PC on National Security endorses Bonn boycott

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Committee on National Security Friday endorsed decision of the Federal Cabinet not to attend the December 5, Bonn Conference at any level to protest the November 26 Nato/ISAF attack on Pakistani border post in Mohmand Agency.

The Parliamentary Committee’s meeting was chaired by Senator Raza Rabbani and was attended by its members and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani along with his team.

Briefing the media representatives outside the Parliament House about the three hour long in camera meeting of the PC, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the committee discussed the situation arising from the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

It also endorsed all the decisions of the defence committee of the cabinet including cutting of Nato supply line, she added.

The prime minister briefed the committee about the measures taken by the government after the Mohmand agency incident and asked it to come up with recommendations to redefine the terms of engagement and cooperation with US and Nato, said the minister.

The committee’s recommendations will be put before the joint sitting of the parliament, the minister said.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL

Pakistan’s decision to boycott Bonn conference irreversible: Khar

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Friday said the decision to boycott Bonn Conference was irreversible and Nato supplies have been blocked on violation of parliament’s resolution of May 14, 2011.

Talking to the media outside Parliament House, she said only Parliament was the right forum to review any decision including blockade of Nato supplies and attending Bonn moot.

She said Pakistan was not hostile to any country however national interests would be protected at any cost.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL

Conspiracies being hatched to topple govt, says PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said that conspiracies were being hatched against the government but it was not very easy to topple it, FTNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad, Prime Minister Gilani appreciated the system’s ‘success’, which he said had been sustaining for the past four years despite the conspiracies against it.

The prime minister further said that people hatching conspiracies against the government wanted to avoid the Senate elections and root out the existing system.

Responding to a journalist’s question, Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan’s response to Nato’s attack was responsible and not aggressive.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL

Senate passes resolution against Nato’s Mohmand attack

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed a unanimous resolution against Nato’s attack on a Pakistani checkpost, FTNews reported.

The resolution was tabled by Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri. The resolution stated that in case of foreign aggression, the nation would stand united for the country’s defence.

The resolution moreover demanded that all resolutions that had been passed in the Senate relating to drone attacks and the war against terror should be implemented.

Furthermore, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that in the wake of the Nato attack, it had become difficult to remain on the same page with the United States.

Khar further stated that the decision to boycott the Bonn conference was well thought out and there was no possibility of reviewing it.

The Senate’s session was then adjourned to December 7.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL

Salahuddin claims he met Mansoor Ijaz on Kashmir issue: BBC

ISLAMABAD: The chief of militant organisation Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM) operating in Indian-administered Kashmir revealed that Mansoor Ijaz, who was behind the alleged memo, tried to convince him to continue ceasefire in the Kashmir valley, a report said.

Syed Salahuddin told BBC Urdu that Ijaz, backed by the United States, met him twice in 2000 in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad immediately after the decision was made to end a ceasefire in the valley.

Salahuddin recalled that former official of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Khalid Khwaja accompanied Ijaz during their first meeting in Islamabad, adding that the second meeting was held in Muzaffarabad in which Ijaz’s mother was also present.

The militant leader told BBC’s correspondent Zulfikar Ali, who has previously reported from Muzaffarabad, that he clearly refused the advice and told Ijaz that India was not sincere and that it was using delaying tactics.

Extending the ceasefire in these circumstances would be harmful, he added.

Salahuddin further said that Ijaz never met him again after he asked him not to contact him on the matter.

The militant leader said that Ijaz tried to lure him by offering economic assistance for the valley’s development if he withdrew the decision of ending the ceasefire.

Salahuddin, however, said that he refused the offer by saying that the international community would provide the aid after Kashmir gets independence from India.

Ijaz also tried to establish himself as a credible interlocutor by saying that he was carrying out these meeting on the behest of President Bill Clinton’s administration, the report said.

He tried to prove his high level contacts by showing me a picture of him with Bill and Hillary Clinton, Salahuddin said.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL

Pakistan defends lack of action during Nato attack

ISLAMABAD: Confusion and a communication breakdown prevented Pakistan’s airforce from scrambling to defend troops on the ground during the deadly Nato bombing last weekend of two border outposts, the military said Friday, responding to rare domestic criticism of the powerful institution.

The Pakistani military, which eats up most of the country’s budget and is accountable to no one, has said the attack that killed 24 troops was an ”act of deliberate aggression” that went on for close two hours.

It has also said that Pakistani commanders contacted and pleaded with coalition commanders to stop firing.

Nato and US officials have disputed that account, which has triggered uncomfortable questions in this South Asian country over why Pakistan’s own fighter jets and helicopters stationed close to the border did not take off to defend the ground troops during the attack.

The military has said troops did fire back at the Nato choppers when they attacked.

A Pakistani military statement on Friday said the response could have been more ”effective” if the airforce had been called in, but this was not possible because of a ”breakdown of communication” and confusion at ”various levels” within the organisation.

The incident has pushed already strained ties between Washington and Islamabad over the future of Afghanistan close to rupture.

Islamabad has closed its eastern border to Nato supplies traveling into landlocked Afghanistan and said it is reviewing its cooperation with Washington.

US officials expressed their condolences over the loss of life and denied the Pakistan army was deliberately targeted.

But they have not apologized, saying it would not be appropriate before an investigation into the incident has been completed. In the past, Nato and the US has complained that militants along the border are helped or tolerated by Pakistani soldiers.

US officials have said a joint US-Afghan patrol came under fire from the Pakistani side of the border and called in airstrikes.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal quoted American officials as saying that Pakistani officers had given the go-ahead for the raid, unaware they had troops in the area.

Pakistan’s military also faced criticism after the May 2 unilateral American helicopter-borne raid that killed Osama bin Laden, with questions – yet unanswered – over how the aircraft were able to fly deep into Pakistani territory without the knowledge of the airforce.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL