The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	NATO report rips open Pak ‘double game’ in Afghanistan Says Pak government remains ‘intimately’ involved with Taliban Islamabad/London, Feb 1 Exposing the ISI’s “manipulation” of Taliban’s senior leadership and its “massive double game”, a damning NATO report says that the Pakistan government remains “intimately” involved with the Afghan-based terror group. The report leaked out on a day when Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar arrived in Kabul on a one-day visit for talks with Afghan leadership. The NATO report contains accusations that Pakistan is playing a massive double game with the West as it publicly claims to seek a political solution to the Afghan conflict, while still supporting fighters who have killed thousands of international troops. Many of the reports most serious revelations concern the scale of support to the Taliban provided by Pakistan and the influence of ISI agency. “The Government of Pakistan remains intimately involved with the Taliban,” The Telegraph quoted the report as saying. The report was first leaked to The Times newspaper and the BBC. Reacting to the report, Khar was quoted as saying, “We can disregard this as a potentially strategic leak... This is old wine in an even older bottle.” The report, on the state of the Taliban, fully exposes for the first time the relationship between the ISI and the Taliban, the BBC said. The report is based on material from 27,000 interrogations with more than 4,000 captured Taliban, Al-Qaida and other foreign fighters and civilians. It notes: “Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly”. It says that Pakistan is aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders. “Senior Taliban representatives, such as Nasiruddin Haqqani, maintain residences in the immediate vicinity of ISI headquarters in Islamabad,” it said. The report says that senior Taliban leaders regularly meet with ISI officers “who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the Government of Pakistan”. Reacting to the report, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit in a text message to PTI said, “This is frivolous, to put it mildly. We are committed to non-interference in Afghanistan and expect all other states to strictly adhere to this principle.” He added, “We are committed to an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process... A stable and peaceful Afghanistan is in our own interest and we are very much cognizant of this.” However, the report quotes a senior Al-Qaida detainee as saying: “Pakistan knows everything. They control everything. I can’t [expletive] on a tree in Kunar without them watching.” The BBC also says the report seems to suggest that the Taliban feel trapped by ISI control and fear they will never escape its influence. — PTI
	Four admit to plot to blow up London Stock Exchange London, February 1 Four Al-Qaida-inspired Britons, including a man of Indian origin, today pleaded guilty to plotting a Mumbai-style attack on the London Stock Exchange, the American embassy and other targets during the run up to Christmas in 2010. Mohammed Chowdhury, Shah Rahman, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. Desai is of Indian origin. The men, from London and Cardiff, were arrested in December 2010. Five other men have pleaded guilty to other terrorism offences and all nine will be sentenced next week. The men, from London, Stoke and Cardiff, were inspired by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) and used their English-language magazine ‘Inspire’ as a guide. They were inspired by the preachings of the recently-killed radical extremist Anwar Al-Awlaki. It emerged that those who admitted planning to target the London Stock Exchange wanted to send five mail bombs to various targets during the run up to Christmas 2010 and discussed launching a “Mumbai-style” atrocity. A hand-written target list discovered at the home of one of the men listed the names and addresses of London Mayor Boris Johnson, two rabbis, the US embassy and the Stock Exchange. The conspiracy was stopped by undercover anti-terror police before firm dates could be set for attacks. The terrorists met because of their membership of various radical groups and stayed in touch over the Internet, through mobile phones and at specially arranged meetings. They gathered in parks in a bid to make surveillance difficult. The court heard that Chowdhury, 21, and his London accomplice Rahman, 28, were followed by undercover detectives on November 28, 2010, observing Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and the Palace of Westminster. Chowdhury and Rahman admitted preparing for acts of terrorism by planning to plant an improvised explosive device in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange. The men admitted the offences after a special hearing which allows a defendant to hear from the judge what sentence they may receive if they plead guilty on the eve of a trial. Following the guilty pleas, DAC Stuart Osborne, from West Midlands Police’s counter terrorism team, said: “We welcome the guilty pleas entered by all nine defendants today, following what was the largest counter terrorism operation of 2010. — PTI
	Romney wins Florida primary Ashish Kumar Sen in Washington Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney cruised to an easy victory in a primary election in Florida on Tuesday night. Republicans are voting to pick a candidate to challenge US President Barack Obama in the presidential elections in November. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich came in second. Romney virtually ignored his Republican rivals and took on Obama in a victory speech to supporters in Tampa. “I stand ready to lead this party and to lead this nation,” he said. “My leadership will end the Obama era and begin a new era of American prosperity,” he said. “Under this President, more Americans have lost their jobs and more foreclosures have occurred than under the administration of any other President in history.” Romney, who lost South Carolina to Gingrich, regained his moment after a bitter campaign battle and a slew of ads attacking the former House speaker. Political pundits speculated how that negative campaign would affect the Republicans. In his victory speech on Tuesday night, Romney dismissed such speculation. “As this primary unfolds, our opponents in the other party have been watching, and they like to comfort themselves with the thought that a competitive campaign will leave us divided and weak,” he told a cheering crowd. “But I’ve got news for them. A competitive primary does not divide us. It prepares us, and we will win,” he added. Meanwhile, Gingrich vowed to fight on. “We are going to contest every place and we are going to win, and we will be in Tampa as the nominee in August,” he said. Rick Santorum, a social conservative, placed third; and Ron Paul, a Libertarian, came in fourth. Of the four primaries held so far, Romney has notched two victories: New Hampshire and Florida; Gingrich won South Carolina and Santorum won Iowa.
	Special to the tribune Labour party MP renews criticism of Indian diplomats Shyam Bhatia in London A British opposition member of parliament has renewed his criticism of Indian diplomats in London, as well as the Indian government, for not doing more to promote bilateral ties. Barry Gardiner, M.P., chair of Labour Friends of India, highlights what he calls the "downgraded " relationship, saying, "Today I have called for radical reform of the Indian High Commission's role in promoting UK-India trade. The call comes a week after I criticised both the UK and Indian governments for allowing the relationship to be 'downgraded' after the UK had slipped down the list of import and export partners for India." He adds, "India House has now been without a High Commissioner for seven months, something that would be inconceivable in Beijing or Washington. This demonstrates that the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi no longer sees the UK as strategically vital to India's interests." Gardiner's challenging comments come less than a week after he described the Indian High Commission as "rudderless", asking why Indian diplomats had not attended a parliamentary debate on Indo-British trade and making the further pointed remark that India had downgraded the UK as a global partner. At the time, NRI leaders in the UK distanced themselves from his views and said they were surprised by what he had said. Many NRIs have gone on to say that it is unacceptable for him to focus his disapproval on India's diplomatic staff. Among the UK-based NRIs who have most recently expressed their concern is the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, the party that is the junior partner in the current British coalition government. Lord Dholakia told the Tribune, "I am not concerned about matters relating to India and reforms needed to reform its market. I am concerned about the last paragraph ( in Gardiner's original speech) which criticises the High Commission and its staff. This is unacceptable. Diplomats do not interfere in parliamentary debates and on reflection, Barry owes them an explanation." Gardiner's latest salvo follows the disclosure that India has decided to award the French company Dassault a £10 billion contract to equip the Indian air force with its next generation of fighter aircraft. The decision to purchase 126 Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft is a blow to London, which had hoped Delhi would instead choose the Eurofighter Typhoon in which UK companies have a big investment. Commenting on the loss of the Eurofighter contract Gardiner says, "The loss of the Eurofighter contract is another major blow to British industry, and comes at the worst possible time.” "This is just one more indication that the work of UKTI (UK Trade and Investment) is not resulting in the successful outcomes the UK needs.We need to be agreeing quarterly trade and FDI targets with the Trade Secretary at the Indian High Commission and then monitoring, reviewing them and implementing them."
	Contempt Case Gilani should have acted on our orders: SC Afzal Khan in Islamabad Judges of the Supreme Court on Wednesday maintained that PM Yousaf Raza Gilani should have written a letter to the Swiss authorities as per the court’s orders, and later invoked the defence of presidential immunity. During the hearing of Gilani’s contempt case in the apex court, Justice Nasirul Mulk, remarked that the PM should have followed the court’s orders and then relied on the immunity clause. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan who is representing the PM, however, maintained that the court’s order could not be followed till Asif Ali Zardari is the President. He said Gilani was a layman and could not but rely on the advice tendered by his legal aides.
	Spurious drug kills 120 heart patients in Lahore Afzal Khan in Islamabad The number of cardiac patients said to have been killed in Lahore by spurious drugs has risen to 120 even as Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif alleged the deaths were due to a conspiracy hatched in Islamabad. As many as 386 more cardiac patients, administered the drug, are still being treated in different hospitals. Sharif recalled a ‘similar conspiracy’ which had led to a dengue outbreak in Punjab, killing 400 people last year. He claimed that a British laboratory had tested the drug and found them to contain a chemical, which was 14 times higher than what was prescribed. Disclosing that the medicine was manufactured by a pharmaceutical company in Karachi, the Chief Minister said that the samples of the tablet ‘Isotab’ were sent to London and tests discovered the tablets to be “heavily contaminated with Pyrimethamine”. The company has been sealed and its owners’ names had been put on the Exit Control List, he added while demanding that the Sindh government should arrest the owners. Sharif further said that the antidote to the medicine in question had been made available in hospitals across the country and was being distributed in hospitals. Sharif said he would disclose more information about the conspiracy at ‘an appropriate time’ and hoped that the Supreme Court would give him a chance to explain. His statement comes in the wake of a petition filed in the Lahore High Court, seeking to register a case of high treason against Sharif and his son for causing death of innocent people. Sharif also holds the health portfolio. The petition alleged that the medicines had been purchased from a firm with no valid licence to manufacture the drug. The chief minister vowed to investigate how all the laboratories from Karachi to Peshawar were unable to conduct tests on the suspected medicines. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued global instructions to stop the use of Isotab tablets manufactured in a Karachi based company, Geo News reported.