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THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
W O R L D

Punish Mumbai attackers to convince India: US to Pak
Washington, July 27
As leaks by a whistleblower site laid bare past links between the Pakistani spy agency ISI and terror outfits, the United States asked Islamabad to punish those behind 26/11 Mumbai attacks to convince India it has changed.

WikiLeaks & its whistle-blowing rise
London, July 27
It has just released thousands of confidential documents that shed light on the war in Afghanistan, including on alleged involvement of Pakistan's spy agency in terror activities in that country and India. But how has Wikileaks become one of the most important whistle-blowing sites on the web?

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds up a copy of a newspaper during a press conference in London on Monday.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds up a copy of a newspaper during a press conference in London on Monday. — Reuters


EARLIER STORIES


Leaks show West’s incoherent approach to insurgency: Kabul
Kabul : The Afghan government said today that leaked Pentagon documents on the war in Afghanistan showed the country's Western allies had an incoherent approach to the insurgency, now in its ninth year.

PoK PM steps down to avoid no-trust vote
Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Raja Farooq Haider, has resigned to avoid a no-confidence motion that was to be taken up by the Assembly on Tuesday after eighteen ministers in his Cabinet revolted and submitted resignations.

US may use leaks to get Pak to act tougher
Washington : The US may seek to gain leverage from the WikiLeaks disclosures about ISI's links with Taliban and Al-Qaida, to get Islamabad act tougher on militant groups on its soil, as voices grow louder against giving Pakistan a 'blank cheque' in the war on terror.

‘US intelligence expert may be behind leak’
London: A 22-year-old US Army intelligence analyst, facing a court-martial, appears to be behind the biggest leak in US military history of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan that also exposed Pakistan's double- game in the war-torn country, including its Taliban links.

Pentagon opens criminal probe into file leaks
Washington, July 27
The US Army has started a criminal probe into the leak of some 92,000 classified military files on the war in Afghanistan by WikiLeaks, the Pentagon announced today.

Special to the tribune
Imran defends ISI, slams Washington’s Afghan policy
Imran Khan Pakistani test cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan appeared to defend his country’s notorious ISI in an opinion piece published in Tuesday’s London Times.“Reports are being floated that the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, is aiding the Afghan militancy,” Khan wrote. “The fact is that the ISI is not that powerful but certainly in an environment of chaos and uncertainty, Pakistan will need to protect its interests through all means necessary.”


Imran Khan 

 





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Punish Mumbai attackers to convince India: US to Pak

Washington, July 27
As leaks by a whistleblower site laid bare past links between the Pakistani spy agency ISI and terror outfits, the United States asked Islamabad to punish those behind 26/11 Mumbai attacks to convince India it has changed.

"Combating terrorism is an element of our relationship with India; likewise with Pakistan; likewise with Afghanistan," State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley told reporters Monday.

"We believe strongly that the proof is in what people do, not what people say," he said when asked to comment on India's charge that Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, still backed terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let), Taliban and Al-Qaida.

"And as we've highlighted here, the fact that Pakistan is taking aggressive action against insurgents within its own borders reflects their understanding that now insurgents threaten Pakistan as itself," he said suggesting WikiLeaks revelations presented only snapshots of the past.

"Likewise, from the standpoint of India, India clearly wants to see that Pakistan is taking steps to bring to justice those people that threaten neighbouring states," Crowley said.

"So clearly as we've said many, many times if Pakistan wants to convince India that it has made this kind of fundamental change bringing to justice those who are responsible for the Mumbai attack would be a very, very constructive and important step," he said.

Asked if Pakistan had given the US any confirmation that it is taking any action against people who launched this Mumbai attack, Crowley said the US "continue to have conversations with Pakistan on bringing to justice those responsible for the Mumbai attack."

Even as official Washington took umbrage at the leaks branding them illegal and irresponsible, both the White House and the State Department acknowledged that they shared India's concerns about the links between ISI and the extremist elements reconfirmed by the leaks.

The US, Crowley said, had given a "heads up" to India, besides Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the leak of more than 92,000 secret US military documents pertaining to the war against terrorism in Afghanistan. — IANS 

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WikiLeaks & its whistle-blowing rise

London, July 27
It has just released thousands of confidential documents that shed light on the war in Afghanistan, including on alleged involvement of Pakistan's spy agency in terror activities in that country and India. But how has Wikileaks become one of the most important whistle-blowing sites on the web?

The news that the largest leak in American military history came via the website WikiLeaks will not surprise long-term watchers of the controversial, multi-award-winning site, The Telegraph newspaper reported here.

Despite a recent period of near-bankruptcy, it has consistently released information that major corporations and governments wanted to conceal.

For instance, the Abu Ghraib "torture manual", footage from American jets allegedly committing war crimes, the secrets of Scientology and even Sarah Palin's private emails have all been published by the site.

The Abu Ghraib revelations resulted in international condemnation of American methods and arguably contributed to political commitments from Barack Obama to close down the detention centre in Baghdad.

Founded by Australian Julian Assange, WikiLeaks was originally based in Sweden and garnered 1.2 million leaked documents in time for its launch in January 2007.

It taps into the world's web users' desire either for justice or revenge on former employers or acquaintances, but its most significant stories have been held up as largely in the public interest. Assange claims that by using the global community of Internet users, his site is able to promote accuracy, scrutiny and discussion of sensitive information.

Anybody with web access can submit a story to WikiLeaks. The site, however, states that its primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but also expects to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their governments and corporations. — IANS

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Leaks show West’s incoherent approach to insurgency: Kabul

Kabul: The Afghan government said today that leaked Pentagon documents on the war in Afghanistan showed the country's Western allies had an incoherent approach to the insurgency, now in its ninth year.

Thousands of files and field reports, released on whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks on Sunday, also backed Kabul's long-held position that Pakistan provides safe havens for militant groups which attack Afghan targets.

"Afghanistan has always emphasised that terrorism should be fought in its place of origin," the National Security Council (NSC) said in a statement.

"Having a contradictory and unclear policy towards those forces who have used terrorism as a tool of interference and destruction against others has had disastrous consequences," the statement said, referring to Pakistan.

Kabul has consistently accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of supporting Taliban insurgents - including masterminding attacks against Afghan and US-led targets in the country. However, Islamabad denies the claims. — PTI

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PoK PM steps down to avoid no-trust vote
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Raja Farooq Haider, has resigned to avoid a no-confidence motion that was to be taken up by the Assembly on Tuesday after eighteen ministers in his Cabinet revolted and submitted resignations.

The resignation paves the way for fourth change in the state in as many years. The no-trust vote was led by former premier Sardar Atique Ahmed Khan who had stepped down in similar circumstances after remaining in office for one year in 2007. Atique was replaced by Sardar Yaqub, who also met the same fate after a little over a year and was succeeded by Haider.

Haider’s resignation was a tactical maneuver to pre-empt Attique from regaining the office. The dramatic development, analysts say, may lead to new alliances and block the way for Atique, the main aspirant for the job and president of the ruling All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJKMC).

The brittle politics in the PoK has led to a battle between two main political parties, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) . Haider has accused President Zardari’s top aides of interfereing in PoK affairs and fomenting rebellion in the Cabinet through corrupt means. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has supported Haider and called for setting up of chapter of his party in the PoK.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira refuted the allegation and said Haider had lost support in the Assembly because of poor governance and corruption.

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US may use leaks to get Pak to act tougher

Washington: The US may seek to gain leverage from the WikiLeaks disclosures about ISI's links with Taliban and Al-Qaida, to get Islamabad act tougher on militant groups on its soil, as voices grow louder against giving Pakistan a 'blank cheque' in the war on terror.

"This is now in the open", a senior Obama administration official said referring to the 92,000 documents of the US Defence department's war in Afghanistan made public by the online whistleblower WikiLeaks.

"Its reality now. In some ways it makes it easier for us to tell Pakistan they have to help us", the New York Times reported quoting the official.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insisted that more needs to be done by Pakistan as status quo was not acceptable. — PTI

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‘US intelligence expert may be behind leak’

London: A 22-year-old US Army intelligence analyst, facing a court-martial, appears to be behind the biggest leak in US military history of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan that also exposed Pakistan's double- game in the war-torn country, including its Taliban links.

Bradley Manning, who allegedly boasted online that he was going to reveal "the truth" about the war in Afghanistan, is believed to be the main suspect who leaked the information to WikiLeaks, the Telegraph reported.

Manning was arrested in Baghdad in May and charged earlier this month with multiple counts of mishandling and leaking classified data, after a computer hacker turned him in, the paper said. — PTI

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Pentagon opens criminal probe into file leaks

Washington, July 27
The US Army has started a criminal probe into the leak of some 92,000 classified military files on the war in Afghanistan by WikiLeaks, the Pentagon announced today.

The probe has been assigned to the same Army Criminal Investigation Division that has been investigating Bradley Manning, a 22-year-old private charged in an earlier leak to WikiLeaks.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said the Army Criminal Investigation Division would be taking a broader look at the WikiLeaks.

“The current investigation into the release of the documents to WikiLeaks, this recent release, isn’t focused on any particular individual. It is a broader look,” Lapan said. — PTI 

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Special to the tribune
Imran defends ISI, slams Washington’s Afghan policy
Shyam Bhatia in London

Pakistani test cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan appeared to defend his country’s notorious ISI in an opinion piece published in Tuesday’s London Times.“Reports are being floated that the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, is aiding the Afghan militancy,” Khan wrote. “The fact is that the ISI is not that powerful but certainly in an environment of chaos and uncertainty, Pakistan will need to protect its interests through all means necessary.”

Oxford-educated Khan, chairman of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, is in the UK to meet his two sons and ex-wife Jemima.

His article, headlined ‘Don’t blame Pakistan for the failure of the war’, attacks US policies and says Pakistan is “bearing the brunt of American failure in Afghanistan.” He blames Washington for failing to install a “truly broad based Afghan government”, arguing that “Instead, it (Washington) continued its military actions and brought corrupt and criminal elements into power in Kabul.”

Khan’s article follows last Monday’s revelations by whistleblower website Wikileaks, which provide details of secret US special forces operating in Afghanistan, hundreds of unreported civilian deaths at the hands of Nato forces and Taliban access to deadly surface to air missiles.

Some of the deadliest disclosures, however, are about how the ISI has been working hand in glove with the Taliban in repeated attempts to frustrate US attempts to support a civilian, democratically elected government in Kabul.

The Wikileaks disclosures, first published in the New York Times, Der Spiegel and the London Guardian, support what India has been saying for the past decade and more: the ISI constitutes a murderous, out-of-control gang of villains, answerable only to Pakistani extremists and who will do anything to support and preserve their own existence.

Hence, the leaked documents details, which have information about ISI plots to kill President Hamid Karzai and other deadly plans to poison the beer of Nato forces and provide children and motorcycles for suicide bombings.

Khan does not comment on these leaked details in his article and, although there are repeated references to how there was no militant Taliban activity in Pakistan until 2004, he is careful not to criticise the Taliban movement or its leaders.

Despite his Western education, Khan avoids any negative comment about the Taliban’s rule of fear in Afghanistan prior to 2001, including how Mullah Omar sanctified medieval punishments of amputations and stoning and relegated women to third class status.

Meanwhile, Western reactions to the leaked documents range from condemning their release because they risk the lives of US combatants to deeper issues about Washington’s involvement in Afghanistan. “They raise serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan,” US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry said on Monday.

US National Security Adviser Gen James Jones commented: “These irresponsible leaks will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan, to defeat our common enemies and to support the aspirations of the Afghan and Pakistan people.”

Reactions in Pakistan have been more severe. Former ISI chief Lt Gen Hamid Gul, who has a star role in the leaked documents, said it was a lie to claim that Pakistan was secretly supporting Al-Qaida.

A spokesman for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said the “unsubstantiated leaks” and “one-sided reports... will not deter the Pakistani government’s commitment to eradication of terrorism, peace with our neighbours and stability in the region.”

Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani commented that the leaked reports “reflect nothing more than single source comments and rumors, which abound on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and are often proved wrong after deeper examination.” 

‘Kabul war can’t be won militarily’

Seeking an immediate ceasefire in Afghanistan, Imran Khan said the US should commence talks with Taliban and other militant groups there as the war cannot be won militarily. “There is now a general recognition that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won militarily. All the Taliban have to do to win is not to lose,” Khan wrote. He said there is only one solution to this chaos: “to implement an immediate ceasefire and commence talks with all militant groups in Afghanistan.”

Khan also said the US should not worry about Pakistan. He said political leaders in the US and UK should realise that people in the streets of New York and London are not threatened by those based in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but by the growing radicalisation of their own marginalised Muslim youths. — PTI

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