Clinton and Zardari agree on holding direct talks with Militants

By: Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan agree on a framework for holding direct talks with the militants and are now working to operationalise the plan, says the US State Department.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, third from left, meets with Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zidari, right, alongside US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, left, and US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, second from left, in Islamabad on Oct. 21, 2011.

At a briefing for the press corps that accompanied Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Islamabad last week, two State Department officials explained what the secretary meant when she said in her recent interviews that the US and Pakistan had agreement on 90-95 per cent of issues they confronted.

They said the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan had already an understanding on holding a “tri-logue” with the Taliban militants.

They also agree that this has to be Afghan-led and has to be at the pace and scope that the Afghans decide on.

“That Pakistan has to play its part in this; it has to encourage reconciliation. And that as efforts are made at reconciliation, if the US can play a helpful role, that we would be available to do that,” said one official.

After agreeing on this framework, the US and Pakistan were now working on the need to operationalise it. “What does it mean? And particularly in the context of the awful, horrific experience that the Afghans had with the death of President Rabbani … we’re all working off the script that is going to protect against that kind of thing happening again,” the official said.

Operational details like where to hold the dialogue, who to talk to and in what form and formats and for how long were now being worked out, the official added.

“We needed to start with ensuring we were all on the same page in terms of the framework.” The two officials explained that in their meetings with the US delegation, which included the CIA and military chiefs, Pakistani leaders kept referring to the resolution passed by the all-parties conference on the proposed talks with the militants.

“What does the all-parties conference mean to them? It means that every party in Pakistan got together and agreed that reconciliation, if it can be done right and if it is Afghan-led and if it meets the red lines, is in Pakistan’s interests,” said the State Department official.

“And so as they seek to work with Afghanistan and with us on this, what we heard in general, was that they need to keep the Pakistani body politic together on this agenda. And they think that they have a framework for doing that with this agreement of the all-parties council,” the official added.

The two officials disagreed with a suggestion that the Pakistanis were refusing to take military action against the militants because they had failed to produce results.

“The conversation that we had was very much on the lines that we have to squeeze them,” said one State Department official.
“But we also have to have a track for talking for those who are willing to come in off the battlefield within the parameters that the Afghans have set.

“So I don’t think there’s any disagreement between us, that we have to fight and squeeze even as we talk.”

Another senior State Department official said that Pakistan also recognised that there were militant safe havens inside its territory and the two sides needed to work together to deal with them.

In an interview to The Washington Post, Gen. Scaparrotti noted that until last year he enjoyed excellent cooperation with the Pakistani military and toured the battlefield with his counterparts from Pakistan along both sides of the porous border.

After the US raid on the Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad, “this relationship is not what it was, say, a year ago,” he said. “My intent is to start rebuilding this on a mil-to-mil basis, at least.”

A week before Secretary Clinton’s visit to Islamabad, Gen. Scaparrotti met top Pakistani military officials and pressed for re-establishing “routine daily communication” and discussions of how to deal with insurgents.

“If we work together, we can have a joint effect on [the insurgents], and we need to do so,” he said.

Meanwhile, former State Department official Vali Nasr, who was a senior adviser to the late US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrook, noted that the Obama administration clearly wanted to re-engage Pakistan.

“Every one of our assumptions about our timetable of getting out of Afghanistan, our success on the ground with military operation has been predicated on the kind of at least minimal cooperation we have had with Pakistan over the past two years,” he told the US National Public Radio.

“If that cooperation ceases to exist and our relations get any worse than they are currently, it’s very difficult to see how the United States can meet its deadlines in order to be able to withdraw from Afghanistan.”

America-Pakistan-India Triangle

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, who ironically enjoys the reputation of being American ambassador to Pakistan, based in Washington, has recently quipped, “The most hated country in Pakistan is our top trading partner, top aid donor, top weapon supplier and top remittance source”.

Significant reason behind this anomaly is the snowballing India-US nexus at the cost of Pakistan. De-hyphenating of India-Pakistan in American strategic calculus has indeed created more problems for America and this region than it intended to resolve. Obsession to sponsor the rise of India as a major player on Asian geopolitical canvas has severely curtailed American leverage over India; Obama dare not pronounce ‘K’ for Kashmir once again!

Barrack Obama’s visit to India had left a negative impact on the whole region which has been reinforced by Hillary’s recent rhetoric. By prompting India to bite more than it could chew, America is well on its way to sow the seeds of perpetual destabilization of this region at the expense of China as well as India itself.

While in the past America played effective role to diffuse Pak-India tensions and did not allow the matters to degenerate into tactical showdown, it also winked its eye to allow India maintain strategic pressures through military deployments, diplomatic manoeuvres and resource squeezing.

Pakistan and America differ considerably on issues of vital interest to Pakistan; nuclear policy, energy acquisition from Iran and China, end game in Afghanistan, Kashmir conflict etc are some major areas of divergence. Most of these issues are intricately liked to India. Hence a Pakistan-India-America triangle has emerged; a sort of re-hyphenation in a crude form.

America retains a cunning balancing leverage between India and Pakistan; and uses the pressure points aptly to make Pakistan and India do American bidding.

Recently the US lawmakers have rejected the bill regarding stoppage of aid to Pakistan but have agreed to attach strings. Public opinion is gaining strength that stringed aid may be refused and to make up for the loss, Pakistan should proportionately enhance the transit fee on American supply containers and also impose transit fee on aircraft destined for Afghan war zone through Pakistan.

America frequently partners Indian effort in maintaining a high pitched tirade against Pakistan’s armed force and the ISI; this has scaled new heights since the cowardly Abbottabad attack. All guns are being directed against Pakistan. Political leadership is being spared of any wrong doing with a clear objective of creating a wedge between the political and military echelons of national leadership.

Timed with Hillary’s recent visit, Americans took a well calculated step to appease India by arresting Kashmiri American Council President, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai. Indian reaction was of joy. Arrest is a setback to the legitimate rights of the people of Kashmir, specially their struggle for self-determination. Pakistani government showed an angry response. Foreign office announced that “A demarche was made to the US embassy in Islamabad to register the concerns, in particular the slander campaign against Pakistan.”

To mitigate the defeat in Afghanistan, the US is working overtime to shift the blame for every wrong to Pakistan. To consolidate towards this end, America is all set to involve India in Afghanistan, militarily. While in India, Hillary Clinton sought to reassure India that the United States has no plan to cut and run when it comes to Afghanistan. Indeed Hillary was bluffing,

those familiar with Obama administration’s thinking are of the view that White House wants to be able to point to concrete achievements in the country in the run-up to 2012 elections, while wrapping things up in Afghanistan “at any cost”.

In the context of terrorism, India needs to understand that militants are well-organised from Somalia to Afghanistan and from Central Asian Republics to the Occupied Kashmir.

International security analysts are already predicting that India is on the brink of becoming a battle ground of these trans-national groups. Outreach of these elements is much broader than Pakistan’s logical capacity to handle them; even America is unable to contain them. Pakistan has already proposed setting up of SAARC police for pooling up regional resources for this purpose.

Hillary Clinton played another pressure card by projecting India as the leading power in Asia. This effort was launched to coax India into a proxy role to counterbalance China. Hillary called upon India to become a more assertive leader in Asia, in South-East Asia, the Pacific Rim, in Central Asia and Pacific Ocean.

The fact is that India is having a hard time holding its own in its immediate neighbourhood, as China is expanding its links with Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal. Hence, to expect India to match China in South-East Asia and the Pacific Rim, where China has built-in advantages, is a pipe dream. India will remain cautious while siding with Americans against the Chinese. It needs China’s nod to realise its aspiration for a permanent UNSC berth.

Under these settings, the fate of Pak-India foreign minister level talks was correctly pre-judged by the analysts of India and Pakistan. There was unanimity of opinion that parleys would remain at the cosmetic level, routines would be discussed and core issues would be sidestepped. Travel, trade, terrorism etc would be in forefront; water and Kashmir in the background.

Mumbai would be highlighted and ‘Samjhota Express’ would get a passing mention. Matters have moved the same way. Nevertheless, some functional dialogue process is always better than none.

In an upbeat assessment after their meeting, Indian Foreign Minister said ties were back “on the right track,” while Pakistani Foreign Minister spoke of a “new era” of cooperation. Nevertheless, there was little in the way of substantive agreements to back up the general mood of optimism. Joint statement was monotonous, envisaging a general bilateral effort to combat terrorism, increase trade and keep the peace dialogue going.

One must understand that now America is in the driving seat of Pak-India interactions; talks are likely to follow the pattern of ‘sound good solve nothing’. After all America has a long experience of sponsoring futile dialogue like process between Palestine and Israel. It remains for India and Pakistan not to get locked into a zero sum game. Both countries need to strengthen their bilateral institutions to absorb the sporadic crises and move on.

Resolve the Davis row now, US “Orders” Pakistan

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE – The United States on Thursday asked for an expeditious resolution of the row with Pakistan over the detention of Raymond Davis, an American national detained for killing two Pakistanis in Lahore, saying responsibility for his safety rests with the federal and Punjab governments.

Meanwhile in Lahore, Cantonment Judicial Magistrate Zafar Iqbal Sial granted bail to Davis for carrying an illegal handgun but extended his physical remand until February 11 in the double murder case. The magistrate directed the accused to submit a bail bond of Rs 100,000 with the court. Police told the court they needed to interrogate Davis about the Americans and their vehicle which ran over a motorcyclist.

The court admitted the police request and extended Davis’ remand for another eight days. The US Embassy said in a statement that it was appalled that on Thursday the American diplomat was remanded in court without notice to the US government, without his lawyer present, and without translation assistance. He was denied due process and a fair hearing,” the embassy said.

As the United States continues to build pressure for the release of its citizen, the Foreign Office has finalized its report on the diplomatic immunity for the US national which it will present soon in the LHC declaring that he is a member of the US Embassy diplomatic staff and hence has immunity.

In a significant related development, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi leaves for Germany today (Friday) to attend the “Munich Security Conference” on Afghanistan situation where he is likely to meet his US counterpart, Hillary Clinton and apprise her about Pakistan’s position on the Davis issue.

The Foreign Ministry’s report on Davis is likely to cause upheaval in Pakistanis but it could pave the way for the acquittal of detained American citizen from the court of law and thus end the days-long diplomatic row between Islamabad and Washington that has angered policymakers in Washington.

U.S embassy condemns Florida Church plans to burn copies of Quran

ISLAMABAD, The U.S Embassy condemns plans by a Florida church to burn hundreds of copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11. “We condemn acts that are disrespectful, intolerant and divisive,” said Charge d’Affaires Stephen C. Engelken.

“We are deeply concerned about all deliberate attempts to offend members of any religious or ethnic group.”

“We believe firmly in freedom of religion and freedom of expression; they are universal rights, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We reaffirm our position that the deliberate destruction of any holy book is an abhorrent act,” said Engelken.

Officials in Gainesville, Florida, where the church is located, denied the church’s permit for the burning under the local fire ordinance and have said they will take further steps if the Church goes forward with its plans.

Public condemnation of this event has come from a variety of organizations including the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Anti-Defamation League.

As she hosted an Iftar meal at the State Department in Washington Tuesday evening, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the condemnation of the planned act, saying “I am heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act that has come from American religious leaders of all faiths, from evangelical Christians to Jewish rabbis, as well as secular U.S. leaders and opinion-makers. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. Many of you know that in 1790, George Washington wrote to a synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, that this country will give ‘to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance’.”

Pakistan Concedes to US, Again

US ambassador to Kabul was negotiating with Pakistan as part of the Afghan delegation

- Hillary Clinton played the role of India’s advocate, refused to mediate on Kashmir or condemn Indian rights violations

- A sentence in the statement denying India land routes is a clever smokescreen for other Pakistani concessions

- Pakistan has done a favor to US interests in the region

- Afghanistan and India will consolidate trade using Pakistani land routes

- In return, none of Pakistan’s core security interests in the region were conceded by Washington, Kabul or New Delhi

- Pakistani military’s role in this arrangement is not clear

By AHMED QURAISHI

ISLAMABAD, Pakistanis received a humiliating reminder today of how weak their nuclear-armed nation has become after eight years of a debilitating and unfair partnership with the United States in Afghanistan.

Most Pakistanis cringed at the sight of Mrs. Hillary Clinton standing watch over the Pakistani prime minister as another Pakistani minister signed a memorandum granting Kabul generous trade and logistical facilities for little or no reciprocal benefit to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s pro-US ruling elite has once again done a favor to US strategic interests at the expense of Pakistan’s own.

The deal also enhances trade between Afghanistan and India without letting Pakistan extract any concessions in return. The US role was basically to put pressure on Pakistan on behalf of its puppet regime in Kabul and on behalf of New Delhi, Washington’s strategic partner in the region.

Senior US diplomats from the US Embassy in Kabul were part of the official Afghan delegation. According to The News, Afghan delegates repeatedly left the meeting room with the Pakistani foreign and trade ministers to consult with US diplomats seated in an adjacent room during talks. And according to The Nation, US ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry personally traveled to Islamabad to oversee this deal. And he did so as part of the Afghan delegation. Strangely, no Pakistani official questioned this direct meddling in what is supposed to be a bilateral Pak-Afghan deal. Ambassador Eikenberry is no stranger to meddling in other people’s business. Earlier this month, the Attorney General of Afghanistan complained that Eikenberry ‘threatened to remove him from office’ if he didn’t follow US ambassador’s orders.

WHY IT STINKS?

The actual deal is about Pakistan granting Afghanistan the right to export goods to India using Pakistani land routes.

Some clauses have been added to ensure that Afghan trucks won’t smuggle goods to Afghanistan or dump duty-free goods in Pakistan.

The supposed attraction for Pakistan is that Kabul has allowed Pakistani trucks to take Pakistani goods to Central Asian republics through Afghanistan.

The most interesting part is that Pakistani, Afghan and American officials hammering out the new deal made sure to include a line that says India won’t be allowed the export of goods using Pakistan land routes.

There is little doubt this line is meant for domestic consumption in Pakistan and is possibly meant to offset potential opposition from the Pakistani public opinion and some quarters within the Pakistani foreign office and the military.

This is the official line on the deal. The reality, however, is different:

Pakistani trucks already take Pakistani goods to Central Asia. The official cover provided by the new deal is of little consequence. Much of the Afghan territory is already under the control of warlords who tax trucks passing through their lands. The pro-US Pakistani government claims Pakistani trucks will get formal Afghan and western protection. But US and NATO forces in Afghanistan are incapable of providing such guarantees.

Already some Indian goods are smuggled through Pakistan to Afghanistan despite an official Pakistani ban. Now with Afghan trucks allowed to reach the Pak-Indian border, smuggling back Indian ‘exports’ will be even easier, further helped by endemic corruption in Pakistan’s state machinery.

Afghanistan’s puppet government, intelligence and security, all working under tight US supervision, are involved in exporting terrorism to Pakistan under the guise of religious and sectarian extremism. Kabul has been doing this with help from elements in CIA and the Indian intelligence. Pakistan has no guarantee from Washington, Kabul or New Delhi that such activities would stop.

India is providing money, logistics, weapons, training and Indian passports to terrorists claiming to represent Pakistani Baloch in the hope of scuttling Sino-Pakistani mega projects in southwestern Pakistan. The Americans are involved in stirring trouble in both Pakistani and Iranian Baloch areas. But Pakistani officials are unable to extract any commitments from the Americans to stop these activities.

US and NATO containers plying through Pakistan have inflict losses of billions of dollars in revenue for Pakistan over the past eight years. These containers have been used to smuggle goods to Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond, enriching the pockets of corrupt Pakistani, Afghan and American officials. In such a corrupt environment, there is little doubt that India will soon be illegally exporting goods to Afghanistan using Pakistani air, sea and land routes.

INDIAN TRADE ALLOWED

THROUGH BACKDOOR

It is correct that the government of President Asif Zardari has not openly granted India the right to use Pakistani land routes for trade with Afghanistan, but there are strong indications that it has done so through indirect means:

The deliberate and unusual line in the new agreement denying India land routes is a smokescreen that cleverly hides access for India through other options.

There are reports that a tacit agreement has been reached allowing Indian exports to reach the Karachi seaport and transported to Afghanistan from that point onwards by air and land using Afghan trucks.

There is every likelihood that Afghan trucks dropping Afghan exports at India’s border would smuggle back Indian ‘exports’ and Pakistani customs officials would turn a blind eye.

There are two indications that the incumbent Pakistani government has allowed Indian trade into Afghanistan:

Afghanistan has little to export to India. Afghan trucks will be bringing very little to the Indian border. It is feasible that the Americans and their Pakistani proxies in government devised this method to allow Afghan trucks to reach the Pak-Indian border and then let the usual smuggling techniques come into play, allowing those trucks to return to Afghanistan carrying Indian goods.

The key to the new agreement is exploiting loopholes to circumvent Pakistan’s ban on Indian trade to Afghanistan. Here is a statement made by Zardari government’s spokesman, information minister Qamar Kaira, as broadcast by the state-run APP wire news service:

“It is a misrepresentation of facts to say that trade of Indian goods will be allowed through the agreement. Only the Afghan trade goods will be allowed from India and these would be taken over at Wagah border if coming via India.”-Qamar Zaman Kaira, Pakistani information minister, quoted by state-run APP

And if any doubt was left that Pakistan has succumbed to US pressure on granting India one-sided favorable treatment, a news report in a Pakistani newspaper quoting the actual US-brokered agreement has revealed that the text provides the Zardari government for an opening to allow India full export rights to Afghanistan using Pakistani routes any time.

WHAT IS PAKISTANI MILITARY’S TAKE?

It is unclear if the Pakistani military was consulted by the Zardari government before giving such generous concessions to US, Afghanistan and India. Some critics say that the signing ceremony with Mrs. Clinton in attendance was unnecessary and that the Zardari government hurriedly put it in place to preempt objections from Pakistani public opinion and the military, drawing strength from the presence of Mrs. Clinton.

But this line of reasoning is unlikely. What’s more likely is that the Pakistani military was consulted before granting this concession to US, Afghanistan and, indirectly, India.

One sign of this is that Husain Haqqani, Mr. Zardari’s point man in Washington, has admitted he granted US officials 450 visas, some 140 of them to US military personnel. This is a personal victory for Mr. Haqqani who last year went as far as warning the Pakistani military that supply of US military hardware could cease if US visa requests were not obliged. With the visas granted, this basically means an increase in the number of US boots on the ground in Pakistan, and this would not be possible without a nod from the Pakistani military. That’s a change from last year, when Pakistani security officials felt the entry requests of 450 US government officials to be stationed in Pakistan was a sign of growing US meddling inside Pakistan. It is possible that the number of US soldiers in Pakistan has increased now to more than 300 to 350, considering that around 180 ‘trainers’ were already stationed here [Haqqani didn't say if the 450 figure includes visa renewals for US personnel already stationed on Pakistani soil]. Also, this figure does not account for private security contractors working for DynCorp, which apparently has been allowed operations inside Pakistan after initial hurdles.

In all of these cases, Washington got its way. These developments indicate that the Pakistani military is on board with Mr. Zardari’s government on the new unilateral concessions to US and its regional allies.

The only way the Pakistani military would have swallowed these humiliating concessions is if it believed the concessions would help nudge President Karzai into a deal with pro-Pakistan elements in the Afghan resistance movement. It would be a surprise if the Pakistani military did actually pin hopes on this option because the Pakistani concessions are disproportionate to the questionable gain.

There is also the possibility that the Pakistani military has simply been cornered on this issue by Washington and its proxies in Islamabad.

But whatever the thinking of the Pakistani government and military, there is little question that the Pakistani public opinion is stunned at Pakistan’s unusual and unexpected compromises. The pro-US government in Islamabad accepted US pressure and signed a deal without consulting Parliament or gauging the mood of the Pakistani people.

THE ENDGAME

In exchange for these compromises, Pakistan should have asked for:

Dismantling of terror training camps in Afghanistan targeting southwestern Pakistan

End to Indian military and intelligence presence in Afghanistan aimed at Pakistan

US and NATO forces ending the flow of weapons, money and fuel supplies to terrorists inside Pakistan

Compensation for more than US$ 40 billion in losses to Pakistan’s economy due to America’s war

End to the incessant demonization of Pakistan by the US media and the US role in the spread of global panic over Pakistan’s nuclear program

End to US opposition to a Pak-China civil nuclear deal

Far from achieving any of the above, Pakistan’s self-defeating compromises in America’s war on terror continue unabated. Pakistan’s politicians and the military appear incapable of extracting any benefits in a regional situation where almost every country – US, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, NATO – appear to have made strategic gains. Islamabad is left with internal insurgencies and militaries and spy agencies from several countries wreaking havoc in and around Pakistan.

Pakistan – already playing its role in war on terror

By Asad Munir

“We have made it very clear that if such an attack were to happen again, and if we could traced it back to Pakistan, there would be very severe consequences.” This recent statement by Hillary Clinton is not likely to help because threatening a country which is an ally of the war on terror may not be a very wise diplomatic move.

Faisal Shahzad may have been inspired by extremists, but the people at the helm of affairs in the US know that the Pakistani state has no role in the affair. Drones are already violating Pakistani air space, so the severe consequences hinted at might be the use of missile strikes against suspected targets inside Fata and the crossing of the border by Nato ground forces. Instead of considering this option, the US needs to evaluate the performance of its armed forces. After eight years of fighting, they have now realised that forces available in Afghanistan are not adequate to win a war against the Taliban.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s armed forces have achieved much more – they have also suffered more. Total coalition deaths in Afghanistan are over 1,700 while Pakistani casualties, both dead and wounded are more than 30,000 – over 21,600 civilians and more than 8,700 military personnel. They have lost their stronghold of South Waziristan and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as an organisation, has been crippled. For now it is unlikely it will be able to plan and execute global terrorist activities.

Mamoond Tehsil of Bajaur Agency is now in control of the local administration. Terrorists are still operating in North Waziristan, Orakzai, central Kurram, Mohmand and the Tirah area of Khyber Agency. Swat is returning to normalcy and as Orakzai is the only agency not bordering Afghanistan, local Taliban raised a force there, way back in 1998. Most of the terrorists, including Central Asians, who fled from South Waziristan, have taken refuge in this agency and in Tirah. They want an area under their control, where they can reorganise, regroup, train, establish and streamline system of provision of supplies and logistics. Orakzai provides just that and it is also a place where these people can move easily to from Tirah, Darra Adam khel; Kurram and North Waziristan. They are launching organised attacks on armed forces posts to regain ground control of some areas. However, operations in Orakzai and Kurram were in progress with hundreds of terrorists killed, by air and ground action, and the military recently claiming victory.

Military operations are the first phase in the fight against terrorism. The more important one is the strategic development of the areas, which are breeding grounds for militant extremists. In case such plan is not implemented, in a quick and transparent manner, the terrorists are likely to regain their lost ground and they may be more dangerous this time. The US and other western countries should help Pakistan in this task of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

India important, Pakistan indispensable in Afghanistan: US

Thaindian News

New Delhi, (IANS) The US Wednesday said while India had a very important role in Afghanistan through its development programmes, the action against terrorism in the war-ravaged nation will not succeed without the aid of Pakistan.

“We have strongly welcomed the important role that India has played through its various reconstruction and development projects,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said in a webchat from Washington, relayed through the state department website.

With respect to Pakistan’s role, he said they had an indispensable part in Afghanistan.

“We will not be able to succeed without the active support of friends in Pakistan,” he said.

Blake said Pakistan was taking steps to tackle terrorists, especially in Swat and Waziristan, as it was in its interest to do so.

“It is easy to forget that Pakistan is the country which has suffered the most from terrorism,” he said.

Answering a question, Blake said it was aware that the Maoist violence was one of the “primary threats facing India”.

“At this time, the Indian government has not made any request but we are ready to entertain any requests given our fast growing cooperation in this (counter-terrorism) sector,” he said.

The US official’s remarks on India come on the eve of the first India-US ministerial level strategic dialogue led by Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

N.Korea says to sever all ties with S.Korea

SEOUL – North Korea said Tuesday it was severing all ties with South Korea and cutting communications links in protest at claims that it had torpedoed one of Seoul’s warships.

South Korean navy personnel stand guard next to the wreckage of the naval vessel Cheonan, which sank …

The North said it would expel all South Korean personnel from a jointly-run industrial estate at Kaesong north of the border, and ban South Korean ships and planes from its territorial waters and airspace.

The state Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said South Korea’s claims that it had sunk the warship were tantamount to a declaration of war.

In a statement on the official news agency, it said it was freezing relations and abrogating a non-aggression agreement.

The statement further heightened regional tensions sparked by a report last week from a multinational investigation team.

The team said there was overwhelming evidence that a North Korean submarine had sunk the South Korean corvette on March 26 with the loss of 46 lives.

The US said Pyongyang’s reaction was totally contrary to its self-interest. “I think it’s odd,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

“South Korea is one of the most dynamic economies in the world… North Korea is unable to care for its citizens. It’s unable to feed its people.”

“I can’t imagine a step that is less in the long-term interest of the North Korean people than cutting off further ties with South Korea,” Crowley said.

Seoul Monday announced a package of reprisals, including a halt in most trade. It plans to refer the sinking to the United Nations Security Council.

The North said it would not talk to the South again for the remainder of President Lee Myung-Bak’s term of office.

The conservative leader began a five-year term in February 2008, adopting a tougher line towards the North than his liberal predecessors.

The North also vowed an “all-out counterattack” against the South’s decision to resume an official cross-border propaganda campaign including loudspeaker broadcasts.

It did not give details but had earlier threatened to open fire at the loudspeakers.

The North also said all inter-Korean issues would be handled “under a wartime law” but did not elaborate.

“There is no need to show any mercy or patience for such confrontation maniacs, sycophants and traitors and wicked warmongers as the Lee Myung-Bak group,” it said.

The statement came hours after the North’s military accused South Korea’s navy of trespassing in its waters around the disputed Yellow Sea border and threatened military action.

The communist North denies involvement in the sinking of the corvette, despite widespread international condemnation. It threatens full-scale war if there is any attempt to punish it.

In an apparent show of strength, the South’s defence ministry said the navy would stage an anti-submarine drill in the Yellow Sea on Thursday. The military also said a destroyer was stationed in the Jeju Strait off the south coast to stop the North’s cargo ships using it.

The South shut its sea lanes to the North as part of the reprisals announced Monday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Seoul Wednesday to show support to Washington’s close ally South Korea during its confrontation.

The United States has backed Seoul’s punitive measures and announced it would soon hold anti-submarine and other naval exercises with it.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters Washington backs Seoul’s decision to refer the sinking to the UN Security Council.

Clinton, during two days of talks in Beijing, had pressed China to get tougher on its ally North Korea.

China — which could veto any UN move for new sanctions — has not blamed the North for the sinking but called for restraint by all sides.

“The two sides believe that ensuring peace and stability in east Asia and the Korean peninsula is critical,” State Councillor Dai Bingguo said in Beijing Tuesday at a joint press appearance with key US officials.

Clinton said the two sides share the objective of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. “Now we must work together again to address the serious challenge provoked by the sinking of the South Korean ship.”

Financial markets across Asia responded nervously to the escalating crisis, with one unconfirmed report from a group of North Korean defectors claiming that the North had placed its armed forces on combat alert.

The North says the South’s “puppet” authorities have faked evidence of its involvement as part of a plot to ignite conflict.

INDIA IS THE PROBLEM; NOT A SOLUTION

By Moin Ansari

It has been a tumultuous week in which the United States Administration officials have played good cop and bad cop-with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blowing hot and Barack Obama blowing cold over Pakistan. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday fell into the Democratic Party lecture mode which tries to tell Pakistanis who the enemies are. He forgot Bharat (aka India’s obsession with Pakistan) and suggested Pakistan had some bad habits. As if talking to a child he lectured that his Administration wanted Pakistan “to get over its obsession with India” and focus more on terrorist groups operating in Pakistan.

Obama Hinduised

During a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai the American President said: “I think there has been in the past a view on the part of Pakistan that their primary rival, India, was their only concern. I think what you’ve seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst; that the extremist organizations that have been allowed to congregate and use as a base the frontier areas to then go into Afghanistan, that that now threatens Pakistan’s sovereignty.”

There appears to be mounting pressure from Washington on the Islamabad

government to act against the terrorist in North Waziristan. General Kayani has clearly said that the operation in North Waziristan will be conducted at the time of the Army’s choosing. President Obama seemed to echo the sense in his administration that that process was going to be gradual.

Delhi supports terror outfits in Lanka (LTTE), Bangladesh (Chakma), Iran (Jundullah) and Pakistan (TTP, BLA). Bharat has threatened Pakistan with all out war-and arrayed all her forces on the borders for months. She sent 80,000 terrorists into East Pakistan disguised as the Mukti Bahni, and dressed as Pakistani soldiers.

Mr. Obama has been to Pakistan and has talked to hundreds of Pakistanis. He is also internet savvy. What compels him to make a statement that is repugnant to all Pakistanis. Pakistan sees the TTP as an Indian appendage and an irritation-the real threat is from Bharat (aka India).

When Mr. Obama fails to recognize this simple fact-he represents “The Ugly American” to Pakistanis-and creates more Anti-Americanism.

President Obama declared that “It’s going to take some time for Pakistan, even where there is a will, to find a way in order to effectively deal with these extremists in areas that are fairly loosely governed from Islamabad.”

The American President’s statement comes in a week during which US administration officials have attempted to use the Times Square incident to exact more pressure on Pakistan.

Washington went into a tizzy fit with Hillary Clinton leading the Quixotic “Charge of the Light Brigade” against the Turkish Army which were windmills in actuality. Pandering to the domestic audience the right wingers in Congress she warned Pakistan of “severe consequences” if such an attempt originating from its territory were to be successful.

There was a huge backlash to the Hillary Clinton threat in Pakistan. The Pakistani Senate renounced the threat and the Pakistan media spent days analyzing every nuance of the bluster. Ms. Hillary Clinton lost a a lot of credibility in Pakistan, and it will be tough for her to build trust with the Pakistanis. If a lone wolf can tarnish US relations, what kind of strategic dialogue is it?

The threat apparently caught the State Department by surprise and they sent in their fire brigade to do as much damage

starving millions, who cares!

control as possible. Both the State Department spokesman PJ Crowley and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke tried to play down the impact of her statement by saying that she had not said what she had said.

Hillary Clinton had really gone off the handle when she declared in a CBS interview that “Pakistan has a real problem internally with terrorism and we’ve seen them fight back against it. But they also have a problem that affects the rest of us because all too often that terrorism is being exported.”

Mr. Obama-when will the Democratic Party stop defending Bharat-when will its Bharati obsession be over?

US mulls putting Pakistan Taliban on terrorism list

* Pakistani Taliban tied to failed May 1 Times Square bomb

* ‘Terrorist’ designation would lead to punitive measures

* Five Democratic senators urge Clinton to make the move (Adds more from State Department spokesman)

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON, The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it was looking into putting the Pakistani Taliban, the group tied to the failed car bombing in New York’s Times Square, on the U.S. list of “foreign terrorist” groups.

Adding the Pakistani Taliban to the list would trigger punitive measures such as freezing assets tied to the group, barring foreign nationals with links to it from entering the United States and making it a crime to give any material help.

“It is something we are considering in light of what happened, and obviously the investigation will yield information that might give us greater clarity,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.

Crowley said there was a lengthy legal process before a group could be designated a “foreign terrorist organization” and he did not know when a decision would be made.

“We have been focused on this group for some time and, without being specific, we have been working with our Pakistani counterparts and we have taken appropriate action to diminish the capabilities of this group and others in the region,” Crowley said, referring to military action to target Pakistani Taliban leaders.

Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested two days after authorities say he parked a sport utility vehicle packed with a bomb in New York’s busy Times Square on May 1.

Five Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urging her to ensure the Pakistani Taliban was on the list.

“The Pakistani Taliban is a murderous organization dedicated to killing civilians, harming U.S. interests in the region and has even taken credit for terrorist acts committed on U.S. soil,” the senators wrote.

BEHIND ATTACK?

The Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), on May 2 claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing. [ID:nLDE6410IH]

On Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said there was evidence the group was behind the crude bomb attempt.

There are 45 groups on the U.S. list of “foreign terrorist organizations,” including al Qaeda and the Palestinian group Hamas. Designations need to be renewed every two years.

The al Qaeda-linked TTP is an alliance of factions and has killed many hundreds of people in bomb attacks.

The five senators — Charles Schumer, Frank Lautenberg, Kay Hagan, Kirsten Gillibrand and Robert Menendez — said the group has committed atrocities aimed at nongovernmental organization workers, government officials and civilians.

Putting the group on the list would help curtail support for its activities and pressure others to stop logistical, financial and political support for it, the senators said.

U.S. officials in recent days have praised Pakistani efforts against militants, but Clinton raised eyebrows over the weekend when she told the CBS television network that there would be “severe consequences” if a successful attack in the United States were traced to Pakistan. [ID:nN07107047]

Since then, U.S. officials have sought to play down Clinton’s comments. Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters that Clinton’s comments had been “not fully understood.”

Crowley repeated on Tuesday that Washington was satisfied with Islamabad’s cooperation on the investigation into the Pakistani Taliban’s possible involvement in the Times Square plot.

“We’ve seen a sea change of attitudes within Pakistan over the last couple of years,” said Crowley.