Saturday, December 3, 2011
Pakistan official denies OK given for NATO air strike
A Pakistani official on Friday denied a Wall Street Journal reportthat Pakistani officials gave the go-ahead to a NATO air strike that killed 24 troops, unaware that their own forces were in the area.
Last weekend’s cross-border attack has caused public outrage in Pakistan, the government has pulled out of next week’s international conference on Afghanistan and threatened to end support for the US-led war there if its sovereignty is violated again.
A Pakistani military official categorically denied the Journal’s account, saying the aircraft had already engaged when Pakistan was contacted.
“Wrong information about the area of operation was provided to Pakistani officials a few minutes before the strike,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media.
“Without getting clearance from the Pakistan side, the post had already been engaged by US helicopters and fighter jets. Pakistan did not have any prior information about any operation in the area.”
The US officials, giving their first detailed explanation of the worst friendly-fire incident of the 10-year-old war, told the Wall Street Journal an Afghan-led assault force that included US commandos was hunting Taliban militants when it came under fire from an encampment along the border with Pakistan.
The commandos thought they were being fired on by militants but they turned out to be Pakistani military personnel who had established a temporary campsite, they were quoted as saying.
According to the initial US account from the field, the commandos requested air strikes against the encampment, prompting the team to contact a joint border-control centre to determine whether Pakistani forces were in the area, a US official said.
The border-control centre is manned by US, Afghan and Pakistani representatives. But the US and Afghan forces conducting the November 26 commando operation had not notified the centre in advance that they planned to strike Taliban insurgents near that part of the border, the official said.
When called, the Pakistani representatives at the centre said there were no Pakistani military forces in the area identified by the commandos, clearing the way for the air strikes, the US officials said.
Washington has called it a tragic accident and offered its condolences, promising a full investigation. It has not apologised.
“There were lots of mistakes made,” the newspaper quoted an official as saying.
The Journal said US officials have in the past expressed reservations about notifying the Pakistanis about operations, concerned the missions’ details could leak out.
It added that the officials cautioned that the preliminary account was based mainly on interviews with members of the commando team and could change as more information is gathered.
A formal report on the incident is due to be completed by US military investigators by December 23.
In an analysis of Pakistan’s ‘Memogate,’ Mansoor Ijaz, a key player in the controversy, offers his interpretation of the actions of Islamabad’s erstwhile ambassador in Washington—actions that led to an uproar in Pakistan and the envoy’s ouster.
“This FT op-ed of yours is a disaster,” read a BlackBerry message to me on the night of Oct. 10. The sender, Husain Haqqani, was still Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington at the time. Earlier in the evening, the Financial Times had posted my column—“Time to Take On Pakistan’s Jihadist Spies”—on its website, unleashing a political firestorm in Pakistan over my disclosure of a memorandum Haqqani had asked me to help him prepare and deliver to Adm. Mike Mullen, then chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the memorandum, Haqqani asked the admiral for help in calming Pakistan’s restive Army chief as fears of an alleged coup whipped through Islamabad in the tense days that followed Osama bin Laden’s death in a Pakistani garrison town. In return, he offered the United States nothing short of a wholesale paradigm shift in Pakistani governance that would transfer essential powers from the Army to civilian leaders, giving Pakistan the veneer of civilian legitimacy that has eluded it since partition from India.
I have a history of involvement in back-channel diplomacy, particularly between the governments of Pakistan and India on the subject of Kashmir and nuclear proliferation, but it is still important to ask why, in this instance, Haqqani chose to come to me. Perhaps because he had tried other interlocutors to deliver the same message and had been refused. Perhaps because the basis of his request—an alleged coup plot—was only a concocted threat and he needed someone who couldn’t verify the postulation in the short time frame required by the ambassador for action. What I am certain of is that Haqqani believed I was the most plausibly deniable back channel he could use. He knew I was disliked by many in Islamabad’s power circles for my strong anti-establishment views. Haqqani also knew I had the connections to get the message quickly and quietly to Mullen. He knew I maintained friendships with former CIA director James Woolsey, former U.S. national-security adviser Gen. James L. Jones, Reagan “Star Wars” commander Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, and others.
Before I had a chance to read and reply to his BlackBerry message, the ambassador called—“Is there anyone else in Isloo [slang for Islamabad] you know who is a ‘senior Pakistani diplomat’?” he asked hurriedly. This was the phrase I’d used in the op-ed to describe the author of the memo to Mullen. Not wanting to be “outed” as the memo’s author, Haqqani insisted that without another name—any name—that might put Pakistan’s press hounds on another diplomat’s scent, all trails emanating from the memorandum would soon lead back to him—or, worse, to his boss, President Asif Ali Zardari.
The cover-up had begun.
Haqqani would orchestrate denials by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry and President’s House in the days after the FT column was published. When those didn’t douse the flames, he had the gall to warn me that he was about to orchestrate a U.S. denial as well—“Are you sure your side won’t deny?” he wrote by BlackBerry to me at 10:38 p.m. on Nov. 1, a week before Admiral Mullen’s unwitting spokesman issued a confused denial that was later retracted. At 10:39, he all but confirmed his complicity when he wrote, “Is it not the nature of a private mission that officials deny it?”
In Islamabad, he was telling Zardari that he had it all under control and that the memo flap would disappear in a few days once all the denials were in place. If the acceptance of multiple petitions by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Dec. 1 is any indication of the seriousness with which Pakistan’s entire governmental infrastructure takes this issue, the memorandum is not going away anytime soon. Certainly not until the full truth comes out.
A few days before the Mullen denial was posted on Foreign Policy’s blog, The Cable, Haqqani changed his BlackBerry handset for the third time since May. Maybe he hoped that changing PINs would erase his damning conversations from my handset. Unfortunately for him, they remain preserved—now in a bank vault—in exactly their original form on my original device as he and I exchanged them. The constant changing of handsets raised the disturbing specter that Haqqani had persuaded his friends in the U.S. intelligence community to assist him in “scrubbing” his BlackBerry records because my disclosures were not just about to lose him his job, but could potentially uncover sensitive matters of U.S. national interest as well. After all, I was not the only entry on Haqqani’s BlackBerry contact list. Other BlackBerry chats could prove highly embarrassing or prove complicity and culpability if they were made public by Supreme Court action in Pakistan.
NATO troops ordered not to approach Af-Pak zone
WASHINGTON: US led NATO troops in Afghanistan have been ordered not to approach the buffer zone on the Af-Pak border in order to avoid recurrence of last week's air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
An order in this regard has been issued by Gen John Allen, the Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the November 26 air strike, pending the detailed investigation into the incident announced by US Central Command (CENTCOM), Ivo Daalder, US Permanent Representative to NATO, said on Friday.
The real facts of the incident, he said, would be known only after the investigation is over.
"The most important thing we have already learnt is that Gen Allen has ordered the troops not to approach the created buffer zone at the border in order to reduce the chances that something like this would happen in the future," Daalder said in a breakfast meeting with the Defence Writers Group here. The real facts of the incident, he said, would be known only after the investigation is over.
Giving his brief of the incident that has plunged the US-Pak relationship to an all-time low, the US Ambassador said the most basic fact is that there was a strike that killed 24 Pakistani border guards.
"What we don't know the sequence of events that led to that and we have conflicting stories. Our side of the story is still being investigated in great detail. General Allen took the responsibility immediately not only to investigate the incident but also to bring in US, Afghan, NATO and asked Pakistan to participate in the investigation," he said.
The Pentagon on Friday said that Pakistan has declined to participate in the investigation.
"I don't know the sequence of events. There may be people, who know, but so far they haven't come to any conclusions and I think the best thing to do is to let the fact speaks for itself.
"However these facts would come out, we would learn about the incident," Daalder said, adding that one of the lessons learnt has already been implemented by NATO in the order that has been issued by Gen Allen with regard to not to approach the created buffer zone on the border.
"But we would have to look at exactly what happened, and what lessons we learn from it about communications need... and that would take some time," the American diplomat said conceding that the relationship between the two nations have reached an all-time low.
"It is clear that relationship with Pakistan has not improved. The relationship has been on the US level difficult for some time, we had the arrest of (CIA contractor) Raymond Davis (in Lahore), we had the Osama bin Laden raid (in Abbottabad) and others and finally this incident just escalates a set of differences that are real," he said.
The US is trying to work together with NATO as well as other countries, understanding that this is a major problem for it, Daalder said.
"We need to find ways to continue cooperative effort with Pakistan. We have no choice but to cooperate with Pakistan given that the terrorists are a threat to all three of our countries (US, Pakistan and Afghanistan).
"As such an effective cooperation would remain essential which is why, we talked at the highest level ... to try to find ways to get cooperation," he said.
An order in this regard has been issued by Gen John Allen, the Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the November 26 air strike, pending the detailed investigation into the incident announced by US Central Command (CENTCOM), Ivo Daalder, US Permanent Representative to NATO, said on Friday.
The real facts of the incident, he said, would be known only after the investigation is over.
"The most important thing we have already learnt is that Gen Allen has ordered the troops not to approach the created buffer zone at the border in order to reduce the chances that something like this would happen in the future," Daalder said in a breakfast meeting with the Defence Writers Group here. The real facts of the incident, he said, would be known only after the investigation is over.
Giving his brief of the incident that has plunged the US-Pak relationship to an all-time low, the US Ambassador said the most basic fact is that there was a strike that killed 24 Pakistani border guards.
"What we don't know the sequence of events that led to that and we have conflicting stories. Our side of the story is still being investigated in great detail. General Allen took the responsibility immediately not only to investigate the incident but also to bring in US, Afghan, NATO and asked Pakistan to participate in the investigation," he said.
The Pentagon on Friday said that Pakistan has declined to participate in the investigation.
"I don't know the sequence of events. There may be people, who know, but so far they haven't come to any conclusions and I think the best thing to do is to let the fact speaks for itself.
"However these facts would come out, we would learn about the incident," Daalder said, adding that one of the lessons learnt has already been implemented by NATO in the order that has been issued by Gen Allen with regard to not to approach the created buffer zone on the border.
"But we would have to look at exactly what happened, and what lessons we learn from it about communications need... and that would take some time," the American diplomat said conceding that the relationship between the two nations have reached an all-time low.
"It is clear that relationship with Pakistan has not improved. The relationship has been on the US level difficult for some time, we had the arrest of (CIA contractor) Raymond Davis (in Lahore), we had the Osama bin Laden raid (in Abbottabad) and others and finally this incident just escalates a set of differences that are real," he said.
The US is trying to work together with NATO as well as other countries, understanding that this is a major problem for it, Daalder said.
"We need to find ways to continue cooperative effort with Pakistan. We have no choice but to cooperate with Pakistan given that the terrorists are a threat to all three of our countries (US, Pakistan and Afghanistan).
"As such an effective cooperation would remain essential which is why, we talked at the highest level ... to try to find ways to get cooperation," he said.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Imran Khan: The Game-changer
2 December 2011, 11:18 AM
HE ONCE tormented adversaries with pace and movement across the twenty-two yards. Pakistan’s captain cool always dug in when his team needed it. The man was a leader of the lads who brought home cricket’s biggest prize in 1992, and perhaps its greatest moment after independence.
Imran Khan is swinging it his way across the wider political pitch these days, picking up speed for a shot at government. The wait appears to be finally over for the great Khan in Pakistan’s rough and tumble world of politics.
Two election losses and 15 years later, he believes his time has come with the masses eating out of his hands and latching on to every word he says. Rivals, including the Pakistan People’s Party and the PML (N) have themselves to blame for their steep fall from grace.
The inspirational Pathan’s massive rally last month in Lahore drew over 100,000 people and was testament to his game-changing abilities in the country’s rabble-rousing brand of politics.
With success comes a heady feeling and he is keen to take that momentum forward, bowling the occasional bouncer at the ruling establishment led by the Pakistan People’s Party. Captain courageous is connecting with the youth using every weapon in his arsenal. Social media is playing a big part in the savvy politician’s campaign, akin to Barack Obama’s campaign for the US presidency in 2008.
Rallies, meetings, and activism take up most of his time these days. It’s a tactical ploy which could pay dividends in the endgame when elections are called in two years’ time. He also takes care to court the middle-class and his appeal is showing in the growing numbers who are lured to his clarion call for change.
During a brief conversation on a trip to Dubai, cricket’s former playboy turned political titan looks dapper and at ease sporting a dark suit. You sense a grin of accomplishment as he pats his slightly tousled hair for the look he desires.
At 58, he’s not exactly your young man in a hurry. Instead, he has picked up political acumen which makes him a formidable foe. Years of sitting on the sidelines of politics have given him dollops of wisdom on when to strike. He knows the time is here and now when disenchantment with the government and polity is at its peak.
Meanwhile, those sharp eyes miss no detail in the plush room filled with acolytes and partymen from his Tehreek-e-Insaaf party. You get the impression that he loves playing the role of a statesman while listening patiently to their every comment and encomium, relishing the prospect of a political victory at the hustings. On the dustbowls of Pakistan, he is the consummate politician, bellowing on the microphone and putting his troops through their paces. Whether he lands a sucker punch at the polls is a matter of conjecture, but what is certain is that he is no more a political lightweight and his opponents better take notice.
King Khan still talks cricket, but only in passing. He’s more comfortable bowling on his new terrain — politics — as he scythes into the opposition, in a country divided by years of apathy and arm-twisting by foreign powers peddling influence, namely the United States. He mouths scorn at Washington, while speaking in glowing terms about what the Chinese can do for his country and its economy.
There are no direct targets, only solutions to the ills plaguing Pakistan. Even the Kashmir dispute with India can be solved through negotiations. ‘‘There is no room for conflict in the modern age.’’
Mass contact with the impoverished folk of his country have given him a new perspective into what needs to be done for their benefit. ‘‘There are millions starving in the country and our politicians are making a mockery of their plight, keeping the US happy, accepting their aid. Let’s do our own budgeting and live within our means. The foundations of the country have been rocked and we need to take charge of our destiny,’’ he says.
Midway into the rhetoric, he is interrupted with a question on the army and the powerful ISI, the intelligence agency blamed for many excesses in the country. ‘‘Civilian rule is paramount. Look at Turkey. The civilian government has full control after years of tug-of-war with the army.’’
Returning to his favoured rhetoric, he says: ‘‘People are sick and tired of the corruption, the nepotism, the abuse of power which the country has suffered for several decades.’’ Then there’s silence, as if in contemplation.
His baritone booms again. ‘‘It’s time for a new beginning, to make a clean break with the past, for Pakistan to fulfill its potential.’’ We’ve heard it all before, but being Pakistan’s Mr Clean comes with its perks. One of them being that the muck doesn’t stick to him — it stops with the current ruling class.
You wonder if the charismatic leader and activist who founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in memory of his mother can convert youth disenchantment into a movement and votes. ‘‘We know we can. This is just the beginning for greater change, a positive change for Pakistan; a lot of planning went into the rally. It didn’t happen overnight.’’
There’s a plane to catch and he looks impatient. The interview is over.
A voice rings after the others have dispersed: ‘‘I know him, he is an idealist who can deliver on his promises.’’
Maybe. But the great Khan will have to deliver fast, like his express deliveries of yore.
Pakistan cannot wait.
جوابی کارروائی بغیراجازت کی جائے،جنرل کیانی
راولپنڈی: پاکستان کے چیف آف آرمی اسٹاف جنرل اشفاق پرویز کیانی نے پاک فوج کے جوانوں کو کسی بھی بیرونی حملہ کی صورت میں فوری کارروائی کا حکم دے دیا ہے۔
”ناٹو کے خلاف کارروائی کے لیے فوج پر چین اینڈ کمانڈ سسٹم
لاگو نہیں ہوگا“
پاک فوج کے مرکزی دفتر جی ایچ کیو سے جاری ہونے والی ہدایت میں انہوں نے پاک افغان سرحد پر واقع تمام چیک پوسٹوں پر موجود فوجی افسران اور جوانوں پر واضح کیا ہے کہ حملہ آور کوئی بھی ہو جوابی کارروائی کا فیصلہ فوری کیا جائے۔
آرمی چیف کی طرف سے افواج پاکستان کو بھیجے گئےمراسلے میں کہا گیا ہے کہ مستقبل میں ناٹو یا ایساف نے پاکستانی حدود میں کوئی کارروائی کی تو فوج پر چین اینڈ کمانڈ سسٹم لاگو نہیں ہوگا اور چوکی میں موجود سینئر افسر فوری کارروائی کا فیصلہ کرے گا۔
پاک فوج کے چیف کی جانب سے دوٹوک بیان میں یہ بھی کہا گیا ہے کہ بیرونی جارحیت کی صورت میں جوابی کارروائی کے لیے کسی اجازت کا انتظار نہ کیا جائے۔
جنرل کیانی نے کہا کہ پاک فوج جارحیت کے خلاف آخری دم تک لڑے گی، جوانوں کی قابلیت پر کوئی شک نہیں، جوانوں کو ہتھیار اور وسائل فراہم کرنا ان کا فرض ہے جو وہ پورا کریں گے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ قوم یاد رکھے کہ شہدا کا خون رائیگاں نہیں جائے گا،اب جوابی کارروائی کے لیے کسی ہدایت کی ضرورت نہیں ہوگی اور دستیاب ہتھیاروں سے ہر ممکن جواب دیا جائے گا۔
دی نیوز ٹرائب کے نمائندے کے مطابق آرمی چیف کا حکم نامہ پاک افغان سرحد سے پر واقع تمام چیک پوسٹوں پر پڑھ کرسنایا گیا اور اسے فوری طور پر نافذ العمل قرار دیا گیا ہے۔
ذرائع کے مطابق پاک افغان سرحد پر پاک فوج کی ازسرنو تعیناتی کا فیصلہ بھی کیا گیا ہے،مہمند ایجنسی میں ناٹو کے حملے سے چوکی کا مواصلاتی نظام تباہ ہو گیا تھا جس کی وجہ سے پاک فضائیہ کارروائی نہیں کرسکی اور ناٹو کے ہیلی کاپٹر بچ کر نکل گئے۔
ذرائع کے مطابق آرمی چیف جنرل اشفاق پرویز کیانی نے ہدایت کی ہے کہ مستقبل میں جارحیت کرنے والے بچ نہ سکیں۔
واضح رہے کہ پاکستان کے قبائلی علاقے مہمند ایجنسی میں 26 نومبر کی صبح ناٹو کے حملے میں پاک فوج کے میجر اور کیپٹن سمیت 26 جوانوں کی ہلاکت کے بعد پاک فوج کو جارحیت کا بھرپور جواب دینے کا حکم دے دیا گیا ہے۔
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Obama not to apologize to Pakistan: White House
WASHINGTON — The White House has for now overruled State Department officials who favoured a show of remorse to help salvage relations after a deadly NATO airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Citing administration officials, the newspaper said the United States ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, told a group of White House officials that a formal video statement from President Obama was needed to help prevent the rapidly deteriorating relations between Islamabad and Washington from cratering. The ambassador, speaking by videoconference from Islamabad, said that anger in Pakistan had reached a fever pitch, and that the United States needed to move to defuse it as quickly as possible, the officials recounted.
But Defence Department officials balked, the Times said. While they did not deny some American culpability in the episode, they said expressions of remorse offered by senior department officials and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were enough, at least until the completion of a United States military investigation establishing what went wrong.
Some administration aides also worried that if Obama were to overrule the military and apologize to Pakistan, such a step could become fodder for his Republican opponents in the presidential campaign.
On Wednesday, White House officials said Obama was unlikely to say anything further on the matter in the coming days.
“The U.S. government has offered its deepest condolences for the loss of life, from the White House and from Secretary Clinton and Secretary Panetta,” said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, referring to Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, “and we are conducting an investigation into the incident. We cannot offer additional comment on the circumstances of the incident until we have the results.”
With everything at stake in the relationship with Pakistan, which the United States sees as vital as it plans to exit from Afghanistan, some former Obama administration officials were cited as saying the president should make public remarks on the border episode, including a formal apology.
“Without some effective measures of defusing this issue, Pakistan will cooperate less rather than more with us, and we won’t be able to achieve our goals in Afghanistan,” said Vali Nasr, a former State Department official who specialized in Pakistan.
But David Rothkopf, a former Clinton administration official and the author of “Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power,” said Pakistani officials need to understand that in the next year, the Obama administration will be less willing to make nice.
“I do think that it’s important for them to recognize that political dynamics in the United States will lead to a hardening of U.S. positions, and the president will have less and less flexibility to accept the kind of behaviour that he has in the past,” Rothkopf was quoted as saying. “The prognosis for U.S.-Pakistani relations is bleak.”
کلنٹن کا افسوس کافی،اوباما پاکستان سے معافی نہیں مانگیں گے:امریکا
وائٹ ہاؤس پاکستان میں امریکی سفیر کیمرون منٹر کی درخواست مسترد کرتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ صدر اوبامانیٹو حملے میں پاکستانی فوجیوں کی شہادت پر رسمی افسوس بھی نہیں کریں گے۔ا مریکی اخبار نیویارک ٹائمز کے مطابق وائٹ ہاؤس کا کہنا ہے کہ صدر اوباما نیٹو حملے پر مزید کوئی تبصرہ نہیں کریں گے
Imran Khan takes UK paper to court
LONDON: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has launched a legal action against The Sunday Times after the paper wrote that Khan was recently introduced to Cameron Munter, American Ambassador to Pakistan, in the presence of General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, and that he has gained the backing of Pakistan military.
The News has learnt that Imran Khan’s solicitor in London Mahtab Aziz of ST Law Solicitors has written to the Rupert Murdoch title that The Sunday Times Article ‘Imran the Inevitable’ damaged Khan’s “political standing and reputation among the Pakistani public by implying that he is backed by the Pakistan Army which directly goes against Khan’s principles and political ideology that he stands for and for which he has made many sacrifices.”
The lawsuit stresses that Khan will always be an independent political campaigner free from “any influence by the vested interests of Pakistan’s powerful military and establishment.” Imran Khan (‘The Claimant’) of ‘The Justice Party’ has taken a big issue with the article’s main theme accusing the paper of going “against the grain of our client’s political vision.”
“There is neither any support for Khan’s campaign by Pakistan’s security establishment and nor have you furnished any evidence to support it,” says the lawsuit, adding that the PTI believed that change in Pakistan can come by “severing the shackles of the establishment.”
The lawsuit gives a reference to Cameron Munter’s denial on the Capital Talk and military spokesman Major General Ather Abbas denial that any such meeting was ever facilitated. The defamation claim says that Khan met Munter on various occasions but the “factual inaccuracy” in reporting has “damaged our client’s standing among the Pakistani public as it implies that there is tacit support for Khan’s campaign not only by the United States but also by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).”
“This is particularly of some concern as it goes completely against Khan’s long term outspoken campaign for Pakistan to be free from any outside influence especially that of the United States. He has campaigned tirelessly for a halt to US drone attacks which have resulted in many civilian and military lives being lost.”
Khan’s lawyers maintain that the article is of great and immediate concern to Khan and has resulted in untoward criticism being directed at him by his opposition parties to the effect that he has been labelled “a puppet/agent of the United States”, of “secret hand” propping up his political ambitions.
“This can have catastrophic consequences for Khan’s political campaign as it substantially plays in to the hands of his critics and thereby affording them a false platform upon which to seriously damage Khan’s standing amongst the Pakistani public and his political credibility.”
The article stated that Khan is reluctant to criticise the military establishment publicly, but he emphasises that he will not be a puppet of the generals. “Obviously you have to work with them but it doesn’t mean you have to work under them,” he reportedly said but Khan maintains in the lawsuit that this is “an unsupported comment” as he has been a “vehement critic” of General Musharraf and his policies and has not been reluctant in the past to criticise the military and is not reluctant in the present to do so.
The lawsuit has asked the paper to “retract” the “offending parts of your article by publishing a retraction”; issue a “suitable apology to Imran Khan on your front page”; pay Khan’s “legal costs” and respond within 7 days or else Khan will issue “court proceedings” against the Sunday paper.
The News has learnt that Imran Khan’s solicitor in London Mahtab Aziz of ST Law Solicitors has written to the Rupert Murdoch title that The Sunday Times Article ‘Imran the Inevitable’ damaged Khan’s “political standing and reputation among the Pakistani public by implying that he is backed by the Pakistan Army which directly goes against Khan’s principles and political ideology that he stands for and for which he has made many sacrifices.”
The lawsuit stresses that Khan will always be an independent political campaigner free from “any influence by the vested interests of Pakistan’s powerful military and establishment.” Imran Khan (‘The Claimant’) of ‘The Justice Party’ has taken a big issue with the article’s main theme accusing the paper of going “against the grain of our client’s political vision.”
“There is neither any support for Khan’s campaign by Pakistan’s security establishment and nor have you furnished any evidence to support it,” says the lawsuit, adding that the PTI believed that change in Pakistan can come by “severing the shackles of the establishment.”
The lawsuit gives a reference to Cameron Munter’s denial on the Capital Talk and military spokesman Major General Ather Abbas denial that any such meeting was ever facilitated. The defamation claim says that Khan met Munter on various occasions but the “factual inaccuracy” in reporting has “damaged our client’s standing among the Pakistani public as it implies that there is tacit support for Khan’s campaign not only by the United States but also by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).”
“This is particularly of some concern as it goes completely against Khan’s long term outspoken campaign for Pakistan to be free from any outside influence especially that of the United States. He has campaigned tirelessly for a halt to US drone attacks which have resulted in many civilian and military lives being lost.”
Khan’s lawyers maintain that the article is of great and immediate concern to Khan and has resulted in untoward criticism being directed at him by his opposition parties to the effect that he has been labelled “a puppet/agent of the United States”, of “secret hand” propping up his political ambitions.
“This can have catastrophic consequences for Khan’s political campaign as it substantially plays in to the hands of his critics and thereby affording them a false platform upon which to seriously damage Khan’s standing amongst the Pakistani public and his political credibility.”
The article stated that Khan is reluctant to criticise the military establishment publicly, but he emphasises that he will not be a puppet of the generals. “Obviously you have to work with them but it doesn’t mean you have to work under them,” he reportedly said but Khan maintains in the lawsuit that this is “an unsupported comment” as he has been a “vehement critic” of General Musharraf and his policies and has not been reluctant in the past to criticise the military and is not reluctant in the present to do so.
The lawsuit has asked the paper to “retract” the “offending parts of your article by publishing a retraction”; issue a “suitable apology to Imran Khan on your front page”; pay Khan’s “legal costs” and respond within 7 days or else Khan will issue “court proceedings” against the Sunday paper.
PTI Protest Against NATO Attack on Border Check-Post
Islamabad (28 November, 2011): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Islamabad Chapter, held a protest against the NATO firing at the Pakistani border check-post, Salala, on Saturday 26th November, in Mohmand Agency. The protesters expressed anger at the violation of Pakistani sovereignty and demanded the corrupt Pakistani Government to exit its support for the unjust War on Terror. The protesters included big numbers of youth as well as women from different areas of Islamabad
Addressing the protest, PTI President Women’s Wing, Ms. Fauzia Kasuri said that the incident is a clear violation of all international laws and is a result of the unpopular policies of Pakistani Government that is subservient to its American masters. She added that blocking the NATO supply routes for a few days will not do anything, they should be sealed indefinitely.
The Zonal Head of Islamabad
The Central Media Coordinator, Sulaiman Malik, while giving an interview to Asia Today Correspondent present at the occasion, said that it is not a mistake since NATO has been provided coordinates of all Pakistani border check-posts. The Pakistani Army is meant for defending Pakistani borders and citizens rather than fighting the purposeless War of Terror for the US
051-2270744
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
NATO forces were not chasing militants: DG ISPR
RAWALPINDI: Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas while speaking to Geo News said NATO could not make the excuse that they were chasing terrorists across the border because the area where the attack took place had been cleared.
Abbas said NATO had been provided maps of all Pakistani check posts as reference and they had been informed about their positions.
The military spokesman also said that the attack took place within 200-300 meters within Pakistan’s borders and added that the area had been cleared of militants.
Abbas said NATO had been provided maps of all Pakistani check posts as reference and they had been informed about their positions.
The military spokesman also said that the attack took place within 200-300 meters within Pakistan’s borders and added that the area had been cleared of militants.
’عوام کوخوف سےنکالنےکراچی آرہاہوں‘
گھوٹکی : پاکستان تحریک انصاف کے چیئرمین عمران خان نے کہا ہے کہ تبدیلی کا سونامی سندھ پہنچ گیا ، عوام کو خوف سے نکالنے کراچی آرہے ہیں۔
گھوٹکی میں جلسے سے خطاب کے بعد میڈیا کے نمائندوں سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے انہوں نے کہا کہ کراچی میں جو مرضی ہوجائے 25دسمبر کا جلسہ نہیں رکے گا، کراچی میں قتل عام کو روکیں گے۔
قبل ازیں گھوٹکی میں جلسے سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے ان کا کہنا تھا کہ امریکا کی نام نہاد دہشت گردی کےخلاف جنگ سے باہر نکلنے کا وقت آ گیا، پاکستان کو ذ لت کی پالیسی کو تبدیل کرنا ہوگا۔
اس موقع پر انہوں نے یہ بھی کہا کہ پاکستان میں موجود سی آئی اے کے ایجنٹوں کو باہر نکالا جائے۔
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