Islamabad, February 3
President Pervez Musharraf on Friday accepted “some failures” at the tactical level in dealing with Taliban militants in the border region with Afghanistan, but said the overall strategy of using a combination of military offensive and peace deals was working fine. He declared that the best way to stop the cross-border movement was the fencing of the Durand Line.

Announcing the start of the first phase of border fencing in a troubled mountainous part of over 35 km in the Federally Administered

Tribal Areas (Fata), General Musharraf said that under the circumstances this was the best available option.

The President, who was addressing a press conference, mostly discussed the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on Pakistan. He said that in the second phase a much bigger border area of 250 General would be fenced on the Balochistan side.

“We are doing whatever is possible to stop the cross-border movement of the Taliban, or eliminate their supporters living on the Pakistani side,” he said, adding: “And those who have continued to cast aspersions on our actions and intentions should either come up with alternative solutions, or simply let us handle the situation the way we think is right.”

In his opening remarks he explained Pakistan’s perspective on the situation in Afghanistan and forcefully defended recent actions taken against pro-Taliban militants in Waziristan and other parts of the border region. He did not say why did he feel the need at this particular stage to present Pakistan’s case in such detail, but his forceful, and somewhat aggressive, tone suggested that he was quite annoyed with a series of accusations levelled against Pakistan and its intelligence service, the ISI, of failing to prevent the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan.

Some observers were of the view that recent remarks by US National Intelligence Director Chief John Negroponte about Al-Qaida finding a solid hideout in Pakistan for its operation and a follow-up action by Kabul might have prompted Islamabad to go on the offensive.

President Musharraf did not name any critics of Pakistan’s policy, and appeared to have made conscious effort not to say anything against Afghan President Hamid Karzai for casting aspersions on Pakistan. But he described as “preposterous” the allegation levelled by some western critics that the government or the ISI might have been protecting or assisting the Taliban.

According to him, without efforts of the ISI it would not have been possible to thwart some of the terror attacks, or arrest most of key Al-Qaida or Taliban figures. “And the CIA is well aware of the ISI’s contribution.”

President Musharraf went on to explain and justify some of the steps the government has taken to control the situation on the Pakistani side of the border, including a peace deal with tribal militants of North Waziristan, creation of levies, military operation against top militant leaders like Baitullah Mehsud and fencing parts of the Durand Line from where there had been a constant flow of Taliban fighters in and out of Afghanistan.

“This is my solution, to erect fencing and it should not concern anybody.” However, he said, Pakistan had decided, for the time being, “not” to lay mines owing to international sensitivities.

The President agreed with a reporter that the Afghan problem could be resolved if Taliban, who constituted 60 per cent of the population, were invited to join the government. “There is a need for a paradigm shift to restore peace in Afghanistan.” He said misunderstandings and misperceptions about Pakistan should be removed to win the war against terrorism and extremism. “The gap between perception and reality is widening which must be cleared,” he said, adding that nobody in the US government had accused Pakistan or him of supporting the Taliban or other extremist elements.

“I am 500 per cent sure that Mullah Omar is in Afghanistan,” he said. Mullah Omar, he said, was the overall in-charge of the Taliban, who was needed to be hunted down.

He said there was problem on the Pakistani side as well, and the Taliban were getting support from people in tribal areas. However, he said, it was absolutely wrong to blame Pakistan for whatever was going on inside Afghanistan.

General Musharraf said there were militant leaders like Baitullah Mehsud on the Pakistan side who provided support and inspiration to the Taliban, but they had to be jointly dealt with by both the sides.

He said Pakistan had set up about 1,000 checkposts on its borders, while the Afghan government had established less than 100 points which needed to be increased to check the illegal crossing.

— By arrangement with The Dawn

Paris, February 3
Forty-six nations called for the creation of a more powerful UN environment agency today, saying the survival of humanity was at risk, but the USA, China and Russia did not sign up.

‘’We must realise that we have reached a point of no return, and have caused irreparable damage,’’ according to the ‘’Paris Call for Action’’ read out by French President Jacques Chirac after a two-day conference at his Elysee Palace.

The world’s top climate scientists yesterday said global warming was man-made and said rising temperatures could cause more droughts, heatwaves and rising seas for more than 1,000 years even if emissions of greenhouse gases are capped.

‘’We are coming to realise that the entire planet is at risk, that the well-being, health, safety, and very survival of humankind hangs in the balance,’’ Chirac said after talks with politicians, scientists, business leaders and foreign leaders.

The Paris appeal seeks the creation of a new UN Environment Organisation (UNEO) to fight threats such as global warming, water shortages or a loss of species. And it urges ‘’massive international action to face the environmental crisis’’.

The existing UN Environment Programme, based in Nairobi, is often faulted for having too limited powers.

The ‘’Paris Call for Action’’ was backed by European Union countries and others, including Algeria, Ecuador, Cambodia, Vanuatu, Seychelles, Gabon and Burundi. — Reuters

Colombo, February 3
In a bid to revive the stalled peace rocess, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse today made a fresh offer to the Tamil rebels for talks for a "political solution" to the ethnic conflict, but vowed to "tame" the Tigers if they continued their violence.

On a visit to the eastern town of Vakarai that was recently wrested from the rebels by the army after a bloody battle, Rajapakse asked the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to lay down arms in exchange for a "political solution" to the decades-old separatist movement.

"This is a big opportunity for the Tamil Tigers to return to the negotiating table... I will offer them a political solution and they should come for talks," Rajapakse told reporters in Vakarai, 330 km east of Colombo.

"I don't believe in a military solution but I believe in defending my country and believe that we all are Sri Lankans," he said.

However, if the rebels were to refuse the olive branch, Rajapakse said "in that case we will have to tame the Tigers."

Weeks of fighting in Vakarai killed 45 army personnel and 331 rebels, according to government count. Some 30,000 people fled to the safety of neighbouring towns after the fighting broke out.

"What we have done is to liberate the people from terrorists," he said. "I am here to thank the troops for their action without causing a single civilian 
casualty."

"We want to start clearing mines in the next two weeks to allow all civilians to return," he said. — PTI

New Jersey, February 3
Two years after the body of a water company India-born chemist was found at the bottom of a tank in a water treatment plant, state investigators have begun working on the case at the urging of the dead woman’s family.

The state Attorney-General’s Office today confirmed its agents and state police would take the lead in trying to determine who killed Geetha Angara, broadening efforts that have been on the back burner since the investigation by Passaic County hit a dead end.

The 43-year-old mother of three was last seen February 8, 2005, working in the plant’s laboratory. The authorities believe she was choked and dumped unconscious into a million-gallon water treatment tank, probably by a co-worker at the Passaic Valley Water Commission. Her body was found the next day in the tank.

Passaic County investigators interviewed 80 people, including all 50 workers who were on duty that day, and narrowed the list of potential suspects down to eight, but the case went cold. — AP