Pakistan Warns NATO Against Future Attacks

Pakistani officials are continuing to angrily condemn NATO over yesterday’s attack on its security forces, with Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani warning that the nation has “other options” for possible retaliation if NATO refuses to apologize.

So far Pakistan has closed one of its major border crossings to Afghanistan to NATO supply traffic, but a number of senators have been calling on the nation to close the borders entirely, and protests have broken out across the nation condemning NATO in general and the US in particular.

Growing numbers of NATO tankers have been set ablaze by militants across Pakistan as well, and the future status of Pakistan as a key ally in the war on terror remains very much in doubt, as Zardari’s pro-US reputation becomes increasingly untenable politically, and key allies like Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik stake out independent positions.

The Thursday attack, which killed three members of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps, was just the latest in a number of cross-border strikes, which are coming at a time when the US is also dramatically escalating its drone strikes against Pakistan’s tribal areas. Pakistan’s military is fighting a number of wars in the region, largely at the Obama Administration’s behest, but the strikes seem to be causing a major rift, and one which US officials are continuing to downplay even as it clearly worsens.

INDIAN TERRORISM : Police attack worshippers in Kashmir

Zubair Ahmed, who was wounded by gunfire, is wheeled on a stretcher at a hospital in Srinagar on October 1, 2010.

Paramilitary troops in Indian-administered Kashmir have opened fire on several Muslim worshippers as they were heading to a mosque for Friday Prayers.

Police say one person was injured when they opened fire on stone-throwing demonstrators who defied a curfew in the southern parts of Kashmir.

The families of the victims, however, say they were shot by Indian police while en route to the Friday Prayers in the predominantly Muslim region.

A Press TV correspondent said several injured people were rushed to the hospital after scuffles with police in the disputed Himalayan valley.

The developments come as authorities decided to extend the curfew on Friday, to prevent further protests after prayers.

Meanwhile, key separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a 10-day protest across the Muslim-majority region.

Kashmir has been in a siege-like state of strikes and curfew since June when a 17-year-old student was killed by police. More than 110 people have been killed over the past few months in protests, which are the biggest pro-independence rallies in decades.

Amnesty International has recently called on India to take immediate steps to protect and respect human rights in Kashmir.

“Security forces should use the minimum force necessary to defend themselves or others against an imminent threat of death or serious injury. They should not employ intentional lethal use of firearms except where such use is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life,” an Amnesty International statement said.

NATO’s Afghan-bound supply trucks stopped

Islamabad/Peshawar—Pakistani officials said Thursday that they had blocked NATO supply trucks from entering Afghanistan at one key border post after an early morning NATO air strike that killed three Pakistani border security soldiers. A senior military official said the move was made in protest of that attack and other recent NATO air strikes in Pakistan. Pakistan believes the strikes have been carried out as “pressure tactics” meant to force the Pakistani army to conduct operations against al-Qaeda and Afghan insurgents based in the mountainous tribal area of North Waziristan, the official said.

“There is no justification for these attacks and they must come to an end with immediate effect,” the military official said. The blockade comes days after Pakistan protested NATO airstrikes that killed insurgents inside Pakistan and threatened to cut off supply routes.

The uncalled for and unjustified adventurism of the NATO forces operating inside Afghanistan continued side by side the drone attacks on Pakistani soil Thursday as a fresh attack by the allied forces in Kurram agency resulted in Shahadat of three security personnels and injuries to three others. The NATO helicopters, as the reports said, struck twice in two areas in Kurram agency Thursday morning.

In the meanwhile, yet another drone attack in North Waziristan agency Wednesday late night left at least five people dead and three others wounded.

As many as three strikes by the NATO Apache copters in North Waziristan and Kurram agencies on last Friday , Saturday and Sunday, it may be recalled had killed over fifty people. Amid strong protest by the Pakistani government, the NATO officials had claimed that their choppers had struck in response to the militant’s attack on their out post Khost Afghanistan and that they, (NATO) had the agreement with Pakistani government to violate Pakistani Air space up to few kilometers what it termed in hot pursuit of a target. However, their claims could never be substantiated.

Reports reaching here said a couple of NATO helicopters once again did the adventurism Thursday morning coming deep into Kurram and attacked security post of the FC in Mandato Kandao area.

“The NATO helicopters intruded into Pakistan territory early Thursday morning and targeted a security check post killing three soldiers. officials told Observer adding the NATO choppers hit the Mandato Kandao security check post at Pak-Afghan border in upper Kurram Agency killing three security personnel and wounding equal number of others in shelling.

The NATO officials said Thursday it was investigating reports that three of Pakistan soldiers were killed in a cross-border attack by coalition helicopters based in Afghanistan.

While the FC officials confirmed that NATO helicopters launched bombing in Mand-To-Kandao area, located in Kurram District on Pak-Afghan border, resulting in killing three security men and injuring many others.

NATO helicopters intruded up to five kilometers (three miles) into Pakistan’s airspace, the NATO again came up with a lame excuse that the strike may be in response to the insurgents attempted ambush on their men inside Afghanistan.

“Early this morning, a coalition force observed what they believed was a group of insurgents attempting to fire mortars at a coalition base in the border area of Dand Patan district, Paktiya province,” NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in statement claiming the team reported they did not cross into Pakistan airspace and believed the insurgent location was on the Afghan side of the border.”

The NATO helicopters, as the reports say again violated the Pakistani Air space and pounded border area Pashu Kandao area of Kurram Agency in second such attack by coalition forces inside Pakistan on Thursday.

“After being informed by Pakistan military officials that their border forces had been hit, ISAF said it was working with the Pakistanis “to ascertain if the two events are linked”. The ever innocent and ignorant ISAF officials said.

On the other hand the notorious American drones struck again struck in Meazer area of Tehsil Datta Khel some 30 kilometers from Miran Shah , the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency on the night between Wednesday and Thursday and targeted a vehicle with a couple of hell fire missiles killing five people and wounding three others. The officials and the locals said the vehicle was destroyed completely and their was no report of any known person killing in fresh missiles hit though some officials claim two foreign militants were among the dead.

The locals said a number of drones or the CIA operated pilot less US planes were seen flying at low altitude.

It will be pertinent to mention that the month of September has seen maximum number of drones attacks as the predator planes struck almost daily our northern borders and conducted 20 strikes in North Waziristan Agency and three in South Waziristan during this month.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has emphatically stated that it will not allow violation of its territorial borders and protect its sovereignty at all costs.

Commenting on violation of Pakistan’s territory by NATO forces Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit in his weekly press briefing on Thursday said Pakistan also sent its response to Nato headquarter and strongly protested to ISAF/Nato on these incidents of aerial engagements from the Afghanistan side into Pakistani territory by ISAF/Nato helicopters and we have been assured that the ISAF and Nato forces will strictly abide by their mandate and not infringe on the country’s sovereignty.

He said these incidents are a clear violation and breach of the UN mandate under which ISAF operates. The spokesman said investigation is going on in the attack by Nato helicopters in Kurram Agency, in which three Pakistani soldiers were killed.

The spokesman said Pakistan has always emphasized the need for coordinated and joint action against forces inimical to regional and global peace. About Thursday’s attack on a check post by Nato helicopters in Kurram Agency, the spokesman said the concerned authorities are currently investigating the incident and the response will follow as soon as the investigation is completed.

Asked about media reports that the terrorists’ roots are in Pakistan and the drone attacks are part of the effort to dislodge them. Thre spokesman said we were not aware of any terrorist plots as was reported in the international media and nor were we given any intelligence to this effect. He reiterated that Pakistan is committed not to allow its territory for terrorist actions anywhere in the world and is doing its utmost to ensure this.

CIA chief in Pakistan

Islamabad—CIA Chief Leon Panetta has arrived here Wednesday and met ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmad Shujja Pasha.

Sources told matters related to bilateral ties, cooperation in war on terror, enhancement of intelligence sharing and operations against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants featured in the meeting. Both of the chiefs of intelligence agencies agreed on making system of intelligence sharing more effective for curbing terror related acts, sources added.

ISI chief condemned the recent strikes by NATO forces in Pakistan territory and voiced protest on this count. Pakistan policy on drone attacks also came under discussion and CIA chief was apprised of negative implications of drone attacks.

According to sources Leon Panetta said “we want to bolster cooperation with Pakistan in all the anti terrorism fields. Pakistan security and intelligence agencies have played a pivotal role for security and peace in tribal areas”. Pakistan sources told chiefs of both the intelligence agencies always maintain consultation process at top level for expanding cooperation in war on terror.

Pakistan army chief demands removal of Zardari loyalists from cabinet

Military impatience chimes with public anger at government’s performance in handling floods crisis

Pakistan‘s army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, has handed a list of corrupt or allegedly incompetent ministers to President Asif Ali Zardari, demanding their removal, according to western and Pakistani officials.

The tension between Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders is the latest political fallout from historic floods that have triggered stringent criticism of the government’s handling of the crisis.

Much of the controversy centres on Zardari, who brought scorn on himself by visiting a family chateau in France as the floods gathered pace in August – a move advisers admit was a public relations disaster.

A senior western official confirmed reports that the army chief had asked the president to remove named loyalists from his 60-member cabinet as part of an internal reform process. The official did not give the requested names.

Analysts said the army stance reflected a broader public impatience with the government’s performance. An opinion poll taken last July gave Zardari a 20% popularity rating.

“The way things are configured now, everyone – the army, the institutions, the man on the street – would like to see some kind of shakeup in the current government,” said Cyril Almeida of Dawn.com.

But he added: “I don’t think it will work. The more pressure you pile on Zardari, the more likely he is to dig in his heels.”

Over the past week the country’s political classes have been seized by a wave of rumours about an army intervention in politics, ranging from the installation of a Bangladesh-style technocratic government, to the removal of Zardari, to a straightforward coup.

A close Zardari aide denied that the army was pressuring the government. “It’s absolute rubbish. This is a rumour-driven crisis, driven by those with a pathological hatred of president Zardari and the PPP. They have been predicting his downfall from the day he was elected. And they have been wrong,” he said.

Some of the tension was punctured on Monday after Zardari and the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, met the army chief, General Kayani, after which they released an anodyne statement about flood relief.

Osama bin Laden waded into the debate yesterday, criticising relief efforts in Pakistan and calling for action against climate change.

Describing the plight of Pakistanis after the floods, he said:”Millions of children are out in the open air, lacking basic elements of living, including drinking water, resulting in their bodies shedding liquids and subsequently their death.”

Zardari’s woes are complicated by the hostility he faces from the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry. Few see it as a coincidence that the supreme court this week resurrected its efforts to have Swiss authorities prosecute Zardari on corruption charges.

Talk of a coup, however, seems unlikely. The army is still smarting from the damage to its reputation caused by the rule of General Pervez Musharraf, who is now plotting a political comeback.

And there is little appetite for unconstitutional change from British and US officials. Two senior diplomats said that, flawed as the Zardari government was, the preferred course of action was for the present government to see out its five-year term. It has so far served two and a half years.

“That’s the only way to bring long-term stability,” said one official.

Zardari’s aide said reports of army interference were exaggerated. “They have a legitimate input into national security. But to their credit the leadership have been very careful in nurturing democracy this time.”

Almeida said: “Anyone trying to change the political setup in Pakistan has to look at two things: the cost of that change, and what you will replace it with.

“Right now they can’t come up with a good answer to either of those. The cost of removing Zardari is too high.”