Newspaper Pakistantoday

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Veena Malik ‘bares it all’ for Indian magazine

Gulf Sunni monarchies fear ‘Shia Spring’

Judiciary lacks moral authority, says Asma Jahangir

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Rs15.00 Vol ii no 157 32 pages Lahore edition

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It’s final, Pakistan is not going to Bonn ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

Any chances of Pakistan’s participation in the Bonn Conference at any level ended on Friday as the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, endorsing the decisions of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and the federal cabinet, rejected the Pakistan People’s PartySherpao (PPP-S) and the Awami National Party (ANP)’s arguments in favour of Islamabad’s participation in the international moot on Afghanistan’s future, with Committee Chairman Raza Rabbani observing

that under the rules of business the parliamentary body could not overrule the decision of the federal cabinet. The committee members unanimously endorsed all decisions of the DCC and the federal cabinet to cut NATO supplies and get the Shamsi airbase cleared of United States control within 15 days. A source told Pakistan Today that the PPP-S and ANP leaders suggested reversing the cabinet’s decision to boycott the Bonn Conference, which, they argued, would not only isolate the country diplomatically but would also send a very negative signal to the Pakhtuns living in Pakistan

and Afghanistan. “Since the Pakhtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan are bearing the brunt of the Afghan war, they might see Pakistan’s boycott as a bid to dent the peace process. As the APC (All-Parties Conference) has already passed a resolution to give peace a chance, it is mandatory for Islamabad not to leave any international forum unattended and it would be wise to attend the Bonn Conference to strongly protest against the NATO attack,” a source quoted Aftab Sherpao as saying in the committee meeting. The source said that ANP representative Senator Afrasiab Khattak

supported Sherpao’s stance and called for a review of the decision to boycott the conference, arguing that the enemies of the country would further exploit this situation in their interest. However, the source said, Rabbani told the participants that the rules of business did not allow the parliamentary body to overrule the cabinet’s decision. The PPP-S and ANP leaders did not press to reverse the cabinet decision thereafter. The source said when the prime minister was asked whether the US administration was determined

Saturday, 3 december, 2011 Muharram-ul-Haram 7, 1433

Pakistan to revisit security paradigm PM blasts recent tendency to project Pakistan not as ‘partner’ but as ‘problem’ g

ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

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LAHORE: Protesters burn an effigy of US President Barack Obama during a protest on Friday against the cross-border NATO airstrike on Pakistani troops in which 24 soldiers were killed. afp | story on page 24

Us senate imposes restrictions on pakistan aid WASHINGTON

army denies pakistan gave green signal to nato airstrike

AFP

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The US Senate on Thursday approved a vast military spending bill that tied strings to military aid to Pakistan and aimed to stem the spread of shoulderfired anti-aircraft missiles from Libya. The $662 billion annual Defence Authorisation legislation also included a murky compromise on the issue of whether the US government may hold suspected terrorists, including American citizens, indefinitely without trial. The bill, which sailed to passage by a lopsided 93-7 margin, included tough new sanctions aimed at cutting off Iran’s central bank from the global financial system in a bid to force Tehran to halt its alleged nuclear programme. The legislation included a provision by Democratic Senator Bob Casey aimed at blocking counterinsurgency aid to Pakistan until Islamabad takes aggressive steps to curb the use of roadside bombs blamed for the deaths of US soldiers in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Army on Friday rejected a US media report that it was Pakistani officials who gave the green signal for the NATO airstrike in Mohmand that killed 24 troops, not aware that their own forces were present in the targeted area. According to the Wall Street Journal, the US officials said while giving their first detailed explanation of the worst friendly-fire incident in the 10-year-old war that an Afghan-led assault force that included US commandos was hunting Taliban militants when it came under fire from an encampment along the border with Pakistan. “The commandos thought they were being fired on by the militants, but they turned out to be Pakistani military personnel who had established a temporary campsite,” they were quoted as saying. “According to the initial US account from the field, the commandos requested airstrikes against the encampment, prompting the team to contact a joint border-control center to determine whether Pakistani forces were in the area,” a US official was quoted as saying. The border-control centre is manned by US, Afghan and Pakistani representatives. But the US and Afghan forces conducting the November 26 commando operation had not been notified the centre in

Pakistan refusing to join US probe: Pentagon MONITORING DESK: The Pentagon says Pakistan is refusing to participate in the US investigation of last week’s NATO attack in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, Geo News reported on Friday. The private TV channel quoted US Department of Defense Spokesman George Little as saying the US had asked Pakistan to be part of the investigation, but that the Pakistanis had “elected to date” to not participate. advance that they planned to strike the Taliban near that part of the border, the officials said. “When contacted, Pakistani representatives at the centre said there were no Pakistani military forces in the area identified by the commandos, clearing the way for the airstrikes,” the US officials had said. A Pakistani security official, however, categorically denied the newspaper report and said the aircraft had already engaged when Pakistan was contacted.

ALLING for complete national unity, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Friday that Pakistan would revisit its national security paradigm following the NATO strikes on its border posts in the dead of night as this incident was an attack on the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. “The terms of our engagement with the United States and NATO/ISAF have to be revisited on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual interest and mutual respect. Our continued cooperation in this regard can only be premised on a partnership approach that is consistent with Pakistan’s national interests and scrupulous respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and absolutely zero tolerance for any transgression against Pakistan’s state frontiers,” said the prime minister in his opening remarks at the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. The prime minister said the national interests were supreme. “All policies, positions and actions should conform to safeguarding and advancing of our national interests… Our security and counter-terrorism policy needs to be pursued in a manner that suits Pakistan’s national interests… I look forward to your recommendations in this regard,” he said. ‘PROBLEM’: He said that in recent months, there had been a tendency to project Pakistan not as a ‘partner’ but as the ‘problem’. “Our enormous sacrifices and contribution in the campaign against militancy and terror have not been adequately acknowledged. What is worse is the tendency to make Pakistan into a scapegoat for failings of international policies in Afghanistan,” he asserted.Gilani said while Pakistan continued to protest against the drone attacks, which were clearly illegal and counter-productive, the country had also been subjected to numerous cross-border attacks by militants from sanctuaries and safe havens in Afghanistan. Brushing aside the notion that Pakistan was seeking aid or economic assistance from the United States, Gilani said: “Pakistan does not seek economic assistance or aid from the US. What we seek, in fact demand, is respect for our sovereignty and territorial integrity; a firm and categorical commitment on the inviolability of our borders and on non-recurrence of such incidents,” he added. “Our efforts to improve our relations with Afghanistan and support for Afghan-led and Afghan-owned efforts for reconciliation and peace have been misconstrued and actively subverted by certain quarters,” said the prime minister. LIMIT TO PATIENCE: He said there was a limit to Pakistan’s patience as cooperation could not be a one-way street. “Under these most challenging and difficult circumstances, Pakistan has maintained a principled approach and exercised utmost restraint,” he said, adding that it would be a grave miscalculation for anyone to believe that stability and peace in Afghanistan could be restored or maintained by destabilising Pakistan. “Under no circumstances, will we allow Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity to be jeopardised by illconsidered and rash actions such as the attacks on our territory by NATO/ISAF. Our patriotic people and valiant armed forces will spare no sacrifice in the defence of their motherland. Instructions have been issued to all units of the Pakistan armed forces to respond, with full force, to any act of aggression and infringement of Pakistan’s territorial frontiers,” he added.


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