Anti-Taliban cleric killed in Pakistan blast

A prominent anti-Taliban Pakistani Muslim cleric was killed on Friday in a suicide bomb attack in Lahore, police said.

In another blast at around the same time, a suicide car-bomber set off explosives in an attack on a mosque in the northwestern town of Nowshera, killing at least three people, police said.

The blasts came as Pakistani forces stepped up attacks on militants across the northwest after the U.S. House of Representatives approved tripling aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years.

Security forces have made progress in more than a month of fighting against Taliban militants in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, and in recent days have begun operations in several other parts of the region.

The militants have responded with a series of bomb attacks.

Moderate cleric Sarfraz Naeemi was attacked at his office at his mosque complex after leading Friday prayers.

"Unfortunately, Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi has been martyred," Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore told Reuters.

The cleric's brother, Tajwar Naeemi, said seven people were wounded in the attack that killed his brother.

"When I came out of the office a few people went in and the suicide bomber was probably among them," the brother said.

In Nowshera, in North West Frontier Province, three people were killed and more than 20 were wounded, police said.

Rising Islamist violence has raised fears for Pakistan's stability and for the safety of its nuclear arsenal but the offensive in Swat has reassured the United States about its commitment to the global campaign against militancy.

Pakistan is a vital ally of the United States as it struggles to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan and defeat al Qaeda.

U.S. officials said on Thursday insurgent violence in Afghanistan had accelerated sharply alongside the arrival of new U.S. troops, reaching its highest level since 2001.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta said he believed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan and he hoped joint operations with Pakistani forces would find him.

HELICOPTERS ATTACK

The offensive in Swat has broad public support and the bombs in response appear to be hardening opinion against the militants.

Naeemi was an outspoken critic of suicide attacks which he said were un-Islamic.

"The military must eliminate the Taliban once and for all,"

Naeemi told Reuters last month. "Otherwise they will capture the entire country which would be a big catastrophe."

Police in Bannu, a town in North West Frontier Province adjacent to the North Waziristan militant stronghold on the Afghan border, said the military had fired artillery through the night at militant positions in the Jani Kheil area.

"Since sunrise, helicopter gunships have also being used in the attack. There have been reports of casualties on the militant side," police official Sami Ullah told Reuters.

More than 130 militants have been killed in the fighting near Bannu this week up to Thursday, according to military officers and a senior civilian official in the area.

Independent casualty estimates for the fighting in Bannu and other parts of the northwest are not available.

Gunship helicopters also attacked militants in the Bajaur and Mohmand regions on the Afghan border, both to the north of the city of Peshawar, military officials and residents said.

There has also been fighting this week in the South Waziristan and Orakzai ethnic Pashtun tribal regions.

The military's chief spokesman was not available for comment but an analyst said the various air strikes appeared aimed at keeping militants bottled up.

"The operation in Swat has entered its final stages and troops are engaging militants elsewhere to stop them going to Swat and to disrupt their network," said Mahmood Shah, a former chief of security in the Pashtun tribal areas.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved tripling aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years in a key part of a strategy to combat extremism with economic and social development.

The fighting in Swat and other parts of the northwest has displaced about 2.5 million people and aid officials have appealed to donors to step up their help.

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider, Hasan Mehmood, Javed Hussain and Augustine Anthony)

Pak used US aid to fight India: Report

Pentagon has confirmed one of South Asia's worst kept secrets - that Pakistan has used billions of dollars of US aid to buy a mind-boggling array of conventional American weaponary to use against India.

The aid was meant for Pakistan to fight the war on terror. India has repeatedly pointed out that much of the military hardware on Pakistan's shopping list was not suited to anti-terror operations. Now, Pentagon reports have revealed that even the money poured into Islamabad's coffers by the Bush administration fter 9/11 specifically to fight al Qaida and the Taliban, was used to develop offensive capabilities against India.

The Pentagon reports detail the brazen diversion of funds given to Pakistan between 2002 and 2009 and the Pervez Musharraf government -- often described by George W Bush as America's "strong" ally in the "war against terror" - to acquire arms ranging from anti-tank missiles to F 16s. The arsenal was meant to blunt India's edge in conventional weaponry.

It is thought significant that the US Congress is currently debating another aid bill for Pakistan with a substantial military component, even as lawmakers express concern about Islamabad arming itself against India. The debate may have gained fresh traction, but Pakistan , which has shrewdly exploited the dubious distinction of being the epicentre of worldterrorism, may have its way yet again.

The Pakistani trait of diverting arms given to it by US goes back to the 1950s when it was a member of Cento (Baghdad Pact), which was an essentially Cold War grouping. The field armour it recieved from the US was used in the 1965 war against India.Six years later, in a letter to the Nixon administration at a time India-US ties were at their lowest ebb, Indira Gandhi noted that "It was a sad chapter in our sub-continent when US began supply of arms to Pakistan in 1954 and continued to do so till 1965. The arms have been used against us, as indeed we feared they would be."

This time around, almost four decades later, Pakistan seems to have done one better by using American money to buy American arms. Pentagon reports say arms were bought from America in the years under review with some of Pakistan's own money, some US foreign military financing(FMF), some from what is called excess defense articles and some from a fund known as coalition support funds (CSF) given to Pakistan for fighting terrorists.

Pakistan's big-ticket conventional military buys include 18 new F-16 C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft (valued at $1.43 billion; none delivered yet), F-16 armaments including 500 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles; 1,450 2,000-pound bombs; 500 JDAM tail kits for gravity bombs and 1,600 enhanced paveway laser-guided kits, also used for gravity bombs ($629 million); 100 Harpoon anti-ship missiles ($298 million); 500 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles ($95 million) and six Phalanx close-in naval guns ($80 million).

Pentagon concluded $4.89 billion worth foreign military sales (FMS) agreements ith Pakistan between 2002 and 2008, although the bulk includes theF-16 sales. The US gave $1.9 billion foreign military financing with what it calls a "base programme" of $300 million a year from 2005-2009. It is this that has been used to buy US military equipment.

What else did Pakistan buy with this money?

Eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and their refurbishment (valued at $474 million); about 5,250 TOW anti-armor missiles ($186 million; 2,007 delivered); more than 5,600 military radio sets ($163 million); six AN/TPS-77 surveillance radars ($100 million); six C-130E transport aircraft and their refurbishment ($76 million); and 20 AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters granted under EDA, then refurbished ($48 million, 12 delivered, 8 pending refurbishment for an additional $65 million).

Pakistan bought some other stuff with a mixture of its own money and FMF funds. These include up to 60 Mid-Life Update kits for F-16A/B combat aircraft (valued at $891 million, with $477 million of this in FMF, Pakistan currently plans to purchase 35 such kits); and 115 M-109 self-propelled howitzers ($87 million, with $53 million in FMF).

Pakistan also has been granted US defense supplies as Excess Defense Articles (EDA). While India has been celebrating the arrival of its Phalcon Awacs systems, Pakistan got the Pentagon to transfer three P3-B aircraft as EDA grants which would be modified to house the E-2C-Hawkeye airborne early warning systems worth $855 million. Last week the Pakistan air force chief announced that these "eyes in the sky" would be delivered "very soon".

Pakistan also got 14 F-16A/B combat aircraft and 39 T-37 military trainer jets. To fight terror, Pakistan has been given 26 Bell 412 utility helicopters, along with related parts and maintenance, valued at $235 million. Finally, under 1206 and Frontier Corps Authorities, the US has provided Pakistan with helicopter spare parts, night vision goggles, radios, body armor, helmets, first aid kits, litters, and other individual soldier equipment.

Pakistan is not inadequately equipped or trained to fight terror. If it wants, Pakistan can fight terror several times over. But it is seen to be preparing for conflict with India.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pakistan-used-US-aid-to-fight-India-Report/articleshow/4624601.cms

Jammu bandh today to protest Taliban atrocities against Pak Sikhs

JAMMU: Various organisations here have given a call for a shutdown on Friday to protest Taliban atrocities against Sikhs in Pakistan's northwest region.

The decision to call a shutdown ton Friday was taken at a meeting of the representatives of about twenty social, political, trade and other organisations held here on Thursday evening, state VHP president Ramakant Dubey told reporters here.

The meeting was arranged by the Bar Association of Jammu.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Jammu-bandh-today-to-protest-Taliban-atrocities-against-Pak-Sikhs/articleshow/4497999.cms

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".

Pakistan files case against Kasab

NEW DELHI: Pakistan today registered a case against Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the Mumbai carnage.

The media reports say charges have been filed against Kasab and 13 other people after the country's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) conducted a probe into the Mumbai attacks. The decision was made by the Defence Committee of the Cabinet during its meeting on Monday.

The case was registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Dockyard Police Station in Karachi, reports GEO TV. Sources further said that among the others named in the case were three persons who were arrested in Karachi. Nine more persons had been identified but were yet to be taken into custody.

Islamabad has ordered the FIA probe after India alleged that the Mumbai attacks were plotted in Pakistan. Pakistan had initially claimed that Kasab was not its national.

IANS reports that external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee declined to comment on Pakistan's reported decision to file charges against Ajmal Amir Kasab.

"We have yet to get a report from (Pakistan). The problem is unless we have official information from Pakistani authorities, it is difficult for any (Indian) official spokesperson to comment," Mukherjee told reporters outside his office.

"Let us wait for what they have done and let us wait for the official report from Pakistan," Mukherjee said, PTI reports.

When reporters sought his comment on Mumbai attacks not being discussed by US special envoy Richard Holbrooke's meetings with the Pakistani leadership, the minister made it clear that India did not form a mandate of the US official.

"It is not so far his concern. His mandate is to deal with Pakistan and Afghanistan, not India," Mukherjee said.

He said Holbrooke is visiting India and "we will discuss" the Mumbai attacks and its aftermath with him.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pakistan-files-case-against-Kasab-Reports/articleshow/4113644.cms

Obama asks Kargil expert to review Pak-Afghanistan policy

WASHINGTON: A decorated CIA veteran who called Pakistan’s bluff during the Kargil conflict a decade back and set US and India ties on a soaring new trajectory has been tasked by President Obama with conducting an inter-agency review of American policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Bruce Riedel, who has worked with three US presidents on issues relating to the region, and who was Obama’s foreign policy advisor on South Asia during the presidential campaign, was named on Tuesday by the White House to chair the inter-agency panel which has been asked to submit its report within two months before a Nato summit in April.

Riedel, currently a senior fellow at the Washington DC think-tank Brookings Institute, will take leave and work at the White House for 60 days, Presidential Spokesman Robert Gibbs said. He will coordinate with Richard Holbrooke, the newly-appointed US special representative to Af-Pak, who will co-chair the review panel along with Michelle Flournoy, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Gibbs said Riedel will report directly to the President and National Security Advisor Jim Jones.

Although the review pertains to the crisis-stricken area now called Af-Pak and does not involve India, Riedel’s appointment is being viewed as propitious in Indian circles because of his extensive knowledge of the region and a critical call he made during an India-Pak spat in the past. Riedel has a Masters in Diplomatic History from Harvard.

Riedel was working in the Clinton White House in 1999 when Pakistan under General Musharraf, emboldened by its nuclear status, invaded Kargil with its troops, and terrorists it called mujaheddin. Based on Riedel’s inputs, the Clinton administration determined that Pakistan was the wanton aggressor, and eventually forced Islamabad to accept a humiliating withdrawal even as it was faced with military rout.

The episode also led to Washington drawing a line in the sand insofar as the Kashmir issue was concerned, saying that it will not allow Pakistan to redraw the borders in blood, and virtually snuffing out Islamabad’s claim on the Valley.

US administrations have subsequently endorsed Indian democratic rule in the state, including the conduct of free and fair elections.

The 1999 American call went a long way towards healing the infamous Nixon-Kissinger pro-Pak tilt of 1971. It also changed Indian perception of CIA, eventually fostering close ties with the previously-dreaded agency that led to the visit to its Langley headquarters by then home minister LK Advani in January 2002.

Riedel has been part of the academic and think-tank circuit since his retirement from CIA in 2006. He joined the Obama team during the presidential campaign, advising him on South Asia.

Riedel’s appointment now is seen as yet another affirmation that publicly at least, the Obama administration does not consider the Kashmir issue particularly salient to Pakistan’s stability -- an argument that Islamabad makes persistently ("No Kashmir resolution, no peace."). This outlook is also what led to Holbrooke being appoint special representative for Af-Pak, with no reference to Kashmir.

Although Obama has spoken about the need to resolve the Kashmir issue, no one seems to be in a mood to humor Pakistan's claims.

US officials are now suggesting Pakistan has far greater and more urgent concerns than Kashmir, with a rampant al- Qaida and Taliban at Islamabad’s doorstep and its civilian dispensation barely in control of two if its four states.

There is a growing line of thinking that Pakistan will be better served by giving up its Kashmir obsession, an argument many Pakistani analysts made during last week’s "Kashmir Day" observation.

Riedel himself appears to believe that the state of Pakistan is still in cahoots with terrorists, a decade after its Kargil misadventure. In a panel discussion in Washington DC following the Mumbai carnage in November, he said it is difficult to believe the Pakistani government’s assertions that it was unaware of the plot "given the size of its (LeT) activities in Pakistan."

The Mumbai attacks were carried out by "professionals, who were trained by professionals who were given a professional plan... they were not a plot by amateurs or by a pick-up group," Riedel said, obliquely implicating the ISI and adding that "If there’s anything that is a 64 million dollar question today," it is finding out the "extent of its (Lashkar-e-Taiba) current ties to the Pakistani intelligence service."

As recently as January 29, Riedel said in an interview that ''in Pakistan, the jihadist Frankenstein monster that was created by the Pakistani army and the Pakistani intelligence service is now increasingly turning on its creators. It's trying to take over the laboratory.''

The Riedel-Holbrooke-Flournoy panel starts its work even as US lawmakers and the strategic community here have begun to acknowledge India’s role in Afghanistan stemming from both historical ties and strategic interests, to undermine which Pakistan fostered the Taliban.

A Congressional delegation led by the House Minority Leader John Boehner which visited Afghanistan last week noted India’s role and interest in the country. "You've got five countries that have a tremendous interest in what happens in Iraq and what happens in Afghanistan - Russia, China, Pakistan, India, and Iran,'' said lawmaker Peter Hoekstra who was part of the delegation. "They're all watching. They all have an interest in what goes on there. And so our success is critical into what happens in that region for the long term."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/Obama_asks_Kargil_expert_to_review_Pak-Afghanistan_policy/articleshow/4113895.cms

India, Pak exchange lists of nuclear installations

New Delhi India and Pakistan on Thursday exchanged lists of their nuclear installations under an agreement aimed at preventing attacks on each other's atomic facilities in spite of prevailing tension in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.

The Foreign Office handed over a list of Pakistan's nuclear installations and facilities to an official of the Indian High Commission at 11 am here.

In New Delhi, the Indian side handed over its list to an official of the Pakistan High Commission at the External Affairs Ministry.

The two sides also exchanged fresh lists of prisoners being held in each other's jails, officials said.

The exchange of lists of atomic facilities is done on January 1 every year under the "Agreement between India and Pakistan on Prohibition of Attack Against Nuclear Installations and Facilities", which was signed in 1988 and ratified in 1991.

Officials from both sides had earlier said that the tension sparked by the Mumbai terror attacks would not affect the exchange of the nuclear lists, which is done as routine every year.

According to the agreement signed on December 31, 1988, Pakistan and India have to inform each other on January 1 every year about the nuclear installations and facilities to be covered by the pact.

Islamabad and New Delhi had exchanged lists of prisoners being held in each other's jail but both sides had subsequently expressed reservations about these lists. During talks here between home secretaries of the two countries in November, they agreed to exchange fresh lists of prisoners.

Further details about the number of prisoners being held in the two countries were not immediately available.

Source: http://www.indiavilas.com/redir.asp?l=http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?j1752539753

Non-state actors will be dealt with sternly: Zardari

Washington/Islamabad US President George W Bush spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and all the three leaders agreed to avoid any action that would "raise tensions" in the region.

Bush in his telephonic conversation with Zardari in the backdrop of Indo-Pak tension over suspected involvement of Pakistan-based terror outfits in the Mumbai carnage urged Islamabad's cooperation in the on-going probe.

Bush "called prime minister (Manmohan) Singh of India and separately president (Asif Ali) Zardari of Pakistan. President Bush urged both ... to cooperate with each other in the Mumbai attack investigation as well as on counter-terrorism in general," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Bush spoke from his ranch in Crawford in Texas.

"All three leaders from the United States, India and Pakistan agreed that no one wanted to take any steps that unnecessarily raise tensions," Johndroe emphasised.

"... the calls he(Bush) had with both Prime Minister Singh and, separately, with President Zardari were encouraging the sides to cooperate, not only on the Mumbai investigation, but also on counterterrorism in general.

And I'll leave it at that," Johndroe said.

In Islamabad, a brief statement issued by the presidency said Zardari assured Bush that Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used by "non-state actors" for launching attacks on other countries.

Asked about the nature of the conversation between Bush and Zardari especially if the US President had spoken about the extradition of a militant who had confessed to the Mumbai terror attacks, Johndroe refused to get into the details.

"...reports out of Islamabad is that a ...Pakistani militant has confessed to ...Mumbai attack... Did the president talk about whether or not this individual should be extradited... (for) trial to India?" Johndroe was asked.

"... I'm not going to get into details. I don't recall that specific issue coming up -- specific element coming up" the White House Deputy Press Secretary replied.

The statement by the Pakistan presidency said, "President Asif Ali Zardari reiterated the position of the government of Pakistan that it will not allow its territory to be used by non-state actors for launching attacks on other countries".

Zardari said "anybody found involved in such attacks from the soil of Pakistan will be dealt with sternly".

Bush and Zardari discussed the situation in the region and bilateral relations, the statement said.

Bush's phone conversation with Zardari was the latest in a flurry of contacts between top US and American officials in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, which sparked tensions with India.

India has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including the Lashker-e-Taiba terror group, for the attacks that killed over 180 people. India has asked Pakistan to take action against these elements.

Pakistan has said it is waiting for India to share evidence and information on the Mumbai attacks so that it can push forward its investigation into the incident.

Source: http://www.indiavilas.com/redir.asp?l=http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?j1752539753

FBI team visits Faridkot to probe about Kasab

An FBI team visited Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province to investigate about Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab', the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks, who hails from the area.

The five-member team of the FBI was headed by its South Asian Director William Robert, Geo TV reported.

According to sources, the purpose of the FBI team's visit was to investigate about Kasab, it said.

The channel also claimed, without quoting anyone, that according to the FBI team, it found no evidence.

Kasab's father recently admitted in an interview to the Dawn newspaper that the gunman whose picture was beamed around the world by the media was his son.

Residents of Kasab's village of Faridkot too have told the Pakistani media that he belonged to the area. They said he had told his mother during his last visit home that he was going away for jihad.

Pakistan on Wednesday claimed that India has cooked up a story about Kasab being a Pakistani.

Source: http://www.indiavilas.com/redir.asp?l=http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?j1752539753