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Bugti was not killed, he Pakistan needs 22MAF of water to counter committed suicide, says Pervez Musharraf Indian aggression PAGE | 03
Pakistan won’t allow drones in its airspace, Sherry tells US
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Rs15.00 Vol ii no 257 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition
thursday, 15 March, 2012 Rabi-ul-Sani 21, 1433
SC chides spy agencies for crossing the line Durrani says ISI not involved as he acted in personal capacity
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ISLAMABAD
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SANAA: Anti-government female protesters wearing pink caps protest against immunity from prosecution to Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday. afp
Multiple sources available for Ip gas pipeline funding: fM ISLAMABAD
pakistan agrees to restore NaTO supplies, revive ties WASHINGTON
StAff RepoRt
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday said the Chinese bank’s decision to pull out from the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline would not have any impact on Pakistan’s plan to proceed with the multibillion dollars project as there were “multiple sources” available for its funding. Addressing a joint news conference at the Foreign Office with her Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt, the foreign minister said, “There are multiple sources available for IranPakistan gas pipeline and this is fairly a very viable project. We hope we will not see any problem in finding ways to ensure funds for the project.” She said the impression that the Chinese bank’s decision would affect Pakistan’s plan to import gas from Iran was not true and it would proceed with the project of gas pipeline. The foreign minister was responding to a question that a consortium led by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has run away from providing financial advisory services for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project. To another question on the parliamentary review of ties with the United States, she said that the government’s Continued on page 04
oNliNe
Senior US officials say they have been informed by Pakistani authorities that a high-level meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday agreed in principle to restore supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan and to revive normal relationship. President Asif Ali Zardari presided over the meeting that was attended by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani Air Chief Marshal Qamar Suleman and ISI DG Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha. The meeting of the country’s top civilian and military leadership as well as key allies was called just days ahead of the joint session of parliament that will mark the new parliamentary year but will mainly focus on the debate on the future relationship with the US and NATO allies. Although the government spokesmen told the media that the
meeting reiterated the government’s earlier stance that parliament will take the decision on the NATO supply and relationship with the US, the leaders agreed to restore land route for NATO and revive normal ties with the US. Senior US officials in Washington said they had been conveyed about the decisions after the Islamabad meeting. In return the US will also allow the equipments delivery to Pakistan which had been blocked after Islamabad blocked NATO supply line in November. The meeting also decided to receive the top US visitors whenever they wanted to visit Pakistan and they agreed with the proposed visit of the US CENTCOM chief General Mathis, who is likely to visit later this month. General Mathis told reporters in Washington last week that he will discus, besides other important issues, the plan of using Pakistan land route for the American troops at the time of withdrawal from Afghanistan. “This has also been conveyed to the U.S. authorities in Washing-
ton,” the US sources said. The US plans to withdraw several thousands troops this year as part of its Afghan exit strategy. The summoning of long-awaited joint session of the parliament to meet on March 17 is also in line with the understanding reached in Wednesday’s meeting, sources told Online in Islamabad. The Parliamentary Committee on National Security had been tasked with giving recommendations to reevaluate ties with the US/NATO and ISAF following NATO, which had already submitted its recommendations. Participants of the meeting were of the view that the coalition will have no problem in dominating the join session of parliament during the debate on the US ties as they were now in complete command of both houses of parliament, official sources in Islamabad said. The army chief told the meeting that the military will fully respect the decision by the parliament and civilian leadership, sources in Islamabad said.
Kayani takes exception to public discussion on agencies ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt
Tacitly registering his concern over the debate in the media on the role of the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani on Wednesday said “the national institutions should not be undermined”. “The debate (on TV channels) does not support national institutions as it works to de-motivate soldiers performing their duties in 20˚Celsius below the freezing point. We need to motivate our soldiers instead of demoralising them by such debates,” the COAS said while informally talking to a group of editors at the farewell dinner hosted by Prime Min-
ister Yousaf Raza Gilani for the outgoing Air Chief Rao Qamar Suleman. Though he did not specifically point out any particular talk show, he did say that the debate “in the evening” was not contributing positively. He referred to other countries, including Israel, and said they never talked about their intelligence agencies the way the ISI was discussed in Pakistan. “Even in countries like the United States, the role of agencies is not discussed publicly,” he said. He admitted that mistakes did take place but it did not mean that the institutions should be undermined. “It takes very long to build institutions,” the COAS observed. About the role of the army in politics, Gen Kayani said he had taken a “conscious decision” to
keep his institution out of politics. But when referred to the Mehran Bank scam, he said it had happened 20 years earlier and discussing it now was fighting history. “We should learn from the past, live in the present with a focus on the future,” he said. He rubbished reports that the army or the ISI was supporting PTI chief Imran Khan. “If anyone has any proof of this, it should be brought to the fore and it is also for Imran Khan to take notice of this allegation,” Gen Kayani said. On Balochistan, he said he had many a time said that there was no military operation going on in the province and there was no plan to set up new cantonments there. Continued on page 04
AgeNcieS
HE Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed annoyance over the working of intelligence agencies, terming their activities “beyond given mandate”. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that the secret agencies were not working as per their mandate, saying, “We cannot compromise on the interests of the state.” The apex court resumed the hearing of the Mehrangate scandal by warning Younis Habib – the central figure of the scandal – against scandalising the court, and asked him to submit documents and applications in accordance with the rules of the apex court. Younis, former chief of the defunct Mehran Bank, has recently written a letter directly addressed to the chief justice. Younis then sought an unconditional apology from the Supreme Court in this regard. Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Asad Durrani said he had acted in personal capacity, and that the ISI was not involved in the distribution of funds to certain politicians. The CJP asked Durrani if he was accepting that he had distributed the money among politicians. “You and Aslam Beg were generals when this happened, and we don’t know the consequences of this act,” he said. “How did you, being a government employee, function in your personal capacity? You may take a lawyer if you wish so,” Justice Khilji Arif Hussain asked the former ISI head. Durrani replied, “I kept the ISI out of it all. I will prefer to hire the services of a lawyer.” The chief justice asked Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to read out a news story published in an English daily about the role of secret agencies. After reading the relevant paragraphs, the attorney general told the bench that he could not verify the authenticity of the said news item. The bench issued notices to the newspaper’s reporter to appear and assist the court by providing classified documents that he had mentioned in his story. The attorney general told the court that the government had no objection if the secret statements of Asad Durrani and Naseerullah Babar were made public. He said that he had gone through the relevant record of Asghar Khan’s case with the cooperation of the Registrar’s Office and could not find anything classified, as the said material had already been known to the public and the media. “A written order will be passed to make the report public during the next hearing of the case,” the CJP remarked. Continued on page 04