Musharraf admits to a secret drone deal with US: report

Source : thenews.com.pk

ISLAMABAD: According to American news channel CNN, former president Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf has acknowledged that his government secretly struck an agreement with US regarding drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

This is the first time a top past or present Pakistani official has admitted publicly to such a deal, the news channel said.

In an interview this week in Islamabad, Musharraf insisted Pakistan's government signed off on strikes "only on a few occasions, when a target was absolutely isolated and no chance of collateral damage", said the CNN report.

The US news channel added that still, his admission that Pakistani leaders agreed to even a limited number of strikes runs counter to their repeated denunciations of a program they long claimed the United States was operating without their approval.

The report further said that the drone strikes -- which the nonpartisan public policy group New American Foundation estimates have killed at least 1,990 people in Pakistan, including hundreds of civilians -- are unpopular in Pakistan.

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.

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.

World will keenly observe next elections in Pakistan, say US senators

Source: Pakistan News

Senior American senators have said that the world would observe the upcoming general elections in Pakistan with great interest.

They made the statement during a meeting between a US delegation and Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and his cabinet members Hina Rabbani Khar and Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh at the PM House, according to The Express Tribune.

The US senators said relations between the two countries were on the right track.

Ashraf, on his part, said the Pakistan government was committed to holding free, fair and impartial elections and a smooth transition of power. He expressed the hope that relations between the two countries would further strengthen in the interest of the region and the world. Ashraf also said Pakistan desires peace and stability in Afghanistan post-2014 when the US is scheduled to withdraw its troops from the war-torn country.

He welcomed the re-election of US President Barack Obama, saying the move would ensure continuity in relations. He also appreciated the services of former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and welcomed the nomination of Senator John Kerry as her successor.

The US delegation comprised member of the Armed Services Committee Senator Jack Reed and US Ambassador Richard Olson. (ANI)

Puppet Pakistani Regime and US continue killing Pakistani civilians

Source : Islamicturkey

least 16 people have been killed in several US assassination drone strikes in northwestern Pakistan.

In yet another US drone attack in Pakistan, US drones fired ten missiles at different targets in the country’s northwestern tribal area of South Waziristan, on Sunday.

According to local media, the aerial attacks left at least seven others injured.

On Thursday, 10 people were killed in similar attacks in the Sar Kanda area of Birmil in South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

Pakistan’s tribal regions are attacked by US assassination drones almost regularly, with Washington claiming that militants are the targets. However, casualty figures clearly indicate that Pakistani civilians are the main victims.

The killing of Pakistani civilians, including women and children, has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington.

Last month, Pakistan’s Jama’at ud-Da’wah political group took legal action against the ongoing drone attacks. The group said despite a resolution passed by the Pakistani parliament in condemnation of the US attacks, the drone strikes continue to claim the lives of civilians.

In addition, the Lahore High Court called on the Pakistani government on November 3 to immediately respond to the group’s petition that had called for an end to US airstrikes.

Over the past months, massive demonstrations have also been held across Pakistan to condemn the United States for violating Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Pakistan’s anti-drone campaigner Imran Khan removed from US airline for interrogation

Source : RT

.. immigration authorities have taken Pakistan’s former cricket superstar-turned-politician Imran Khan off a flight to New York and interrogated. Khan is known for his anti-drone campaigning.

Khan, who is now a popular political figure in Pakistan and ahead of the Pakistan Movement for Justice party (PTI), was removed from an American Airlines flight heading from Canada to New York and interrogated. Immigration officials asked him whether he was planning to protest in the US, as well as demanding to know his views on drone strikes and jihad.

Earlier this month, the former cricket star led thousands of Pakistani protesters, together with some US anti-war advocates, on a march from Islamabad to the tribal region of South Waziristan in opposition to US drone strikes. About 15,000 of his supporters joined him in the high-profile march, which focused attention on the strikes that have killed large numbers of civilians. Islamabad recently said that 80 percent of drone-related deaths were civilians.

“I was taken off the plane and interrogated by US Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop,” Khan wrote in a tweet after being questioned on Friday. Khan had been on his way to the US to give a speech and attend a fundraiser organized by his political party, which the delay caused him to miss.

“Missed flight and sad to miss the fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance,” he tweeted.

Furthermore, Khan said the official who was questioning him did not seem to understand drone warfare himself. He also expressed confusion over why he was granted a visa to visit the US given if his stance on drones was a problem.

Khan heads a political party that was founded in 1996 and ignored for years. The PTI was called “Pakistan’s one-man party” by the US Department of State. Today, it is rapidly growing, with electable officials joining. The Pakistani leader believes the War on Terror “has been devastating for Pakistan,” he said in an interview with Julian Assange in June.

“Basically, our army was killing our own people,” he said.

He is an avid opponent to US presence on Pakistani soil – even when it came down to the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011. The US mission to kill the former terrorist leader in Pakistan shows that “our ally did not trust us,” the politician said.

Rather than employ Pakistan as “a hired gun, being paid to kill America’s enemies,” Khan believes the US should trust that there will not be terrorism coming out of Pakistan.

Several Canadian commentators have suggested that groups protesting Khan’s entrance to the US may have influenced Immigration to pull him off the flight. The American Islamic Leadership Coalition last week requested that Hilary Clinton attempt to revoke his visa due to what they believe are sympathetic views towards the Taliban.

“The US Embassy made a significant error in granting this Islamist leader a visa,” the group said in a statement reported by the Sun. “Granting individuals like Khan access to the US to fundraise is against the interest of the people of Pakistan and the national security interests of the US.”

Ali Zaidi, a senior PTI party leader, demanded an apology from the US government for removing Khan from the plane. So far, no apologies have been made, and Immigration officials have only restated their policies.

“Our dual mission is to facilitate travel in the United States while we secure our borders, our people, and our visitors from those that would do us harm like terrorists and terrorist weapons, criminals, and contraband,” Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Joanne Ferreira told the Toronto Sun.

Belgian al Qaeda recruiter reportedly killed in Pakistan

Source : The Express Tribun

ISLAMABAD: A Belgian-Tunisian al Qaeda recruiter who allegedly mentored an extremist who shot dead seven people in France this year has been killed in Pakistan, according to the US monitoring service SITE.

SITE said a post on an extremist web forum on Monday announced the death of Moez Garsalloui, who had claimed responsibility for one of the attacks carried out by Mohamed Merah in the southern French city of Toulouse in March.

Garsalloui was a recruiter and propagandist formerly based in Belgium and Switzerland, SITE said, who remained focused on signing up militants to attack targets in Europe even after moving to the battlefields and training camps of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The post announcing Garsalloui’s death said he was killed in a “raid”, SITE said without elaborating, having previously escaped bombings in Miranshah.

No details of the raid were given but the website announcement appeared a few days after two US drone strikes in North Waziristan killed 23 people, according to Pakistani security sources.

The death notice named Garsalloui as the leader of “Jund al Khilafah”, or Army of the Caliph, a militant unit that claimed responsibility for Merah’s attack outside a Jewish school on March 19.

A forum post from one of Garsalloui’s accounts in April described meeting Merah in Pakistan and mentoring him, SITE said, helping him as he struggled to make himself understood to other fighters in Arabic.

Garasalloui and his wife, Belgian-Moroccan jihadist Malika el Aroud, were convicted by a Swiss court in June 2007 for running websites that supported terrorism.

He was jailed for three weeks and then moved to Belgium, where he and his wife were accused of recruiting militants to fight in Afghanistan.

He left Europe in late 2007 and was later identified as a link between al Qaeda leaders and a Belgian network that was disrupted by raids in December 2008, accused of planning an imminent attack.

Pakistan - Newsfeed Oct. 11. 2012

US missiles kill 10 militants in NW Pakistan

Source : yahoo.com

PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) — U.S. drones fired four missiles at a compound of a Pakistani militant commander in a northwestern tribal region on Thursday, killing 10 militants, while a pair of bombings in another part of the country killed 10 civilians and three security personnel, officials said.

A government administrator in Orakzai region, Salim Khan, said 15 insurgents were also wounded in the drone attack near Biland village bordering the North Waziristan tribal region. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the dead and wounded men were fighters loyal to militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is based in North Waziristan.

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Shooting of Pakistani schoolgirl activist triggers mass protests

Source : Strategic Culture Foundation

Protests swept Pakistan following the shooting of a 14-year-old schoolgirl by the Taliban. Schools closed their doors across the country in solidarity with the teenager, shot for advocating education for girls and criticizing the terrorist group.

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Pakistani schoolgirl shot by Taliban moved to army HQ hospital

Source : yahoo.com

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani schoolgirl fighting for her life after being shot by Taliban gunmen was transferred on Thursday from a hospital in a province that is a militant haven to a specialist hospital in the army garrison town of Rawalpindi.

U.S. drone strike kills five 'militants' in Pakistan

Source: The Daily Star - Mobile

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Oct 10, 2012 (AFP) - A US drone strike targeting a militant compound killed five insurgents in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border on Wednesday, security officials said. The attack was the first since a massive anti- drone rally last weekend near the lawless region known as a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, they said. "Several US drones flew into the area before dawn and fired four missiles on a compound, killing five militants," a security official told AFP after the strike in Hurmuz area, east of Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan tribal region. Another security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar confirmed the attack and casualties. The identities of those killed in the strike was not immediately clear. The Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan, is one of the thorniest issues between Islamabad and Washington.

The attacks by unmanned US aircraft remain contentious -- they are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, which says they violate its sovereignty and fan anti-US sentiment, but American officials are said to believe they are too important to give up.

Imran Khan, Pakistan's cricket hero turned politician, led thousands of supporters on a long drive from the capital Islamabad to the edge of the nearby tribal district of South Waziristan in a two-day protest against US drone strikes.

The rally was the first from a mainstream politician to the tribal belt described by US officials as one of the most dangerous place on Earth.

Khan defied official warnings and led emotional supporters and dozens of Western peace activists to Tank, the last town before the semi- autonomous area.

The march passed through Tank but turned back before reaching the border with South Waziristan.

Khan insisted the march -- a motorcade that included several thousand vehicles -- was a success.

"We have given our message -- it has gone across the world," he told supporters.

"We have succeeded in raising this issue. We came here to raise this issue, we came here to take a stand against drones."

"We had already made our point to the international media. Globally our message was conveyed, so we should not go ahead and put lives at risk."

Islamist militants have killed thousands of people in Pakistan since 2007, and US officials say the drone strikes are a key weapon in the war on terror.

But peace campaigners condemn them as a breach of international law. Pakistanis call them a violation of sovereignty that breeds extremism, and politicians including Khan say the government is complicit in killing its own people.

Casualty figures are difficult to obtain, but a report commissioned by legal lobby group Reprieve estimated last month that 474 to 881 civilians were among 2,562 to 3,325 people killed by drones in Pakistan between June 2004 and September 2012.

Newsfeed - Pakistan TopNews Oct. 8. 2012

Pakistan rejects Karzai's assertion as misplaced, baseless Source: Xinhua | English.news.cn ISLAMABAD, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Monday rejected comments reportedly made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai about conditions for a proposed Strategic Partnership agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan as "entirely misplaced and without any basis." It was reported that Karzai said in Kabul last week that conditions would be attached to negotiations on a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Pakistan. Listing conditions, Karzai said at a press conference that neighbors must stop the export of terrorism, suicide bombers, interference and all the other things which result in killing and disturbing the Afghan people's tranquility and destabilizing Afghanistan. "Once we are assured that Pakistan with which we want to have a friendly relationship meets these conditions - eliminates terrorism and extremism and stops the training and export of insurgency to Afghanistan - Afghanistan will be ready to work on this," the Afghan president said. Commenting on Karzai's assertions, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman clarified that Pakistan desires to promote good relations with Afghanistan on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest. "In this regard comments reportedly made by President Karzai and certain other quarters in Afghanistan are entirely misplaced and without any basis." The spokesman further clarified that the proposed Strategic Partnership Agreement was suggested by President Karzai during a trilateral summit between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Britain in New York last week. Referring to allegations against Pakistan, the spokesman said that Pakistan has invested heavily to promote stability in Afghanistan. The spokesman underscored that Pakistan would like to have a mature and responsible dialogue with Afghanistan. However, diplomacy through the media needed to be avoided. -------------------------------------------

Imran Khan leads anti-drone march in Pakistan

Source: Islamic Invitation

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis, along with dozens of international peace activists, are holding a peace march to protest against US assassination drone strikes on Pakistan’s tribal areas, Press TV reports.

Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan is leading the convoy of hundreds of vehicles that started the 440-kilometer journey from Islamabad on Saturday and is scheduled to reach South Waziristan on Sunday.

Thousands of people lined the road to greet Khan, who is the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice or PTI), and his supporters.

US peace activist Tighe Barr told Press TV, “It is time for the United States to end the mass murder that is taking place in Pakistan’s tribal areas” and end the CIA drone strikes there. “They are killing women and children. This is wrong, and this is a war crime.”

“I condemn the hypocrisy of the government, that tried their best to make this march fail,” Khan told the crowd at a brief stopover on the outskirts of Mianwali in northern Pakistan

“They are saying that the Taliban have sent nine suicide attackers. If (President Asif Ali) Zardari sends even a 100 suicide attackers, this march will not stop,” Khan added.

A survey conducted by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project in June showed that former cricket star Khan was the most popular politician in the country.

Khan’s stance on Washington’s war on terror, which he calls a war of terror, his opposition to the US drone attacks in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region, and his struggle for the rule of law, justice, equality, and the eradication of corruption, have endeared him to the Pakistanis.

They are saying that the Taliban have sent nine suicide attackers. If (President Asif Ali) Zardari sends even a 100 suicide attackers, this march will not stop,” Khan added.

A survey conducted by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project in June showed that former cricket star Khan was the most popular politician in the country.

Khan’s stance on Washington’s war on terror, which he calls a war of terror, his opposition to the US drone attacks in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region, and his struggle for the rule of law, justice, equality, and the eradication of corruption, have endeared him to the Pakistanis.

International peace activists have condemned the drone strikes as a violation of international law and a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty say the policy is breeding extremism and terrorism in the country’s tribal belt.

Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants crossing the border with Afghanistan, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.

Last month, a report by the Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law gave an alarming account of the effect that assassination drone strikes have on ordinary people in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The report noted, “The number of ‘high- level’ targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low — estimated at just 2%.”

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1 killed, 11 others injured in blast in SW Pakistan

Source: Xinhua English.news.cn

English.news.cn 2012-10-08 15:49:51

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- At least one was killed and 11 others including three cops were injured when a roadside planted bomb hit Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Monday, sources in Quetta told Xinhua.

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Pakistan’s Military Moves Against Anti-Drone Rally

News From Antiwar.com

The Pakistani military has moved against the Pakistani Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) march today in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwah Province, preventing them from entering the South Waziristan Agency as they had initially planned.

A PTI official familiar with the incident says party leader Imran Khan was briefly detained by the military, and that the troops had threatened to fire on any demonstrators who tried to cross into South Waziristan.

Instead, the convoy changed its course, ending up in the city of Tank for their final speeches condemning the ongoing US drone strikes against Pakistan’s tribal areas, promising to continue to speak out against the attacks.

The Pakistani government had initially tried to scare the rally away from South Waziristan by claiming there were going to be terrorist attacks, but when they refused to stop the march the military just claimed they didn’t have legal permission to enter the tribal areas.

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U.S. embassy issues emergency alert for nationals in Pakistan

Via: Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Sunday issued a threat alert for its nationals in Pakistan, especially in the Pakistani capital, asking them to keep a low profile.

The embassy drew attention of American nationals that Pakistani Ministry of Interior issued a general threat alert on possible terrorist attacks in Islamabad on Sunday, which will be against key government installations in the downtown area of Islamabad known as the "Red Zone" and the five-star and several other hotels in Islamabad.

"The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad advises all U.S. citizens to avoid these areas, remain vigilant, keep a low profile, and continue to exercise caution while in Pakistan," the message posted on the U.S. embassy website said.

The U.S. citizens traveling or living in Pakistan were also asked to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).

It was the second alert message issued to the Americans in Pakistan in a month. U.S. citizens were warned of possible attacks during protests against the anti-Islam movie made in the United States.

Pakistan - Newsfeed Oct. 7. 2012 / 7/365

Firing at political gathering kills 6, injures 10 in southern Pakistan

Via:  Xinhua | English.news.cn

Firing at political gathering kills 6, injures 10 in southern Pakistan

English.news.cn 2012-10-08 02:23:00

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed and ten others injured when two riva groups fired at each other on a political gathering in Pakistan's southern district of Khairpur on Sunday night, reported local media quoting police and eyewitnesses.

Local Urdu TV channel Geo quoted police and eyewitnesses as saying that the firing took place

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Pakistan forces halt anti-US drone march to S. Waziristan
Source: RT

Media reports suggest the march failed to enter South Waziristan on Sunday as Pakistani security forces Sunday stopped thousands of anti-US drone strikes marchers over security concerns.

After consultations with the organizers, army officials convinced them to drop the plan in view of the security situation in the area.

The marchers returned to Tank, a major city near South Waziristan, where the organizer of the rally, former cricket superstar-turned- politician Imran Khan, addressed the ten thousand-strong rally.

"The drones are inhumane," Khan said, surrounded by thousands of protesters.

"We want to give a message to America that the more you carry out drone attacks, the more people will hate you.”

About 30 Americans traveled to Pakistan to take part in the protest and apologize for the strikes to men and women who had been maimed or lost family members.

"We have to put pressure on the United States government," said Billy Kelly, a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran from New York. Earlier, a group of US and British anti-war activists have already marched through the Pakistani capital Islamabad in protest against US drone strikes in the northwest territory.

They chanted “Stop, stop drone attacks!" and sang "We are marching to Waziristan." One placard read "Drones fly, Children die."

The group then boarded around 150 cars and the motorcade proceeded through the route, stopping in major urban centers to rally more supporters.

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US embassy in Pakistan issues terror alert

The US embassy in Pakistan has warned Americans in Islamabad to keep central part of the city due to possible terrorist attacks. There is a protest Pakistan against the US use of drones in attacks on Taliban targets. The ra however denounced the protest, saying that its organizer Imran Khan is a “slave of the West.”

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Pakistan’s Anti-Drone Peace March Begins as Taliban, Govt Both Threaten It

News From Antiwar.com

The first day of the Pakistani Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) protest march against US drone strikes has come to an end in Dera Ismail Khan, a key city on the road to the tribal area. They plan to leave for South Waziristan Agency in the morning.