Corps commanders discuss security
 

RAWALPINDI: A special corps commander's conference under the chair of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is underway at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi to discuss the country's security conference, Geo News reported.

According to an ISPR statement, a Special Corps Commanders Conference will review the prevailing security situation in the country. All Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers are attending the meeting.

The extraordinary meeting of the corps commanders came against the backdrop of sharp US allegations that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) supported the Haqqani group Washington blames for the recent attack on its embassy and other targets in Kabul.


[url=http://www.geo.tv/9-25-2011/86683.htm]Corps commanders discuss security - GEO.tv[/url]

BNP leader Abdul Salam killed in Khuzdar
 

KHUZDAR: Balochistan National Party (BNP) leader Abdul Salam was gunned down by unidentified people in Khuzdar, Express 24/7 reported on Wednesday.

Two armed men riding a motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on Salam’s vehicle and injured him and his daughter.
Both the victims were taken to the hospital, where Salam succumbed to his injuries. His daughter is in critical condition.
Police have registered a case and have started investigation.
Salam was a prominent lawyer of Khuzdar. The Balochistan Bar Association has strongly condemned the killing and has announced complete boycott of court tomorrow, as a protest against the killing.
Numerous leaders of the BNP have been killed in targeted attacks as the situation in Balochistan remains volatile. In July this year, BNP leader Jumma Khan Raisani was gunned down in Khuzdar.
President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Asma Jehangir said Balochistan’s situation has been deteriorating since the day security forces were given authority to make decisions for the province.

[url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/262445/bnp-leader-abdul-salam-killed-in-khuzdar/]BNP leader Abdul Salam killed in Khuzdar – The Express Tribune[/url]

Contact between US, Pakistan intact: Marc Grossman
 

WASHINGTON: US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman on Wednesday said Washington does not want its relations with Pakistan to end.

Amid growing pressure from Capitol Hill for some action against Pakistan, there are signs that US officials are now pushing to cool down rising temperatures.
This comes at the heels of a bill introduced by Senate Appropriations Committee recently that made ‘all’ US financial assistance to the Government of Pakistan privy to conditions of cooperation against the Hqqani network and other terror groups associated with al Qaeda.
Talking to Express 24/7, Grossman urged on the need to work towards shared interests and also claimed that contacts between the two countries at all levels were intact.
Grossman reiterated that terrorism is a common enemy and the two countries needed to work together to fight it.

[url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/262630/contact-between-us-pakistan-intact-marc-grossman/]Contact between US, Pakistan intact: Marc Grossman – The Express Tribune[/url]

APC passes 13-point resolution to demonstrate unity
 

ISLAMABAD: The national political leadership on Thursday said that the All Parties Conference (APC) had sent a message across the globe that Pakistanis were united and would not compromise on national security at any cost. Therefore, a 13-point resolution has been passed unanimously.

The APC was attended by Mian Nawaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar, Asfandyar Wali, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Haji Munir Orakzai, Munawar Hasan, Imran Khan, Shaikh Rashid along with 50 other leaders of political parties.

Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shamim and Director General Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha were also present in the meeting.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and DG ISI Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha briefed the participants of APC on the issue of national security in response to the recent allegations by the United States.

The participants agreed that the country should opt for the trade and not aid.

Commenting upon the outcome of APC, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Awami Muslim League said that all the leaders had decided to stand with Pakistan Army and country's security agencies. We all were unanimous that no one would be allowed to attack at country's sovereignty, he added.

He said the ISI chief stated that Pakistan had no link with the Haqqani network. He said participants of the meeting also demanded of the government to review country's foreign policy.

The head of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan said that he participated in the conference to show the world that Pakistanis are one on the issue of country's defence and other important national matters. He said a Parliamentary Committee had been constituted to ensure implementation of `Joint Declaration' and the resolution passed earlier by the Parliament for the security of the country.



[url=http://geo.tv/9-30-2011/86904.htm]APC passes 13-point resolution to demonstrate unity - GEO.tv[/url]

Petrol price to be increased by Rs 4.15
 

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to increase the prices of petroleum products, Geo News reported.

According to government sources the price of petrol will be raised by Rs4.15 per litre while the price of diesel will increase by Rs1.50. The price of High Octane will be increased by Rs2.72 per litre.

The notification for the increase in prices is expected to be issued soon.

[url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=23683&title=Petrol-price-to-be-increased-by-Rs-4.15]Petrol price to be increased by Rs 4.15[/url]

US forces not to enter Pakistan: US official
 

WASHINGTON: A senior US official told Reuters on Friday that Washington would not send ground troops into Pakistan to attack militant positions in North Waziristan.

"There will be no boots on the ground," the official said. "That has been communicated to them (the Pakistanis)." (Reuters)

[url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=23688&title=US-forces-not-to-enter-Pakistan:-US-official]US forces not to enter Pakistan: US official[/url]

Haqqanis deny killing Rabbani: report
 

KABUL: The operational leader of Taliban-allied militant group the Haqqani network denied it killed Afghan peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani in an interview with a British news network on Monday.

Sirajuddin Haqqani also said the Haqqanis, blamed for a string of high-profile recent attacks on Western targets in the Afghan capital Kabul, were not linked to Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI.

"We haven't killed Burhanuddin Rabbani and this has been said many times by the spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate," he said, referring to the Taliban.

Afghan officials have blamed the Taliban for the September 20 turban bombing that killed Rabbani in Kabul, saying the killer was Pakistani and that it was plotted by the Afghan Taliban's leadership body, the Quetta Shura, in Pakistan.

However, no Afghan officials have specifically accused the Haqqani network over the killing.

President Hamid Karzai is reviewing his strategy for talking peace with the Taliban in the wake of the killing of Rabbani, who was chairman of the High
Peace Council, his spokesman has said.

Haqqani also denied any recent links between his network and the ISI.

He said during the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, mujahedeen fighters "had contacts with the intelligence agencies of Pakistan and other countries, but after the invasion by the Americans, there have never been contacts by intelligence agencies of other countries which could be effective for us." (AFP)

[url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=23806&title=Haqqanis-deny-killing-Rabbani:-report]Haqqanis deny killing Rabbani: report[/url]

Making it explicit: We will talk to the Haqqani network, says PM
 

LAHORE: It had only been hinted at in the resolution adopted by the all parties conference (APC) on Thursday, but Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday confirmed that his administration is ready to start talks with all factions of the Taliban, including the Haqqani network.
“If negotiations fail to work, the government will launch military operations in the tribal areas,” he told a small group of journalists at his private residence in Lahore.
The prime minister did not specifically refer to North Waziristan – the tribal region where the Haqqanis are believed to be based – when talking about military campaigns.
He said that the approach currently being tried was similar to that which was tried in Swat, where the government offered a peace deal to the militants in 2009, but launched a military operation after the Taliban refused to honour their end of the bargain.
For the first time, the prime minister provided details about how the talks would be conducted. “We will not ask them to disarm before the negotiations since this is against the tribal culture. However, the political agents [government administrators in the tribal regions] will ask them to decommission themselves,” he said.
Prime Minister Gilani confirmed that the talks would be monitored by a parliamentary committee, to ensure transparency and civilian oversight of the process.
The nation’s chief executive took pride in the unanimity that the government was able to put on display at the APC, where nearly 60 political parties, as well as the civilian and military leadership of the country agreed to a resolution, albeit one that was phrased vaguely and did not mention the United States by name.

Nevertheless, the prime minister said the show of unity had dissuaded the United States from its strident criticism of Pakistan and even claimed that the US had agreed to forswear future unilateral action in Pakistan.
“There will be no [foreign] boots on Pakistani soil,” said Gilani. “Pakistan has gotten assurances from the United States that there will not be any unilateral action like the May 2 Abbottabad incident.”
Several prominent politicians in the United States, including Senator Lindsey Graham, had called for unilateral action against the Haqqani network in North Waziristan after then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen testified before the US Congress that the network was likely involved in the attack on the US Embassy in Kabul.
Mullen had called the Haqqani network, a “veritable arm of the ISI,” a charge that the prime minister urged the media to essentially ignore.
Since those allegations, both sides have been trying to calm tensions, and the prime minister was keen to highlight Pakistan’s desire to play a peacemaking role in Afghanistan.

“Our common enemy, which does not see us united, might be involved in [former Afghan president Burhanuddin] Rabbani’s assassination and I categorically informed [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai that we should not play into the hands of such elements,” said Gilani, referring to what is believed to be a Taliban-backed assassination of the former Afghan president who had been charged with a peacemaking role in Afghanistan.

[url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/265710/making-it-explicit-we-will-talk-to-the-haqqani-network-says-pm/]Making it explicit: We will talk to the Haqqani network, says PM – The Express Tribune[/url]

3000 MW added to National Grid after PM's move
 

ISLAMABAD: Finance Ministry, on the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, has released Rs11 billion to the Ministry of Petroleum, Geo News reported.

According to Spokesperson for the PM House, following increase in loadshedding and massive protests against it, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani had directed the Ministry of Finance to immediately release Rs11 billion to the ministry of petroleum.

The spokesman further said that after the release of the amount, around 3000 MW electricity has been added to the national grid that would ease loadshedding.

[url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=23903&title=3000-MW-added-to-National-Grid-after-PMs-move]3000 MW added to National Grid after PMs move[/url]

PML-Q to resign from government
 

[B]ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Q has decided to quit from the government.[/B]

The decision took place in a Parliamentary Committee meeting held in Islamabad led by Party head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Senior leader of PML-Q Faisal Saleh Hayat confirmed the resignation to DawnNews.

He said that his party members have resigned from the federal cabinet because the Pakistan Peoples Party has failed to resolve the energy crisis.

Hayat further said that the government never fulfilled their demands which were conditioned to the join the government.

He said that a letter has been submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly to allot PML-Q opposition benches in the National Assembly.

[url=http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/04/pml-q-to-resign-from-government.html]PML-Q to resign from government | Pakistan | DAWN.COM[/url]