The Pakistan Update

Pakistani PM Yousuf Raza Gilani is travelling to Qatar where officials indicate he will discuss peace efforts in Afghanistan.

The government has described the official agenda of his three-day visit as an opportunity to boost trade ties.

But officials have also confirmed that US efforts to establish a dialogue with the Taliban, hosted by the Qataris, will be discussed.

Analysts say his trip raises questions about Pakistan’s role in future talks.

The BBC’s Jill McGivering says that it is not clear what position Mr Gilani will take. He says his country wants a stable Afghanistan and will support any Afghan-led peace process

“He will meet among others the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

He added that the visit would seek to open up opportunities for co-operation between the countries.

But analysts say the issue of talks with the Taliban will also be considered important.

Our correspondent says that there is a sense that Pakistan, like the Afghan government, has felt excluded from the talks process – and takes that exclusion as a diplomatic snub.

The Taliban confirmed last month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar ahead of possible talks with the US.

Pakistan has stressed recently in public that it is now being briefed by the Americans on those talks.

The Qatar talks are now being challenged by President Karzai’s initiative to instigate separate direct talks involving the Taliban and the Afghan government, hosted by the Saudis.

The Taliban’s support for the rival process is far from certain and it is not clear which set of talks, if any, will be backed by Pakistan.

Given its influence with the Taliban, Islamabad’s choice may be crucial. The difficulty for the US, our correspondent says, is that Pakistan’s proximity to the Taliban is what makes it both part of a possible solution and also part of the problem.

Pakistan has been accused in the past of playing a double game when it comes to the Taliban. If both the Americans and the Afghan government are now eager for its help, its loyalties could once again be tested.

Officials say that Mr Gilani will meet the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani.

Originally appeared on bbc news.

Tags: Afghanistan, hamad bin jassim bin jabr al-thani, Taliban, US, Yousaf Raza Gilani

Posted in Afghanistan, Around, News | 1 Comment »

Afghanistan and Pakistan plan to open a second front in negotiations with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia as US-brokered talks get under way in Qatar, officials said Sunday.

The Taliban, ousted from power by a US-led invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, announced this month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar ahead of talks with Washington.

And Taliban negotiators have begun holding preliminary talks with US officials on plans for negotiations aimed at ending the decade-long Afghan war, a former Taliban official said Sunday.

But Afghan and Taliban officials indicated in response to a BBC report about plans for talks in Saudi Arabia that both Kabul and Islamabad – usually at loggerheads on the issue – were looking for their own talks with the Taliban.

Asked for his response to the BBC report, Afghan foreign ministry spokesperson Janan Mosazai said: “Of course, we support any steps toward the Afghan peace process.” He refused to comment further.

But a senior Afghan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the BBC report was accurate, saying: “We will always pursue all roads toward peace in Afghanistan, including contacts with the Taliban that are not limited to the Qatar office.”

A member of the Taliban’s leadership council, the Pakistan-based Quetta Shura, also backed the report of talks in Saudi Arabia.

“The idea that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Saudi is pushed by the Pakistan and Afghan governments,” he said on condition of anonymity.

“This is because they think they have been sidelined. They want some control over peace talks.”

Supporting this theory, Kabul announced Sunday that Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would visit Kabul on Wednesday, marking what Mosazai called a “new phase” in co-operation between the two countries.

Khar would meet President Hamid Karzai to “discuss the fight against terrorism and Pakistan’s essential support to the peace process in Afghanistan,” he said.

Khar’s visit comes after the always-touchy relations between the two countries broke down following the assassination of Kabul’s chief peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani, in September.

Karzai accused Pakistan of responsibility for the murder and said Islamabad was sabotaging all attempts at negotiations with the Taliban.

The president was wary over being sidelined in the Qatar talks, leading Washington to dispatch special envoy Marc Grossman to Kabul last week to assure him of a central role for his government in any major negotiations.

And in another effort to soothe Karzai’s doubts, a delegation from the Qatar government is expected to visit Kabul to explain its role in the talks.

Preliminary negotiations between the US and the Taliban are already under way in the Gulf state, a former Taliban official who is now a member of the Afghan government appointed High Peace Council said Sunday.

“The actual peace talks have not yet begun – they are in the process of trust-building and obviously this will take some time,” Mawlavi Qalamuddin, who once led the Taliban’s feared religious police when the hardline Islamists were in power, told AFP.

One of the trust-building measures demanded by the Taliban is the release of five of its members from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, while Washington wants the insurgents to renounce violence.

Originally appeared in the montreal gazette

Tags: 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan, burhanuddin rabbani, Guantánamo, Hamid Karzai, hina rabbani khar, islamists, Kabul, malvi qalamuddin, Saudi Arabia, Taliban, US

Posted in Afghanistan, Around, Blog | No Comments »

By Myra Imran

To build diplomatic pressure against drone attacks on Pakistan, the Federal Ministry of Human Rights has decided to take up the issue before UN Special Rapporteur on Extra Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.

The decision was shared with the media by Adviser to Prime Minister on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar in a press briefing here on Monday. He said that the plan of having official communication with the United Nations in this regard is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Rights and is yet to be discussed with other stakeholders.

The government has condemned these attacks at every level. The parliamentarians already have a common stance over this issue. It is only the matter of formulating plan of action to take up the issue at the level of United Nations, he said while talking to media persons. The adviser described drone strikes as targeted killings and urged that the matter may be taken up with the US at the appropriate level.

Khokhar, who has also been a student of International Law, said that the first drone attack was conducted by the United States on Jordan in 2005 to kill terrorism suspect Al Harsi. At that time, the UN Special Rapporteur took notice of the incident and it was conveyed to the United States government that it has violated the international law by committing extra judicial killings.

It must be noticed here that the United States has conducted 270 such strikes against Pakistan and thousands of people have lost their lives in these attacks. There is no record of the number of people that have been killed in these attacks, he said.

He said that interestingly, up till now in Pakistan, the debate has only circled around the loss of innocent lives (collateral damage) and not around the specific legalities of these strikes in the light of International Humanitarian Law (Law of War) and how these strikes are being viewed by eminent jurists around the world.

Khokar said that apart from being in violation of Pakistan s territorial sovereignty, there is a growing consensus among the international law experts that these strikes can be aptly described as targeted killings or extra judicial killings primarily because the targets are being taken out without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law.

This view is gaining ground in the international legal fraternity and is supported by various international treaties as well as the United States own constitution. The advisor mentioned that one does not have to be a legal expert to see that there is a blatant disregard of international law, customary law, treaties and conventions by the American administration.

He said that it must be stressed upon partners in the war on terror that these extra judicial killings must be stopped forthwith as these are entirely counterproductive. The moral and legal obligations are being flouted by the US administration. America and its allies cannot preach respect for Human Rights when their own record is questionable ranging from disrespecting the environmental treaties to torturing detainees and now extra judicial killings.

He further requested that after every such strike the matter must be reported to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. Since the office of Special Rapporteur already holds the view that these strikes may amount to extra-judicial killings and continues to take note of these strikes, Pakistan s official communication to it in this regard might prove to be highly productive.

This article originally appeared in The News.

Tags: Drone Attacks, human rights, Jordan, Pakistan, United Nations, US

Posted in News | 184 Comments »

By Anjum Rasheed

American Senator John Kerry came to Pakistan, talked to the Pakistani leaders, resolved a serious crisis, eased tensions between the two countries, restored the mutual relations to normality, and went back to his homeland in a week’s time. The main reason behind this crisis, tension and standoff was a resolution, passed by the parliament against the US special forces’ covert operation in Abbottabad on May 2, in which the al-Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, was killed. The resolution had warned that all supplies to the US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan through Pakistan would be stopped if the United States carried out another Abbottabad-like attack or continued the drone strikes in Pakistan. However, it seems the John Kerry visit has rendered at least this part of the consensus resolution ineffective. John Kerry also assured Pakistan that his country had no plans to attack the atomic and strategic weapons of its ally in the war on terror. The sources, well aware of the developments, revealed that the Obama administration would take some legal and formal steps in the next a few days that would show that there was no danger to the atomic and strategic assets of Pakistan from the US.

In a joint statement, the Pakistani leadership and Senator John Kerry announced that Islamabad and Washington would make a joint move in the future if any credible information is received about the presence of a high-value target in Pakistan. This sentence, it is believed, is going to work wonders as far as changing the public opinion is concerned. Now, we will have to accept the responsibility for all future drone strikes, warplanes’ bombardment and the armed forces offensive against the militants in Pakistan. Now it would really be very difficult for the Pakistani leaders to issue statements against the drone strikes and condemn such actions.

Earlier, these leaders used to issue statements against the drone and other US attacks to pacify the public sentiments, despite their covert consent to such attacks. And now this face-saving facility would not be available to these leaders. By signing the joint declaration, Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership has forsaken their right to develop a public opinion of their choice. It is feared the new development would create various difficulties for the Pakistani leadership to tackle the issues, arising out of the war against terrorism in the region.

On the other hand, there is a great possibility of a total change in the public opinion in Pakistan if our leadership adopts an uncompromising and bold stance on providing complete support to the US in the war on terror, and making this war its own war against the terrorists.

However, an utterance in the joint declaration, that “the US and Pakistan will launch a joint action against any high-value targets in future” is not very clear and still needs explanation as far as its manifestations are concerned. Pakistan’s former foreign minister Sartaj Aziz says this sentence does not permit the US forces at all to launch a direct offensive in Pakistani territories. It means that the US would only provide information and credible intelligence and the Pakistani forces would carry out action on the ground. The other option would be that Pakistan would provide information and intelligence to the US forces, who would launch drone strikes to kill the militants. And if the US wanted to launch any drone strikes inside Pakistan, it would inform Islamabad in advance.

There is another interpretation also. Former ambassador and an expert on foreign affairs Khalid Mehmood finds the sentence very clear. This sentence means “No more lies”, the analyst believes. The people would be told about all developments very clearly, as we are entering the decisive phase of the war against terrorism, adds Khalid Mehmood. Hopefully, the minute details of this sentence would be finalized between the US and Pakistan, and there would remain minimum confusion over the issue.

Originally appeared in “The News” Pakistan.

Tags: Al Qaeda, Khalid Mehmood, NATO, Senator John Kerry, Terrorism, US, US Pakistan relations

Posted in News | 2,515 Comments »

By Wajid Ali Syed

Bin Ladin is dead. Again. In the last ten years he has been reported “killed” at least four times. The only difference this time was that the President of the United States announced the death of the number one terrorist in the world. Above all, this time he was killed not in Tora Bora, not Karra Kurrum, but Abbottabad – close to an army garrison in Pakistan. As expected, his killing has raised questions, and more questions, and still more questions every time a new statement is added to the swirl of fact and myth that is turning the bin Laden raid into the stuff of legend.

Basically, a foreign national has been killed by another foreign army. (more…)

Tags: Abottabad, Al Qaeda, Army, CIA, Featured, ISI, Islamabad, Islamic groups, Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Taliban, US

Posted in Afghanistan, Around, Blog, India | 1,466 Comments »

By Wajid Ali Syed

Salmaan Taseer is dead. He’s neither the first politician, first liberal, the first outspoken bullish pugnacious politician who was killed. Nor is he last. There were many, there will be more. He was the sitting governor of Pakistan’s biggest province and was assassinated by his own bodyguard. 

Does Pakistan suffer today because of his death? Yes. Does it change anything on the ground? No. 

He was slain because he called the notorious blasphemy law as black law. (more…)

Tags: Bush, christians, Courts, drones, Featured, Judiciary, law and order, Left, Liberals, Minorities, Muslims, Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, Right, Salmaan Taseer, terror, US, Ziaul Haq

Posted in Blog | 1,643 Comments »

The Islamabad station chief of the Central Intelligence Agency hastily departed from Pakistan last week after his cover was blown due to a suspected deliberate leak by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. This act is the latest evidence of the tense relationship between the two spy agencies.

It is believed that his cover was blown in retaliation for naming ISI chief Ahamad Shuja Pasha in a US lawsuit by families of 26/11 Mumbai attack victims. The suit asserts that Pasha and other ISI officers were ‘purposefully engaged in the direct provision of material support or resources’ to the planners of the Mumbai attacks.

A similar legal complaint was filed in Pakistan on behalf of Kareem Khan, a resident of North Waziristan who said that his son and brother were killed in a drone strike. Khan was seeking $500 million in compensation, and accusing CIA’s top officer in Pakistan of running a clandestine spying operation out of the United States Embassy.

This locking of horns should have been tackled sensibly. Instead, (more…)

Tags: Afghanistan, AfPak, Al Qaeda, CIA, Featured, ISI, Militancy, Military, Pakistan, Taliban, US

Posted in Blog, News | 1,243 Comments »

The Pakistani government’s decision to halt the flow of NATO supplies into Afghanistan through the Torkham Gate during the first week of October has led many Americans to believe that Pakistan is not fully committed to the fight against militant extremism.

That notion is insulting. Pakistani support of US-led efforts in Afghanistan is complicated. Pakistan has more than 147,800 troops deployed conducting combat operations in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.

The Pakistan army has lost more than 3,200 soldiers in recent fighting (more…)

Tags: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, Featured, Mujahideen, NATO, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Taliban, US, US Embassy, War on Terror

Posted in Blog | 1,184 Comments »

By Nicolas Brulliard – Global Post

Pakistani officials today mourned the death of longtime diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke, who they said played a pivotal role over the past two years in working to improve relations between the United States and its strategic ally.

Holbrooke, the special U.S. representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died Monday in Washington after undergoing surgery on his torn aorta.

Pakistan’s highest-ranking politicians said the country had lost a friend in (more…)

Tags: Afghanistan, AfPak, Ambassador Holbrooke, Clinton, Featured, Holbrooke, Karzai, Pak US relationship, Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, US, US Pak relations, Zardari

Posted in Blog, News | 322 Comments »

The relationship between the United States and Pakistan has been for too long transactional in nature while at the same time based on mutual mistrust, the former American envoy to Islamabad said in a cable to Washington in 2009. The document was published Sunday by the whistle blower Web site WikiLeaks.

Ambassador Anne Patterson’s communique was sent ahead of (more…)

Tags: aid, Al Qaeda, Ann Patterson, Featured, General Kiyani, Pak US relations, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Pentagon, Taliban, US, US ambassador

Posted in News | 533 Comments »