US Forces Repeatedly Put “Boots on The Ground” in Pakistan
Pakistan News: US special forces have conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan’s tribal areas as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand its drone assassination programme, British newspaper claimed. A former Nato officer said the incursions, only one of which has been previously reported, occurred between 2003 and 2008, involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night, and were never declared to the Pakistani government. “The Pakistanis were kept entirely in the dark about it, the newspaper reported. While public opinion has grudgingly tolerated CIA-led drone strikes in the tribal areas, any hint of American “boots on the ground” is greeted with virulent condemnation. After the only publicly acknowledged special forces raid in September 2008, Pakistan’s foreign office condemned it as “a grave provocation” while the military threatened retaliatory action. The military source said that was the fourth raid of previous years. Two of the others targeted Taliban and al-Qaida “high-value targets” near the border, while the third was to rescue a crashed Predator drone. He said that the US sent elite soldiers to the downed Predator because they did not trust Pakistani forces. “People were afraid they would take the parts and reverse- engineer its components,” he said.
US Forces Repeatedly Put “Boots on The Ground” in Pakistan was first posted on December 22, 2009 at 11:05 am.
Naheed Wants Review Petition on NRO Verdict
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan News: Naheed Khan, who was political secretary to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, said Monday that the government should file a review petition after a detailed judgement of the Supreme Court on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is announced.
Talking to media she also said she was of the view that the NRO should have been defended in the court.
‘Personally I think the government should have defended the NRO in the court by highlighting its spirit.’
Naheed said for smooth transition to democracy through free and fair elections, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had presented two points before Pervez Musharraf; either to remove the bar on a third term for the prime ministry or withdrawal of all cases which had not been decided despite a lapse of 12 years.
She said it was the PML-Q government, which chose the option of withdrawal of cases to pave the way for transition to democracy.
Naheed said that Benazir Bhutto had pledged to the nation to remove the 17th amendment and 58-2(B) and implement the Charter of Democracy in its true spirit.
Replying to a question, she said that under Article-248 of the constitution, the president enjoys immunity. However, she said the ministers and others facing revived cases should resign in the best interest of the party.
‘Once they get themselves acquitted from courts, the ministers can rejoin miniseries in a dignified manner,’ she said.
The senior PPP leader said the time had come for the party and the government to openly name the forces inclined to derail democracy instead of giving vague statements.
‘If PPP maintains unity within its ranks and file, no outsider force would be able of remove a democratic government’, she said.
Naheed Wants Review Petition on NRO Verdict was first posted on December 22, 2009 at 11:11 am.
