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| Bush voices concern over ISI role |
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Pakistan denies as CIA accuses agency of backing militants
By Sami Abraham
WASHINGTON: US President George W Bush expressed his concern and some annoyance with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over the role of the ISI in Pakistan.
Defence Minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, who was also present at the meeting, told The News. He said President Bush expressed concern that certain elements in the ISI were leaking information to the terrorists before they could be hit by the US or Pakistani forces. This is a cause of concern for the US side, he added.
Talking exclusively to this correspondent, Ahmed Mukhtar said the meeting otherwise was held in good atmosphere, and the US administration looked committed to support the civilian set-up.
“President Bush also asked who is controlling the ISI,” the minister said, indicating that Bush was probably aware of the fiasco created by the failed attempt by the Ministry of Interior to take control of the ISI through a notification shortly before PM Gilani arrived in Washington.
Another source said President Bush agreed with the Pakistani point of view that all parties in the Afghan conflict, the Nato forces, Pakistan and Afghanistan should take equal responsibility of meeting the terrorist threats.
“The US president agreed that specific tasks must be identified for each party to meet and then the performance of each party should be assessed. Accusations against each other should not be levelled publicly,” the source quoted President Bush as saying.
AP/AFP add: Meanwhile, the CIA has confronted senior Pakistani officials with evidence showing that members of the country’s spy service have deepened their ties with some militant groups responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, The New York Times reported.
A top CIA official travelled to Islamabad this month with new information about ties between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and militants operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas, the newspaper said on its Web site late Tuesday. Its sources were American military and intelligence officials it did not identify.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s military rejected the “malicious” report that a top CIA official visiting this month confronted Islamabad over ties between the ISI and militants. “We reject this report. This is unfounded, baseless and malicious,” chief Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.
“I would like to emphasise here that ISI is a premier intelligence agency which has caught or apprehended maximum al-Qaeda operatives including those who were linked with criminals and responsible for attacking the US mainland on September 11, 2001,” Abbas said.
The Times said the CIA assessment pointed to links between the ISI and the militant network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, which American officials believe maintains close ties to senior figures of al-Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The CIA has depended heavily on the ISI for information about militants in Pakistan.
The visit to Pakistan by the CIA official, Stephen R Kappes, the agency’s deputy director, was described by several American military and intelligence officials in interviews in recent days, the Times said. Some of those who were interviewed said they welcomed the decision by the CIA to take a harder line towards the ISI’s dealings with militant groups.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is in Washington meeting with Bush administration officials. In an interview broadcast Tuesday on PBS television show “The News Hour With JimLehrer,” Gilani said that to say that some in the ISI are “sympathetic to the militants, this is not believable. ... We will not allow that.”
CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf refused to comment on the Times report late Tuesday. The newspaper said it was unclear whether CIA officials have concluded that contacts between the ISI and militant groups are blessed at the highest levels of Pakistan’s spy service and military or are carried out by rogue elements of Pakistan’s security apparatus.
Kappes made his secret visit to Pakistan on July 12, joining Adm Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for meetings with senior Pakistani civilian and military leaders, the Times said.
Muhammad Saleh Zaafir from Washington adds: Interior Advisor to Prime Minister, Rehman Malik, has emphatically refuted the allegations levelled by The New York Times that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had connections with the terrorists.
Talking to the News Wednesday, Rehman said the Indian propaganda is an effort to malign Pakistan’s supreme agency, the ISI, which has played a commendable role in curbing terrorism in all its manifestations.
The interior advisor said the Pakistan government has informed the American authorities about India’s clandestine contact with the terrorists, including Baitullah Mehsud, and their hideouts in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Rehman advised the Indian government to refrain from fanning terrorist activities in the areas of sensitive nature. He said India should not mislead the world and withdraw its support to the terrorists in the region.
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Three killed as Sh Rashid escapes attempt on life
By Shakeel Anjum
RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief and a candidate for NA-55 (Rawalpindi) by-election Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was wounded, while three people — a guard and two party workers — were killed when four gunmen more |
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12 soldiers killed in South Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: Twelve soldiers embraced martyrdom while two others were injured in a clash with militants during the ongoing operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan Agency (SWA), the ISPR said on Monday.
S more |
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Plan to attack five-star hotel foiled
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The CIA police here on Monday claimed to have foiled an attack on Americans staying at a five-star hotel and arrested six terrorists, including a suicide bomber.
Addressing a press conference, SS more |
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Govt taking court for a ride
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: She fought her case in the media. She won her battle in the judicial forum too. But still the government is bent on making an example out of her for refusing to follow the illegal dictates of her min more |
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Pakistan against arms race: Gilani
By Azeem Samar
KARACHI: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said Pakistan does not want to be engaged in an arms race with any country.
Speaking as chief guest at the induction ceremony of second Chinese-m more |
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Punjab-Sindh water row Centre’s intervention sought
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Tension between Punjab and Sindh over opening of the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Punjnad link canals has touched a new high as the former has sought the Centre’s intervention.
The Punjab has sai more |
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French, Dutch fight over giving LNG to Pakistan
By Khalid Mustafa
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and his team is all set to thwart the attempt of an unscrupulous combine of oil industry heavyweights and some functionaries of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Re more |
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Nine killed as no let-up in rains
By Nisar Mahmood
PESHAWAR: Nine people were killed and scores of others injured as heavy rains and snowfall lashed various parts of the country for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.
Reports from the Shangla district more |
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Malik orders NUML closure as protest enters 5ht day
ISLAMABAD: The protest of the students of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) against thrashing of Professor Malik Tahir by Registrar Brigadier (R) Obaidullah Ranjha entered its fifth consecutive more |
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Malik insists no Blackwater in Pakistan
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik while responding to an accusation from a PML-N parliamentarian told the National Assembly that Blackwater was not providing security to the president and the prime mini more |
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FBR gets list of properties rented out to foreigners
By Hanif Khalid
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received list of properties from Foreign Office, which were in use of foreigners in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore, but these were not shown in annual tax more |
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Repealing of 17th Amendment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has begun efforts to create consensus on repealing the 17th Amendment before presidential address to the joint sitting of the parliament.
The prime minis more |
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Three suspects held in Mohmand
By our correspondent
GHALLANAI: The security forces arrested three suspected persons during search operation in Safi subdivision of Mohmand Agency, official sources said Monday. The sources said the security forces carried out sear more |
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No presence of Blackwater, DynCorp in Pakistan, NA body told
ISLAMABAD: Secretary Interior Qamar Zaman again negated on Monday the presence of Blackwater, DynCorp or any other foreign security agency in the country. “Neither the Blackwater and the DynCorp nor any other s more |
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Govt urged to take up water issue with India
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat while urging the government to take up the issue of ‘water terrorism’ with New Delhi, has question more |
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Avalanche kills 17 Indian soldiers in held Kashmir
HELD SRINAGAR: Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed on Monday in an avalanche that slammed into a group of 70 combat troops at a high-altitude warfare training camp in Kashmir, the army said on Monday.
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Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of assault
KANDAHAR: The Nato commanders urged the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in on Monday for a major assault on their key stronghold in southern Afghanistan, sending thousands of residents fleeing.
The Ta more |
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Plea to freeze foreign accounts
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the federal government to submit a reply within four weeks on a petition seeking freezing of accounts in foreign banks and recovery of illegal assets accumu more |
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Attack on Sh Rashid
RAWALPINDI: The PML-N candidate for by-polls from NA-55, Malik Shakil Awan, has announced suspension of electioneering for a day to mourn the death of those killed in the attack on the office of his rival, Shei more |
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Indian forces to halt Kashmir rally outside UN office
HELD SRINAGAR: The held Kashmir authorities deployed thousands of police and troops on Monday to prevent a protest outside the UN office here over the recent killing of two teenage boys by Indian security force more |
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briefs...
20 die in Afghan floods, avalanches
KANDAHAR: Twenty people have died in floods and avalanches triggered by some of the heaviest rain and snow in Afghanistan for 50 years, an official said on Monday. At more |
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ISSN 1563-9479 
