Air Force concern since U.S sanctions nearly crippled the F-16 fleet in the 1990s. With more than 250 JF-17s planned to replace the A-5C, F-7P, Mirage-III, and Mirage 5 combat aircraft, Pakistan's defensive potential is unlikely to be harmed to such a degree whatever the future international political climate.
 

1.44

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Invest In Pakistan's Military At Own Risk

Invest In Pakistan's Military At Own Risk

Pakistan is complaining that it needs more weapons from the United States in order to fight the Taliban insurgency in the northwest regions bordering Afghanistan, Newsweek's Ron Moreau and John Barry report uncritically. "We are on a war footing," Pakistan's national-security chief, retired Army Gen. Mahmud Ali Durrani told the magazine. "But [the U.S.] supply chain is working on a peacetime basis. You have to support us at much greater speed." Pakistan wants more Cobra attack helicopters, designators for laser-guided bombs, night vision equipment, IED jammers, and sophisticated communications monitoring equipment.
The reality is the United States has already invested more than $5 billion in the Pakistani military. In December 2007, the New York Times reported the U.S. taxpayers are being taken for a ride by Pakistan, as much of the funds were diverted to conventional Pakistani forces on the border with India.
In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, Bush administration and military officials said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not Al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the United States has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs.
In February 2008, one US official told The Guardian that more than 70 percent, over $3.8 billion, cannot be accounted for.
So what has this investment bought the United States? The Taliban have taken control of all seven of the tribal agencies bordering Afghanistan and is in control or has a strong presence in much of northwestern Pakistan. The Taliban, al Qaeda, and a host of jihadi groups maintain training camps throughout the region. Last summer, U.S. military and intelligence officials told me there are more than 150 camps and more than 400 support locations (safe houses, weapons storage locations, etc.) in the northwest. In late August, the U.S. stepped up airstrkes dramatically in the tribal efforts in an effort to prevent al Qaeda from htting the West again. NATO supply columns are being hit almost daily while traveling through Peshawar and Khyber. Jihadi groups launched a multitude of attacks on the neighboring countries of Afghanistan and India, with the help of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency and elements within the military.
The U.S. better think long and hard before investing more money in Pakistan's military.

The Weekly Standard
 

I-G

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Islamabad to acquire drone technology

Islamabad to acquire drone technology
By Fasihur Rehman Khan, Correspondent
Published: July 04, 2009, 23:04


Islamabad: Pakistan is all set to acquire the technology for drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) from the US, Interior Minister Rahman Malek said.

"The US administration has agreed in principle to provide Pakistan with the drone technology and we will get it soon," Malek told media after meeting the visiting US Homeland Secretary, Janet Napolitano.

There have been numerous attacks on the Pakistani tribal areas throughout the past many months by US srones which fly from bases in neighbouring Afghanistan. Pakistan's political and military leadership have always condemned the attacks which have resulted in an alarmingly high civilian casualties, but have never taken any concrete measure to stop the aggression or to raise the issue at any international forum.

The Pakistan Interior Minister, however, made it clear that his country was not being given any orders by the US administration regarding the current military operation in Swat and other tribal areas.

"The Americans are admiring our actions against terrorists and militants and are ready to help in any way we want," Malek said.

"Osama Bin Laden is not in Pakistan and [we] will eliminate the handful of terrorist leaders operating in our country," he added.

Malek said the Pakistan authorities spoke to the US on the drone technology issue and other aspects of cooperation on intelligence sharing between the two countries. "Pakistan and the US have agreed to put up new initiatives to fight terrorism," he added.

Recent US media reports suggest that the American administration may not be happy with the timing of the South Waziristan military operation, launched in the end of June by the Pakistan military, even as it is about to complete a comprehensive operation against Taliban militants in restive Swat valley.

Pakistan's military offensive against Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud coincides with the biggest military operation by the US forces in Afghanistan.

Gulfnews: Islamabad to acquire drone technology
 

prahladh

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Why do they need such weapons to fight taliban.
 

slug55

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Why do they need such weapons to fight Taliban.
You shouldn't worry too much. No one in the US Military is stupid enough to give Pakistan Drone Technology. We know it would be redesigned in China in a couple of years. They will probably just get access to the surveillance information. There is no way the US would sell Reapers to Pakistan
 

mattster

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I hate to say this but.....

I hate to say this, but Islamic countries all over the world (even developed Islamic countries) are the producing a kind of sick macabre comedy.

In 10 years time, probably Muslims are going to need a fatwa to take a shit !!!

Here is a list:

1) snatching corpses of Hindu men from their widowed Hindu wifes(who were married for decades) on the day of burial in places like Malaysia on the grounds that the husband secretly converted.

2) not allowing little girls to escape from a burning school to preserve their modesty in Saudi Arabia.

3) pouring acid on a young women's faces for turning down a marriage proposal in Bangladesh.

4) Stoning a young woman who has already been a victim of rape in Iran, Pakistan.
 

prahladh

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It's ok man. nothing wrong with this fatwa. But there should have been clamp down from Government on this illegal usage but someone else did.
 

I-G

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1) snatching corpses of Hindu men from their widowed Hindu wifes(who were married for decades) on the day of burial in places like Malaysia on the grounds that the husband secretly converted.
Conversion is really a tough issues these days . but as much as i remember this case is about a Sikh .

Mohan Singh, who died of a heart attack on May 25 at age 41, converted to Islam in 1992. It based its decision on a religious conversion certificate the deceased had apparently signed ,His family, however, says he had always been a practicing Sikh.

Vaithilingam, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST). He told UCA News there have been similar cases involving Hindus, Buddhists and Christians in the past several years. "Although the numbers are not large, there is a feeling of injustice."


not allowing little girls to escape from a burning school to preserve their modesty in Saudi Arabia.
Not really there was a big debate after this accident and even the sacking of Muslim cleric Ali bin Murshid el-Murshid, the official in charge of Saudi girls' schools and New guidelines have been issued for the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), also known as Mutaween.


pouring acid on a young women's faces for turning down a marriage proposal in Bangladesh
Its a problem in almost the whole Sub Continent and its a social problem . Indian Government is even making strict laws to get acid .

Government for harsher punishment for throwing acid on women

The government made its submission during a hearing of a lawsuit by Laxmi, a girl from Delhi, seeking harsher punishment for people who threw acid on women.

A man had thrown acid on Laxmi, 19, for refusing to marry him, severely disfiguring her arms, face and other body parts.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal...ment-for-throwing-acid-on-women_10074253.html

Stoning a young woman who has already been a victim of rape in Iran, Pakistan
This is really wrong ..
 

venom

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is in negotiations with Germany to acquire submarines and aircraft to fulfil the its navy’s needs, the marine force’s chief Admiral Noman Bashir said on Saturday.

Talking to the media after a convocation ceremony in Bahria University, Bashir said the navy would plan its future strategy after evaluating upcoming challenges. Answering a question, he said Gwadar could play a vital role in boosting the country’s economy.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
 

Rage

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Rains wreak havoc on Pakistan's slum-city Karachi

The heavy rain and gusty winds wrought havoc on Karachi’s infrastructure
last night. Over 150 people were injured and at least 18 were dead. Most of
the victims were women and children living in shanties.
















x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x


Rains kill 26 in Pakistan's biggest city

(AP) – 4 hours ago

KARACHI, Pakistan — At least 26 people died in heavy rains in Pakistan's largest city, officials said Sunday.

The rainfall in Karachi since Saturday evening also cut off electricity and inundated all major roads, suspending life in the country's commercial capital, Mayor Mustafa Kamal said.

Dozens more were injured, he said. Electrocution, roof collapses, road accidents and drownings caused the deaths, Kamal added.

Chief meteorologist Qamaruz Zaman said nearly 5.9 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in Karachi on Saturday. Rain continued on Sunday.

Karachi, a city of more than 16 million people, has aging infrastructure and a poor drainage system.

Qamar Pervez of the Edhi ambulance service said most of the bodies had been handed over to their families.

The Karachi Electric Supply Co. said the bad weather cut the city's power.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGNR2kXTLQwI0xZ49agpdCDCqM4wD99HJ2KO0
 

venom

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This was reported in the July 2009 issue of AFM.

5 new AugustaWestland AW139, had been ordered under a $67.47 million contract at the beginning of 2008.
of the 5, 2 will be used for VIP transport by the President and the Prime Minister, the other 3 for emergency services such as humanitarian relief and SAR.
All 5 are scheduled for delivery by November 2010 and will be operated by Pakistan Army's 6 Squadron at Qasim Army Air Base.
 

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France, Germany vie to sell Pakistan subs

BERLIN (UPI) - Pakistan appears to be losing patience with Germany over a deal worth some $1.5 billion to boost its 10-strong fleet of submarines, or it is playing a reluctant Berlin administration against Paris.

An agreement to supply three U-214 U-boats reportedly has been awaiting a final German signature since details were worked out in a visit to Germany by a Pakistani navy delegation in April. Quoting Pakistani government sources, the Financial Times Deutschland says President Asif Zardari may overrule his military's preference for the German subs to take up a “better offer” from France.

The French have reportedly offered to supply three submarines and to sweeten the deal by upgrading and overhauling older submarines that are already part of the Pakistani fleet. Two years ago French President Jacques Chirac reportedly wrote a personal letter to Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, urging his administration to buy French and offering the prospect of French government support and finance for new hotels and a car manufacturing plant.

The German subs on offer would be built by ThyssenKrupp at its Howaldtswerken shipyard in Kiel. The sale, which would attract low-interest finance from the state-owned KfW, is politically controversial and requires the approval of the German National Security Council, which vets the sale of sensitive military and other equipment, especially to areas of actual or potential conflict and instability.

In response to a preliminary inquiry in 2006, the Council gave a further sale of submarines to Pakistan a tentative green light. That approval raised a storm of political protest for fear that such a sale would add to the existing arms race between India and Pakistan. Last year a number of non-governmental organizations protested the supply to Pakistan of Drone aircraft and torpedoes. Pakistan is also interested in acquiring further German-made tanks and armored vehicles.

In Germany, concerns about supplying arms to Pakistan -- a nuclear power -- are increasing, attracting fears that the country could be destabilized by or even fall into the hands of militant Islamists. There are worries over the reliability of the armed forces with some element of the army said still to be sympathetic to the Taliban.

The issue is potentially divisive even within the governing coalition of Angela Merkel. In 2005 the Defense Ministry led by Franz Josef Jung -- a member of Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats -- negotiated a wide-reaching agreement with Pakistan to cooperate on armaments. A corresponding declaration of intent by the German government was blocked after opposition from Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat and his party's candidate to be chancellor at forthcoming elections, due on Sept. 27.

With weapons for Pakistan currently a hot political potato -- and only likely to get hotter -- the Federal Security Council has deferred taking any decision on the sale, pending the election.

Meanwhile India is in the process of acquiring a nuclear submarine fleet using technology from France, joining the select club of countries with submarine nuclear capability. Currently, they are the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.

tehran times : France, Germany vie to sell Pakistan subs
 

hit&run

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Pakistan Objects to U.S. Expansion in Afghan War
Published: July 21, 2009
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan is objecting to expanded American combat operations in neighboring Afghanistan, creating new fissures in the alliance with Washington at a critical juncture when thousands of new American forces are arriving in the region.

Pakistani officials have told the Obama administration that the Marines fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan will force militants across the border into Pakistan, with the potential to further inflame the troubled province of Baluchistan, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. :noo1:
Pakistan does not have enough troops to deploy to Baluchistan to take on the Taliban without denuding its border with its archenemy, India, the officials said. Dialogue with the Taliban, not more fighting, is in Pakistan’s national interest, they said.

The Pakistani account made clear that even as the United States recommits troops and other resources to take on a growing Taliban threat, Pakistani officials still consider India their top priority and the Taliban militants a problem that can be negotiated. In the long term, the Taliban in Afghanistan may even remain potential allies for Pakistan, as they were in the past, once the United States leaves.

The Pakistani officials gave views starkly different from those of American officials regarding the threat presented by top Taliban commanders, some of whom the Americans say have long taken refuge on the Pakistani side of the border.

Recent Pakistani military operations against Taliban in the Swat Valley and parts of the tribal areas have done little to close the gap in perceptions.

Even as Obama administration officials praise the operations, they express frustration that Pakistan is failing to act against the full array of Islamic militants using the country as a base.

Instead, they say, Pakistani authorities have chosen to fight Pakistani Taliban who threaten their government, while ignoring Taliban and other militants fighting Americans in Afghanistan or terrorizing India.

Such tensions have mounted despite a steady rotation of American officials through the region. They were on display last weekend when, during a visit to India, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said those who had planned the Sept. 11 attacks were now sheltering in Pakistan. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued an immediate rebuttal.

Pakistan’s critical assessment was provided as the Obama administration’s special envoy for the region, Richard C. Holbrooke, arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday night.

The country’s perspective was given in a nearly two-hour briefing on Friday for The New York Times by senior analysts and officials of Pakistan’s main spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence. They spoke on the condition of anonymity in keeping with the agency’s policy. The main themes of the briefing were echoed in conversations with several military officers over the past few days.

One of the first briefing slides read, in part: “The surge in Afghanistan will further reinforce the perception of a foreign occupation of Afghanistan. It will result in more civilian casualties; further alienate local population. Thus more local resistance to foreign troops.”

A major concern is that the American offensive may push Taliban militants over the border into Baluchistan, a province that borders Waziristan in the tribal areas. The Pakistani Army is already fighting a longstanding insurgency of Baluch separatists in the province.

A Taliban spillover would require Pakistan to put more troops there, a Pakistani intelligence official said, troops the country does not have now. Diverting troops from the border with India is out of the question, the official said.

A spokesman for the American and NATO commands in Afghanistan, Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, said in an e-mail message on Monday that there was no significant movement of insurgents out of Afghanistan, and no indication of foreign fighters moving into Afghanistan through Baluchistan or Iran, another concern of the Pakistanis.

Pakistani and American officials also cited some positive signs for the alliance. Increased sharing of information has sharpened the accuracy of strikes against militant hide-outs by Pakistani F-16 warplanes and drones operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. And Pakistani and American intelligence operatives are fighting together in dangerous missions to hunt down fighters from the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tribal areas and in the North-West Frontier Province.

But the intelligence briefing clearly illuminated the differences between the two countries over how, in the American view, Pakistan was still picking proxies and choosing enemies among various Islamic militant groups in Pakistan.

The United States maintains that the Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, leads an inner circle of commanders who guide the war in southern Afghanistan from their base in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.

American officials say this Taliban council, known as the Quetta shura, is sheltered by Pakistani authorities, who may yet want to employ the Taliban as future allies in Afghanistan.

In an interview last week, the new leader of American and NATO combat operations in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, paused when asked whether he was getting the cooperation he wanted from Pakistani forces in combating the Quetta shura. “What I would love is for the government of Pakistan to have the ability to completely eliminate the safe havens that the Afghan Taliban enjoy,” he said.

The Pakistani intelligence officials denied that Mullah Omar was even in Pakistan, insisting that he was in Afghanistan.

The United States asked Pakistan in recent years to round up 10 Taliban leaders in Quetta, the Pakistani officials said. Of those 10, 6 were killed by the Pakistanis, 2 were probably in Afghanistan, and the remaining 2 presented no threat to the Marines in Afghanistan, the officials said.

They also said no threat was posed by Sirajuddin Haqqani, an Afghan Taliban leader who American military commanders say operates with Pakistani protection out of North Waziristan and equips and trains Taliban fighters for Afghanistan.

Last year, Washington presented evidence to Pakistani leaders that Mr. Haqqani, working with Inter-Services Intelligence, was responsible for the bombing last summer of the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed 54 people.

Pakistani officials insisted that Mr. Haqqani spent most of his time in Afghanistan, suggesting that the American complaints about him being provided sanctuary were invalid.

Another militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, is also a source of deep disagreement.

India and the United States have criticized Pakistan for allowing Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, to be freed from jail last month.

The Pakistani officials said Mr. Saeed deserved to be freed because the government had failed to convince the courts that he should be kept in custody. There would be no effort to imprison Mr. Saeed again, in part because he was just an ideologue who did not have an anti-Pakistan agenda, the officials said.:connie_jail:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/world/asia/22pstan.html?_r=1&hp&ex=&ei=&partner=
 

hit&run

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CIA linked to Benazir Bhutto’s assassination?

Washington is caught up in a political scandal centering on former Vice President Dick Cheney. It follows a move by the new CIA director Leon Panetta to cancel a secret plan to find and kill Al-Qaeda leaders.
Reddit He says that, while in office, Cheney ordered the agency to withhold information about the anti-terror program from Congress.

According to investigative journalist and RT contributor Wayne Madsen, “This assassination team may have targeted politicians in other countries. One name mentioned was former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who may have been a victim of this program. The other name is Jonas Savimbi, the former Angolan UNITA leader, who may have outlived his usefulness as far as Mr Cheney is concerned.”
CIA linked to Benazir Bhutto?s assassination? | Politics from 2009-07-14 | RT
 

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