Reiterating Pakistan’s resolve to conduct a thorough and transparent probe into the Mumbai carnage, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Monday urged international community to press India to resume dialogue process with Pakistan. Qureshi was briefing nearly 80 foreign envoys based in Pakistan on post-Mumbai situation and progress made by Pakistani investigators in this regard. He said the probe into Mumbai attack was in progress and Pakistan was maintaining contact with the Indian government.

Several diplomats during the meeting said Islamabad should make efforts to generate confidence necessary for resumption of peace process through composite dialogue between the two nations.

Qureshi said Pakistan wanted peace and stability in the region and was keen to achieve that through peaceful bilateral talks with India. He also thanked the international community for efforts to reduce tension between the two subcontinent neighbours. He said Pakistan was willing to extend full cooperation to India to reach the truth behind the Mumbai carnage.

The briefing given to diplomats at the foreign office was part of a renewed Pakistan drive to ward off international isolation because of vigorous diplomacy by India. Rehman Malik, advisor to Prime Minister on Interior, also explained in detail Pakistan’s take on the 26/11 dossier provided by India.

He also briefed the envoys about measures taken by Pakistan against outfits banned by United Nations. He also listed various steps taken by Pakistan against individuals and organisations suspected of terrorist acts.

Exasperated over media criticism of his policies and performance, President Asif Zardari has reportedly described journalists as the “biggest terrorists” in Pakistan.

Members of a delegation of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which met Zardari recently, quoted him as saying that scribes distort facts and present them in a non-objective manner. He also accused the journalists of engaging in a misinformation campaign against the present government.

"It came out of the blue. There was intensity of emotion when that statement was made," a senior Peshawar businessman recalled. A Pakistan People’s Party leader, who for obvious reasons wished not to be named, confirmed that the president did make the statement about journalists being terrorists.

Presidential aide described media reports on Zardari’s characterization of journalists as exaggerated account of his meeting with Peshawar businessmen and said the President's remarks were taken out of context but did not elaborate further. 

Mingora (Pakistan), January 19
Pakistani Taliban insurgents blew up four schools in the northwestern Swat region on Monday hours after a cabinet minister vowed that the government would reopen schools in the violence-plagued valley.

The scenic Swat Valley was until recently one of Pakistan’s prime tourist destinations but Islamist militants aiming to impose a harsh form of Islamic law began battling security forces in 2007.

Residents say the militants are now virtually in complete control of the valley, which is 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad and not on the Afghan border, including its main town of Mingora, where the schools were destroyed early on Monday.

“Militants blew up two girls schools and two boys schools,” a top government official in the valley, Shaukat Yousafzai, said. “Attacks on troops are understandable but why are they destroying schools?”

Schools are closed for a winter break and no one was hurt in the attacks.

As with Afghanistan’s Taliban, their Pakistani counterparts oppose education for girls and they recently banned female education in Swat altogether. The militants also see schools as symbols of government authority and they say the army posts soldiers in them.

Yousafzai said the militants had destroyed 170 schools in the valley where about 55,000 girls and boys were enrolled in government-run institutions.

Pakistan is struggling to stem growing Islamist influence and violence in the northwest as it keeps a wary eye on its eastern border with India after militant attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai led to a spike in tension between the neighbours.

Information minister Sherry Rehman told reporters on Sunday the government aimed to ensure that schools in Swat would reopen on March 1, when they are due to go back after the winter break.

But that would seem like wishful thinking.

The militants have shot, blown up or beheaded their opponents while broadcasting edicts and threats over their FM radio.

Many families have fled to the nearby cities of Peshawar and Mardan, while many police officers have either deserted or simply refused to serve, residents say.

Yousafzai said teachers were also refusing to work. “I try to convince them but they’re scared. They doubt the government’s ability to protect them,” he said.

Provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain vowed action against the militants. “They’re out of control,” Hussain told reporters in Peshawar.

“In the past, when we took action against them, we were criticised ... Now people realise that they’re cruel and they want us to go after them and we’ll do it.”

The president of a Swat teachers’ association said his members would only go back to work if the government restored peace and shut down the militants’ radio, or if the militants issued an order over their radio for a return to work. — Reuters