WikiLeaks Endorse ‘Hindu Terrorism’

While describing “win-win” relationship with India, during his famous trip to India, Obama’s main focus was Indo-US united front against terrorism, which relates to the Islamic militancy in the region, but he totally neglected Hindu terrorism which now has also been endorsed by the revelations of the WikiLeaks.

In this connection, in one of its diplomatic cables, WikiLeaks has indicated involvement of top Indian Army leadership in engaging Hindu extremist militants to carry out certain terror operations to keep Indian Muslims on the back foot and to keep pressure on the neighbouring Pakistan’s army and intelligence agencies, particularly the Inter-services Intelligence Agency, while the cable refused to confirm any involvement of ISI in any terror incident across India.

Disclosure of another cable confirmed that there was a nexus of top Indian army officials and extremist Hindu outfits, suggesting that an Indian Police officer, a counter terror specialist with the name of Hemant Karkare had exposed this nexus to some extent when he arrested a serving Colonel of Indian Army, Lt. Colonel Purohit for blazing a Pakistan bound train (Samjhota Express).

The cable further disclosed that Hemant Karkare held a secret meeting with a senior US diplomat at New Delhi and briefed him about the gravity and the growing depth of the nexus between top Indian army leadership and the militant Hindu fanatic groups. Karkare sought the security for him and his family from the said American diplomat as he feared that the army and establishment would eliminate him as intended to move further to expose the network. In addition, he had briefed the said US diplomat that a former Commander in Chief of the Central Command of the Indian army, Lt. General P.N Hoon was heading the militancy wing of the Hindu extremists and was getting full tactical, logistic and financial support from senior army officers. The day, Karkare was eliminated in a pre-planned ambush during the Mumbai attacks, a cable sent to the US read: “we have lost an important link and a vital evidence”.

Another cable sent to Washington termed Hindutva (Hindu Nationalism) brotherhood in general and Shiv Sena in particular, as ticking time bombs with regard to militancy and terrorism. In the cable, it was suggested that fund raisers like Hindu Students Council of America etc. should be banned to raise funds as they were generating funds for the Hindu militant outfits under the garb of charity.

Another file dubs Hindutva Brotherhood as a far bigger threat to regional and global peace that Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the later three were declared as “peanuts”, if equated with Hindutva Brotherhood and Sangh Parivaar and Washington was urged to take up the issue with New Delhi.

However, there is no doubt that under the mask of secularism, Hindu terrorism prevails in every field at the cost of other minorities. It is even supported by Indian defence forces clandestinely. This fact could be judged from the recent past, when in the house of Bajrang Dal fundamentalists in Nanded, a bomb went off. The investigations proved that the militants belonging to the Bajrang Dal were found in the bomb-making and attack on a mosque in Parbhani in 2003. Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra had arrested Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit along with other army officials, indicating that they were helping in training the Hindu terrorists, providing them with the military-grade explosive RDX, used in the Malegaon bombings and terrorist attacks in other Indian cities. ATS further disclosed that Lt. Col. Purohit confessed that in 2007, he was involved in bombing of Samjhota express, which brunt alive 69 Pakistanis. Leaders of the Indian extremist parties, Shiv Sena, BJP, VHP and RSS has still been pressurising the Congress regime to release the culprits.

Before these revelations about Hindu terrorism, Indian government has been accusing the Islamic organizations in contact with Pakistani or Bangladeshi intelligence agencies in carrying out bomb blasts in Malegaon and other Indian places.

As regard Hindu terrorism, BBC indicated on November 21, 2008 that a new phrase has entered the sometimes cliche-riddled Indian press: “Hindu terrorism”, calling it the latest addition to the media lexicon.

Nevertheless, India which claims to be a secular state, has broken all the records of violence, genocide and massacre perpetrated on various ethnic and religious groups, entailing the community of its own lower castes. These atrocities and injustices display that Hindu terrorism is on rise.

It is notable that historical background and religious beliefs which have formed the habits and national character of Hindus are quite different from the other ethnic and religious communities. Indians still have a strong belief in the superiority of their race. Indian Hindus are followers of Chanakya (Say some thing else and do some thing else). These facts have been verified by the misdeeds of Hindu fundamentalist parties like the BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sina and Bajrang Dal which have missed no opportunity to communalise national politics of India even under the Congress rule. With the backing of Indian officials, these parties have intensified anti-Christian and anti-Muslim bloodshed in the last decade coupled with the dissemination of Hindutva.

Besides previous genocide of Muslims and destruction of the Babri Mosque, more than 2500 Muslims were massacred in 2002 in the BJP-ruled Indian state of Gujarat. Regarding that massive genocide, both Human Rights Watch in 2002 and Amnesty International in 2003 charged the “Gujarat state administration” for involvement in “a massive cover-up of the state’s role in that massacre” and pointed out numerous police officials—specifically ministers, high officials and leaders of the VHP, BJP and Bajrang Dal as participants.

On September 13, 2008, the communal riots in Uttar Pradesh killed more than 200 Muslims. In one of the most tragic incidents in Assam, Hindu extremists burnt alive six members of a Muslim family. Violence has continued against the Muslims from time to time. Similarly, assaults on Christians and their property have been executed by the Hindu mobs in Orissa, Assam, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. In this respect, at least 60 Christians have been assassinated in the recent past by Hindu extremists in the state of Orissa. Other minorities of India are also target of Hindu terrorism.

In Maharashtra, non-Hindu communities have lived in constant fear and awe since the advent of the fundamentalist party, Shiv Sena whose Chief Bal Thackeray has organised army of hoodlums to beat up any religious minority, openly directing the Hindu terrorists to loot and stone any of their shop or house. Silence of the subsequent governments on every challenge of Shiv Sena and lack of serious action against Thackeray’s vandalism have clearly verified the support of Indian high officialis behind Hindu terrorism.

Under the cover of democracy and secularism, Indian subsequent regimes dominated by politicians from the Hindi heartland—Hindutva have been using brutal force ruthlessly against any move to free Assam, Kashmir, Khalistan, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Tripura where wars of independence are alive in one or the other form.

Particularly, in the Indian-held Kashmir, since 1947, Indian forces have intermittently been employing all the possible techniques of military terrorism such as curfews, crackdowns, sieges, massacre, targeted killings etc. to maintain their alien rule. However, Indian brutalities keep on going against the current phase of Kashmiri uprising which began on August 12, 2008. In the last two years, more than 3000 unmarked graves of the unidentified bodies were uncovered in villages of Indian-held Kashmir. Sources have suggested that these graves include bodies of extrajudicial executions committed by the Indian military and paramilitary forces. European Parliament strongly condemned India regarding human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir.

The leakage of the diplomatic cables of the WikiLeaks has also indicated Indian Army in gross Human rights violations in Indian held Kashmir. In this respect, Lt. Gen HS Panag, the then GOC-in-Chief of the Northern Command of the Indian Army was equated with General Milosevic of Bosnia with regard to butchering the Muslims in the Indian through war crimes. The related cable urged Washington to secretly divert UN attention towards the genocide of innocent civilians in the Indian occupied Kashmir on the hands of Indian Army and also suggested that the US should avoid holding any joint drill with Indian army until it stops inhuman activities in Kashmir. The cable termed one Lt. Col. AK Mathur as “Devil’s Advocate” at Srinagar.

Nonetheless, besides previous evidence in this context, the disclosures of the WikiLeaks also endorse Hindu terrorism.

Gen. Kayani meets Gen. Petreaus, Norwegian dignitaries in GHQ, Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI: General David H. Petreaus, Commander International Security Assistance Force called on Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Sunday (today) at General Headquarters.

According to an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release, Her Excellency Miss Grethe Faremo, Norwegian Minister of Defence along with General Harald Sunde, Chief of Norwegian Armed Forces also called, in a separate meeting, on the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today at General Headquarters.

The visiting dignitaries remained with him for some time and discussed matters of professional and mutual interest. Trend Pk

US Did Not Want CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry Restored

ISLAMABAD, News Trends: Former US ambassador Anne W Patterson had strongly opposed the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry during a January 2008 meeting with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who told the US ambassador that without restoring of the chief justice, other judges’ restoration would be meaningless.

According to a US embassy cable, the then US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, called on Nawaz Sharif on January 31, 2008 and while discussing different issues, Nawaz Sharif opined that without restoration of the independent judiciary, neither the rule of law could be maintained nor the law and order situation would get better.

Ambassador Patterson said that some of the deposed judges could be restored but Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry could not be restored. On this, Nawaz Sharif told the US ambassador in categorical words that without restoring Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, no other judges could be restored and any such restoration would be meaningless.

The most shocking part of the WikiLeaks cable’s revelation is that on this categorical statement of Nawaz Sharif, Ambassador Patterson stuck to the US stand and disagreed with Nawaz Sharif. She told the PML-N chief that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will not be restored and some high court judges will be restored.

The exact wording of the WikiLeaks cable is as under, “5 (C) … The PML-N’s goal in government would be to reinstate the deposed judiciary and restore the law and order situation. Without restoring the judiciary, Nawaz argued, you cannot restore law and order and rule of law.

6. (C) Ambassador said we continued to support an independent judiciary and wanted to work with the new government on this issue. It was simply too difficult to tackle before elections. We believed there should be a way to restore some of the deposed judges, but not the former Chief Justice. Nawaz insisted that without restoring the Chief Justice, there was no point to filling other slots on the bench. Ambassador disagreed, noting that many of the provincial judges could be restored for the benefit of Pakistan’s judiciary.”

The cable, classified ‘By Anne W. Patterson’, stated:

1. (C) Summary. During a meeting with Ambassador January 31, Nawaz Sharif confirmed he was ready to work with the Pakistan People’s Party in a post-election coalition government and described this union as “the best thing that could happen in Pakistan.” He dismissed reports of threats to his life as attempts by the government to dissuade him from campaigning. Noting that emotions remain high in Sindh, he predicted violence if the election was seen as being rigged for Musharraf’s party. As proof of his pro-Americanism, Nawaz reminded Ambassador that he had overruled his Chief of Staff to deploy Pakistani forces with the U.S. coalition in the first Gulf War. Nawaz remained firm in his belief that all of the deposed judiciary must be reinstated. End Summary.

2. (C) Ambassador and Polcouns met former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif January 31 for an hour during Nawaz’s recent visit to Islamabad. PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also attended the meeting. Nawaz met with EU ambassadors the same day and urged them to take pre-emptive action to prevent rigging in the upcoming election.

3. (C) Ambassador noted the reports about threats to Nawaz’s security and said we were pleased to have briefed his staff on measures that could be taken to enhance his safety. Nawaz responded that the GOP has said he is “number one on the hit list” of the militants, but he is not convinced. Citing the belief that an IED planted on the road he was to travel to a rally in Peshawar lacked a detonator, Nawaz insisted he had received information from credible sources that the device was planted by security services to go off hours after the rally. This was another attempt at government intimidation to convince him not to campaign. Ambassador cautioned him to remain vigilant, as it was clear that militant extremists wanted to disrupt the election.

PML-N/PPP: “the best thing that could happen”

4. (C) In response to Ambassador’s question about whether PML-N could work with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in a possible coalition government, Nawaz recounted how he had immediately gone to the hospital when he heard Benazir Bhutto had been shot, and he had made a special effort to pay a condolence call on Asif Zardari in Larkana. Ambassador said that Zardari had noted his appreciation for this gesture of support. A PML-N/PPP alliance would be “the best thing that could happen to Pakistan,” if it materialised, said Nawaz. The PML-N had reached out to the PPP, and time would tell what alliances could be built. They could also work together in the provincial government of Sindh or the Punjab. He predicted that the PPP could win enough seats to rule in Sindh with or without the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

5. (C) Nawaz expected both PPP and PML-N would do well at the polls if the elections were free and fair; he dismissed the Pakistan Muslim League party, saying that Pervaiz Elahi would get few, if any votes. Claiming he had no vendetta against President Musharraf, Nawaz said the PML-N had also reached out to the Pakistan Muslim League and they in turn had contacted PML-N (Ref A). (Note: He then launched into a long description of his mistreatment after Musharraf overthrew Nawaz in 1999). The PML-N’s goal in government would be to reinstate the deposed judiciary and restore the law and order situation. Without restoring the judiciary, Nawaz argued, you cannot restore law and order and rule of law.

6. (C) Ambassador said we continued to support an independent judiciary and wanted to work with the new government on this issue. It was simply too difficult to tackle before elections. We believed there should be a way to restore some of the deposed judges, but not the former Chief Justice. Nawaz insisted that without restoring the Chief Justice, there was no point to filling other slots on the bench. Ambassador disagreed, noting that many of the provincial judges could be restored for the benefit of Pakistan’s judiciary.

7. (C) Despite the decreased level of campaigning due to security concerns, Nawaz and Khan both said that voter emotions were higher than they have ever seen. Sindh, in particular, remains very tense, and could erupt if the election outcome is perceived as being rigged. Nawaz noted that civil society and student groups were politicised in ways they have not been before. The PML-N did not want violence, but it might be impossible to control the people if they felt they had been wronged. Nawaz expressed concern that extremists could take advantage of and exacerbate tensions. He warned that what he described as negatively perceived U.S. support for Musharraf could create a backlash of anti-Americanism, if the public perceives that the government rigged the elections. “We could be sitting on a volcano, and the next four-five weeks will be critical for the region and for Pak-American relations.”

8. (C) The best thing America has done recently, said Nawaz, was to have General Kayani named as Chief of Army Staff. This appointment is helping Army morale and raising the level of public respect for the Army. Noting that Musharraf met the UK equivalent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Khan said the U.S. and the UK need to stop treating Musharraf as if he still ran the military. CENTCOM Commander Admiral Fallon would have met with Musharraf if the President had not been travelling, asserted Khan. Ambassador replied that we had excellent relations with the Pakistani military and meet them all the time at various levels.

We are Pro-American

9. (C) Nawaz and Khan both repeatedly said that the PML-N was pro-American. Nawaz recounted his decision to override his Chief of Army Staff and deploy Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia in support of the U.S. coalition in the first Gulf War. Meanwhile, Khan noted, the PPP and its leaders were organising street demonstrations against Pakistan joining with the U.S. coalition. Now, Nawaz said, he was hurt that the U.S. did not remember. Nawaz said he understood that 9/11 had changed things, but urged that the U.S. apply some balance to the relationship. In the past, the U.S. was known as the power that rejected dictatorships; that fought for independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. Why, he asked, did we continue to support a man who fired the Supreme Court, abrogated the Constitution, and arrested civil society activists?

10. (C) Comment: The fact that a former Prime Minister believes the U.S. could control the appointment of Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff speaks volumes about the myth of American influence here. Based on our understanding of the current situation, we believe Nawaz can and should take the threats to his life seriously. It comes as no surprise that Nawaz exaggerated his party’s election prospects; his willingness to deal with the PPP is, however, a good sign he is ready to cooperate on government formation.

PATTERSON

Agencies add: Other leaked US embassy documents revealed that the US government was advised to keep reports of human rights violations by the Pakistan Army under wraps by Anne Patterson, who also suggested that focus should be on assistance to Islamabad, which was a close ally on the war against terrorism.

“A growing body of evidence is lending credence to allegations of human rights abuses by Pakistan security forces during domestic operations against terrorists in Malakand Division and Fata,” she wrote in a diplomatic dispatch on September 7, 2009.

“While it is oftentimes difficult to attribute with accuracy any responsibility for such abuses, reporting from a variety of sources suggests that Frontier Corps and regular Pakistan Army units involved in direct combat with terrorists….,” the US cable said.

“The crux of the problem appears to centre on the treatment of terrorists detained in battlefield operations and focused on the extra-judicial killing of some detainees. The detainees involved were in the custody of Frontier Corps or Pakistan Army units,” it said.

Another leaked cable reveals that US Senator John Kerry asked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to present before India Pakistan’s plan of action for fighting terrorism if it was “really serious” in resuming Indo-Pak dialogue, but the premier expressed concern that the public would not support the idea.

Details of the meeting between Senator Kerry and PM Gilani on February 16 were communicated in a confidential cable from the US embassy in Islamabad.

During the meeting, Kerry said in light of the February 13 bombings in Pune, politicians in India were focused on counter-terrorism.

“And as such he suggested that Pakistan present the Indian government with its plan to tackle terrorism,” the cable said.

Kerry told Gilani that this would be a clear “confidence builder” that would make India more willing to move forward in talks about Kashmir and water disputes.

He emphasised that the future of India, Pakistan and the US depended on their governments’ willingness to “challenge old suspicions” and work together and suggested that Pakistan and India sign a non-aggression pact.

British troops were “not up” to the task of securing Afghanistan’s troubled Helmand province and the local governor pleaded for US reinforcements, American diplomats said in a new batch of cables released by WikiLeaks.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai also thought security in the province had deteriorated after British troops were stationed there in 2006, the cables obtained by the website and reported in The Guardian newspaper on Friday said.

“We and Karzai agree the British are not up to the task of securing Helmand,” US diplomats from the Kabul embassy said in a 2008 cable published by the Guardian.

The Helmand governor, Gulab Mangal, told a US team led by Vice President Joe Biden in January 2009 that American forces were urgently needed as British security in Sangin district did not even extend to the main bazaar.

“I do not have anything against them (the British) but they must leave their bases and engage with the people,” Mangal said, according to a cable sent from the US embassy in Kabul.

The head of Nato forces in Afghanistan in 2007-2008 also criticised the British strategy, the newspaper said.

“He was particularly dismayed by the British effort. They had made a mess of things in Helmand, their tactics were wrong, and the deal that London cut on Musa Qala (town) had failed,” Commander Dan McNeil, was quoted by US diplomats as saying.

McNeil was referring to a ceasefire agreement with the Taliban that allowed the British to pull troops out of the besieged town of Musa Qala in 2006.

President Karzai was quoted as telling US officials that the arrival of British troops in the southern province in 2006 had coincided with a deterioration of the situation there.

The leaked cables further revealed that Karzai’s own inner circle considers him weak and sometimes unscrupulous.

Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal described Karzai as an “extremely weak man” who did not listen to facts, one cable dated February this year said, and former Interior Minister Hanif Atmar claimed Karzai did not understand US policy in the region.

Zakhilwal said Karzai’s inner circle had agreed to “collaborate to influence Karzai when they see him going astray”, and support each other if they faced the president’s anger for raising sensitive issues.

US envoy Eikenberry detailed poor leadership and America-bashing from Karzai, said he was “paranoid and weak” and accused him of failing to grasp the “most rudimentary principles of state-building”, which is key to the US mission.

“His deep seated insecurity as a leader combine to make any admission of fault unlikely, in turn confounding our best efforts to find in Karzai a responsible partner,” Eikenberry wrote in a July 2009 cable detailed by The New York Times.

According to the leaked cables, the US spy planes flew reconnaissance flights over Lebanon from a British air base in Cyprus in a counter-terrorist surveillance operation requested by Lebanese officials.

The leaked documents, which did not specify what the 2008 flights were monitoring, revealed Britain feared that if the imagery from the flights was used by the Lebanese army to capture and mistreat suspects, Britain could be seen as complicit.

Brazil repeatedly rebuffed insistent US calls to take detainees held at the notorious Guantanamo prison facility, leaked US cables revealed.

The whistle-blowing website published information from three cables sent from the US embassy in Brasilia.

The first two, which were extracts only from confidential missives, dated from May and October in 2005 and the last, full cable, designated unclassified, was from October 2009.

Each spoke of US efforts since 2003 to get the Brazilian government to take in detainees from the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — each time met with a negative response.

Another leaked document stated that a top Mexican official said the government was in danger of losing control of parts of the country to powerful drug cartels.

In a cable in October 2009, then Deputy Interior Minister Geronimo Gutierrez expressed “a real concern with losing certain regions (of Mexico).”

He added that drug violence is damaging Mexico’s international reputation, hurting foreign investment, and leading to a sense of “government impotence,” the cable said.

Leaked cable also revealed that Egypt lobbied last year to delay southern Sudan’s secession vote for four to six years because it feared the new state could fail and the division could imperil its share of Nile waters.

The cable outlined Cairo’s warnings that a southern vote for independence in 2011 could have “fatal implications,” including destabilising the Horn of Africa, causing an influx of migrants to Egypt, and hurting Suez Canal revenues.

SC resumes hearing of PCO judges case

Supreme Court on Tuesday resumed hearing of PCO judges case.
The bench comprising Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez was hearing contempt of court cases against PCO judges, who had violated the seven-member bench decision on November 3, 2007 and had taken oath under PCO. Aftab Bajwa advocate who filed contempt of court case against Gen (r) Musharraf, Gen Pervez Kayani and Core Commander sought more time from the court.

Bajwa argued that the case under hearing pertained to the Nov 3 acts while his petition is also relevant. Justice Sair Ali told him that he would also be heard before the court ruling. Justice Hamad Ali Shahs counsel Kazim Raza sought benefit of doubt in the case, saying that the judges posts are most revered.

TTP trains bombers in Orakzai, says arrested Taliban commander

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Arrested Taliban Commander Muhammad Rafiq has alleged that some politicians are aiding terrorists because of fear.

Rafiq, who is facing charges of masterminding suicide attack on the Islamabad’s Naval Complex, told his interrogators that suicide bombers are given training in Orakzai Agency.

He revealed that explosive-filled vehicles are also sent from Orakzai Agency under supervision of Mulla Jamshed, Abdul Hanan and Hafiz Saeed.

He further disclosed that banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had a plan to carry out suicide attack at CIA Centre in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Islamabad police released photographs of explosives hidden by the Taliban commander in his law books. Trend Pk

NATO says 15 insurgents killed in Afghan south

KABUL: NATO said Monday that at least 15 Taliban militants were killed in southern Afghanistan in clashes and an air strike.

Troops raided a compound in Baghran district of Helmand province looking for a senior Taliban commander allegedly overseeing and guiding all Taliban military actions in the province.

In clashes at the property, Afghan and NATO troops killed four insurgents, said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), although there was no immediate confirmation that the commander was among the dead.

The military said soldiers destroyed the compound after discovering a bomb-making factory and that the property had been booby-trapped with bombs.

ISAF said an air strike then killed 11 militants who attacked ground troops as they were preparing the leave the area.

The deputy head of Helmand provincial council, Haji Fazel Barry,

NATO allowed Taliban official to Kabul

LONDON: NATO-led forces facilitated the passage of a senior Taliban commander to Kabul to hold talks with the Afghan government, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said on Friday.

U.S. General David Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said the move was part of U.S. and NATO support for President Hamid Karzai’s reconciliation discussions with the Taliban.

“In certain respect we do facilitate that, given that, needless to say it would not be the easiest of tasks for a senior Taliban commander to enter Afghanistan and make his way to Kabul if ISAF were not….aware of it and therefore allows it to take place,” he told an audience in London.

“That’s about as far as I can go on that at this point.”

Petraeus said several “very senior” Taliban leaders had reached out to the Afghan government and other

Afghan Govt holding talks with Taliban: report

Afghan government has begun high-level talks with the Taliban over a negotiated end to the war in the country, the Washington Post said.
Citing unnamed Afghan and Arab sources, the Post said the talks are believed, for the first time, to involve representatives authorised by the so-called Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban group allegedly based in Pakistan, and Taliban leader Mohammad Omar.
They are very, very serious about finding a way out, a source close to the talks told the Post, referring to the Taliban. Omar and other Taliban leaders on both sides of the border have insisted for years that no peace talks were possible before foreign fighters had left Afghanistan. But sources told the Post that the leadership knows that they are going to be sidelined, and was negotiating to ensure their positions were protected.
They know that more radical elements are being promoted within their rank and file, the source said. All these things are making them absolutely sure that, regardless of their success in the war, they are not in a winning position. The negotiations involve agreements to allow Taliban leaders positions in the Afghan government and the withdrawal of US and Nato forces, the newspaper said.
But the talks are believed to exclude representatives of the Haqqani group, which the Post said was the target of recently escalated US drone attacks. US General David Petraeus, the commander of Nato troops in Afghanistan, said last week that the Taliban was approaching the Afghan government and foreign forces with overtures about quitting the fight. There have already been 20 or so overtures from small groups around the country, he told the reporters, referring to a program aimed at reintegrating mid-level Taliban commanders and grassroots fighters back into Afghan society. A Taliban spokesman dismissed Petraeus’s comments as completely baseless, however, saying the insurgents would not negotiate with foreign invaders or their puppet government. Petraeus also said Nato supported efforts by Karzai to open peace talks with the Taliban leadership, and in some cases had helped the process along.
President Karzai has established very clear red lines for it, and in this case we support what it is the Afghan government is doing, and in some occasions facilitated as well, Petraeus said in the interview with the Post. But European officials told the Post that US representatives had been lukewarm to the idea of negotiations until this summer, fearing the US domestic repercussions of talking to the Taliban. That changed this summer, European sources said, when escalated combat in Afghanistan produced disappointing results and US public opposition to the war ramped up.

27 NATO oil tankers torched

Gunmen attacked more than two dozen trucks and tankers carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
According to police, the incident took place in Shikarpur district of the southern province of Sindh and was confirmed by another top administrative official. Around 20 attackers armed with rocket launchers and assault rifles attacked these trucks. They set ablaze 27 trucks parked there. The fire engulfed the cars parked near a hotel and two persons were injured in the incident. Other people in the hotel fled the scene to save their lives.
DPO Abdul Hameed Khosa said the vehicles were parked at a terminal on the edge of Shikarpur town in Sindh province when the attackers opened fire, forcing drivers and others to flee, before setting the fires.He said that the area has been sealed and search operation has been started. DIG Larkana Din Muhammad Baloch and Rangers Wing Commander Col. Mukhtar have reached the spot.
DCO Shikarpur Dr. Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo while talking to Dunya News said that unidentified militants attacked the tankers last night.

Azerbaijan’s NF Commander calls on CJCSC Gen. Tariq Majid

Staff Report

RAWALPINDI: Vice Admiral Shahin Sultanov, Commander Azerbaijan Naval Forces (NF) called on General Tariq Majid, Chairman Joint of Staff Committee (CJCSC) at Joint Staff Headquarters Chaklala on Monday.

According to an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release, they exchanged views on regional security, bilateral defense cooperation and other matter of professional interest.

Admiral Sultanov also offered condolences over the loss of precious lives, expressed solidarity and pledged support from the public and Government of Azerbaijan to the flood victims.

While conveying good wishes for the people and Government of Azerbaijan, General Tariq Majid thanked the Vice Admiral for assistance worth $2 million, and goods worth $0.69 million for flood relief activities. SAMAA

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