Quetta bombing: Countrywide protests enter third day

Source : The Express Tribune

Families of the Quetta blast victims continued their sit-in for the third day in Hazara Town and Alamdar Road on Tuesday, refusing to bury their loved ones, Express News reported.

To express solidarity with the Shia Hazaras in Quetta, several protests and sits-in across the country also continued after the government failed to fulfill the demands of the Hazara community.

In Lahore, many roads were blocked, including the GT Road and motorway interchanges, causing inconvenience to transporters. A sit-in was also being held at Shahdara Chowk.

The Majlis-e-Wehdat-e-Muslameen (MWM) members continued their sit-in outside Governor House in Lahore, demanding those involved in the blast to be arrested.

Streets in Karachi also remained deserted while private schools were closed. Several areas, including Ancholi and Ayesha Manzil, were blocked as protesters burnt tyres. Shia Ulema Council and MWM in Karachi said that they would continue with their sits-in till their demands are met.

Awami National Party’s (ANP) Ameer Nawab and Bashir Jaan came to the sit-in in Karachi to express solidarity with the protesters.

In Patel Para protesters opened fire at the police after the funeral was held for one of the four people killed in last night’s firing in the area. The police resorted to aerial gunfire and shelling to disperse the protesters.

On February 16, a massive bomb ripped though a busy market in a Shia Hazara neighbourhood of Quetta, killing more than 80 people and injuring nearly 200.

Pakistan tests another nuclear-capable missile

Source : Pakistan News

Islamabad, Feb. 15 (Xinhua-ANI): Pakistan on Friday tested a missile that can carry nuclear warheads, the second such test in a week, the military said.

"Pakistan today successfully test-fired the Short Range Surface to Surface Ballistic Missile Hatf II (Abdali), as part of the process of validation of land based ballistic missile systems," an army statement said.

Hatf II (Abdali), with a range of 180 km, can carry nuclear as well as conventional warheads with high accuracy.

The test was witnessed by Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Khalid Shameem Wynne, Director General Strategic Plans Division Lieutenant General (Retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, Commander Army Strategic forces Command, Lieutenant General Tariq Nadeem Gilani, senior officers from the strategic forces and scientists and engineers of strategic organizations.

The president and prime minister of Pakistan have congratulated the scientists and engineers on this outstanding achievement which consolidates Pakistan's deterrence capability both at the operational and strategic levels, the statement said.

It was the second missile test by Pakistan in a week.

On Monday, Pakistani military said it had conducted a successful test fire of a short range Surface to Surface Missile Hatf IX (NASR), which has a range of 60 km and can carry nuclear warheads.

Pakistan, which tested nuclear tests in 1998 in response to Indian tests, has several missile series. (Xinhua-ANI)

Pakistan Taliban says American, British fighters killed

Source : Pakistan News

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The Pakistani Taliban have included a Briton and an American in a slideshow of fighters killed in battle that also eulogises Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.According to the US monitoring service SITE, the 12-minute, 56-second video was posted on jihadist websites on February 6 and was prepared by Umar Studio, the media wing of Pakistan's umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) faction.It identifies the American by the name of Inaam and the Briton as Abbas, whom SITE said had been identified by the TTP in a prior video as Omar al-Britani and who gave a speech in English.No date ..

Pakistani leader to talk with Afghan Taliban in Qatar

Source : Pakistan News

Pakistani political leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has gone on a "private visit" to Qatar to hold talks with the Afghan Taliban, a media report said Sunday.

Rehman, the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F), was playing a "pivotal role" in the Afghan peace process, party leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

Ahmed said the use of force was not a solution to the conflict between the Taliban and the military, and urged them to sit on the negotiating table to restore peace in the region.

The leader also urged the Pakistani government and the army to take seriously the offer for talks by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.

JUI-F spokesman Abdul Jalil Jan, however, only said that Rehman had gone abroad on a "private visit".

Western media reports say the US is in contact with the Taliban in Qatar to persuade the outfit to initiate negotiations with the Afghan government, as Washington prepares for the withdrawal of troops by 2014.

Another party leader, Sirajul Haq, said the Pakistani government was looking towards the US for a "signal" after the negotiation offer by the Taliban.

"The government is not sincere in peace negotiations and is waiting for dictation from Americans," he said.

He said if the US could hold talks with the Taliban, there was no reason why Pakistan could not do so.

6 killed in U.S. drone strike in NW Pakistan

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed and two others injured on Friday evening as a U.S. drone attacked a house in the northwestern tribal region of Pakistan, local media reported.

Local Urdu TV channel Express News reported that the unmanned aircraft targeted a house in the Babar Ghar village that lies at the border of North Waziristan and South Waziristan, Pakistan's two volatile tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

According to the reports, the drone fired two missiles at the house and killed six people inside besides injuring two others.

The house was completely destroyed in the attack.

Local people rushed to the site and pulled out the bodies and injured from the rubbles.

Friday's attack is the 8th of its kind in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas since the start of the current year. So far this year at least 53 people have been killed in such strikes.

Nothing can stop Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline

Source : Islamic Invitation Turkey

Pakistan Ambassador to Tehran says nothing can prevent the progress of the multi- billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project.

Khalid Aziz Babar said on Wednesday that based on an agreement signed between the two parties, the gas pipeline must be completed by December 2014 and after its completion, gas transfer from Iran to Pakistan will start.

On January 29, an Iranian deputy oil minister said Tehran would finance and help build the 700-kilometer tranche of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline on the Pakistani side.

“Aside from a 250-million-dollar loan, Iran will also provide the supplies and equipment necessary for the construction of the part of the pipeline on Pakistani soil,” Javad Owji, who is also managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, said.

This is while Pakistan has constantly dismissed rumors that it might pull out of the project amid efforts by the United States to convince the country to abandon the pipeline.

The pipeline, projected to cost about USD1.2-1.5 billion, would enable the export of 21.5 million cubic meters of Iran’s natural gas to Pakistan on a daily basis.

Iran has already built more than 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil.

Pakistan Warns US Not to Cross Red Line

Source : Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Pakistan's ambassador to the United States blasted the Obama administration for continued drone strikes in Fata, calling the violation a "red line" that should not be crossed.

At a breakfast meeting with the Christian Science Monitor staff, Sherry Rehman said that drones strikes were "a clear violation of our sovereignty and a violation of international law" that threatened stable relations between the two governments, Dawn reported.

She rejected persistent media reports that Pakistan tacitly approved the strikes while denouncing them publicly as untrue. "Let me assure you that since we have been in government, there has been no quiet complicity, no question of wink and nod," she said.

The United States has launched hundreds of drone strikes in Fata, killing dozens of militant leaders. Pakistan says that the drones also have killed a large number of innocent civilians.

Pakistan warns that the civilian deaths are counter-productive as they increase public sympathy for the militants and wants the United States to stop the strikes.

The drone strategy "creates more potential terrorists on the ground and militants on the ground instead of taking them out," the ambassador said. "We need to drain the swamp, but instead it is radicalising people."

Ambassador Rehman complained that the United States had failed to appreciate Pakistan's domestic terrorism problems and counter-terrorism operations, which have cost nearly 50,000 military and civilian lives and billions of dollars in expenditures and lost income over the past decade.

Afghanistan, Pakistan leaders in UK for talks

Source : The Daily Star

LONDON: The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan are due to hold talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London on the Afghan peace process.

Cameron initiated the meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari last year, aiming to boost cooperation between the countries and promote regional stability.

The talks are expected to focus on preventing a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan when British and other NATO troops withdraw from the country next year.

Cameron plans to dine with Karzai and Zardari at his country residence Chequers later Sunday, before holding formal talks with both leaders and their top officials early Monday.

Downing Street says the trilateral meeting will include Afghan and Pakistani army and intelligence chiefs for the first time.

US warns Pakistan of sanctions over Iran gas pipeline deal

Via :  StratRisks

SUKKUR: US Consul General Michael Dodman has said that the US State Department will impose sanctions on Pakistan if it carries on work on the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project. He added it was a clear policy of the US because Iran had violated the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and was continuing nuclear proliferation.

He stated this while talking to selected journalists here at a local hotel on Monday.When asked that Pakistan as an independent country can chalk out a policy which suits it to address the energy crisis, he said that the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project was against the US laws so they will not support Pakistan in this regard.

He said that the US wanted to see a stronger Pakistan as well as democracy. He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan have to talk about Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, which create problems between the two countries.

Talking about business and trade ties, he said that the US respects the Pakistani laws and gives free trade access to Islamabad without any duty.

The consul general said that the State Department had been motivating the US business community to invest in Pakistan. However, he said that the US business community had shown security concerns over the law and order situation in Pakistan. He added that there was no security concern in interior Sindh and that was why the State Department was making efforts to build up the confidence of the US business community for direct investment in Sindh and in this regard the focus was on Karachi Chamber of Commerce as well as the Sindh Board of Investment.

The consul general said that there were good crops of dates and rice in Sindh and pledged that the US was ready to import these items.He said that the State Department has planned to launch hydro electric projects in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, to address the energy crisis.

The official dispelled the impression that the US was behind the political instability in Pakistan.The US diplomat said that the US believes in having good relations with Pakistan and wanted to see a strong democracy here. He said that the US was not supporting any political party in the forthcoming elections. Dodman said that the US wants real democracy not a controlled one in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, US Consul General Michael Dodman paid a visit at Kot Diji Fort in Khairpur.On the occasion, he said that the US has launched many projects of assistance for the preservation and conservation of the archeological sites in Sindh

In the meantime, a press release issued by the US spokesman said the United States Consul General Michael Dodman and US Embassy Political Counselor Jonathan Pratt visited Sukkur and surrounding areas this week to strengthen ties with the people of Sindh, experience Sindhi culture and raise awareness of many US funded projects in the areas of education, health and economic growth.

During the visit, CG Dodman and Political Counselor Pratt visited Kot Diji Fort, IBA Sukkur and met with civil society, business, media and political leaders.

Speaking to the press, CG Dodman noted, “I have been impressed by the depth of local culture and the warmth of everyone I have met. It is a source of pride that the United States is providing tens of millions of dollars to support basic education in Sindh, construct new hospitals and rebuild flood damaged schools among many other projects.” CG Dodman is dedicated to strengthening the people-to-people ties between the United States and Pakistan and is deeply committed to deepening the economic engagement between our two countries. He promises to return to upper Sindh in the near future.