Joint fight against terrorists vital for peaceful polls: PM

 

 

 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro on Tuesday termed extremism a common challenge for entire nation including political parties, which he said needed to be confronted to ensure holding of general elections in a peaceful and transparent manner.
He was talking to Senators including Senator Maulana Sami Ul Haq, Razina Alam Khan, Waqar Ahmad Khan and Senator Israr Ullah Zehri, who met him separately at the PM Secretariat here.
Soomro said the determination of government and people to see a stable Pakistan was stronger than the intents of the forces wanting to destabilize the political process.
The Prime Minister said free, fair, transparent and peaceful election would bring about political and economic stability in the country.
He said the country was facing shortage of energy and the government was making best possible efforts to expand resources through conservation. About availability of flour in markets, the Prime Minister reiterated that elements involved in hoarding and black marketing would be dealt with strongly.
The government, he said, has established the National Food Security Commission to ensure equitable and transparent distribution of wheat to the Flour Mills and subsequent availability of flour in the market including Utility Stores.
The Prime Minister said the government had taken appropriate measures to ensure law and order during the month of Muharram and called upon all the religious leaders to support the efforts for ensuring peace and harmony in the society.
The Senators apprised the Prime Minister of prevailing socio-economic situation in different parts of the country and gave proposals to help overcome the problems.

Govt to move tripartite body

PESHAWAR: Pakistan has decided to make a complaint to Pak-Afghan-US tripartite commission comprising senior representatives of the three countries over the failure of Afghan government to stop infiltration of militants from Afghanistan, official sources informed on Monday.

According to sources, Pakistan would take up the matter of rise in the attacks on security forces in tribal areas and suicide attacks in various parts of the country.

The sources maintained that intelligence agencies have submitted a report to the government about infiltration of Taliban militants to tribal areas situated on Pak-Afghan border. "Pakistan will ask the Afghan government to increase security on the border as the militants after carrying out attacks on the Pak forces fled to Afghanistan," they said.

They said that the meeting is expected to be held within a few days.

The sources said that Pakistan had already deployed approximately one lakh troops along the border with Afghanistan. "Pakistan will demand a similar number of troops to be deployed by Afghanistan as both the country are equal partners in war on terrorism," they said.

They said that senior leaders of Taliban movement sitting in Afghanistan had been guiding Taliban militants for carrying out attacks on the security forces and suicide bombings in various cities of the country.

According to reports reaching here from Waziristan tribal region, the government had been making tribal lashkar for launching full-scale operation against Taliban militants. "The security forces will provide full help to the tribal lashkar for flushing out Taliban militants and terrorists from the areas," said a source.

According to him, lashkars would be formed in other tribal agencies including Mohmand and Bajaur agencies. "All the political agents have been issued instructions to establish contacts with prominent tribal leaders and maliks for seeking their support," he added.

Musharraf: U.S. troops keep out of Pakistan U.S.: Military operations continue ‘in full cooperation’ along Afghan border

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Despite the growing threat from Islamic extremists, President Pervez Musharraf said U.S. troops are not welcome to join the fight against al-Qaida on Pakistani soil.

Musharraf warned in an interview published Friday that Pakistan would resist any unilateral military action by the United States against militants sheltering in its lawless, tribal regions close to the Afghan border.

"I challenge anybody coming into our mountains," he told Singapore's The Straits Times in the interview, notable for its unusually strident language. "They would regret that day."

The Pakistan-Afghan border has long been considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, as well as a staging ground for Taliban militants planning attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan.

'In full cooperation'
The New York Times reported last week that Washington was considering expanding the authority of the CIA and the U.S. military to launch aggressive covert operations within the tribal regions. Several U.S. presidential candidates have also hinted they would support unilateral action in the area.

On Friday, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that anything the U.S. has done, and anything it will do, has been "in full cooperation" with Pakistan's government.

Musharraf said U.S. troops would "certainly" be considered invaders if they set foot in the tribal regions without his permission. A full transcript of the interview was published on the paper's Web site.

Musharraf also said in the interview that he would resign if opposition parties tried to impeach him after parliamentary elections set for Feb. 18.

Threats of impeachment, resignation
Pakistan's opposition is expected to make gains in the elections amid widespread sympathy for opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated Dec. 27. Opposition groups say they would try and oust the president, although it is still doubtful they could muster the two-thirds parliamentary majority required.

Musharraf — who seized power in a military coup eight years ago — is seen as vulnerable to impeachment over his decision to fire Supreme Court judges and suspend the constitution last year.

"If that (impeachment) happens, let me assure that I'd be leaving office before they would do anything. If they won with this kind of majority and they formed a government that had the intention of doing this, I wouldn't like to stick around," he said. "I would like to quit the scene."

Investigating Thursday's attack
On Thursday, a suicide bombing by a suspected Islamic extremist in the eastern city of Lahore killed 24 people in the first major attack since Bhutto's assassination. All but three of the dead in the bombing outside the High Court were police officers.

Investigators reconstructed the face of the suicide bomber and took prints off his severed fingers on Friday as they probed the attack, which exposed Pakistan's growing vulnerability to Islamic extremists ahead of the elections.

The bombing was the latest in a series of at least 20 suicide attacks in the country over the past three months that have killed around 400 people, many of them security officers.

Lahore police released a photo of the bomber — who appears to be around 30 years old with medium-length black hair and a thin mustache and beard — after reconstructing his mutilated face. Investigators also recovered prints from two of his fingers and were trying to match them with those in a national database, said Lahore anti-terrorism police officer Masood Aziz.