Pak Army to decide timeline of North Waziristan operation: Munter

US ambassador in Pakistan Cameron Munter said that Pak Army will decide timeline of operation in North Waziristan but US wants early start of military operation in the area. He said that military leadership has assured army operation in North Waziristan according to its resources.

Talking to media in Islamabad, he said that it was vital to wipe out Al-Qaeda and terrorist groups from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He said that US had no reservations over Pak-China civil nuclear pact but China should follow international supplier laws.

He said that current Pak government has to do a lot of work for the stability of the region. He said that US will further promote its military and security ties with Pakistan.

US, Britain pledge long-term flood aid for Pakistan

WASHINGTON: Vice President Joe Biden and visiting British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Thursday pledged their countries’ “sustained long-term” support to Pakistani flood victims.

Meeting for the first time here since Britain’s Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition was formed in May, the two said their governments were “committed to ensuring the most effective possible international response to Pakistan’s ongoing flood disaster.”

In the wake of devastating monsoon rains that have left some 10 million Pakistanis homeless, “the US and the UK affirm their commitment to sustained long-term post-flood reconstruction in Pakistan, beyond the immediate humanitarian needs,” they added.

“Stability in Pakistan… is vital for the stability of the region and for security in the wider world,” they said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called

Blast kills 7 in Kurram Agency

PARACHINAR: A bomb exploded at a meeting of tribal elders in Kurram region near the Afghan border on Monday, killing seven people, a government official said.

“We have reports that it happened in a jirga. The death toll could be higher,” the official, Naeemullah Jan, told Reuters.

Taliban insurgents have waged a bombing campaign across the northwest region and in the Pakistani heartland, stoking concern about the stability of the U.S. ally.

The Taliban have in recent weeks kept a low profile as millions of people struggle with the country’s worst floods in memory. AGENCIES

Europe boosts Pakistan aid but rebuilding crucial

BRUSSELS: Europe has boosted aid to flood-hit Pakistan but the country must rebuild infrastructure and replant forests if it is to withstand an increasing threat of climate disasters, the EU’s crisis response chief said.

Kristalina Georgieva flies to Pakistan on Monday to assess how to channel the EU’s 200 million euros ($256 million) of aid in areas where infrastructure has been destroyed, over 4 million people are homeless and disease and starvation are spreading.

The current priority is to provide clean water, food and shelter to the roughly 8 million Pakistanis affected by flooding, but Georgieva said that, in the longer term, Pakistan must take farther-reaching steps to counter similar calamities.

Areas where entire woods have been cut down for fuel and farming might have to be reforested as a barrier to flash flooding, while buildings and bridges must be

India assures UN to support Pakistan

NEW YORK: India’s permanent representative to the United Nations told the organisation’s General Assembly on Friday that India was willing to do “all in our power” to help flood-ravaged Pakistan.

“We extend our wholehearted support to the government of Pakistan in its efforts for relief and rehabilitation of the adversely affected population,” said Hardeep Singh Puri.

Puri’s comments came shortly after Islamabad accepted $5 (m) million US dollars in aid from India for flood victims, a rare expression of goodwill between the feuding neighbours at a time when Pakistan is reeling from one of its worst ever natural disasters.

The floods began on July 29 in the northwest of Pakistan after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains and have since swamped thousands of towns and villages in Punjab and Sindh provinces.

The floods have affected about one-fifth of

Pakistanis brace for more destructive flooding

SHAHDADKOT: Residents of a southern Pakistani town fled rising flood waters on Saturday in a new frontline of a disaster that has raised questions about the stability of the U.S.-backed government.

Authorities struggled to shore up an embankment holding back a growing tide on the edge of Shahdadkot, in Sindh province, which aid groups say is still highly vulnerable to floods that have raged through Pakistan for three weeks/

A heavy stream of trucks, tractors and donkey carts transported people away, repeating scenes played out throughout the catastrophe that has made more than four million homeless.

“People are saying it’s dangerous to stay,” said Riaz Hussain, as he finished packing his family and possession, including two water buffalo, onto a trailer behind a tractor.

“I’ll find some corner to live with my family.”

The flood is spreading

Flood aid to help cut US negative image: aid chief

LONDON: The United States hopes its rapid, generous response to Pakistan”s epic floods will help overcome the negative image many Pakistanis have of the United States, the Obama administration”s aid chief said.

Washington has sent rescue helicopters, delivered medicines and more than half a million halal meals and water as Pakistan”s fragile government struggles with the worst floods in 80 years, which have killed more than 1,600 people.

“As the Pakistani people see the tremendous efforts that America is making to provide them with support … they will appreciate the commitment that we have there (in Pakistan),” Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said in an interview.

The United States is viewed with suspicion by most Pakistanis, despite a commitment to spend $1.5 billion a year over the next five years on nonmilitary aid.

Asked whether he thought the U.S. response to the floods could change that negative image, Shah replied: “I hope so, of course.”

The latest Pew poll shows only 17 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable view of the United States and even fewer — eight percent — see President Barack Obama positively.

The United States has given $35 million in flood relief so far and Shah said more funds would be added, with fears the situation will deteriorate as more rains come.

“This could get a lot worse,” he warned.

A big focus in coming days will be to prevent communicable diseases such as cholera while also making sure as many people as possible are rescued.

Ensuring adequate food supplies is also a priority, with widespread destruction of crops and livestock in many areas.

“We are tracking that very closely,” he said, adding that on the plus side Pakistan has a wheat surplus this year.

U.S. officials are looking at whether some funds already committed for various projects will be reallocated to deal with the immediate crisis created by the floods, which have affected 12 million people in two provinces.

One senior U.S. official, who declined to be named, said there was some frustration over Pakistan”s slow pace of delivering a detailed list of needs and priorities.

But Shah said there was always a lack of clarity in the early days of a disaster. “We call it the fog of relief,” he said. “In a disaster, every day is about doing it better and being more effective and getting better data.”

The United States is working with the United Nations and other allies of Pakistan to assess needs and how much aid will be required over the short and long term.

There is also talk of an international donors meeting, possibly on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly next month, but it could be sooner.

Eyebrows have been raised by the decision of Pakistan”s President Asif Ali Zardari to continue with a trip to Europe this week while the floods ravaged his country.

Shah declined to comment on Zardari”s decision or whether the Obama administration had pressed him to return home. “I probably should not get into that,” said Shah, who was in Pakistan last month.

PM for action against terrorists in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said his government is quite committed to serve the nation in the backdrop the flood crisis facing the nation at present, Geo News reported Saturday.

Addressing the nation after a crucial meeting at the CM House, he said the code of conduct has been constituted in consultation with all political parties to improve the conditions in the provincial capital and the federal government will help the implementation of this code.

The PM Gilani said everyone will have to act upon this code and all political forces will cooperate with the security agencies to ensure peace in the city.

‘We cannot allow anyone to brandish arms in open and those who disrupt the peace, would be exposed. The criminals would be treated indiscriminately,’ the Premier said.

He stressed all core issues would be resolved amicably with no immunity to be afforded to anyone whosoever.

The crackdown will be undertaken against the terrorists in Karachi and target killing would be brought under control, he said adding the entire nation is overly anxious over circumstances in the city.

‘We are fully committed to serve our nation,’ he remarked adding the stability in Karachi is quite indispensable for the stability in the country.

Yousuf Raza said all necessary arrangements have been made to guard against the flooding with all agencies put on alert and the federal government will stand by the provincial government in its efforts to cope with the calamity.

Gilani said the losses in Sindh wrought by flood, would be assessed and the world community would be approached to help Pakistan.

Pakistan belongs to all and everybody should help flood-hit people, the PM Gilani said urging there should be no point scoring on the flood.

He also urged the nation to come forward to help their fellow Pakistanis stranded in the flooded areas, saying, ‘We will ask the world community to help us cope with the cataclysmic floods in the country.’

He said, ‘I talked to Altaf Hussain and asked him that we are to hand-in-hand strengthen the city.’

The deployment of the Pak Army is uncalled for in Karachi, he said.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Ali Qaim Shah and Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik were also present at the press conference.

U.S. reviewing more sanctions on N.Korea

SEOUL: The United States may implement additional sanctions on North Korea in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said on Tuesday.

“Considering the threat to the stability of the Korean peninsula from the Cheonan incident, the U.S. is considering additional sanctions against the North,” Yu said on local TV.

The Security Council adopted resolution 1874, which cut offPyongyang”s arms trade, last year, after the North”s second nuclear test.

No plan to impose martial law: Thai PM

LONDON: Thailand”s embattled prime minister said he would step down if he believed he were an obstacle to his country”s stability, in a BBC interview released on Tuesday.

But Abhisit Vejjajiva said the country”s problems were not purely political and involved security and what he called “terrorist” problems, saying Thailand needs more than a short-term solution.

He also said there were no plans to impose martial law to clamp down on weeks of protests to campaign for immediate elections, according to excerpts of the interview released by the BBC before broadcast.

Asked if he would step down if he believed he were an obstacle to Thailand”s recovery and stability, Abhisit replied: “Of course. I”ve never put my interests above the country”s.”

But he said: “We are in agreement at the moment that the problems we are seeing is not a purely political problem. There are security problems involved, there are terrorist problems involved.

“We need to tackle all those issues at the same time. When we talk about the stability everyone wants to achieve, not a short-term stability waiting for the problem, the same problem to be repeated again and again,” he added.

His comments came as Thailand”s anti-government ”Red Shirts” continued protests in a bid to thwart a feared military crackdown as the government talked tough against the protesters.

Abhisit, regarded as elitist and undemocratic by his opponents, said he had no power to declare martial law.

“Martial law would be declared by the armed forces, it”s not within my power to do so. At the moment they have no intention of doing so,” he said.

“Well from my discussion with the people responsible and the people who have powers, they have no intention of declaring martial law at the moment,” he added.

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