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No more drone attacks, Pak to US
US in a fix over Pak: Holbrooke
Close shave for 154 in US plane crash
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Bin Laden almost killed Clinton, says book
Won’t arrest Saeed without proof: Malik
Huma’s death: Docs licenses restored
Russia to help India build manned spaceship
Bangladesh allows Indian goods trains
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No more drone attacks, Pak to US
Amidst the intensifying diplomatic row between Pakistan and the US over the new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has told the Americans categorically, probably for the first time, that Islamabad would neither allow expansion of drone attacks to Balochistan nor permit ‘hot pursuit’ by foreign troops. Addressing a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, convened at the Foreign Office to deliberate on various aspects of the new US policy for Afghanistan, Qureshi warned that there were red lines which must not be crossed and said drone strikes were “counterproductive and unhelpful” in the war against extremism. Soon after the announcement of the revised US policy, the foreign office severely criticised it and said it carried grave implications for Pakistan’s national security. “The new US Afghanistan strategy carries serious implications for Pakistan,” Qureshi was quoted in an official statement. Under the revised strategy, 30,000 more US troops would be dispatched to Afghanistan by mid-2010. The parliamentarians were informed that there were fears that the troop surge would particularly hit the already restive Balochistan. “As a result of the military surge, there could be more violence in Afghanistan which could, in turn, result in further influx of militants and refugees from Afghanistan into Pakistan,” the official statement said. Washington has lately been increasing pressure on Pakistan to take on all militant groups in tribal areas, particularly the North Waziristan-based Haqqani network, and dismantle Taliban ‘sanctuaries’ in Balochistan. Diplomatic sources say Pakistani leadership had been unequivocally cautioned by various official visitors from the US that if Pakistan failed to act, the Americans could take direct action, including expansion of drone strikes in Balochistan. President Barack Obama himself had stated: “We have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe haven for terrorists whose location is known and whose intentions are clear.”
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US in a fix over Pak: Holbrooke
Washington, December 23 "The dilemma is that the leadership of both al-Qaeda and Taliban are in a neighbouring country (of Afghanistan) where our troops cannot fight. And, therefore, we have to find other means, working for the Pakistanis and other means, to deal with the groups...," Holbrooke, the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said. If the US was to abandon Afghanistan or pull out troops, the Obama Administration believes that the Taliban and al- Qaeda would win an enormous international victory which would inspire tens of thousands of potential 'jihadists', shift the balance in a very negative way and give a much larger terrain for al-Qaeda to play in. "The Pakistanis were very instrumental in creating the Taliban, as you well know, in the period after the US abandoned Afghanistan in 1989, which history will record as one of the great mistakes of American foreign policy," Holbrooke said in an interview to the popular Charlie Rose show of the PBS. Asked what impact has been in Pakistan due to some very high-profile US visits in recent weeks, he said that is yet to be determined. But argued that the US is making progress in the region and Pakistan is now more receptive. Responding to another question, Holbrooke asserted that there are no American troops in Pakistan. When asked about the possibility of presence of CIA people and special operations agents in Pakistan, he said "we have members of our intelligence services in every country in the world. You know that." Supporting the highly unpopular drone attacks in Pakistan, he said this has been very successful from the US point of view. "Some of the most dangerous people in the world ... and posing the most serious threats imaginable to the United States and Pakistan at the beginning of this year are not alive today... (like) Baitullah Mehsud, the director of al-Qaeda's external operations. These are men who the Pakistani army has announced accurately are no longer alive," he said. "These are very important moves forward." "Al-Qaeda has been under the most intense pressure, and we are working very closely with the Pakistanis on that," Holbrooke said. —
PTI
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Close shave for 154 in US plane crash
Washington, December 23 Though 40 passengers were injured in the crash of the plane which arrived in Kingston from Miami, none of them were reported to be in critical condition. "Flight 331, the Boeing 737 aircraft, that was en route from Miami International Airport to Kingston in Jamaica's Norman Manley International Airport overran the runway on landing," the American Airlines said in a statement. It said preliminary reports indicate that there are no "serious injuries" to 154 persons aboard — 148 passengers and six crew members. Local Jamaican media reported that the plane crashed and broke into two pieces as it overshot the runway around 10.22 pm local time last night. Jamaica Observer' newspaper reported that 40 passengers were injured in the incident and rushed to the hospital after the crash. The American Airlines said it is "in direct contact with the officials of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration and is cooperating fully with appropriate authorities". Though, much details of the incident were not immediately available, passengers on the plane told Jamaica Observer that the flight had just arrived from Miami, in pouring rain, when the incident occurred. "The plane crashed and broke almost in front of me," a shaken Naomi Palmer, a passenger of the plane, was quoted as saying by the paper. "The injured passengers have been taken to Kingston Public Hospital," Jamaican Information Minister Daryl Vaz was quoted as saying by the paper. “There are no reports of fatalities”. Vaz, along with Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry and National Security Minister Dwight Nelson, rushed to the scene and was engaged in determining if anyone from the plane was missing. — PTI
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Bin Laden almost killed Clinton, says book
London, December 23 The details have been revealed in the book titled "The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs Starr" by Ken Gromley, an American law professor, who said he was told the details of the bomb plot by Louis Merletti, a former director of the secret service. 'The Daily Telegraph' today reported that at one point during his stay, Clinton was scheduled to visit a local politician in central Manila. His route was through a bridge. But as his motorcade was about to set off, secret service officers received a "crackly message in one earpiece" saying intelligence agents had picked up a message suggesting an attack was imminent. The transmission used the words "bridge" and "wedding" — a terrorists code word for assassination.The motorcade was quickly re-routed and the US agents later discovered a bomb planted under the bridge. The report said the subsequent US investigation into the plot revealed that it was masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan - named Osama bin Laden. — PTI
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Won’t arrest Saeed without proof: Malik
Islamabad, December 23 “Saeed is being investigated. If we get something, we will arrest him but not on someone’s say so,” Malik said in response to a question on India’s demand for Saeed’s arrest. — PTI
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Huma’s death: Docs licenses restored
Lahore, December 23 A parliamentary standing committee had concluded that the doctors from private hospitals in Lahore were negligent in treating 42-year-old Huma, who died in Chennai in the last week of October. The panel had directed authorities to cancel the licences of the doctors. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court provided interim relief to the 19 doctors yesterday and restored their registration by suspending orders issued by the federal Health Secretary and the president of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. The judge restrained authorities from taking any "coercive action" against the doctors. The court issued its orders in response to a petition filed by the doctors.The court issued notices to authorities to respond to the petition, and scheduled the next hearing for January 12. — PTI
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Russia to help India build manned spaceship
Moscow, December 23 “The Indian side intends to use the experience of building the manned spaceship Soyuz to advance in building their own spaceship. We will build this spaceship on a similar technical scheme, but it will not resemble Soyuz,” he said. Chief of the department of piloted programmes of the federal space agency (Roskosmos) Alexei Krasnov told Itar-Tass news agency that the Soyuz is heavier and cannot be launched by a light Indian booster. — PTI
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