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Vajpayee, Musharraf stick to stated positions Almaty (Kazakhstan), June 4 (ANI): Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has expressed his readiness for talks with President Pervez Musharraf over Kashmir, but only after cross-border terrorism had stopped. "We have repeatedly said that we are willing to discuss all issues with Pakistan, including Jammu and Kashmir, but for that, cross-border terrorism has to end," Vajpayee told the gathering on the opening day of the first-ever Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia in the Kazakh commercial city of Almaty on Tuesday. "Regrettably, in recent times, the resolution of conflict by way of dialogue has been impeded by a powerful adversary. Its name is terrorism supported by religious extremism. It has emerged as the greatest adversary of peace, security, democracy and multi- confessional societies in Asia and the whole world. Experience shows that terror has no respect for borders or lines of control," he added. Earlier, Musharraf, while addressing the conference, pledged that his country would not start a war against India. "We do not want war. We will not initiate war. But if war is imposed on us, we will defend ourselves with the utmost resolution and determination," he said. Musharraf acknowledged that high tension along Pakistan's border with India had stirred "deep fears in South Asia and around the world over the real possibility of conflict." While denying New Delhi's charge that Islamabad was supporting militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir, the General said, "Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist acts outside or inside its boundaries." It is still unclear whether Vajpayee would meet Musharraf at the conference. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to broker a meeting between the leaders, has said that the tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours was destabilising the entire subcontinent. "The explosive state of relations between India and Pakistan causes deep concern. This is seriously destabilising the situation on the entire South Asian subcontinent," he told the gathering. (ANI) British mission not to accept fresh visa applications
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to top New Delhi, June 4 (ANI): The British High Commission has decided not to accept any fresh application for visas, including student visas, except in emergency cases. According to High Commission sources, this measure has been adopted because of staff shortage and will remain in operation for at least two weeks. A large number of non-essential personnel have left for home following instructions from the UK government in the wake of Indo-Pak tension leading to war scare.(ANI)
Musharraf may meet Nawaz, Benazir abroad Go to top Islamabad, June 4 (ANI): The military regime is exploring the possibility of a meeting between President Musharraf and former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif during his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi on 8th and 9th of this month, official sources told 'The Nation' on Monday. A Ministry of Information official confirmed the Musharraf visit to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi but won't share the specific agenda saying, "I have yet to receive the agenda of the President". The visit is being seen in the context of the military standoff between Pakistan and India and Musharraf's recent diplomatic initiative to muster maximum support from Muslim and western states at a time when influential western power players are bracketing the freedom movement in disputed Kashmir with that of terrorism. Despite invitations to PPP and PML (N) to hold discussion with the President on the issue of dangerous military standoff with India, the second tier leaders of these parties have not given encouraging response to the government's political initiative in a bid to develop a national consensus against possible conflict with India. The recent initiatives by the government witnessed a relatively soft corner for PML (N) and PPP. The unexpected accommodation by the government is being linked to one point agenda to unite the whole nation against India which could possibly exploit any political crises inside Pakistan, opines a political observer.(ANI)
PPP puts off London meet
Go to top Karachi, June 4 (ANI): The PPP has postponed its meeting scheduled to be held in London on June 6 and instead decided to hold a series of meetings from June 5 all over the country. Sources said the party has adopted a new strategy to hold district-level party meetings and claimed that chairperson Benazir Bhutto would preside over these meetings over telephone. Sources said the visa problem was the main reason for the postponement of the London meeting since the UK diplomatic missions in Pakistan have shut their visa sections in view of the Indo-Pakistan war scare. Leaders who reached London were directed to go back and arrange the district-level party meetings in the country. The party insiders said the leaders of all the four provinces were also directed to arrange meetings of the district organisations with the party chief. Sources said the party chief wanted to discuss with the workers the award of the ticket to party candidates for general election. However, the other sources claimed that Benazir Bhutto wanted to assess the party position before her return to the country. The party insiders said that Benazir Bhutto returned to Dubai from London after postponement of the party meeting. She invited more then 400 party activists to a meeting in London but the British Deputy High Commission refused to grant visa to a majority of them. The party leaders living in London also contacted the Home Ministry and requested them for visa to party leaders. However, the British authorities turned down the request and finally the party postponed the meeting.(ANI)
Pak "buying" tribals to help nab Qaeda, Taliban activists: Post
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top Washington, June 4 (ANI): Pakistani officials are paying cash to tribal leaders in areas bordering Afghanistan to help ferret out suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban activists slipping in from across the Afghanistan border, according to the Washington Post. Pakistani authorities do not speak publicly about their approaches to the tribal elders who hold sway in the untamed border regions, where Islamic militants have found support for decades. But in the quest to root out the remnants of the Al- Qaeda and Taliban forces recently pushed out of Afghanistan by the US-led offensive, experts say self-interest is a reliable lever. "There are two things which motivate the tribals - money and religion," the Post quoted a retired senior military officer who recalled purchasing the cooperation of tribal elders in military operations. "You can buy them off," he said. "Religion will always be there. Everybody prays five times a day in that area. But they never lose sight of their wallet." The new campaign, prompted by US pressure on Pakistan's military government to move against Al Qaeda and Taliban concentrations, includes a substantial public overture. Pakistani authorities recently announced a package of incentives for the 3.5 million people of the tribal belt: new roads, schools and health centres valued at 125 million dollars, a record amount for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, as the 10,000-square-mile section is formally known. In exchange, Pakistan's armed forces gained elders' permission to move freely in the tribal areas, including North and South Waziristan, where the largest groups of Al Qaeda fighters are said to be hiding. With many Pakistani troops being moved away from the Afghan border toward Kashmir in the northeast, such free access could prove essential for the remaining forces. Lt-Gen Mohammed Ali Jan Orakzai, commander of Pakistan's 11th Corps, formalized the arrangement over tea with elders. Orakzai, who hails from a tribal agency of the same name, has a reputation for dealing effectively with the ethnic Pashtun elders who expect to be consulted on all matters in the region, nominally governed by an agent of the government. In December, Orakzai negotiated access for 60,000 Pakistani troops who sealed the Afghan border during the battle of Tora Bora, capturing 300 escaping Al-Qaeda fighters. The price of such access, which was described as unprecedented intrusion, included electrification and roads. On the Afghan side of the notoriously porous border, US payments to warlords have met with mixed success. The payments allowed Americans to stand back from battles in which their involvement surely would have prompted the enemy to fight harder. But mercenaries are, by definition, for sale. Hundreds of Al Qaeda and Taliban guerrillas are thought to have escaped Tora Bora after paying an Afghan commander nominally working for the United States to look the other way. The foreign fighters gathered in North and South Waziristan may include some who escaped Tora Bora. Most, however, showed up after the battle at Afghanistan's Shahikot Valley in March, according to a native of South Waziristan who now lives in Islamabad. Claiming to be fighting a religious war, the fighters exploited the Pashtuns' strong tradition of offering hospitality to fugitives. Many arrived calling themselves members of Tablighi Jamaat, itinerant Islamic proselytisers who sleep in mosques, the former resident said. The current situation appears fluid. Pakistan's religious parties issued dire warnings and organised street protests after a raid on a religious school, or madrassa, associated with a former Taliban official in North Waziristan in April, largely because several US soldiers accompanied the Pakistani troops who carried out the fruitless raid. In the town of Miram Shah, clerics organised "death squads" to guard other madrassas. Rockets were fired at the compound where US forces were thought to be staying. Yet as stridently as the tribes reject any US presence - including the FBI and CIA agents who Pakistani officials privately acknowledge have been working discreetly in tribal regions since last fall - the elders say they have no problem with the Pakistan army.(ANI)
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