Dawn – Nawaz wants to end mistrust with India, boost ties with US

Lahore, 13 May 2013. Nawaz Sharif, poised to become prime minister for a third time after a decisive victory in the elections, said on Monday that the mistrust which had long dogged relations with India needed to be addressed.

He also pledged to strengthen relations with the United States, but called its drone campaign in Pakistan’s tribal region a challenge to national sovereignty.

Mr Sharif said he had a “long chat” with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday and both of them extended invitation to each other to visit, a diplomatic nicety in some parts of the world, but a heavily symbolic step for South Asia’s arch-enemies.

Asked by an Indian journalist if he would invite Mr Singh for his swearing-in as prime minister, he said he would be very happy to extend that invitation.

“There are fears on your side; there are fears on our side. We have to seriously address this,” Mr Sharif said while speaking to the foreign media at his palatial estate outside Lahore.

A supporter of free market policy, he wants to see trade between the two countries unshackled, and he has a history of making conciliatory gestures towards New Delhi.

In 1999, when he was prime minister, Mr Sharif stood at the frontier post waiting to welcome his counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to arrive on the inaugural run of a bus service between New Delhi and Lahore.

It was a moment of high hope for two countries that had gone to war three times in the preceding decades.

But by May of that year, the two sides were sucked into a new conflict as then army chief Pervez Musharraf sent forces across the line dividing Kashmir. And by October, Mr Sharif had been ousted by General Musharraf in a bloodless coup.

Mr Sharif’s return to power 14 years later has raised concern that he will again cross swords with the military, which has long controlled the country’s foreign and security policies.

Mr Sharif sought to play down his perceived enmity towards the army, saying he only blamed General Musharraf for the coup, not the entire service. “I think the rest of the army resented General Musharraf’s decision,” he said.

“So I don’t hold the rest of the army responsible for that.”

He said that as prime minister he would ensure that the military and the civilian government work together on the myriad problems facing the country. In an ironic twist, General Musharraf is currently under house arrest after returning from self-imposed exile, and Mr Sharif will need to decide whether to press treason charges against him in the Supreme Court.

Open to like-minded allies

Mr Sharif said his PML-N won enough of the 272 National Assembly seats to rule on its own, but suggested he was open to allies joining his government.

“I am not against any coalition. But as far as Islamabad is concerned, we are ourselves in a position to form our own government,” he said. “All those who share our vision, we will be happy to work with them.”

Mr Sharif’s biggest challenges are likely to be closer to home — fixing the shattered economy, ending an appalling energy crisis, coping with poverty and tackling a Taliban insurgency.

Another bailout from the International Monetary Fund to avoid a new balance of payments crisis is seen as inevitable.

Mr Sharif suggested that he would be willing to implement politically sensitive reforms to secure an IMF lifeline.

He has picked Senator Ishaq Dar as his finance minister in the new cabinet, a party spokesman said on Monday. Mr Dar had “all the facts and figures at his fingertips” and would present in June the budget for the next financial year, Siddiqul Farooq said.

Mr Dar, who served as finance minister in a previous cabinet of Mr Sharif in the 1990s, has said he plans to push provincial governments to collect agricultural taxes, a policy that can set him on a collision course with some of the PML-N’s wealthy backers.

US war against terrorism, drone attacks

Mr Sharif said ahead of the election that Pakistan should reconsider its support for the US war against terrorism and suggested he was in favour of negotiations with the Taliban.

As prime minister-elect, Mr Sharif chose his words carefully on Monday, saying Islamabad and Washington have “good relations” and “need to listen to each other”.

Asked about US drone strikes against militants on Pakistani soil, which many see as a violation of sovereignty, he referred to it as a “challenge” to sovereignty.

“We will sit with our American friends and talk to them about this issue,” he said.

“Of course we have taken this matter up very seriously. I think this is a very serious issue, and our concern must be understood properly.”

The CIA’s drone campaign targeting Al Qaeda and other militants has been extremely controversial in Pakistan, where people say it frequently kills innocent civilians — something Washington denies — and that it violates Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Mr Sharif promised Pakistan’s “full support” as the United States withdraws combat troops from Afghanistan next year. “If there are concerns on either side I think we should address those concerns and strengthen this relationship.”

http://beta.dawn.com/news/1011175/nawaz-wants-to-end-mistrust-with-india-boost-ties-with-us

BBC News – Afghan children ‘killed by Nato air strike in Shigal’

Sunday, 7 April 2013. Eleven children have been killed in a Nato air strike in eastern Afghanistan, officials and witnesses say.

At least one woman was reportedly killed and a further six are believed to have been injured in the incident in Shigal district, Kunar province.

Nato confirmed that “fire support” was used in Shigal after a US civilian adviser died in a militant attack, but said it had no reports of deaths.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings.

A statement issued by his office said he had already issued a decree banning aerial attacks on civilian areas.

Villagers and officials told the BBC that the casualties were inside their homes when they died.

Photographs apparently sent from the scene to international news agencies appeared to show the bodies of several dead young children, surrounded by Afghan villagers.

A local official said eight Taliban insurgents had also died in the air strike on Saturday, which is reported to have caused the roofs of several houses in three villages to collapse.

He said the strikes were called in to support a major operation by US and Afghan government forces targeting senior Taliban commanders and a local weapons cache.

Tribal elder Haji Malika Jan told the BBC: “The fighting started yesterday morning [Saturday] and continued for at least seven hours. There were heavy exchanges between both sides.

“The area is very close to the Pakistani border and there are hundreds of local and foreign fighters, mostly Pakistanis, in the area.”

In a statement, the Nato-led International Security Assistant Force (Isaf) said: “We are aware of an incident yesterday in Kunar province in which insurgents engaged an Afghan and coalition force.

“No Isaf personnel were involved on the ground, but Isaf provided fire support from the air, killing several insurgents.

We are also aware of reports of several civilians injured from the engagement, but no reports of civilian deaths. Isaf takes all reports of civilian casualties seriously, and we are currently assessing the incident.

“The air support was called in by coalition forces – not Afghans – and was used to engage insurgent forces in areas away from structures, according to our reporting.”

A statement issued on behalf of President Karzai strongly condemned the Nato attack, and “military operations in residential areas that cause civilian deaths”.

“The president also strongly condemns the Taliban’s tactic of using civilians and their homes as their shields,” it said.

International forces are preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Civilian deaths in Western military operations have been a source of tension between the Afghan government led President Karzai and the US and its Nato allies.

In February last year, at least 10 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in a Nato air strike in the same area.

In February this year, President Karzai ordered a complete ban on Afghan security forces calling in air strikes in residential areas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22058455

Afghan Hindu, Muslim, Sikh demonstration in Schaarbeek, Brussel, Belgium

Four UK Afghan Sikh men and one Belgian Afghan Sikh couple

Schaarbeek, 8 March 2013. The Afghan community in Belgium staged a protest outside Gaucheretstraat 92 – 94 in Schaarbeek (near Brussel Noord station), the offices of the ‘Raad voor Vreemdelingenbetwistingen’ (council for contested decisions regarding ‘foreigners’).

The Belgian authorities, for reasons that are difficult to understand, keep refusing refugee status to Afghans who have not exactly followed the straight path to Belgium.

If you only look at the legal aspect you can understand why some Afghans do not get permanent residence in Belgium, but as soon as you look at the situation in Afghanistan it should be clear that all members of ethnic and/or religious minorities like Hazara Shias, Hindus en Sikhs should be given refugee status.

The security situation in Afghanistan is now so bad and getting worse, even in Kabul, that nobody should be sent back to that country. And we have not even discussed the position of women of all backgrounds.

There was a good turnout of both Afghans and their supporters in Schaarbeek, the press was there, some UK Afghan Sikhs had come over and the ‘man in blue’ was there too.

Harjinder Singh

Link to the ‘Dutch Sikh’ YouTube

http://youtu.be/7J9zkrBtpKQ

Afghan Hindus, Musulman and Sikhs refugees demanded asylum in Belgium 

Also read :

26.The Man in Blue – Afghan Sikhs in Belgium

BBC News – Suicide bomber hits Afghan defence ministry in Kabul

Saturday 9 March 2013. A suicide bomb attack on the Afghan defence ministry in Kabul has killed at least nine people, as the new US Pentagon chief visited the city.

A further 20 people were wounded by the bomber, who was on a bicycle, security officials told BBC News.

Taliban insurgents said they were behind the attack.

Reports are coming in of a separate suicide bomb attack, near the city of Khost, in which eight children and a policeman are said to have been killed.

At the time of the Kabul blast, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel was in a briefing at a US-led military facility elsewhere in Kabul.

Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir told the BBC ambulances had taken the injured to several hospitals and that the situation was under control.

Two of the wounded were Afghan army soldiers while all of the dead and other injured were civilians, an Afghan defence official told BBC News.

One woman was among those killed.

The attacker struck just before 09:00 (04:30 GMT), about 30m (yds) from the main gate of the ministry.

A man at the scene, Abdul Ghafoor, said the blast had rocked the entire area.

“I saw [dead] bodies and wounded victims lying everywhere,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

“Then random shooting started and we escaped from the area.”

In an email, the Taliban said it had carried out the attack and had targeted one of the entrances used by soldiers and officers.

“The attack happened during the trip of the US defence secretary, and the attack had a message for him,” the statement added.

Earlier, Mr Hagel, who became defence secretary last week, told reporters travelling with him he wanted to see for himself “where we are in Afghanistan”.

“I need to better understand what’s going on,” he said.

There are currently about 66,000 US military personal in the country and early next year that figure will drop to 34,000.

The question of how many international troops will remain after 2014 is still unknown.

‘Boys killed’

Saturday’s other reported attack occurred outside Khost, a city 150km (93 miles) south-east of Kabul.

A policeman spotted the suicide bomber, who was on foot, as he prepared to attack a joint patrol close to the US military’s Camp Salerno base, a police spokesman told BBC News.

The policeman hugged the attacker to himself in an attempt to save lives, Khost deputy police chief Mohammad Yaqub Mandozay said.

However, boys aged 12 to 14 who were working in nearby fields were caught in the explosion, The region around Khost has been a stronghold of the Haqqani militant network, which has launched deadly attacks on Afghan and international forces, the BBC’s Bilal Sarwary reports.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21724059

Dawn – Manmohan Singh says Pakistan not doing enough against terrorists

From our correspondent

New Delhi, 7 March 2013. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday that India was continuing to talk to Pakistan to normalise ties, but the latter was faltering on its part of the bargain with regard to terrorism.

Addressing the Lok Sabha where he berated the Bharatiya Janata Party for using foul language against him and his party, Dr Singh drew a rosy picture of his domestic and foreign policy measures.

“Our dialogue with Pakistan continues in order to normalise our relations: promote bilateral cooperation and people-to-people contacts; and resolve outstanding issues,” Dr Singh said towards the end of his speech before winning a key vote on government’s policies. He described the recent flare-up on the Line of Control as a negative influence on the dialogue process.

“Progress has been possible in some areas like trade and people-to-people contacts. But incidents such as the barbaric manner in which two Indian soldiers were killed on the Line of Control in January vitiate the atmosphere and cast a shadow on the bilateral dialogue process.

“Further, we are yet to see tangible progress in dismantling the terrorism infrastructure in Pakistan and in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008. Normal, good-neighbourly relations between India and Pakistan — free from the threat of violence, and enhanced bilateral economic cooperation — would be in our mutual interest. We also expect Pakistan to take steps to create a conducive environment to take the process of normalisation forward,” Dr Singh said.

India has an abiding interest in a stable, strong, united, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan, which is no longer a safe haven for terrorism.

“As Afghanistan undergoes political, economic and security transitions in 2014 and beyond, we will continue to help build Afghan capabilities to evolve peacefully and fight terrorism and extremism,” the prime minister said.

The Indian government is under pressure from its Tamil deputies to support a US-led resolution against Sri Lanka’s human rights record against Jaffna Tamils. The prime minister hedged his bets on how India would vote.

“As regards the issue of a draft resolution expected to be tabled by the United States at the forthcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, our decision will depend on the substance of the final text tabled in the council. We will, however, be guided by our consistent position that we support proposals that seek to advance the achievement of a future for the Tamil community in Sri Lanka that is marked by equality, dignity, justice and self respect.”

Responding to concerns raised by the deputies on the alleged threat India faces from China, Dr Singh played down the issue.

“In my view, there is enough space in the world today for both countries to achieve their developmental aspirations.

While we do have differences over the border issue, since 1988 we have evolved mechanisms to address the issue and to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border.”

http://dawn.com/2013/03/07/singh-says-pakistan-not-doing-enough-against-terrorists/

BBC News – Soviet war veteran found in Afghanistan after 33 years

Tuesday, 5 March 2013. A Soviet soldier who went missing in Afghanistan nearly 33 years ago has been found living with Afghans in the western province of Herat.

The soldier is semi-nomadic, has the adopted Afghan name Sheikh Abdullah and practises herbal medicine, Russia’s RIA news agency reports.

An ethnic Uzbek, he was found by ex-Soviet veterans of the war.

He was wounded in battle in 1980, only months after the Soviet invasion, and was rescued by local Afghans.

The head of the official veterans’ committee, Ruslan Aushev, said Sheikh Abdullah – real name Bakhretdin Khakimov – was tracked down in Shindand district after a year-long search. He had served with a motorised rifle unit.

The committee lists 264 Soviet soldiers as still missing in Afghanistan, half of them Russians. In the first decade after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 the committee found 29 missing soldiers – and 22 of them decided to return home, while seven opted to stay in Afghanistan, RIA reports.

The committee says it is determined to track all of the missing men down.

Sheikh Abdullah was married but his wife died and he has no children.

The committee’s deputy chairman, Alexander Lavrentyev, said Sheikh Abdullah bore the scars of his war wounds – a shaking hand and shoulder and nervous tic. The ex-soldier, from the city of Samarkand, was able to name his former place of residence in Uzbekistan and the names of his relatives, Mr Lavrentyev said.

He understood Russian but spoke it very poorly.

In 2009 the BBC’s Lyse Doucet interviewed two ex-soldiers from Ukraine, now Muslims and living with Afghans in northern Afghanistan.

Some 15,000 Red Army soldiers and more than a million Afghans were killed in a decade of fighting between a Soviet-backed government in Kabul and mujahideen fighters armed by the West and Islamic neighbours.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21668541

Dawn – Pakistan has role in Afghan solution: retired US general

Anwar Iqbal

Washington, 11 February 2012. Pakistan would have a role in any lasting solution in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of US and Nato forces in Kabul, wrote in his book, “My Share of the Task”.

While discussing his role in the Afghan war, the general also explained why he believed it was important to have close working relations with the Pakistani army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

General McChrystal had to retire in 2010 after his aides made disparaging remarks about US President Barack Obama.

“Although my mandate as a Nato commander was limited to inside Afghanistan, it was clear to me that Pakistan would have a role in any lasting solution,” he wrote.

“At the minimum Isaf needed access to Pakistani lines of communications for the flow of logistics to our forces.

Optimally, for our counter-insurgency campaign inside Afghanistan, the Afghan Taliban could not enjoy support and sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan.”

Ideally, joint Isaf and Pakistani efforts would convince Afghan Taliban leaders that their sanctuaries in Pakistan were no longer secure and thus their insurgency could not succeed, he added.

He noted that effective Pakistani army operations in Fata along with increased levels of coordination with Isaf forces were necessary in order to produce this kind of rethink inside Mullah Omar’s organisation.

But the Pakistani army had its limitations as Fata was a region where the Pakistani military had traditionally struggled, he wrote.

In the book, General McChrystal also emphasised the need to reduce “the oft-discussed deficit of trust” between the US and Pakistan but warned that it could only be reduced “over time and personal relationships would be essential to that process”.

By building as much trust as possible between General Kayani and him, General McChrystal hoped that confidence between the two armies would “cascade to some extent” down through to their subordinates.

“I believed slow but steady progress was possible. It might not work but there was no rational alternative,” he wrote.

Tracing the root of trust deficit between the two countries, the former Nato commander, noted that after the Soviet withdrawal the United States no longer needed Pakistan to help arm the rebels.

Frustrated with Islamabad’s persistent nuclear ambitions, the United States refused to vouch that Pakistan was not seeking to gain nuclear weapons, although it had given Pakistan a pass when the United States needed its assistance in its proxy war, the general wrote.

Two decades after the US imposed nuclear-related sanctions on Pakistan, the Pakistani army had again become important for the United States, and General Kayani, in his new role as head of the army, “wielded tremendous power”, he added.

As a member of the US Joint Staff, General McChrystal had watched his boss, Admiral Mike Mullen make a significant
effort to build rapport with General Kayani.

The US general also described in his book how the November 2008 Mumbai attacks affected America’s attitude towards Pakistan. “Clear evidence that (the) … attacks conducted by Pakistani terrorists of Lashkar were orchestrated from inside Pakistan caused Americans deep frustration.

And ongoing accusations that Pakistan’s military and intelligence service supported the Afghan Taliban complicated Admiral Mullen’s and my efforts,” he wrote.

“Pakistanis were quick to respond with concerns over American violations of their sovereignty, primarily through drone strikes, ever perceived US tilt toward India, and lack of appreciation for the significant Pakistani sacrifices in the war on terror,” he added.

On July 3, 2009, when a Pakistan Mi-17 helicopter went down in the Orakzai agency, killing at least 26 Pakistani soldiers, he called General Kayani to express his condolences and followed with a hand-written letter.

“It was a reminder of continuing Pakistani sacrifices in the fight — by early 2010; some 2,000 Pakistani soldiers had died fighting in the border regions,” General McChrystal wrote. “I know what it meant to lose soldiers and wanted him to know I shared his sense of loss.”

General McChrystal recalled how over the coming months, he spent significant time with General Kayani and grew to like and respect him. “His perspectives and priorities were, of course, those of a Pakistani army officer but I found our discussions on the war and our respective strategies to be helpful,” he wrote.

“Much of our time together was spent alone, simply drinking tea and talking. The talk was substantive but never combative.”

http://dawn.com/2013/02/11/pakistan-has-role-in-afghan-solution-retired-us-general/

The Asian Age – Defence minister A K Antony: China Gwadar work is a worry

B R Srikanth, Asian Age Correspondent

Thursday 7 February 2013. Defence minister A.K. Antony became the first minister in the UPA government to admit that China taking over the operations of Gwadar, the strategically located port in Pakistan, that overlooks a key oil shipping corridor in the Gulf, was a matter of concern for India.

Gwadar port, was handed over to state-run Chinese Overseas Port Holdings last week after previously being managed by Singapore’s PSA International, giving the Chinese, entry to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf.

“The Chinese are now constructing that port on Pakistan’s request. In one sentence, I can say that it is a matter of concern to us. My answer is simple and straightforward,” the defence minister said, speaking on the sidelines of Aero India 2013 which opened here on Wednesday.

The minister, however, declined to elaborate on whether more armed forces would be deployed along the west coast in the light of China taking over the port, which together with Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Chittagong in Bangladesh completes the Chinese “string of pearls” encircling India.

Mr Antony pointed out that though bilateral talks with China were progressing well, the Indian government was strengthening its armed forces along its eastern border in the light of reports that infrastructure was being boosted on the other side of the border.

“We cannot complain about upgrade of infrastructure (by China), but there’s no slackening on our side. It is only a state of preparedness (on the part of armed forces). It is not for confrontation,” he added. The minister noted the presence of a Chinese delegation for the first time at the Bengaluru air show, terming it a “welcome step” as both countries were trying to improve relations.

When asked about India’s preparedness to deal with the situation post 2014 when American troops’ drawdown from Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Mr Antony said, “even before the Afghan pullout, the geopolitical situation around us has been very critical, and government is aware of it and we are taking steps to meet any eventuality.

The pullout by US and others from there 2014 onwards is a matter of serious concern to us. We are taking sufficient steps to safeguard our security,” he said.

http://www.asianage.com/india/antony-china-gwadar-work-worry-023

Dawn – Suicide bombing, gunfire rock Kabul

Kabul, 21 January 2013. A suicide car-bombing followed by several other explosions and gunfire rocked western Kabul around dawn on Monday, police and witnesses said, as Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack.

A large pall of smoke was rising from the vicinity of a police complex on the road to the parliament and the road had been sealed off, residents in the area told AFP.

A local police official told AFP the first large explosion was a suicide car bomb and was followed by several other blasts and gunfire.

“A group of terrorists, two or three or four, tried to enter the traffic police building, Kabul CID Chief Mohammad Zahir said.

“Two of the bombers were shot dead at the entrance and one has likely entered the building and is shooting sporadically. Our security forces are in the area.” A witness said the top floor of the building was on fire.

He said the initial explosion “very very big — it was massive”, and was followed by several other explosions and gunfire.

“There are firefighter trucks, ambulances and police all over the place.

The gunfire comes from that direction and the building’s top floors are on fire,” he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP in an SMS message that the insurgents were behind the attack.

“Today at around 5:00 am a large number of fedayeen (suicide bombers) entered a building in Dehmazang and are attacking an American training centre, a police centre and other military centres and have caused heavy casualties on the enemy,” he said.

Last Wednesday, a squad of suicide bombers attacked the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in heavily fortified central Kabul, killing at least one guard and wounding dozens of civilians.

All six attackers were killed in that brazen midday attack on the National Directorate of Security (NDS).

http://dawn.com/2013/01/21/suicide-bombing-gunfire-rock-kabul/

BBC News – Deadly attack at US base in Khost, eastern Afghanistan

Thursday, 26 December 2012. A suicide car bomber has killed at least three Afghan civilians near a US military base in the south-eastern Afghan city of Khost, police say.

They say the attacker drove a minibus packed with explosives towards Camp Chapman, but the vehicle exploded near the entrance as guards opened fire.

There were no coalition casualties, but six Afghans including three guards and three passers-by were injured.

In a statement, the Taliban said they carried out the attack.

Khost, which borders the volatile Pakistani region of Waziristan, has recently seen a dramatic rise in violence.

In October, a suicide bomber killed at least 20 people, three of them Nato soldiers, in the city.

In June, a suicide bomber killed 21 people – including three US troops and a local interpreter.

The Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network regularly mounts large-scale attacks and suicide bombings in the area.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20842844