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Friday, March 12, 2010
Karzai admits having contact with Mulla Omar
By Mariana Baabar
ISLAMABAD: The General Headquarters in Rawalpindi maintained a stony silence as their aspirations to have Afghan soldiers trained by the Pakistan Army appeared to have been politely turned down by President Hamid Karzai.
“I cannot afford to have Afghan soldiers on my western borders trained by the Indians and with an Indian mindset,” Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani commented a few weeks ago. India has been a contender to train the Afghan Army and Pakistan has been resisting this move. Kayani even took up the matter recently at Nato headquarters in Brussels saying that he already had hostile eastern borders and the last thing he needed were soldiers with an Indian mindset on his western borders.
A few days ago, he also had a meeting with Karzai in Kabul where this issue was raised. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari have also been raising it. When this question was put to Karzai at a breakfast meeting with the media, his reply was no less than a “polite no”, but it was clear that this was one wish on the GHQ’s list, which will not be realised very quickly.
“We have discussed this offer from Pakistan where some equipment has also been offered. We accepted this (equipment). As far as the training of Afghan soldiers and officers, my minister for defence will study (this proposal) and we will come back on this,” Karzai replied to a direct question.
Karzai said that the Soviets had also trained the Afghan Army and it had meant trouble. “So we are careful,” Karzai said. He came down heavily on Fata’s Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), which also earned him strong criticism then and there from one editor, who felt he should stay off commenting on Pakistan’s domestic policies.
“This is a terrible legacy of the British colonial rule being applied on the Pashtun people. The sooner it is taken out the better. It is also against human dignity and I will ask the Government of Pakistan to take it out,” he replied.
When asked about the kind of contacts that he and his government have had with the Taliban and at what level, Karzai surprised the media when he did not shy away from confessing that he also had contact with Mulla Omar, who heads the Afghan Taliban.
“We do have contacts, as high as you wish to go. Mulla Omar? Yes, (I have had contacts), as an Afghan to an Afghan. Yes, he talked to me within the Afghan constitution,” he said. He said some in the international community did have a problem with these interactions and it was not unusual for the US to sabotage peace efforts.
When asked if the arrests of some high key Afghan Taliban by Pakistan would hurt Afghan attempts at reconciliation, Karzai said that such arrests have impact both ways and that if he asks Pakistan to help with the peace process then these arrests were a way forward. He said he would raise the issue of the captured Taliban with the political leadership here.
Karzai said that since those arrested were Afghan nationals they should be returned to be tried under Afghan law. Karzai said he did not know if the Quetta Shura had become dysfunctional after the arrests of some high key Afghan Taliban by Pakistan.
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KP floods toll reaches 408
By Nisar Mahmood
PESHAWAR: Casualties due to rain and flood-related incidents were on the rise as more deaths were reported from various areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Friday.
Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain p more |
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‘US has no plans to send troops to Pakistan’
WASHINGTON: The United States (US) has brushed aside an Afghan demand to strike at militant safe havens across the border, saying it has no plans to send combat troops to Pakistan.
“We have no plans to s more |
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PM’s directive to HEC is illegal
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the NA Committee on Education has formally sought from the prime minister withdrawal of his recent directive barring the Higher Education Commission (HEC) from directly reporting to t more |
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Flash floods kill 102 in a narrow Shangla strip
By Ikram Hoti
BISHAM, Swat: Out of over 500 people killed by torrential rains and flash floods across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 102 were killed only in a 10-kilometre narrow mountainous strip in Shangla in the 78 hours of Wednesda more |
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95 victims of plane crash identified, Malik tells Senate
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday claimed that 95 out of the 152 dead bodies of the plane crash victims had been identified and 78 handed over to relatives.
Responding to points of orde more |
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Zardari to visit UK despite Cameron snub
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is going ahead with his four-day official visit to Britain, starting from Aug 3, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in categorical terms on Friday.
This b more |
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14 die in G-B rains
By our correspondent
GILGIT: Fourteen people, three of them girls, died on Friday in various parts of Gilgit-Baltistan as torrential rains continued to wreak havoc in Gilgit-Baltistan, senior government officials said.
Four more |
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Mullen asks ISI to shift its focus ‘strategically’
WASHINGTON: Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has asked the Pakistani spy agency to “strategically shift its focus” as any ties with the terrorist outfits that had come to light in more |
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Security concerns main reason
By Murtaza Ali Shah
LONDON: President Asif Ali Zardari’s official visit to the UK from August 3 to 7 will cost the taxpayers of Pakistan tons of British pounds as sources have revealed the details of what arrangements are being ma more |
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Fake degrees: SC rejects appeals of three MPs
By Sohail Khan
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday dismissed the appeals of one National Assembly and two provincial assembly members and upheld the decisions against their fake degrees.
A three-member bench of more |
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ECP to check assets of all MPs from next polls
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: In what would serve as a great step towards political reformation in the country, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is finalising a proposal to verify all the declarations of the members of t more |
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Indo-Pak experts want to use water as tool for cooperation
NEW DELHI: Use water as a tool to build trust and cooperation, urged delegates at an Indo-Pak seminar ‘Water is life’ organized by Aman ki Asha and the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation here to discuss the more |
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Cameron’s remarks: ISI team cancels visit to UK
ISLAMABAD: Following the shocking remarks made by the British Prime Minister David Cameron against Pakistan, an ISI’s anti-terrorism experts delegation has cancelled its visit to Britain.
Defence sources more |
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CCP issues notice for tying ticket with food coupons
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has issued a show cause notice to a company for tying the sale of cinema ticket with food coupons.
According to the CCP, the show cause notice was more |
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US needs to change war strategy: Haroon
NEW YORK: Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, said that there might have been a relationship between the ISI and the Taliban, but in a war such contacts were considered necessary.
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briefs...
Average inflation for FY11 projected at 11-12 pc
By Shahnawaz Akhter
KARACHI: In an unexpected move, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday tightened the monetary policy stance by enhancing th more |
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ISSN 1563-9479 
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