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Clinton arriving next month to sign new counter-terror agreement
BISP launches online grievance redressal system
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Pakistan opens Karachi port to let Indian wheat pass
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Rs15.00 Vol ii no 268 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition
Monday, 26 March, 2012 Jamadi-ul-awal 2, 1433
Power outages
Driven to the edge Electricity remains absent for 16 hours on Sunday g Protests continue in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, tribal areas g President takes notice of load shedding g
LAHORE/FAISALABAD Staff RepoRt/aGeNcIeS
P
ROlOnGeD power outages forced people across Punjab, and even in the Tribal Areas, to take to the streets in protest for the second day running, forcing them to burn tyres and block several main roads across the province on Sunday. There were protests in several parts of lahore on Sunday against massive load shedding, as the city suffered blackouts for several continuous hours that paralyzed routine life. electricity in majority of lahore remained shut in the morning and was only restored in the afternoon. every nook and corner of the city was deprived of electricity for more than 16 hours on Sunday, a holiday wherein the demand is usually quite less than in weekdays. The power demand remained at 13,500MWs while the generation dropped to 8,000MWs, creating a shortfall of 5,500MWs. Citizens staged protests in Walton area, Mustafabad, Mughalpura, Township, Johar Town, Green Town and several other areas. Frustrated and defiant, traders of The Mall also staged a protest against the power outages. They chanted slogans against the lahore electric Supply Company (leSCO) for depriving them of power. The protesters expressed their anger against the government and PePCO for continuous load shedding. “Four hours of load shedding after every hour. Haye Bijli,” said a Facebook user from lahore on his page. “There will be all-out dark in the coming years,” said another.
Meanwhile, a private TV channel put the toll at 6,500MWs. Protests: There were protests in Gujranwala as well, where residents took to the streets, burnt tyres and disrupted traffic on the main GT Road. Police resorted to aerial firing and hurled teargas shells to disperse them while the agitators tried to keep riot police at bay by hurling stones. The people of Faisalabad protested in a unique style: dancing to the tune of dhols (drums) as they burnt tyres and blocked the traffic. Hundreds of factory workers and labourers protested the massacre of industry in Faisalabad. According to details, protesters blocked the narh Wala, Jhang and Samundri Roads by burning tyres and placing big hurdles. They shouted slogans against the government and WAPDA and demanded an end to prolonged and unscheduled load shedding. The angry protesters also broke signboards installed along roadsides, outside commercial centres and atop markets’ roofs. SSP Operation Sadiq Dogar arrived to meet the protesters for a dialogue, but eventually decided against discussing the issue with an angry mob. People in Attock also staged a demonstration against prolong unscheduled power load shedding at general bus stand on the main Attock-Kamra Road. Also, hundreds of tribesmen in north Waziristan Agency protested against continuous power cuts and warned the political administration to take appropriate steps to tackle the issue within 24 hours, or else be ready to face a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike against WAPDA authorities. Continued on page 04
DUSHaNBe:the presidents of afghanistan, tajikistan, Iran and pakistan pose for a photograph during a regional summit here. onLinE
US expresses respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty g
US special envoy meets President Zardari in Dushanbe DUSHANBE GNI
To create an atmosphere of goodwill and cordiality for the meeting between President Barack Omaba and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in Seoul, the United States on Sunday expressed respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. Ahead of the meeting between the two leaders, the United States Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Marc Grossman, met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Dushanbe. “Ambassador Grossman highlighted the United States’ respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan,” a statement, issued by the US embassy in Islamabad, said. He also expressed respect for Pakistan’s ongoing parliamentary review of US-Pakistan relations. “Our belief is that we have many shared interests and common goals that we can act on together,” he was quoted as saying. The ambassador and President Zardari discussed the importance of regional stability and security, including efforts to support an Afghan
peace process. Ambassador Grossman said Pakistan’s recent call for insurgents to join an Afghan peace process was welcome and helpful. President Asif Ali Zardari said the parliamentary review process of Pak-US relations, that was long overdue, was a manifestation of democracy taking roots in Pakistan and the elected representatives taking ownership of one of Pakistan’s most important bilateral relationships. He said that the effort had to be to work within the parameters set by the parliament and not to bypass it. The two also discussed the importance of counter-terrorism cooperation against insurgents who would harm Afghans, Pakistanis, and Americans, and Ambassador Grossman recalled the sacrifices of so many Pakistanis in the fight again violence extremism. They noted the importance of regional economic integration and discussed how best to expand trade and economic cooperation both bilaterally and in the region. Ambassador Grossman emphasized that the United States wanted an honest, constructive, and mutually beneficial relationship with Pakistan and remains committed to continued engagement.
US military would not charge troops involved in Salala attack g
American investigators persistent Pakistani troops fired first g Probe finds ‘nothing criminally negligent on part of any individual’ WASHINGTON INp
The United States military has decided that no service members will face disciplinary charges for their involvement in a nATO airstrike in november that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, an accident that plunged relations between the two countries to new depths and has greatly complicated the allied mission in Afghanistan. An American investigation in December found fault with both American and Pakistani troops for the deadly exchange of fire, but noted that the Pakistanis fired first from two border posts that were not on coalition maps, and that they kept firing even after the Americans tried to warn them that they were shooting at allied troops. Pakistan has rejected these conclusions and ascribed most of the blame to the American forces. The American findings set up a second inquiry to determine whether any American military personnel should be punished. That recently completed review said no, three senior military officials said, explaining that the Ameri-
cans fired in self-defence. Other mistakes that contributed to the fatal cross-border strike were the regrettable result of battlefield confusion, they said. “We found nothing criminally negligent on the part of any individual in our investigations of the incident,” said one senior American military official involved in the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the results of the review had not been made public, a new York Times report said on Sunday. The military’s decision is expected to anger Pakistani officials at a time when the two countries are gingerly trying to patch up a security relationship left in tatters over the past year from a series of episodes, including the shooting of two Pakistanis in lahore by a CIA contractor, the navy SeAls raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin laden and the deadly airstrike in november. Pakistan’s parliament is scheduled to resume debate on Monday on a major review of relations with the United States, a debate that the Obama administration hopes will bring a resumption of full diplomatic relations and the reopening of nATO supply lines
into Afghanistan through Pakistan. As part of that debate, Pakistani legislators have demanded an unconditional formal apology from the United States for the fatal airstrike. In the highest-level parley of leaders of the two countries since the accident, President Obama is to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday in Seoul after a nuclear security conference to discuss Afghanistan and other security issues. But Obama is not expected to go beyond the regrets he conveyed to Pakistan soon after the airstrike on november 25. Some administration aides said at the time that they worried that if Obama formally apologized to Pakistan, it could provide ammunition for his Republican opponents in the presidential race. By contrast, Obama offered a personal apology last month to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan for the burning of Holy Qurans by American soldiers there, as well as regrets about the massacre of Afghan civilians in which an Army staff sergeant has been charged. Gen James n Mattis, the head of the military’s Central Command, is scheduled to hold long-de-
layed meetings this week in Islamabad with Gen Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistan Army chief of staff, to discuss the airstrike investigation, as well as new border coordination procedures to prevent a recurrence of the episode. General Mattis will also discuss opportunities for training, arms sales and improving border coordination centers, military officials said. Other senior American officials, like Deputy Secretary of State Thomas R nides, and Marc Grossman, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, are also expected to meet soon with senior Pakistani officials to begin mending relations. Pakistan’s generals are likely to be privately angered by the latest American decision, although in public the military is deferring to the parliamentary process, the nYT report said. “A full investigation was done by our military, and the conclusions were sent to the parliamentary committee,” said Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the military’s spokesman. “now the government should communicate to the US whatever they want.” Armed with
the information from the first inquiry, the American chain of command in Afghanistan and at the Central Command set out to determine any culpability. They found none that warranted criminal charges, military officials said, nor significant discipline like fines or demotions. It is possible, the officials said, that at some level of the chain of command a soldier could receive an administrative reprimand, but those matters are held privately within the unit or command. American military legal experts said that the episode illustrated the difficulties of assigning blame when an unintended chain of events results in tragedy. “The absence of disciplinary action in a specific case doesn’t mean that there was a cover-up or anything like that,” said Charles J Dunlap Jr, a retired Air Force major general who served as deputy judge advocate general and is now executive director of the Duke University law School’s Center on law, ethics and national Security. “Rather, it may well simply indicate that a tragic accident occurred, and the fog and friction of war make the facts such that assigning criminal responsibility is just not the right thing to do.”