Friday, June 6, 2008
Pakistan tries to assure Afghans over Taliban talks
Pakistan's foreign minister sought on Friday to allay Afghanistan's concerns that peace talks with Pakistani Taliban would lead to more militant attacks on the Afghan side of the border.
"We will not engage with terrorists, we will not compromise with terrorists. And those who would take up arms and guns are neither your friends nor our friends," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a joint news conference in Kabul.
The United States and NATO commanders share doubts about Pakistan's proposed peace pact with Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, based in South Waziristan.
NATO says Taliban attacks have jumped up along the border areas since the start of talks in recent weeks.
The Pakistan army carried out an operation in January to bottle up Baitullah Mehsud's forces in their mountain fastness, after the country had reeled from a wave of suicide attacks in the previous six months.
Pakistan's new government, sworn in at the end of March, followed up by negotiating with elders of the Mehsud tribe in a bid to bring the Taliban leader to heel. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Pakistani Taliban targeted Danes after cartoons: officials
Pakistani officials said Tuesday an attack on the Danish embassy was likely a one-off linked to cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and will not impact the new government's talks with the Taliban.
Investigators believe Taliban militants based in a tribal region on the Afghan border were responsible for Monday's suicide attack, which killed at least six people including a Danish national, a government official said.
Police have found skull fragments at the scene which confirm that the bombing was a suicide attack, a tactic favoured by Taliban rebels who have been blamed for a wave of blasts in Pakistan in the past year, officials said.
But the senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "It appears to be a one-off attack which has little relevance to the ongoing negotiations between Taliban and the authorities."
Pakistani Taliban militants agreed to peace talks with the government after parties allied to US-backed anti-terror ally President Pervez Musharraf were trounced in elections in February.
The United States, NATO and Afghanistan have all expressed doubts over the talks.
"This attack was not born out of the events in the country or the region, rather it was part of global outrage in the Islamic world against publishing blasphemous cartoons," the official said. (AFP)
Labels: Denmark, Pakistan, Taliban
A struggle between war and peace
Since 2006 in Afghanistan, coalition forces battling the Taliban-led insurgency have alternated between all-out offensives and ceasefire deals. Similarly in Pakistan, the authorities have chopped and changed between peace accords and military action against militants in the tribal areas.
This vicious - and unproductive - cycle in the South Asian "war on terror" theater can be expected to continue unless the major players drop the idea of piece-meal peace agreements and adopt a broad and consistent policy of grand reconciliation.
In the latest "peace' phase, Islamabad agreed a ceasefire this month with the Taliban in the tribal areas along the Durand Line that separates Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The ink on this accord had hardly dried than Ghairat Bahir was released last week from the United States Bagram air base near Kabul.
Ghairat Bahir is the son-in-law of veteran mujahid Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and a top leader of the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA). He was arrested by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Islamabad in 2002 on American pressure when he was making desperate moves to activate the HIA's jihadi network in favor of the Taliban. He was handed over to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and kept in various secret locations before being moved to Bagram. He was recently sent to Pul-i-Charki jail in Kabul after apparently agreeing to cooperate with the administration of President Hamid Karzai. (Asia Times)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Britain defense sec endorses talks with Taliban
Britain's Defense Minister Des Browne endorsed peace talks between Pakistan and Taliban militants on Wednesday despite concerns from Afghanistan that the talks will allow the Taliban to regroup and launch more attacks.
Browne said Britain supported any moves that would encourage militants to put down their weapons and stop violence, and said Pakistan and Afghanistan needed to work together on problems with their border, much of which is controlled by Taliban insurgents.
He said reconciliation should be a part of any strategy, although it was clear some militants had no intention of putting down their weapons.
"But you can't kill your way out of these sorts of campaigns," Browne told journalists at Australia's National Press Club on Wednesday.
Faced with a wave of suicide attacks, Pakistan has begun talks with Taliban militants who control much of the country's 2,700 km (1,670 miles) mountain border with Afghanistan. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban, U.K.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Taliban release Pakistan envoy after fighters freed
Taliban militants freed a kidnapped Pakistani ambassador on Saturday after the release of more than 40 Taliban fighters in recent days, a senior security official said.
Pakistan's envoy to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, was abducted on February 11 while traveling from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the Afghan border, on his way back to Kabul.
Azizuddin was held by fighters loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, in neighboring South Waziristan, said the security official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said more than 40 Taliban fighters held captive by the authorities had been released over the past few days.
Pakistan's most senior Interior Ministry official earlier denied that the envoy was released as a result of any prisoner swap and said there had been some kind of action.
Azizuddin said he was unaware of any clash between the militants and security forces. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban
Friday, May 2, 2008
Iran moving into the big league
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's three-nation tour of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India and the welter of agreements and understandings reached between Tehran and these governments serve notice beyond the mere issue of energy security and Iran's expanding role in the sub-continent's energy market; rather, these developments signify a new stage in Iran's foreign policy that is best described as "pan-regionalism".
From the Persian Gulf to the Caspian region, the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia and beyond, thanks to its unique geographical location, Iran is in many ways an ideal connecting bridge that has not until now fully exploited its advantageous "equidistance" from India and Europe.
Straddled between the two energy hubs of the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, Iran is a suitable conduit for trade, energy and non-energy, between the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, which are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the landlocked Central Asian states. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Also, with ambitious transportation links projected under the veneer of a "north-south corridor", Iran, Russia and India have conceived new areas of cooperation that connect northern Europe to the Indian Ocean via Iran and the Russian Federation [1] . Already, Iran is an energy exporter to Europe through Turkey, funneling through Turkmenistan's gas and swapping oil with Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. (Asia Times)
Labels: GCC, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Pakistani coalition holds urgent talks in Dubai
Two senior leaders of Pakistan's coalition partners were due to hold talks in Dubai on Wednesday that could determine whether the month-old government holds together or starts to crack.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif rushed to Dubai on Tuesday night after aides failed to settle differences with Asif Ali Zardari over reinstating judges that President Pervez Musharraf deposed during a period of emergency rule six months ago.
Having defeated Musharraf's allies in a parliamentary poll in February, Zardari, who succeeded his late wife Benazir Bhutto as head of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), forged a post-election alliance with Sharif.
Sealing their alliance, Sharif and Zardari had vowed the PPP-led government, within a month of being sworn in, would pass a resolution in the National Assembly to bring back 60 judges.
That self-imposed deadline passed on Wednesday, with Zardari in Dubai, where he went last weekend to see his daughters. (Reuters)
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pakistan Taliban halts peace talks
Pakistan's Taliban movement has decided to suspend peace talks with the government over its refusal to pull troops from a troubled tribal area.
Mawlawi Omar, the group's spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Monday that Beitullah Mehsud, the movement's leader, had halted peace talks due to the lack of progress.
Omar accused the government of being "unserious" towards reaching a peace agreement with the movement, which was due to be signed in the coming few days.
The Pakistani government has not yet commented on the suspension of talks.
Mehsud, accused by the last government of orchestrating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the late Pakistani prime minister, made the decision after meeting tribal elders acting as mediators. (Al Jazeera)
Iran steps into enemy's territory
This week, with his three-nation tour of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad will fortify Iran's regional ties and thus achieve a milestone in his administration's "Look East" foreign policy orientation.
Accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, Ahmadinejad's trip transpires at a time of heightened US allegations of Iran's meddling in Iraq and serves as an antidote to the US policy of isolating Iran and castigating it as a rogue or pariah state.
Too bad for the US, which now places the lion's share of the blame for its quagmire in Iraq on Iran's "destructive influence", two key US allies in the sub-continent, India and Pakistan, are now poised to deepen their economic, political, cultural and even geostrategic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, irrespective of Tehran's defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a halt in Iran's uranium-enrichment activities.
Not only that, Sri Lanka, strategically situated in the Indian Ocean, is also about to enter into a close economic relationship with Iran, in light of Tehran's funding of the US$450 million multi-purpose Uma Oya power project and its billion-dollar investment in Sri Lanka's sole oil refinery [1]. This is bound to enhance Iran's regional clout as well as create new points of geostrategic synergy between Tehran and New Delhi. (Asia Times)
Labels: India, Iran, Pakistan, U.S.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pakistan Taliban in truce call
Betullah Mehsud, who is accused of masterminding last year's assassination of Benzair Bhutto, the former prime minister, ordered the ceasefire in a leaflet, a government official said on Thursday.
"For the sake of general peace, provocative actions are strictly banned. The order is final and there will be no leniency," the leaflet said, attributing the order to Mehsud.
The leaflet warned that those who violated the order would be strung up in public.
A government official confirmed the leaflets were genuine and were issued by Mehsud's group.(Al Jazeera)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Pakistan frees pro-Taliban leader, makes peace with group
Pakistan freed a pro-Taliban cleric and quickly signed an accord with his hard-line group Monday, the first major step by the new government to talk peace with Islamic militants and break with President Pervez Musharraf's policy of using force.
The day's developments began with the release of Sufi Muhammad, who is believed in his 70s, after more than five years in custody following his dispatch of thousands of followers to fight in Afghanistan.
A few hours later, the government of North West Frontier Province said Muhammad's group signed a pact renouncing violence in return for being allowed to peacefully campaign for Islamic law. Security forces have the right to "act against" any extremists who attack the government. (AP)
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Pakistan's ambassador says held by Taliban: TV
Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, who went missing in February in the Khyber region, appeared on Arabic television on Saturday saying he was being held by the Taliban and urged Islamabad to meet their demands.
Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin appeared in a video tape on Al Arabiya television surrounded by armed militants to make his first public statement since going missing.
"We were kidnapped by mujahideen from the Taliban," the ambassador, wearing an open-necked shirt and looking calm, said in the remarks which were translated from Urdu into Arabic.
"I suffer health problems such as high blood pressure and heart pains," said the bespectacled and grey-bearded ambassador, who gestured to his armed captors in an arid, hilly region. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban
US, Pakistan say Taliban commander killed in shootout
A Taliban commander blamed for the deadliest attack on U.S. troops since they entered Afghanistan in 2001 has been killed in a shootout with security forces in Pakistan, American and Pakistani officials said.
Police killed Ahmad Shah, also known as Mullah Ismail, at a roadblock near the northwestern city of Peshawar, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said. Two U.S. security officials confirmed Shah's death in a shootout and said Pakistani authorities had his body.
All three officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
U.S. and Afghan officials have described Shah, who also went by the name Mullah Ismail, as the leader of Taliban militants who ambushed a group of U.S. commandos in June 2005 and shot down a Chinook helicopter sent to rescue them. Sixteen American special forces members died on the helicopter. (AP)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban, U.S.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Hundreds of Afghan refugees stranded on way home
GENEVA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Afghans seeking to return home from northwest Pakistan have been stranded because a tribal clash has closed down a road leading to Afghanistan, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said repatriations along the Peshawar-Torkham highway have been halted and would resume when the road reopens.
More than 360 Afghan families who were cleared for repatriation from Peshawar have been unable to leave due to the roadblock, he said. The UNHCR has given food, plastic sheets and blankets to the most needy families, he told a news briefing.
Redmond said the highway closure raised the need for more time for the 70,000 Afghans living in the Jalozai refugee camp to repatriate or to go to another refugee facility in Pakistan.
The deadline for the closure of the Jalozai camp was meant to be Tuesday (today), and more than 3,000 Afghans have repatriated from Jalozai in recent weeks. It is among camps being closed as part of a "consolidation process" by Pakistani authorities who have raised security concerns, he said. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Refugees, U.N.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Afghans and Pakistanis "squeezing" Taliban and al Qaeda
Al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan-Pakistani border are increasingly facing pressure on two fronts and they can be squeezed with more coordination between the neighbors, a U.S. official said on Monday.
The Taliban have been battling U.S. and other foreign troops in Afghanistan since 2001.
Pakistani forces have also been fighting the militants, based in semi-autonomous tribal regions along the border, who have unleashed an unprecedented wave of violence in Pakistan since the middle of last year.
"To some extent, the extremists in those areas are now fighting on two fronts," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told a news conference in Kabul. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Pakistan, Taliban, U.S.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Pakistan arrests four Turkish al Qaeda suspects
Pakistani security agencies have arrested four Turks with suspected links to al Qaeda, intelligence officials said on Friday.
Explosives, some 1,400 rounds of ammunition, and a laptop containing "jihadi" material were found on the suspects, who were detained by paramilitary troops late on Thursday as they were traveling on a bus from the western province of Baluchistan to neighboring Sindh, the officials said.
Interrogations revealed they were Turkish, and three were carrying Turkish passports, although they all had fake identity cards.
"They are between the age of 30 and 35 and were carrying identity cards showing them as Afghan refugees," said an intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"We have arrested them on suspicion they may have links to al Qaeda." (Reuters)
Labels: Al Qaeda, Pakistan, Turkey
Sunday, March 30, 2008
CIA Chief Says Al-Qaida Found Safe Haven in Pakistan
The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency says al-Qaida has established a safe haven in the tribal areas near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that it presents a "clear and present danger" to the West. VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington.
The CIA Director, Air Force General Michael Hayden, says if there were another terrorist attack against the United States, it would almost certainly originate from that region.
"What I can tell you about is the situation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which presents a clear and present danger to Afghanistan, to Pakistan, and to the West in general and to the United States in particular," said Michael Hayden.
General Hayden, interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press, said al-Qaida has been using the advantage of that safe haven to train operatives who "look Western." (VOA)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
US-Led Coalition Fire Kills Civilians (AP)
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan fired across the border into Pakistan in a strike targeting Taliban militants, and the Pakistani army said Thursday that civilians were killed.
The attack illustrates Washington's concern the Taliban and al-Qaida are using Pakistan's lawless frontier as a base for attacks in Afghanistan.
But anger at civilian deaths could lead to a review by the incoming Pakistani government of the country's counterterrorism strategy and its U.S.-backed policy of using military force to root out militants.
A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said troops used "precision-guided munitions" to strike a compound about a mile inside Pakistan on Wednesday.
Maj. Chris Belcher said the troops were responding to an "imminent threat" and that the coalition informed Pakistani authorities after the strike.
"We received reliable intelligence indicating senior Haqqani network members were in the compound at the time of the strike," Belcher said Thursday in Kabul. (Link)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, U.S.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Arab ministers mull review of peace offer (Reuters)
Arab foreign ministers threatened on Wednesday to reconsider a longstanding Arab offer of peace with Israel and condemned recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as "crimes against humanity".
They said in a statement: "For the Arab side to continue to offer the Arab peace initiative, it will be linked with Israel's implementation of its basic international commitments."
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told a news conference the foreign ministers would make recommendations on peace strategy to an Arab summit in Damascus later this month.
"The matter must be restudied. What is the benefit? What is the strategy which must be adopted in the light of the complete rejection of the hand stretched out?" he added. (Link)
Labels: Arab Leauge, Israel, Pakistan
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Pakistani court quashes Zardari graft charges (Reuters)
A Pakistani court dismissed five corruption cases against the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday, his lawyer said, in a major step towards clearing the way for him to hold government office.
Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, led her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to election victory on February 18 and is now negotiating with other parties on a coalition government.
"The accountability court has terminated five references against Mr Zardari and they stand withdrawn," Zardari's lawyer, Farooq Naik, told Reuters, referring to the charges.
"All orders about confiscation and seizure of his property have also been terminated," he said. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Pakistan frees 'spy' after 35 years (Al Jazeera)
Pakistani authorities have freed an Indian man who spent 35 years in prison, after he was accused of spying.
Kashmir Singh crossed over into India on Tuesday after being freed a day earlier from a prison in the eastern city of Lahore after Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, granted him clemency.
While being driven back, Singh said: "I am seeing the lights, the hustle and bustle. I feel like I am in some other world."
"Listen, I am laughing. I do not remember the last time I laughed like this." (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Sunday, March 2, 2008
US and Arab states clash at UN Security Council (Independent)
America and Arab states will lock horns again today in the UN Security Council as Libya seeks an immediate ceasefire and a formal condemnation of the escalation of violence in Gaza.
The 15-member council agreed yesterday on the terms of a statement read to the press, after a five-hour emergency session. But the US delegation managed to tone down the language and it failed to match the unusually strong denunciation issued by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, who condemned the "disproportionate and excessive use of force" by Israel "that has killed and injured so many civilians, including children". He also condemned Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli towns as "acts of terrorism" and called for an end to the attacks by both sides.
Libya has now circulated a draft resolution which is due to be discussed by the council members today and would constitute their first formal response if adopted. But in a closed session, some delegations, including Britain's, rejected the text for failing to point out that Israeli military attacks were launched in response to militants firing missiles. The US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, said: "It's not a balanced resolution, certainly." (Link)
Labels: Israel, Pakistan, U.N., U.S.
Scores killed in Pakistan bombing (Al Jazeera)
At least 40 people have killed in a suicide blast in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt, medical sources said.
Around 50 people are said to have been wounded.
The explosion ripped through a gathering of tribal elders, the military said.
The blast took place in the Zarghon village near the tribal town of Darra Adam Khel, the scene of violent clashes between Pakistani troops and pro-Taliban fighters earlier this year. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Extremist accused in Bhutto killing (AP)
Pakistani police on Saturday formally accused the top Taliban leader in the country and four others of planning the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Police filed preliminary charges in court against Baitullah Mehsud, who had been named by the Pakistani government in the Dec. 27 killing of Bhutto in a suicide and gun-attack during a public rally. Mehsud, alleged to have al-Qaida connections, is underground and it is not clear if the police are anywhere close to catching him. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Pakistan Probes Bombing That Killed 40 (AP)
Police searched for clues Saturday after a suicide attack at a police officer's funeral killed more than 40 people in northwestern Pakistan, where troops are fighting pro-Taliban militants.
Another suicide bombing Saturday killed one person and wounded 19 others in the region, officials said.
More than 60 people were also hurt Friday night when a bomber blew himself up amid some 800 mourners who had gathered for the funeral of Javed Iqbal, a senior police officer who was killed in a roadside bombing earlier in the day. Among the dead was Iqbal's 16-year-old son, Ghazan. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Blast kills 12 in Pakistan border zone (AP)
A pre-dawn explosion demolished a house in Pakistan's wild frontier zone on Thursday, killing up to 12 suspected militants, the military, intelligence officials and a local militant said.
The explosion "ripped through heavy explosives stored at a house" in a village in South Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan where militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban operate, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press.
Abbas added that 10 to 12 people died in the explosion. He would not say who the slain men were, or how many foreigners may have been present. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Up to 70% of US aid to Pakistan 'misspent' (Guardian)
America's massive military aid package to Pakistan has come under scrutiny after allegations that as much as 70% of $5.4bn in assistance has been misspent.
Since 2002, the US has paid the operating costs of Pakistan's military operations in the tribal belt along the Afghan border, where Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are sheltering.
Pakistan provides over 100,000 troops and directs the fight; the US foots the bill for food, fuel, ammunition and maintenance. The cash payments — averaging $80m a month — have been a cornerstone of US support for President Pervez Musharraf.
But over the past 18 months, as militants seized vast swaths of the tribal belt and repelled a string of Pakistani offensives, the funding has come under the microscope.
American officials processing the payments at the US embassy in Islamabad have concluded that the Pakistani expense claims have been vastly inflated, two western military officials told the Guardian. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Pakistanis arrest militant linked to Bhutto attack (Reuters)
Pakistani security forces have arrested an al Qaeda-linked militant wanted in connection with an assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto hours after she returned from exile in October.
Two-time prime minister Bhutto survived the suicide bombing on a procession in Karachi after she arrived home on October 18, but nearly other 140 people were killed.
Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack blamed on al Qaeda-linked militants in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Pakistan Lifts Curbs on YouTube (AP)
Pakistan's telecoms regulator said Tuesday it has lifted restrictions on the YouTube Web site that led to the knocking out of access to the popular video-sharing site in many other countries for a few hours over the weekend.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority ordered 70 domestic Internet service providers to restore access to the site after removal of what government officials had deemed a "blasphemous" video clip. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Pakistan to appoint new military intelligence chief: report (Reuters)
Pakistani army chief General Pervez Kayani is appointing a new head of military intelligence, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, the first major reshuffle in the military since President Pervez Musharraf quit the army.
Musharraf, who seized power as a general in 1999, stepped down as army chief in November to become a civilian president of the country, which has been ruled by the military for more than half of the 60 years since its independence.
Top military appointments in the country are always closely watched as Pakistan's intelligence agencies have long held influence over successive governments as well as being accused of meddling in the affairs of neighboring Afghanistan and India. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Monday, February 25, 2008
Blast kills top Pakistani army medic and 7 others (Reuters)
A suicide bomber killed the Pakistani army's top medical officer and seven others in the city of Rawalpindi on Monday in the first bomb attack outside the violence-plagued northwest since last week's elections.
The chief of the army's medical corps, Lieutenant-General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, was the most senior military officer killed by militants to date.
He died with two of his staff and five passers-by a week after largely peaceful parliamentary elections raised hopes that a civilian government might be able to stem a rising tide of militant violence. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Pakistan: Musharraf Dismisses Exit Talk (AP)
President Pervez Musharraf's spokesman on Monday dismissed a suggestion from three U.S. senators that the embattled leader make a "graceful exit" from power his opponents' victory in Pakistan's elections.
Musharraf was elected to a new five-year presidential term last year by Pakistani lawmakers, "not by any senator from the United States," his spokesman Rashid Qureshi told Dawn News television.
"So I don't think he needs to respond to anything that is said by these people," he said.
The three U.S. senators met Musharraf shortly after last week's parliamentary vote in which his political allies were routed. Some Pakistani political leaders have also called for him to resign. (Link)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Pakistan Militants Call for Dialogue (AP)
Taliban-style militants battling government forces in northwest Pakistan said Sunday they wanted dialogue with the winners of parliamentary elections and urged the new leadership to abandon President Pervez Musharraf's war on terror.
The party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, which will lead the new government, called for an end to military operations against autonomy-minded insurgents in another restive area - the southwestern province of Baluchistan where the U.S.-backed Afghan government believes the Taliban leadership may be hiding.
Opposition parties trounced Musharraf's allies in Feb. 18 parliamentary elections - widely seen as a public repudiation of Musharraf's policies including his alliance with Washington in the war on terror. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Fate of ousted judge hangs over Pakistan (AP)
Days after opposition parties triumphed in elections, lawyers chanting for President Pervez Musharraf's resignation were tugging at the barricades around the home of the judge whose ouster and house arrest helped trigger Pakistan's political crisis.
The newly elected leaders are already under pressure to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and his fellow sacked judges on the Supreme Court. It's one of several urgent issues that will determine the future not only of the U.S.-backed president, but also of a new government's effort to rebuild the country's battered democracy.
"Restoring the judges would put a bomb under Musharraf," said Nazir Naji, a commentator for Jang, Pakistan's top-selling newspaper. "He cannot afford to let this happen." (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Fate of ousted judge hangs over Pakistan (AP)
Days after opposition parties triumphed in elections, lawyers chanting for President Pervez Musharraf's resignation were tugging at the barricades around the home of the judge whose ouster and house arrest helped trigger Pakistan's political crisis.
The newly elected leaders are already under pressure to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and his fellow sacked judges on the Supreme Court. It's one of several urgent issues that will determine the future not only of the U.S.-backed president, but also of a new government's effort to rebuild the country's battered democracy.
"Restoring the judges would put a bomb under Musharraf," said Nazir Naji, a commentator for Jang, Pakistan's top-selling newspaper. "He cannot afford to let this happen." (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Friday, February 22, 2008
The People Speak in Pakistan (The Progressive)
Life is always full of pleasant surprises, the elections in Pakistan proving this yet again.
In spite of holding the massive advantages of a pliant election commission, a muzzled media and a jailed judiciary, (erstwhile) General Pervez Musharraf’s party lost massively in the parliamentary elections held on February 18. Benazir Bhutto’s party won the most seats, with the party of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif close behind. No single party won a majority, though, forcing these two parties to form a coalition.
I must confess I was taken aback by the results, since I had expected Musharraf’s henchmen to rig the results. Human Rights Watch kept a close tab on the elections and posted an audio recording of Pakistan’s attorney general himself advising a political aspirant that there would be heavy rigging in favor of Musharraf’s party. I guess there’s a limit to the shenanigans you can engage in if the people are so overwhelmingly against you. The other parties are even questioning the 40-odd seats that Musharraf’s party has gotten.
Whither Musharraf? And, more importantly from a U.S. perspective, where will the United States go from here? (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Several dead in Pakistan blast (Al Jazeera)
At least 13 people have been killed after a vehicle carrying a wedding party was struck by a roadside bomb in the northwestern valley of Swat, officials say.
The vehicle was passing through Matta, a town north of Mingora, the main town in Swat, on Friday when it was hit by the blast. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Pakistan parties to form coalition (Al Jazeera)
Nawaz Sharif, the former Pakistani prime minister, has said that his party will form a new coalition government and work with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of Benazir Bhutto.
The announcement on Thursday came after the PPP and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party were overwhelmingly victorious in Monday's parliamentary polls.
Sharif said: "We have agreed on a common agenda. We will work together to form the government in the center and in the provinces." (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Musharraf: The impeachment factor (Al Jazeera)
In the next 24 hours, some contours of the next Pakistani government both at the centre and the country's four provinces will begin to take shape.
As expected, the polls threw up a divided mandate that relegated embattled president Pervez Musharraf's allies to the sidelines but Pakistanis are hoping that the top gainers — the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — will look beyond the short term lure of power.
Indeed, together they have the strength — with likely help from the supporting leftwing Awami National Party (ANP) and a stream of independents — to make the difference. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Religious Hard-Liners Out in Pakistan (AP)
Fed up with violence and economic hardship, voters in the deeply conservative northwest have thrown out the Islamist parties that ruled this province for five years - a clear sign that Pakistanis are rejecting religious extremism in a region where al-Qaida and the Taliban have sought refuge.
Instead, voters in turbulent North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, gave their support to secular parties that promised to pave the streets, create jobs and bring peace through dialogue and economic incentives to the extremists.
That may conflict with U.S. pressure to step up the fight against armed militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
"They didn't do anything for the people," Bokhari Shah, 65, said of the religious parties. "They have done nothing to help the people, and we are afraid to even come out from our homes because of all these bomb blasts." (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Monitors: No Rigging in Election (AP)
Pakistan's opposition parties claimed the elections would be massively rigged - then they won. International monitors said Wednesday the run-up to the vote was biased toward President Pervez Musharraf's allies but polling day was basically fair, enabling his critics to sweep to victory.
"A level playing field was not provided for the campaign," said Michael Gahler, chief of the EU monitoring mission, noting that slanted state media coverage, restrictions on rallies and the arrest of hundreds of political activists were among conditions benefiting the ruling party.
"But on election day," he added, "voting on the whole was assessed as positive."
With the count from Monday's parliamentary election nearly complete, the opposition parties of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and ex-premier Nawaz Sharif had won enough seats to form a new government, though they were expected to fall short of the two-thirds needed to impeach Musharraf. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Musharraf vows not to resign (Al Jazeera)
Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, says he has no plans to resign despite a sweeping election victory by opposition parties.
When asked by The Wall Street Journal whether he would resign or retire, Musharraf said: "No, not yet. We have to move forward in a way that we bring about a stable democratic government to Pakistan."
The election result has been seen as a vote against Musharraf's actions as president.
Pakistan People's party (PPP), the party of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister, said it would try to form a coalition goverment without the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Pakistan's winners propose anti-Musharraf coalition (Reuters)
The party of Pakistan's assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto began stitching together a coalition on Wednesday that could topple President Pervez Musharraf, after winning most seats in a general election.
President George W. Bush described the vote, which was less violent and fairer than most people anticipated, as "a victory for the people of Pakistan", while a State Department spokesman urged the next government to work with Musharraf.
Musharraf is a key Muslim ally for the United States in its fight against al Qaeda, and also oversaw better ties with rival India. But neighbors and allies now fear nuclear-armed Pakistan is becoming more unstable and economic gains could be squandered. (Link)
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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Musharraf urged to go as rivals win Pakistan poll (Reuters)
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's opponents won a big election victory on Tuesday as voters rejected his former ruling party, raising doubts whether the U.S. ally who has ruled since 1999 can keep power.
Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in a coup and only allowed back from exile three months ago, urged Musharraf to accept he was no longer wanted.
"He would say when people would want, I will go. Today the people have said what they want," Sharif said after his party ran a close second in Monday's polls.
A wave of sympathy helped the Pakistan People's Party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto emerge as the largest party in the 342 seat National Assembly.
But it does not have a majority and will need to seek coalition partners. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Monday, February 18, 2008
Pakistan opposition has solid vote lead (AP)
President Pervez Musharraf appealed for national unity Monday as early unofficial returns showed the opposition taking commanding leads in parliamentary elections aimed at bolstering democracy and calming political strife.
Fear and apathy kept millions of voters at home. But while at least 24 people were killed in election-related violence, the country was spared the type of Islamic militant attacks that scarred the campaign, most notably the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
State-run television early Tuesday gave the two main opposition parties strong leads in early unofficial tallies, a trend conceded by the president's Pakistan Muslim League-Q party. Final official results were not expected before Wednesday.
"As far as we are concerned, we will be willing to sit on opposition benches if final results prove that we have lost. This is the trend," party spokesman Tariq Azeem said.
Lack of a clear winner could result in a government too fragmented to rally the nation against Islamic extremists. (Link)
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Musharraf pleads for unity after vote (AP)
Pakistan's embattled president appealed for national unity Monday after parliamentary elections aimed at bolstering democracy and calming political strife. But fear and apathy kept millions at home, raising the prospect of no clear winner and a government too fragmented to rally the nation against Islamic extremists.
Private television stations reported strong showings by the two main opposition parties in early unofficial tallies, a trend conceded by the party of President Pervez Musharraf. Final official results were not expected before Wednesday.
Balloting proceeded without major attacks, although the opposition party of assassinated ex-prime minister Benzir Bhutto claimed that 15 of its members had been killed and hundreds injured in scattered violence "deliberately engineered to deter voters."
Officials confirmed 24 deaths in election-related violence over the previous 24 hours, mostly in the country's biggest province of Punjab, the key electoral battleground. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Pakistan Speaks (Guardian)
(Link)
Stephen at the Rational Manifesto has an excellent run through of a recent Human Rights Watch report, demonstrating why the Pakistani election is 'most likely rigged'. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Pakistan vote counting begins (Al Jazeera)
Counting of votes has got under way in Pakistan after a parliamentary election marked by low turnout and no major violent incident.
Poll officials said partial returns would be available by late Monday.
But final official returns for the elections to a new national assembly and four provincial assemblies were not expected for two more days.
Precise turnout figures were not available but reports from Al Jazeera's correspondents and news agencies suggested that most of the 81 million registered voters stayed home.
Sarwar Bari, the head of Free and Fair Elections Network, which had 20,000 observers, said initial reports from the field indicated voter turnout was around 35 per cent.
Ayaz Baig, the election commissioner in Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, estimated turnout in his area at 30 per cent to 40 per cent - slightly lower than in the 2002 elections. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan