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leon Panetta ‘People of india, Pakistan Pakistan into asian CuP final Misbah, akmal shine ‘confident’ on afghan- must work together us strategic treaty to build an asian century’ in emphatic win PAGE | 06
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rs15.00 vol ii no 258 22 Pages lahore edition
Military agrees to resume cooperation with US after parliament’s nod ISLAMABAD ShAIQ huSSAIN
The top brass of the country’s armed forces on Thursday approved a plan to resume cooperation with the United States in counter-terrorism war under a set of “new terms of engagement” likely to be approved by the parliament’s joint session scheduled for March 19. The decision was made during a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) held at the Joint Staff Headquarters, an official statement said. JSCS Chairman General Khalid Shameem Wynne presided over the meeting attended by the chiefs of the three armed forces, Defence secretary, the directors general of Joint Staff, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Strategic Plans Division, and other senior military officers. “The JCSC is the highest defence forum. It is held on quarterly basis to dilate upon the complete security matrix. The forum during the current meeting reviewed the prevailing national and regional security environment and the challenges faced therein,” the statement said. “Situation on the borders was discussed threadbare and all the participants expressed satisfaction over the operational preparedness and the morale of the Armed Forces,” it added. A military official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the meeting discussed the plan to start full counter-terrorism cooperation with the US in case the “new terms of engagement” with Washington were approved by the parliament. The official said, “Under the new terms of engagement Pakistan will reopen NATO supply routes once again for US and its allies, but with some conditions such as taxes on oil tankers and containers.” He said the drone attacks would also be reduced to minimum required number by the CIA and that too in accordance with intelligence information provided by Pakistani officials. “Moreover, the CIA operatives and American military trainers would be allowed to come here but that too in very small numbers and their activities would be fully known to Pakistani authorities,” the official said.
Friday, 16 March, 2012 rabi-ul-sani 22, 1433
WON’T WRITE THE LETTER!
Prison better than gallows BAHAWALPUR
P
AGeNCIeS
RIME Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has taken a novel stance against the Supreme Court on writing a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, saying that the action would be tantamount to treason under Article 6 of the constitution which could bring the death penalty. “If I write a letter, it will be a violation of the constitution, which is treason, and which carries the death sentence,” Gilani said while addressing the fifth convocation of the Islamia University, Bahawalpur on Thursday. “If I don’t write, I will be convicted for contempt, the punishment for which is six months’ imprisonment,” he added. Dramatising the situation, the PM asked the students in the auditorium what should he do in this situation. Some among the students replied that he should choose six months’ imprisonment. Gilani said he would deliver the students’ advice to the authorities concerned. Last week, the Supreme Court had ordered Gilani to ask Switzerland to reopen corruption cases by March 21. On Wednesday, the information minister claimed that only the parliament had the power to withdraw immunity for the president.
Meanwhile, the lawyer who represented the Government of Pakistan in corruption cases against Zardari said the Swiss government would withdraw immunity for Zardari if Pakistan revokes the protection enjoyed by its president. “If the Pakistani government abolishes the presidential immunity, the Swiss authorities will follow suit,” Macaulay Franklin said while talking to a private TV channel. He said the Pakistani government could write to the Swiss authorities seeking details about Zardari’s assets, but the Swiss government alone could not act due to the presidential immunity. He said if the funds from alleged Swiss accounts were moved somewhere else to affect the proceedings of the case, it would be considered another crime under the money laundering act. The prime minister said that national institutions had been strengthened due to the “politics of reconciliation”. He said the independence of judiciary and the supremacy of the parliament were the “fruits of democracy”. Gilani said attempts for stopping Senate elections were made through “conspiracies” such as the memo scandal and the NRO case, but proved futile. About resuming NATO supply routes to Afghanistan, he said the parliament would decide the matter. Gilani said the people of Punjab
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pM says writing a letter against the president would be tantamount to treason under article 6, and not writing would bring six months in jail
wanted a new province, not an administrative unit. He said those who were talking about Bahawalpur province were sabotaging the efforts for Saraiki province. After the ceremony, the
Swiss hostages escape Taliban
Suicide bomber kills Peshawar SP PESHAWAR STAff RePORT
Taliban break US contacts KABUL AfP
The Taliban broke off confidence-building talks with the Americans on Thursday and the Afghan president ordered US troops out of villages, demanding a transition of security from NATO control in 2013. “It was due to their alternating and everchanging position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans,” the Taliban said on their website. In Kabul, Panetta and Karzai gave radically different versions of talks between the two men, after the Americans insisted that recent events would not see US-led NATO combat troops withdraw earlier than scheduled in 2014. Karzai then told Panetta that US-led international forces should “be withdrawn from villages and relocated in their bases”, his office said. There was no immediate response from NATO or Panetta, who told reporters after his Karzai talks that he was “confident” both sides could work out a treaty allowing a US military presence in the country beyond 2014.
prime minister laid the foundation stone of Bahawalpur University College of Agriculture, and the Environmental Sciences block which would be completed at a cost of Rs 420 million.
RAWALPINDI: Swiss couple Daniela Widmer and Olivier David Och wave upon their arrival at the Qasim air base on Thursday. afp PESHAWAR STAff RePORT/AfP
A Swiss couple abducted by the Taliban from Zhob in Balochistan and held captive for over eight months were flown back to Islamabad on Thursday, after they were found from an area in the militant-infested North Waziristan Agency. Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 28, were abducted at gunpoint on July 1, apparently on holiday. Security officials said they were found at a checkpost in North Waziristan, but the nature of their release was clouded in mystery and there were claims that they escaped. “They are safe and sound,” army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. “They told us that they escaped and then they reported to our checkpost. That’s what they told intelligence agencies currently debriefing them.” The Taliban claimed the abduction in July, demanding that they be
exchanged for Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist jailed in 2010 in New York for the attempted murder of US government agents in Afghanistan. But the details surrounding the couple’s recovery were unclear. The Swiss embassy refused to comment when contacted by AFP and senior Taliban commanders could not be reached. Officials said the Taliban released the couple in Spilga village in North Waziristan, but they were not able to say whether any ransom had been paid or demands from the Taliban had been accepted. However, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter told a news conference in Bern that the couple had escaped and that no ransom was paid. Burkhalter praised Och, a policeman from Bern, and his partner Daniela, who he said showed “great courage” and were free. The foreign minister said “no ransom was paid” for the couple as
Switzerland does not pay to free hostages. In October, a video emerged of the couple — apparently in relatively good health — flanked by four masked gunmen pointing rifles at their heads. Wali-ur Rehman, deputy head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, had claimed the kidnapping, telling AFP in July that they were in “a very safe place” and that they were “completely in good health”. According to visas stamped in their passports, the Swiss couple arrived in Pakistan from India on June 28. The pair entered Balochistan from Punjab province and may have been heading for Quetta, possibly en route to Iran, officials in Islamabad have said. Their blue Volkswagen van was found abandoned in Loralai district, around 170 kilometres (100 miles) east of Quetta.
Gen Majeed’s son-in-law recovered | PaGe 02
A senior police officer was killed and his two body guards were injured when a suicide bomber ambushed his vehicle at Ring Road Chowk on Bara Road. Security officials said that Peshawar Superintendent of Police (Rural) Kalaam Khan was going to office from his residence in Hayatabad when he was targeted by the bomber. The injured cops are stated to be in stable condition. The slain SP belonged to Dir, and oversaw security affairs in the rural areas of Peshawar that border the restive tribal belt. A few days ago, a suicide bomber targeted a funeral procession, killing 15 people and injuring more than 30 others. Later, Kalaam’s funeral prayers were held at Police Lines, Peshawar. In addition to high-ranking police officers, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Barrister Masud Kausar, Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, KP Inspector General of Police Akbar Khan Hoti and Inspector General of Frontier Corps Major General Nadir Zeb Khan attended the funeral prayers. A helicopter then airlifted Kalaam’s body to his native village in the Maidan area of Lower Dir.