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Zardari seeks UAE assistance in free trade agreement with GCC
Pakistani Facebookers want cartoon character King Julien for President PAGE 18
PROFIT | PAGE 01
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pakistantoday.com.pk
rs15.00 Vol ii no 153 32 pages karachi edition
Zardari turns down UAE’s request on Shamsi airbase g
Internet has become ‘surveillance machine’, says Julian Assange
tuesday, 29 november, 2011 muharram-ul-Haram 3, 1433
Gilani tells CNN pakistan will maintain its relationship with US as long as there is mutual respect g ISpR DG denies reports that pakistani troops fired at NaTO choppers g
president tells UaE fM pakistan will not review its decision to get airbase vacated from US ISLAMABAD
P
MIAN ABRAR
AkISTAN formally asked the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday to get the Shamsi airbase vacated from the US military and return it to Pakistan’s armed forces, Pakistan Today has learnt. A well-placed source, who asked not to be named, said that President Asif Ali Zardari formally conveyed the message during his one-on-one meeting with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan here at the Presidency. “Yes, the president has conveyed to the visiting UAE foreign minister the government’s decision on the Shamsi airbase and asked the UAE to get the base vacated and hand it over to Pakistan,” said the source. DELAY IN HANDOVER:He said the UAE foreign minister requested that the handover of the base to Pakistan be delayed until the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)’s investigations into the attack on the Salala checkpost were completed. However, the president turned down the request, said the source. “The president told Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed that the decision by the DCC (Defence Committee
of the Cabinet) was final and it would not be reviewed,” he said. Following the one-on-one meeting, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani khar, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other senior officials also joined the president, said the source. When contacted, Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar neither confirmed nor denied the information, saying he could only comment on the contents of the press release. The decision by the DCC to ask the US to vacate the Shamsi airbase within 15 days has exposed the government’s previous claims about the airbase’s possession, which, according to reports, had been used as a launch-pad for drone attacks in the tribal areas. The decision is tantamount to an official admission that the airbase remains in American hands. Since the Shamsi airbase came to the fore in year 2009, the government officials have been making contradictory statements on the status of the base. Soon after the Abbottabad raid by US special forces on May 2, Air Force Chief Rao Qamar Suleman had told a joint sitting of parliament that the Shamsi airbase was given to the UAE in 1992 on lease, who had later handed it over to the US. Continued on page 04
TORKHAM: Drivers stand beside a truck carrying humvees for NATO forces in Afghanistan on Monday after Pakistan shut vital NATO supply routes following unprovoked NATO airstrikes. afp
US ‘concerned’ as Obama sees pakistani deaths as tragedy WASHINGTON AFP
President Barack Obama sees the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO raid as a tragedy, the White House said on Monday, but argued that crisis-wracked US-Pakistani ties were vital to both sides. Obama’s comments came as the US State Department spokesman expressed Washington’s concerns on how the attack will affect relations between the two countries. “Of course we’re concerned about the impact of this incident
on our relations with Pakistan,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. “We’re trying to work through this.” White House Spokesman Jay Carney said Obama believed Saturday’s attack, which threw US-Pakistani ties into turmoil, was “a tragedy,” adding that “we mourn those brave Pakistani service members that lost their lives.” “We take this matter very seriously,” said Carney, adding that two enquiries by the International Security Assistance Continued on page 04
ISLAMABAD STAFF RePORT
Hardening its stance further over Saturday’s NATO air strike that killed 24 of its soldiers, Pakistan on Monday warned the United States that it could reduce its cooperation in efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and said any apology by NATO was not enough to restore full counterterrorism cooperation. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani warned on Monday there would be “no more business as usual” with Washington after the NATO attack. “Business as usual will not be there. We have to have something bigger that satisfies my nation and my entire country. We have to review our ties with NATO and the allied forces. This is a saturation point. We are reviewing the situation and our relationship in future with the US, NATO and ISAF,” Gilani told CNN in an exclusive interview. “You cannot win any war without the support of the masses. We need the people with us and such incidents are making people move away,” said the prime minister. PAKISTAN REEVALUATING: Gilani told CNN that Pakistan was reevaluating its relationship with the United States. He said the nation wanted to maintain its relationship with the US as long as there was mutual respect and respect for Pakistani sovereignty. “If I can’t protect the sovereignty of my country, how can we say it is mutual respect and mutual interest?” Gilani said. He said in accordance with the wishes of the people, Pakistan’s relations with the US should be based on trust, equality and mutual benefit. “We have no other option but to accept the will of the people.” Continued on page 04
karzai to persuade zardari on Bonn moot | page 04