ISI must cut ties with extremists, US to Pak

US wants Pakistan to reform its notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, shift its focus from India to Afghanistan and train its troops in counter-insurgency to meet the terrorist threat at home.

Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani "recognises that he has an extremist threat in Pakistan", Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with PBS broadcast late on Thursday.

"They've lost many, many citizens. And, in fact, if you look at the suicide bombings which have occurred over the last year or so, they've actually moved towards - and a couple of them have actually occurred in Islamabad."

"So he recognizes there's a serious extremist terrorist threat inside his country," Mullen said when asked how he would get Kayani to use his military forces not in anticipation of conflict with India, but more in pursuit of forces that want to destabilise Pakistan.

"Clearly, the Mumbai attacks in India put him in a position where he had to focus more on the Indian border, and he has," he said adding, "I mean, he's a chief who's got threats coming from both directions."

But giving "a lot of credit" to former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mullen said "they actually de-tensioned that border during President Musharraf's time, and in fact the tourism started to flourish, there was trade which started to flourish across that border."

"And all that got suspended with the Mumbai attacks," he noted. "So General Kayani knows what he has to do. He needs to move more troops to the west and he needs to train them in counterinsurgency."

Kayani "certainly is aware of the concerns that I have with respect to his intelligence agency, ISI", Mullen said.

"They have been very attached to many of these extremist organizations," he said warning that "in the long run, they have got to completely cut ties with those in order to really move in the right direction".

"ISI fundamentally has to change its strategic approach, which has been clear to focus on India as well as Afghanistan," Mullen said. "And I don't believe they can make a lot of progress until that actually occurs."

Kayani, he said, had appointed in Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, "one of his best guys", as the new director of ISI. "I'm encouraged with his views and I'm encouraged with how he sees the problem." But "it's going to take some time to get at it inside ISI".

Zardari to lift Governor's rule in Punjab: Pak media

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Islamabad, Mar 13 (PTI) Buckling under intense domestic and international pressure, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today decided to lift Governor's rule in Punjab and allow the main opposition PML-N to form government in the politically-crucial province, local media reports said.

This came after the beleaguered Zardari was put on notice by the US, which reportedly gave him a 24-hour ultimatum to ease the simmering political crisis in Pakistan amid speculation that a deal brokered by Washington and the UK in consultation with the Pakistan army had been conveyed to the government.

After holding back-to-back meetings with Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Zardari was ready "in principle" to end Governor's Rule in Punjab, imposed on February 25 after the Supreme Court barred PML-N leaders Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif from holding elected office, Dawn News channel quoted official sources as saying.

However, there was no official word on the development. PTI

Zardari apologises for terror attack on Lankan players

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The Pakistani leadership expressed its sincere apologies to the Sri Lankan people for the "very unfortunate incident" in which seven players from the Island nation were injured when masked terrorist attacked the players' convoy in Lahore on Tuesday.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari telephoned President Mahinda Rajapaksa today in Kathmandu to strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers, injuring seven players and killing eight policemen and others.

Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had also telephoned President Rajapaksa to condemn the attack by gunmen near showpiece Gaddafi Stadium where the player were being taken at 9 am ahead of the third day's play in the second Test against Pakistan.

Both the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan conveyed their sincere apologies to the people and the Government of Sri Lanka for the harm caused to the Sri Lankan players by terrorists in Pakistan, a Sri Lankan foreign ministry said.

"They expressed their profound sympathy and concern for the welfare of the injured cricketers and assured President Rajapaksa that Pakistan is determined to combat terrorism and will work with the international community and Sri Lanka to defeat terrorism," it said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, who has been asked by Rajapaksa to rush to Pakistan, was associated with the President during the telephone discussions, the ministry statement said.

Source: www.hindustantimes.com