W O R L D

Pak vows to strike militant HQs
In a major policy shift, Pakistan today unveiled its first ever counter-terrorism strategy under which every terror attack would be met with a military strike on the headquarters of the militants.

Supporters of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement at a rally to show their solidarity with armed forces, in Karachi. Reuters

Obama warns Afghan Prez of full troop withdrawal
Washington, February 26
President Barack Obama has threatened to pull all US troops out of war-ravaged Afghanistan by the year end if a crucial bilateral security agreement is not signed.

Terse message: US President Barack Obama with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Washington. Reuters file photo

Alarm in Ukraine as Putin puts Russian troops on alert

Kiev, February 26 President Vladimir Putin put Russian combat troops on high alert for war games near Ukraine on Wednesday, the Kremlin's most powerful gesture yet after days of sabre rattling since its ally Viktor Yanukovich was toppled as the President in Kiev. A young activist wraps himself in a Soviet-era communist flag, as pro-Russian activists take part in a rally in front of the Lenin monument in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Wednesday. AFP

Anti-Taliban meet calls for halting peace dialogue
Lahore, February 26
An anti-Taliban all-parties conference here today called on the Pakistan government to stop all negotiations with the banned group and pay Rs 50,000 as blood money to innocent people killed by militants.

Thai police commandos take part in an anti-terror drill in Bangkok on Wednesday. Reuters

2 more Indians jailed for S’pore rioting
Singapore, February 26
Two more Indian nationals in Singapore were today jailed for 18 weeks each for their role in the country's worst riot in 40 years in December last year.

Pak Hindus struggle to protect temples
Islamabad, February 26
The minority Hindu community in Pakistan is struggling to protect its temples and the land around them from the land mafia, a media report today said. Most of the Hindu inhabitants migrated to India at the time of Partition, leaving behind a number of properties and places of worship.

Pak vows to strike militant HQs
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

In a major policy shift, Pakistan today unveiled its first ever counter-terrorism strategy under which every terror attack would be met with a military strike on the headquarters of the militants.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the National Security Policy in Parliament and said the decision to hit the terrorists' hideouts was consistent with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statement that violence and dialogue cannot go side by side.

The Interior Minister said since former President Pervez Musharraf's era, the security forces would respond to any terror attack in the area where it had occurred, but under the new policy, the forces will respond by targeting militants in their hideouts.

He said the government has introduced a "major" change in its policy on terrorism, a day after the security policy was approved by the cabinet, ending years of waiting for a comprehensive policy to tackle terrorism and internal security challenges.

"We have made a significant shift in our policy. Now we will react to each and every act of terrorism in the country with an attack on the headquarters of the militants along the Afghan border," Khan said.

"Whenever an attack takes place in Pakistan, we will hit their headquarters where the decisions are taken to launch such attacks," he said addressing the National Assembly.

Khan said the government gave priority to dialogues with those who wanted to talk. But it was forced to suspend its dialogue process with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following the beheading of 23 Frontier Corps personnel who were in the custody of the banned group since 2010.

The military has launched a wave of aerial strikes, using both fighter jets and combat helicopters, in the lawless tribal areas killing at least 100 suspected terrorists since last Monday.

The Interior Minister made it clear that stalled dialogue process will be resumed only after the end of terror activities from the other side.

Unveiling the key components of the 100-page policy, Khan said a three-pronged approach - secret, strategic and operational - has been adopted to counter terrorism.

The minister said National Counter-Terrorism Authority is being made a premier counter terrorism body while a Joint Intelligence Directorate will be set up for effective coordination among intelligence agencies. The TTP has been waging a bloody insurgency that killed some 40,000 people since 2007.

The Interior Minister also announced to raise a Rapid Response Force to work under the police.

This experiment will be started from Islamabad with recruitment of 500 personnel initially and later the Prime Minister will discuss it with provinces for raising there an identical force.

Khan said different fields have also been identified to set up bases for helicopters to be placed on disposal of Rapid Response Force while an internal security division will be set up for coordination of civil armed forces. Khan said the attacks on militants would continue alongside efforts to negotiate with the Taliban.

He said: "We had four options with first one to remain indifferent; secondly to hold dialogue; thirdly to go for a full fledged military operation and lastly to carry forward dialogue and strategic action side by side. All of us know that we opted for dialogue. But, our overture was not taken seriously by the other side." Khan mentioned various terrorist attacks that took place after initiation of dialogue.

(With inputs from PTI)

New National Security Policy

• Unveiling the key components of the 100-page policy, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said a three-pronged approach — secret, strategic and operational — has been adopted to counter terrorism
• He said the National Counter-Terrorism Authority was being made a premier counter-terrorism body while a Joint Intelligence Directorate will be set up for effective coordination among intelligence agencies
• The Interior Minister also announced to raise a Rapid Response Force to work under the police
• This experiment will begin from Islamabad with the recruitment of 500 personnel. Later, the Prime Minister will discuss the issue of raising an identical force with the provinces

Obama warns Afghan Prez of full troop withdrawal
Wants Karzai to sign bilateral security pact

Washington, February 26
President Barack Obama has threatened to pull all US troops out of war-ravaged Afghanistan by the year end if a crucial bilateral security agreement is not signed. Obama conveyed the terse message to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has refused to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the US that would allow presence of US troops in Afghanistan post-2014.

"With regard to the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), in advance of the NATO Defence Ministerial, President Obama told President Karzai that because he has demonstrated that it is unlikely that he will sign the BSA, the US is moving forward with additional contingency planning," the White House said in a statement after Obama spoke with Karzai over phone yesterday.

During the call, Obama said he has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has "adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the US not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014".

However, the US has held out the possibility of leaving behind in Afghanistan as many as 8,000 troops after the formal drawdown at year's end. These troops would conduct counter-terrorism operations against Al-Qaida targets and train Afghan forces.

"At the same time, should we have a BSA and a willing and committed partner in the Afghan government, a limited post-2014 mission focused on training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces and going after the remnants of core Al-Qaida could be in the interests of the US and Afghanistan," the statement said. — PTI

Alarm in Ukraine as Putin puts Russian troops on alert

Kiev, February 26
President Vladimir Putin put Russian combat troops on high alert for war games near Ukraine on Wednesday, the Kremlin's most powerful gesture yet after days of sabre rattling since its ally Viktor Yanukovich was toppled as the President in Kiev.

Thousands of ethnic Russians, who form the majority in Ukraine's Crimea region, demonstrated for independence for the peninsula that hosts part of Moscow's Black Sea Fleet. They scuffled with rival demonstrators, mainly from the Tatar minority, who support the new authorities in Kiev.

With the political turmoil hammering Ukraine's economy, the hryvnia currency tumbled 4 per cent on Wednesday, with ripples spreading to Russia where the rouble fell to five-year lows and bank shares took a hit.

Moscow denounced what it described as the rise of "nationalist and neo-fascist sentiment" in Ukraine's mainly Ukrainian-speaking western areas, where it said Russian speakers were being deprived of rights.

It has repeatedly expressed concern for the safety of Russian citizens in Ukraine. "In accordance with an order from the president of the Russian Federation, forces of the Western Military District were put on alert today," Interfax news agency quoted Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying, announcing a drill. — Reuters

Anti-Taliban meet calls for halting peace dialogue

Lahore, February 26
An anti-Taliban all-parties conference here today called on the Pakistan government to stop all negotiations with the banned group and pay Rs 50,000 as blood money to innocent people killed by militants.

"More than 50,000 innocent people have been killed by the Taliban and their families deserve to be paid blood money of at least Rupees 50,000 each," a joint communique issued after the all-parties meeting said.

The conference called on the government to stop all negotiations with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and announced to hold a countrywide anti-Taliban day on February 28.

The conference was attended by some mainstream religious and political parties.

The joint statement said that any form of support or sympathy shown to the Taliban should be declared a crime by the state. "Try the Taliban for their crimes against the Pakistani nation under Islamic laws," the all-parties conference demanded. — PTI

2 more Indians jailed for S’pore rioting

Singapore, February 26
Two more Indian nationals in Singapore were today jailed for 18 weeks each for their role in the country's worst riot in 40 years in December last year. Thangaiya Selvakumar, 25, and Thiagarajan Sribalamurugan, 23, had originally faced rioting charges, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in jail and caning, The Straits Times reported.

But they were sentenced under amended charge for disobeying dispersal commands, an offence which carries up to two years in jail and or fine.

Their sentences would be backdated to the date of their arrests on December 8, 2013, the night when some 400 migrant workers from South Asia rioted following a fatal accident involving an Indian national. The two are the fourth and fifth men to plead guilty under an amended charge out of the 25 who were originally charged for rioting. — PTI

Pak Hindus struggle to protect temples