US wants coalition to retain local govts

LAHORE, April 4: US Consulate principal officer Bryan D Hunt has said the PPP, PML-N and other allied political parties should revisit their political manifestos and implement them to change the socio-economic condition in Pakistan.

"These political parties should make the changes, what they demanded before elections, in their true letter and spirit," he added.

Mr Hunt was speaking after a special lecture on `Pakistan's Elections 2008: Transition to Democracy’ by Prof Dr Muhammad Waseem, organised by the Pakistan Study Centre, Punjab University, on Friday.

The US Consulate principal officer said the entire election process was credible and now there was a need to strengthen institutions, including parliament.

Mr Hunt also hoped that the new government would strengthen the local government system instead of eliminating it.

He said the US was committed to working with the Pakistan government as well as its all tiers, including provincial and local governments. "The US and Pakistan need to work closely because it is in the interest of both the countries," he added.

During a question and answer session, Mr Hunt said, "I don't think that restoration of judiciary is an issue for the US. It is an internal issue of Pakistan".

He said the US Deputy and Assistant secretaries of State had visited Pakistan to discuss and understand each other's stand.

US wants coalition to retain local govts -DAWN - National; April 05, 2008

who the hell is US to interfere into our state n issue statements about our ways to govern our country?
'restoration of judiciary an internal issue' :) ... as if implementation of menifestos and starting dialogue with alleged trouble makers (in tribal areas) are not pakistan's internal issues... hypocrisy is what they always exhibit... will our leaders ever understand this? will they wake up? will we (the ppl) btw?

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Liberal Assembly of NWFP condemns CIA Director’s comments on Pak tribal areas

The NWFP Assembly has taken a strong note of CIA Director Michael Hayden’s recent statement terming Pakistan’s tribal areas as direct threat to US. The Assembly strongly condemned Hayden’s comments in a unanimous resolution passed by it.

The resolution also said that all the matters should be resolved through holding meaningful talks.

Raising a point of order, PML-N provincial chief Pir Sabir Shah diverted the attention of the House towards the statement issued by the CIA chief, and termed it as direct threat to the country as well as interference and attack on sovereignty of their country.

He said that aggressions from any foreign country would not be tolerated. “My countrymen had witnessed suicide attacks, bomb blasts and destruction only because of the dictatorial policies of the US in this region,” The Nation quoted him as saying.

Provincial ex-CM Akram Khan Durrani seconded the resolution and expressed the same feelings, saying that a joint resolution should be tabled to condemn the CIA chief’s statement unanimously.

Later, the parliamentary leaders of various Parties drafted the resolution and allowed the ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain to move it, and was unanimously passed through which they demanded of the Federal Government to take serious note of the statement issued by the CIA chief immediately as they considered it as an interference in the affairs of an independent country. (ANI)

NWFP Assembly condemns CIA Director’s comments on Pak tribal areas | Top News

Please note that religious parties do not have much representation in the assembly... so US n mush cannot say that these are views of extremists... also see following

Provoked by the recent statements of the CIA director Michael Hayden, the NWFP Assembly promptly adopted a unanimous resolution Tuesday condemning US official’s utterances and asked the PPP-led federal government to take steps to resolve all issues through negotiations.

All parties represented in the assembly ranging from the nationalist ANP to the secular PPP and centrist PML-N, rightist PML-Q to the Islamic JUI-F, backed the resolution. ANP’s Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who will take oath as education minister today, moved the jointly drafted resolution on behalf of all members of the House.
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PPP-S’s Israrullah Gandapur did not agree with the speaker who suggested the mover to leave the issue for another day as no other business could be made except election of the chief minister. He said they could not remain silent spectators like those of school’s children on such important and sensitive issues. “We will be doing no service if we also adopt criminal negligence like that of the previous government,” he said and suggested passage of a resolution. He also asked the federal government to summon US ambassador to know as to whether it was the American policy or a statement of one individual.

Full story at The News website

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US officials’ Islamabad visit criticized!

Washington’s decision to send a delegation to a government which had not yet taken control has been criticised strongly in both Pakistan and the United States.

“It was very ill-advised,” said Dennis Kux, a former US ambassador and a South Asian expert. “I think the timing could have been better.”

“We should let Pakistanis work out their own problems and be happy that there is a democratically elected government there.”

Mr Kux said the Pakistanis were as concerned about the situation in the tribal areas as the Americans were and saw the extremists as a threat to their stability.

“We need a little patience and need to give the new government more time to cool off,” he added. “I don’t think this was the right time to arrive in Islamabad.”

Full story

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"Shake the Three" operation

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Difference between 1-man rule n democracy

US has intensified Fata strikes: WP

Ecerpts only. Source: Dawn

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, March 27: The United States has escalated air strikes against Al Qaeda fighters operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas fearing that the new government in Islamabad may object to future strikes, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
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Officials interviewed by the Post for the article said Washington wanted to inflict as much damage as it can to Al Qaeda’s network now because President Pervez Musharraf may not be able to offer much help in the months ahead.
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The Post noted that neither the US nor the Pakistani authorities officially confirmed US missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.
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Thomas H. Johnson, a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, told the newspaper that policy makers in Washington were aware that “Musharraf’s days are numbered, and so they recognised they may only have a few months to do this. Musharraf has . . . very few friends in the world -- he probably has more inside the Beltway (Washington) than in his own country.”

The report claimed that after months of prodding, the Bush administration and the Musharraf government this year reached a tacit understanding that gave Washington a freer hand to carry out precision strikes against Al Qaeda and its allies in the border region. The issue, however, is so sensitive that neither side is willing to discuss openly, the report added.

According to the Post, the goal of the new US strategy is partly to try to get information on senior Al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, by forcing them to move in ways that US intelligence analysts can detect.

“It’s not a blitz to close this chapter,” a senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the newspaper. “If we find the leadership, then we’ll go after it. But nothing can be done to put Al Qaeda away in the next nine or 10 months. In the long haul, it’s an issue that extends beyond this administration.”

The report said that the Bush administration’s effort to uproot Al Qaeda also has benefited from shifting loyalties among residents of the border region. Some tribal and religious leaders who embraced foreign Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters as they fled from Afghanistan in 2001 now see them as troublemakers and are providing timely intelligence about their movements and hideouts.

Experts interviewed by Post, however, warned that the new US strategy could backfire if missiles take innocent lives.

“The [tribal] Pashtuns have a saying: ‘Kill one person, make 10 enemies,” said Mr Johnson. “You might take out a bad guy in one of these strikes, but you might also be creating more foot soldiers. This is a war in which the more people you kill, the faster you lose.”

look mush tunay kia haal ker diya mulk ka... may Allah guide u....

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