Pakistan army warns PM Gilani over criticisms

Pakistan's military has publicly rebuked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over an escalating row.

The army warned of "serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences" after the PM criticised military leaders in a media interview.

Meanwhile, Mr Gilani has sacked his defence secretary, who is seen as having close ties to the military.

Tensions have been rising in recent months between Pakistan's civilian government and military leaders.

The latest row is a serious source of instability in Pakistan, where the military has ruled for more than half the country's history after seizing power in a series of coups.

'Unconstitutional'

On Monday Mr Gilani was quoted telling China's People's Daily Online that Pakistan's army chief and head of intelligence acted unconstitutionally by making submissions to a Supreme Court inquiry which has been rocking the government.

The interview was broadcast as Pakistan's army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani was visiting China.

On Wednesday, the military hit back with an unusually strongly-worded statement.

"There can be no allegation more serious than what the honourable prime minister has levelled.

"This has very serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences for the country," the statement said, without specifying what these might be.

It said the prime minister had accused the army chief and the head of Inter-Services Intelligence of violating the constitution. The army said Gen Kayani had "followed the book".

"Allegiance to state and the constitution is and will always remain [his] prime consideration."

The sacking of the defence secretary, retired general Naeem Khalid Lodhi, is likely to heighten frictions with military leaders.

A senior official told AFP news agency that Gen Lodhi had been removed from his post for gross misconduct.

Gen Lodhi recently wrote to the Supreme Court saying the government had administrative, but not operational, control of the army. State media said he lost his job "for creating misunderstanding between state institutions".

Last month Mr Gilani said conspirators were plotting to bring down his government, without specifically blaming the military. That prompted Gen Kayani to dismiss coup rumours.

'Memogate'

Relations between the government and the military have seriously deteriorated in recent weeks.

The Supreme Court is investigating an anonymous memo which sought US help to avert a possible military coup in Pakistan following the killing by US forces of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in May.

It is not clear who wrote the memo or conveyed it to the Americans. They say they received it but took no action.

Pakistan's military - deeply humiliated by the discovery of Bin Laden on Pakistani soil and the secret US operation to kill him - has been incensed by the affair.

The scandal has already cost Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, his job. He denies any role in the memo, as does President Asif Ali Zardari.

He could be forced to quit if the trail is found to lead to his door. The Supreme Court investigation aims to get to the bottom of the scandal.

Mr Zardari's government is also on a collision course with the judiciary, which wants to reopen old corruption cases in which the president argues he is innocent.

Pakistan Supreme Court warns PM Yousuf Raza Gilani

Pakistan's prime minister could be disqualified from office for not reopening corruption cases against top politicians, the Supreme Court says.

A panel of senior judges suggested Yousuf Raza Gilani was not an honest man and had violated his oath.

Relations between Pakistan's civilian government and the judiciary are tense.

In 2009 the Supreme Court overturned an amnesty protecting President Zardari and hundreds of other politicians from being prosecuted for corruption.

There are still court cases pending in Pakistan against Mr Zardari, who spent years in jail after being indicted for corruption, charges he says were politically motivated. His office currently provides him with immunity from prosecution.

Former President Pervez Musharraf brought in the amnesty by decree in 2007. It was aimed at a possible power-sharing deal with Mr Zardari's late wife, Benazir Bhutto.

She returned to Pakistan from abroad after the so-called National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was signed into law, but was assassinated soon after. Subsequent elections swept her Pakistan People's Party to power.

PM 'not honest'

Critics of the amnesty say it is illegal to help so many politicians and officials to escape prosecution for alleged wrongdoing.

The Supreme Court said the government had failed to implement its ruling.

"The government is not taking interest to observe the order for the last two years," it said. "The court has taken an oath to defend the constitution. The prime minister respected the party over the constitution.

"Prima facie... he may not be an honest person on account of his not being honest to the oath of his office."

The government has resisted re-opening the cases covered under the amnesty, insisting that as far as they are concerned, it is a closed chapter.

The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani says the strongly-worded remarks by senior judges have confirmed what many in Pakistan have been fearing for some time: that the civilian government and Pakistan's top court are on a collision course.

The stand-off comes amid a growing rift between civilian and military leaders.

Many in Pakistan feel the pressure on President Zardari's government could leave him with no choice in the end but to call an early election, our correspondent says.

The next general election is due by early 2013. Mr Zardari's term runs out later that year.

Bill Gates contacts Arfa s father for treatment

LAHORE: Chairman of Microsoft, billionaire Bill Gates has made a contact with the parents of world s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional Arfa Karim for her treatment, Geo News reported.According to father of Arfa, Amjab Karim Randhawa, Bill Gates telephoned him and expressed his wish about Arfa s treatment in the US.Gates has also directed his doctors to adopt every kind of measure for the treatment of young genius Microsoft professional.Gates doctors contacted Arfa s Pakistani doctors and received details about the illness through internet.Meanwhile, Pakistani doctors are of view that Arfa is on ventilator, therefore, it will be hard to shift her into any other hospital.

China warns US on Asia military strategy

China's state media have warned the US against "flexing its muscles" after Washington unveiled a defence review switching focus to the Asia-Pacific.

In an editorial, official news agency Xinhua said President Barack Obama's move to increase US presence in the region could come as a welcome boost to stability and prosperity.

But it said any US militarism could create ill will and "endanger peace".

Mr Obama also plans $450bn (£290bn) in cuts to create a "leaner" military.

Thousands of troops are expected to be axed over the next decade under the far-reaching defence review.

The defence budget could also lose another $500bn at the end of this year after Congress failed to agree on deficit reduction following a debt-ceiling deal in August 2011.

Mr Obama said the "tide of war was receding" in Afghanistan and that the US must renew its economic power.Regional disputes

However, he told reporters at the Pentagon: "We'll be strengthening our presence in the Asia-Pacific, and budget reductions will not come at the expense of this critical region."

Xinhua said the US role could be good for China in helping to secure the "peaceful environment" it needed to continue its economic development.

But it added: "While boosting its military presence in the Asia-Pacific, the United States should abstain from flexing its muscles, as this won't help solve regional disputes.

"If the United States indiscreetly applies militarism in the region, it will be like a bull in a china shop, and endanger peace instead of enhancing regional stability."

BBC Asia analyst Charles Scanlon said the US decision to focus on Asia would have come as no surprise to China's leaders. However, to some in Beijing, it would look like a containment strategy designed to curtail China's growing power.

Beijing officials have yet to comment.

However, the Communist Party's Global Times newspaper said Washington could not stop the rise of China and called on Beijing to develop more long-range strike weapons to deter the US navy.

'Flexible and ready'

The US strategy shifts the Pentagon away from its long-standing doctrine of being able to wage two wars simultaneously.

However, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta emphasised the military would retain its ability to confront more than one threat at a time, and would be more flexible and adaptable than in the past.

Mr Obama said: "The world must know - the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats."

No specific cuts to troop numbers or weapons programmes were announced on Thursday - those are to be presented as part of the federal budget next month.

But a 10-15% reduction to the US Army and the Marine Corps is being considered over the next decade - amounting to tens of thousands of troops, Obama administration officials have told US media.

Initial Republican reaction to the review was negative. Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, California Representative Howard McKeon, said the new policy was a "retreat from the world in the guise of a new strategy".

"This is a lead-from-behind strategy for a left-behind America," he said in a statement.

Pakistan Taliban free 17 kidnapped youths from Bajaur

The Taliban have freed 17 young men from north-west Pakistan who they seized four months ago, officials say.


About 30 youths were abducted in early September after they inadvertently strayed across the Afghan border.

Several managed to escape over the past few months. At least eight more are still being held by the militants, an official in Bajaur tribal area said.

The Taliban said they kidnapped members of the Mamund tribe because it supported the Pakistani government.

Over the past few years, influential members of the Mamund tribe have sided with the Pakistani military and raised private militias to fight the Taliban. The Pakistani government says the co-operation has helped clear the area of Taliban influence.

The youths, reportedly ranging in age from 10 to about 30 years old, were at a picnic to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid and had mistakenly crossed the border from Bajaur to take a bath in a spring, when the militants seized them.

At the time of the kidnap there were reports that the militants had demanded Taliban prisoners be released. But local administration officials told the AFP news agency that the 17 youths had been "freed unconditionally".


Two boys who escaped in October spoke extensively to the media about their ordeal.

Securing the long, porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has long posed a major challenge to the authorities.

The Pakistani government says that many militants have based themselves across the border in Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar, from where they are known to have carried out attacks in north-western Pakistan.

Pakistan charges Iranian border guards with murder

TEHRAN: Pakistan police on Tuesday charged three Iranian border guards with the murder of a Pakistani man shot dead on Sunday in a cross-border attack in the country’s southwest. 

The three guards were held late Sunday in southwestern Balochistan province along the Iranian border after they allegedly crossed the frontier and shot at a car, killing a Pakistani national.

Police said they had charged the Iranians following a written complaint from the father of the victim.

“We have registered a murder case against the three Iranians and will present them in court,” said Abdul Malik, officer in charge of the Mazan Sar Mashkail area, where the three were arrested.

A brother of the victim was also wounded by gunshots in the incident, police said.

The Iranians reached the area in Washuk district, three kilometres inside Pakistan, where they opened fire on a vehicle they were chasing, according to officials in the insurgent-hit province.

Pakistani officials said the Iranian guards were trying to take both Pakistani nationals back into Iran.

Malik said the three Iranians were in the custody of Pakistan paramilitary Frontier Corps and a request has been sent to hand them over to police.

Iran working to secure release of border guards

The Iranian Border Guards Commander Brigadier General Hossein Zolfaghari on Tuesday called on Pakistan to release three Iranian border guards who had “entered Pakistan by mistake while chasing armed drug smugglers.”

“Pakistan border guards should immediately release the three guards who were doing their job,” Zolfaghari told IRNA news agency adding that a second round of negotiations with the Pakistani border police will take place in coming hours to secure the release of the detainees.

“Three days ago border guards in Saravan, Sistan Baluchestan province, exchanged fire with a group of vandals and armed smugglers, killing two, injuring and arresting two others while the rest managed to escape into Pakistani territory. 500 kilograms of drugs were also seized,” he stated.

The Iranian Commander said that a group of Iranian border guards chased the smugglers at night at zero point of the border and “unintentionally crossed into Pakistan before being arrested by their Pakistani counterparts.” Zolfaghari also called on Pakistani border guards to stop cross border drug trafficking into Iranian soil, IRNA report said.

Iran guards ‘unintentionally’ crossed Pakistan border 

Earlier, Iranian border guards accused of killing the Pakistani civilian “unintentionally” entered Pakistan in pursuit of drug traffickers, the commander of Iran’s police border guard said Tuesday.

“Three Iranian border guards pursued the drug traffickers and unintentionally and due to darkness entered Pakistani territory and were arrested by Pakistani forces,” Hossein Zolfaqari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

Zolfaqari denied any Pakistani civilian was killed in the incident.

Zolfaqari said a delegation of Iranian border guards had spoken with Pakistani officials asking for the release of their colleagues and that more talks were scheduled.

He noted that the border is poorly marked.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, asked about the incident, told reporters on Tuesday: “We do not have precise details. Usually such incidents do occur in the borders but it will be solved with discussion by both sides.”

Iranian officials say 3,500 members of their security forces have been killed in clashes with traffickers over the past 30 years, mainly in areas bordering Afghanistan or Pakistan.

NATO wants relations with Pakistan back on track

KABUL: Nato wants to get relations with Pakistan back on track “as quickly as possible” to reopen its key supply route for foreign troops fighting in Afghanistan, a coalition spokesman said Monday.

Pakistan closed Nato supply route to Afghanistan in November, choking supply line for the 130,000-strong US-led force, following a deadly air strike by the alliance force that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the border.

Islamabad had rejected the coalition’s report that blamed the incident on mistakes by both sides and has not said when it will reopen the route.

“We have an interest…for Afghanistan that relations with Pakistan should normalise as quickly as possible,” said Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen.

“We are aware that there are things that are not travelling to Afghanistan because they are stuck at border control points.

“It mainly affects the economy, wages and work for people who are in the transport business in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

The spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) however sought to allay concerns among Afghans that the route blockage would force the coalition to buy locally and force a hike in the price of fuel and food.

“The people of Afghanistan will not be challenged by Nato buying their fuel and their food. Nato’s stockpiles are more than sufficient,” he said.

A Pakistani official earlier said that Nato military vehicles and supplies were piling up at the docks, with truck drivers unable to drive them to the northwestern border to cross into Afghanistan.

“At present, a total of 3,676 military vehicles and 1,732 containers belonging to Nato forces are at the port,” a port official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

It was reported earlier, that the US has decided to export all its cargo, including military hardware and arms, out of Pakistan.

Sources told Express News that the break in supplies has frustrated US authorities to the point where they are now weighing various options to move around the cargo stranded at various locations in Pakistan.

The deadly incident heightened tensions in an already fragile relationship between the US and Pakistan, with Pakistani officials alleging deliberate US targeting of their troops at border posts.