NATO Apology not enough: Pakistan seeks compensation for murder of soldiers

NATO Apology not enough: Pakistan seeks compensation for murder of soldiers

ISLAMABAD – NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has apologised over its Thursday’s cross-border helicopters attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers and injured three others.

Well-placed sources privy to the joint investigation being conducted into the incident by Pakistani military officials, NATO-led ISAF, and US officials in Afghanistan, informed TheNation on Sunday that senior NATO officials have not only regretted the incident but also apologised.

A two-member Pakistan team led by Deputy Inspector General of the Frontier Corps Brigadier Usman Khattak are currently visiting Afghanistan to conduct joint investigation into the recent cross-border NATO attacks.
The Pakistani team, before leaving for Afghanistan, had visited the site and exchanged views with the troops deployed there.

Sources further informed that the Pakistani team, along with ISAF and US counterparts, would also visit the Afghanistan border areas from where the NATO helicopters had crossed into Pakistani territory and attacked the FC outpost.

This was the fourth attack carried out by NATO helicopters in a week ostensibly pursuing militants in Pakistan, which was strongly condemned by Islamabad as a breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty.
In its swift reaction, Pakistan also blocked the main land route Khyber Pass at Torkhum for NATO convoys carrying supplies to the neighbouring Afghanistan.

“We will review the position when the security situation is normalised,” official sources said, adding that efforts were continuing to resolve the problem through negotiations.

More than 200 trucks and oil tankers have formed queues at the border on the fourth day as they wait to deliver supplies to the 152,000 foreign troops fighting a nine-year Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi will visit NATO Headquarters today (Monday) to take up the matter with the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a bid to seek compensation for losses suffered by Pakistan as result of the NATO attacks.

Officials sent to Afghanistan for Nato intrusion probe

Pakistani drivers sit on a front bumper of a truck carrying supplies for NATO forces parked with other trucks at a roadside near the boarder crossing with Afghanistan in Torkhum, Some 150 trucks have been still waiting for Pakistan to reopen the border crossing in Torkham so that they can deliver their supplies to Western troops in Afghanistan. – Photo by AP

PESHAWAR: Pakistan has sent a team to Afghanistan to probe a cross-border Nato attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers, officials said on Sunday.

Pakistan has blocked the Torkham route for Nato convoys carrying supplies to Afghanistan since the helicopter attack in Kurram tribal region on Thursday, which Nato claimed was in self-defence but was condemned by Islamabad.

A two-member Pakistan team led by Brigadier Usman Khattak, deputy inspector-general of the Frontier Corps, travelled to Afghanistan on Saturday to join an investigation into the incident by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force and US officials, an official said.

Brigadier Khattak had already visited the site of the attack and held talks with troops deployed in the area, the official said.

The border Torkham remained closed for a fourth day on Sunday.

“We will review the position when the security situation is normalised,” the official said, adding that efforts were continuing to resolve the problem through negotiations.

Queues of more than 200 trucks and oil tankers have formed at the border as they wait to deliver supplies to the 152,000 foreign troops fighting a nine-year Taliban-led resistance in Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials indicated on Sunday that the border crossing was a short-term measure and it would be reopened soon.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said that the route had been closed because of public reaction in the area to the Nato strikes, and that it would be reopened once things normalised.

“The supply has been suspended because of security reasons and it will be resumed as soon as these reasons are addressed,” he said.

While Nato and the United States have alternative supply routes into Afghanistan, the Pakistani ones are the cheapest and most convenient.

Most of the coalition’s non-lethal supplies are transported over Pakistani soil after being unloaded at docks in Karachi.

Our Correspondent adds from Washington: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States said his country needed only “technical” help from Washington, not US troops on the ground.

Hussain Haqqani also told CNN’s State of the Union programme that Pakistan would reopen the Torkham supply route “relatively quickly,” probably in less than a week.

He also insisted that Pakistan would move against militants on its own schedule, not Washington’s.

“Pakistan is saying we will take care of all terrorists on the Pakistani side of the border, but we will do it on our timeline,” he said. “We cannot always follow a timeline that our allies set for us, because we are allies, not a satellite.”Ambassador Haqqani also said Pakistan couldn’t do everything Washington wanted “because sometimes we don’t have the capacity and sometimes we don’t have the means.”

Taliban claim attacks on Nato supply convoys in Pakistan

A policeman looks at the oil tankers, carrying fuel for foreign forces in Afghanistan, after they were attacked and burnt in a field in the outskirts of Islamabad early morning October 4, 2010. – Photo by Reuters.

MIRAMSHAH: Pakistani Taliban on Monday claimed responsibility for two recent attacks on Nato supply convoys in Pakistan and threatened to carry out more, a spokesman said.

“We accept responsibility for the attacks on the Nato supply trucks and tankers,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP.

“I am talking about attacks both in Sindh and in Islamabad,” he said in a telephone call from an undisclosed location.

“We will carry out more such attacks in future. We will not allow the use of Pakistani soil as a supply route for Nato troops based in Afghanistan,” he said.

“This is also to avenge drone attacks,” he added. – AFP

FM Qureshi to meet Nato chief today

Rasmussen is also expected to request resumption of Nato supply lines from Pakistan into Afghanistan. – Photo by AP.

BRUSSELS: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will meet today with NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels to discuss the recent operations of Isaf helicopters in Pakistani territory.

Rasmussen is also expected to request resumption of Nato supply lines from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

A few days ago, Nato helicopters killed three Pakistani security personnel while carrying out operations in Pakistani territory. Pakistan responded by temporarily shutting down the Nato supply route into Afghanistan. Major protests against the attack were also carried out in Pakistan. – DawnNews

Pakistan gets loudest cheers during Delhi Games

The loudest applause, predictably, was reserved for the Indian contingent. But what surprised many, perhaps even the participating athletes, was that the 60,000-plus crowd chose Pakistan for the second-loudest cheer.

If sheer crowd applause was any measure of the popularity of the participating countries, the 54-member Pakistani delegation, distinct in their green coats, was by far the most loved after India. Of course, the Indian delegation, led by flag-bearer Abhinav Bindra, was received with a standing ovation across the stadium, with even President Pratibha Patil and Prince Charles standing up to welcome the participants. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was the last to sit down after the resounding applause that lasted several minutes.

In contrast, to the embarrassment of the Organising Committee (OC), as soon as its chairman Suresh Kalmadi stepped on stage to make the opening remarks, a rather cold silence descended, following by distinct booing. The only exception was when he mentioned Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, whose name was greeted with loud cheers.

Besides Pakistan, other cricket-playing countries also received loud cheers. In fact, the British participants struck a chord with the host country with their choice of outfit — white kurta with the signature Nehru collar and a red jacket. The marching members of the 371-strong contingent turned out in the best of fashion inspired by India.

Pakistan border row exposes USA’s vulnerability in the region

* Former US state dept official says Pakistan played its ‘trump card’
* US think tank director fears political repercussions from ‘border violence’

WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan have never had an easy partnership, but despite heated feuds on everything from drone attacks to terror plots, the two governments have found a way to work together.

Now, Pakistan has played what some experts consider the ultimate trump card – closing its main border crossing with Afghanistan to US-led forces who depend on the route for oil, ammunition and other war supplies.

Islamabad took action after accusing NATO helicopters of killing three Pakistani soldiers on their own territory, a stark reminder of Pakistan’s sovereignty concerns as it cooperates with the US. Gunmen torched more than two dozen NATO supply trucks Friday in southern Pakistan.

Former US State Department official Marvin Weinbaum said Pakistan felt obliged to act tough at a time when the civilian government is under growing pressure, including from the powerful military, after its response to major floods.

“They have to show their trump card because it’s for domestic political reasons, especially with a weak government. But it is serious and it points out our vulnerability,” said Weinbaum, a scholar-in-residence at the Middle East Institute.

A prolonged closure of the border would mark “a fundamental change in our relationship with Pakistan. For the US, Pakistan can be reluctant to do this or reluctant to do that, and that is all ultimately tolerable as long as the supply routes remain largely open and protected,” he added.

Repercussions: But Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council think-tank, feared political repercussions from the border violence. He faulted NATO for initially saying it acted in self-defense.

Such incidents “feed the paranoia inside Pakistan’s military and civil establishments that perhaps there is some sort of master plan to take advantage and cross the border at will,” Nawaz said.

“There is a very strong possibility that it could get out of hand,” he added.

Richard Holbrooke, the veteran diplomat who serves as US pointman on Pakistan and Afghanistan, said ties with Pakistan were “more complicated than any strategic relationship I’ve ever been involved in.”

“But at the end of the day, success in Afghanistan – however you define success – is not achievable unless Pakistan is part of the solution, not part of the problem,” he told a forum in Washington.

Fundamentally, Pakistan’s chief objective is to limit the influence of rival India in Afghanistan, US National War College associate professor Bernard Finel said.

But without Pakistani cooperation, the US would have to scale back any goals of nation-building in Afghanistan and adopt a lighter footprint, Finel said. (AFP)