AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN – SWEEP
PAK
1 - Taliban should prove if Hakimullah alive: Rehman – GEO
2 - Police, protesters clash in Lahore-Kasur road - GEO
3 - Improved US-Pakistan coop. a big step forward-Holbrooke, says al-Qaeda under pressure - APP
4 - SpaceX says Falcon 9 rocket test fire is a success – ARY
5 - Pak economy pays heavy price of anti-terror war - GEO
6 - Six buses set on fire in Lahore protest - GEO
7 - Iran tried to buy nuclear bomb from Pakistan as early as 1987 – Haaretz
8 - Dr A.Q Khan a closed chapter – APP
9 -Taseer lashes out Shahbaz Sharif's statement - Dawn
10 - NirupamaRao to visit Pakistan for further talks: Krishna - Sindh Today
11 - Airports under terror threat? – Daily Times
AF
1 - Afghan president, Pakistani prime minister discuss war on terror - Tolo TV, Via BBC Mon
2 - Anti-US rally held in Afghanistan – Press TV
3 - Diggers, Afghans catch Taliban commander – Sydney Morning Herald
4 -Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants - NYT
5 - Top UN official for Afghanistan arrives in Kabul - PTI
FULL ARTICLE
PAKISTAN
1 - Taliban should prove if Hakimullah alive: Rehman
Updated at: 0444 PST, Monday, March 15, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister RehmanMalik said on Sunday that Pakistani Taliban chief HakimullahMehsud had died of wounds inflicted in a US drone aircraft attack in January and if this was not true Taliban must bring his video.
He was talking to Geo News.
Hakimullah was hit within 72 hours after the release of a confessional video of Jordanian doctor Human Khalil Abu-Mulal al Balawi, who killed seven CIA agents in Khost on Dec 30.
The video, which showed Hakimullah sitting with the Jordanian double agent Balawi, was released in the evening of January 9 and Hakimullah was hit in a drone attack in Shakoti on the night between Jan 13 and 14, which simply leads to the conclusion that Hakimullah was under US surveillance.
Malik while condemning TTP terrorist activities said they would not be spared from God's wrath.
RehmanMalik on Sunday telephoned Senator AbbasKumaili and clarified that Imamia Students Organization (ISO) was not being banned and reports about it are baseless and an attempt to create misunderstanding between ISO and the government.
2 - Police, protesters clash in Lahore-Kasur road
Updated at: 1100 PST, Monday, March 15, 2010
LAHORE: The transporters and students staged protest on Lahore-Kasur Road and blocked the road, which triggered massive traffic jams there, Geo News reported Sunday.
The protesters set on fire at least six buses and broke the glasses of various others vehicles in protest against the police behaviour.
Police entered clash with the protesters with shelling as they were pelted with stones by the protesters.
3 - Improved US-Pakistan coop. a big step forward-Holbrooke, says al-Qaeda under pressure:
WASHINGTON, March 14 (APP): The Obama Administration’s Special Representative Richard Holbrooke Sunday described improvement in US-Pakistan cooperative relations a “very big step forward” as he applauded Islamabad’s successes against local and Afghan Taliban and noted that al-Qaeda along the Pak-Afghan border region faced “fantastic” pressure.
“In the last 13 months, since this (Obama) Administration took over, there has been a significant improvement across the board in the relationship between our government and the government of Pakistan,” Holbrooke told CNN’s GPS program aired Sunday.
The American diplomat saw erosion of distinction between Afghan and Pakistan Taliban, if such a distinction ever existed, and remarked that a combintion of Pakistanis’ developing a strong awareness in reaction to the Taliban brutality and high-level US-Pakistan engagment have contributed to an evolution.
“All of this, plus the recognition that the distinction between Afghan Taliban and the Pakistan Taliban, if it ever existed, has eroded, and it has led the Pakistan to take a much more forward-leaning position.
“There was above all a backlash from the excesses of the Taliban in Swat, South Waziristan and their attacks in places like Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Karachi, have all contributed to an evolution.”
Citing the top American officials’ meetings with Pakistani leadership civilian leadership including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister YousafRazaGilani and Army Chief Gen AshfaqParvezKayani, he said: “We feel clearly that we are working more closely together with them. And I think that is a very big step forward.”
Questioned if Pakistan would launch operation against Afghan Taliban suspected to be hiding in North Waziristan, Holbrooke said it is up to the Pakistanis to decide on the basis of their assessment of the situation.
“They captured the number two person of the (Afghan) Taliban, Mullah Baradar. That is a big deal.”
“They have moved one hundred thousand troops from their eastern border against a giant neighbor to the western border to fight. They have two divisions in Swat right now. There are several other divisions in South Waziristan,” he stressed.
“Of course, it will be extremely valuable for them to go in North Waziristan. Everyone understands that. But that is for the Pakistani army to decide based on their resources and their assessment of the situation. We all know that if you spread yourself too thin, there can be a backlash. And I leave that to General Kayani,” he added.
On the current state of al-Qaeda militant organizations, he said, they are “under fantastic pressure” and “recently their external operations chief was eliminated.”
“They have lost about 10 to 12 of their top 20 people in the last year or so. It looks, and I want to be very careful about this, it looks like they are less an organization that plans operations now than an organization that summons people to inspirational jehad.”
Responding to a question about the political stability in the country, Holbrooke said “it is an internal process” but noted a constructive democratic improvement in the situation compared with what it was a year ago. He said now the political competition has returned to the same kind that people are familiar with in the United States.
“It involves an opposition party, led by Nawaz Sharif, the government of President Zardari, it involves the discussions they are having, and the military has said very clearly that they don’t want to get involved.”
4 - SpaceX says Falcon 9 rocket test fire is a success
Updated : Monday March 15 , 2010 9:45:42 AM
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla: Space Exploration Technologies successfully test fired its Falcon 9 rocket this weekend, clearing a milestone toward the inaugural flight of a privately developed spaceship to fly cargo, and possibly astronauts, into orbit, the company said.
Saturday's 3.5-second 'static' firing of the Falcon's nine kerosene and liquid oxygen-burning motors took place on a refurbished oceanside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It followed an earlier firing test aborted last week due to an improperly configured valve.
The successful test by California-based SpaceX clears the way for Falcon 9's debut mission -- a demonstration flight which could take place as early as April 12 from the same launch site, just south of the space shuttle launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center.
President Barack Obama has proposed adding $6 billion to space agency NASA's budget over the next five years to help private firms like SpaceX develop spaceships that can ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, which he wants to continue until at least 2020.
With the NASA shuttle fleet retiring due to safety and cost concerns, the U.S. agency has turned over space station crew transport to the Russian government at a cost of about $51 million per seat.
Obama plans to hold a summit in Florida next month to discuss the U.S. space plans and industry.
SpaceX, owned and operated by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, already holds NASA contracts worth nearly $1.9 billion to develop and fly Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules for space station cargo resupply missions.
Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp has NASA contracts of similar value for its Taurus II-Cygnus system, which is scheduled to debut next year.
SpaceX says it needs about three years to develop a launch escape system for Dragon and other upgrades to have Falcon 9 ready for passenger service.
"What we are going through right now is the equivalent of 'beta testing'," Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief executive, wrote in an email after last week's aborted test. "The beta phase only ends when a rocket has done at least one, but arguably two or three consecutive flights to orbit," he said.
With its FAA license to launch granted last week, SpaceX is just awaiting clearance from the Air Force for Falcon 9's emergency abort system, which would be used to terminate the launch if the rocket strayed from its projected fight path and threatened populated areas.
"As soon as the tests are complete and (Air Force) has signed off, we will launch," said Musk.
5 - Pak economy pays heavy price of anti-terror war
Updated at: 1210 PST, Monday, March 15, 2010
KARACHI: The 9/11 attacks did not affect the US economy as much as the war started in the name of elimination of terrorism, harmed Pakistani economy, Geo News reported Monday.
Following the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan entailed several economic and financial benefits; but, with the passage of time, all these benefits proved detrimental to Pakistan economy.
Pak economy which was making headway with 7.7 percent in FY 2005, was pushed to 2.5 percent as a result of terrorism and bomb blasts.
There was time when Pakistan received record $8.42 billion in foreign investment in FY 2007; but, lawlessness, terrorism and bomb blasts have repelled the foreign investors away, pummeling down the foreign investment to $888.7 million in the initial seven months of the present fiscal year.
Being a part to anti-terror war, Pakistani economy incurred a total of Rs20.82 trillion from FY2005 to 2009.
It is yet to be seen whether the present government will be able to resurrect the national economy again or …
6 -Six buses set on fire in Lahore protest
Updated at: 1225 PST, Monday, March 15, 2010
LAHORE: Transporters and students set a blaze six buses in Lahore during a protest against increase in fares and closure of wagons routes. The protestors also closed Ferozpur Road.
According to reports, transporters and students have gathered outside General Hospital at Ferozpur Road on Monday morning to protest increase in fares and closure of wagons. Police carried out shelling and baton charge to dispersed the protestors. Some of the protestors tortured DSP and ASI. Heavy police contingents have reached the scene and fired tear gas and carried out baton charge to disperse the demonstrators. The protestors also set on fire six buses during the rumpus. Later, fire brigade has
7 - Iran tried to buy nuclear bomb from Pakistan as early as 1987
New documents reveal how a close ally of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei bid $10bn for ready-made weapons.
Iran attempted to buy a nuclear bomb from Pakistan as early as 1987, a leading Middle East analyst has told Haaretz.
Documents obtained by Simon Henderson, a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former journalist, offer crucial evidence that Iran's nuclear program is not wholly for civilian purposes as it claims ?but aimed at developing an atomic bomb.
Henderson told Haaretz he has acquired material written by the scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan - popularly known as the father of Pakistan's bomb program - while under house arrest between 2005 and 2009.
Khan was arrested by Pakistani authorities after it emerged he had for years been operating an 'atomic supermarket', touring the Middle East to peddle nuclear know-how to the highest bidder.
During his detention, Khan provided Pakistani security services with a wealth of detail on his sale of nuclear secrets to Iran and Libya in the late 1980s and 1990s, much of which is now in the hands of British and American intelligence.
But according to Henderson, Pakistan omitted to pass to its Western allies a sensitive report detailing visits to Pakistan in the late 80s by two Iranian officials, who Khan said offered $10 billion in exchange ready-made atomic bombs.
While Libya in 2003 publicly declared its nuclear program at and end, Western powers still suspect Iran of seeking a bomb, a charge it denies.
The report, obtained by Henderson, reveals that in 1987 or 1988 Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a former senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard and minister of defense from 1997 until 2005, arrived in Pakistan with an entourage of officials.
Shamkhani offered to buy the nuclear devices on the spot and came prepared to take them home with him, Khan said.
The newly revealed material appears to confirm speculation that Khan, who despite his arrest remains a popular hero in his home country, did not act alone in selling Pakistani nuclear expertise to Iran and Libya, as Pakistan has claimed. Shamkhani's meetings suggest that Pakistani intelligence was aware of Khan's activities, as may have been the prime minister at the time, Benazir Bhutto.
Pakistan apparently refused Iran's offer - but Khan later traveled to the Middle East, where he auctioned his services as a private adviser. It was Khan who first provided Iran with designs for the centrifuges with which it continues to enrich uranium at its plant in Natanz.
Khan's other customer, Libya, eventually agreed to wind up its nuclear program and passed the CIA details of its transactions with the scientist. American intelligence was able to trace an elaborate smuggling operation in which the Pakistani had transferred bomb technology using front companies in Dubai.
In the Gulf emirate, Khan opened bank accounts under a variety of false names, including 'KhaidarZaman', through which Iran paid him $5 million for his assistance.
As well as providing technical aid, Khan also gave the Iranians a list of Western suppliers of high-tech components vital to the enrichment process, who had helped Pakistan with its own bomb program.
As well as casting doubt on Iran's claims about the purpose of its nuclear research, Henderson's material could shed light on the thinking of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei is believed initially to have opposed plans to acquire a bomb ?only to become convinced of its necessity in the early 1980s during a bloody war with Iraq, in which Saddam Hussein unleashed chemical weapons on Iranian troops.
Shamkhani, who now heads the Center for Strategic Research in Tehran and has been touted as a candidate for the presidency, is thought to be a close confidant of the Supreme Leader. His role at the center of Iran's attempts to gain a bomb may point to Khamenei's personal role in an Iranian bomb program.
8 - Dr A.Q Khan a closed chapter:
ISLAMABAD, Mar 15 (APP): Pakistan on Monday rejected a news story published in the Washington Post, terming it as “fiction” and said nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan is a closed chapter.The Foreign Office spokesman said the story is yet another repackaging of fiction, which surfaces occasionally for purposes that are self-evident.
“Pakistan’s non-proliferation credentials are second to none and its export controls are foolproof,” the spokesman said in a statement issued here.
9 - Taseer lashes out Shahbaz Sharif's statement
Monday, 15 Mar, 2010
LAHORE: Punjab Governor SalmaanTaseer lashed out at Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for what he making a ‘highly irresponsible statement that has disturbed the entire country.’
He said that he feared the Punjab Government wanted to Talibanise Punjab.
Reacting strongly to Sharif's statement in JamiaNaeemia on Sunday, Taseer said that Punjab has been embarrassed, and that such statements will only embolden Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Taliban.
Taseer alleged that the federal government is in the dark about safe houses and alleged that they were being run by Punjab Law Minister, RanaSanaullah.
He said that with the entire country facing the threat of terror, Sharif has indirectly pledged support for Taliban by saying they should not target Punjab, thereby creating a negative distinction with the rest of the country.
10 - NirupamaRao to visit Pakistan for further talks: Krishna
March 15th, 2010 SindhToday
New Delhi, Mar 15 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Monday said that Foreign Secretary NirupamaRao would soon visit Pakistan for further talks.
On the sidelines of a function here, Krishna said, ‘We have already taken the initiative. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is in good faith. Provided the backdrop of having talks at the level of foreign secretary.’
‘The foreign secretary of Pakistan came here, and then, perhaps it is time for the foreign secretary of India to go to Pakistan,’ he added.
Despite talks between the two neighbours during Pakistani Foreign Secretary SalmanBashir’s visit to India, nothing fruitful came out and the two sides ended the interaction with a pledge to ‘keep in touch’, signalling that relations between the nuclear-armed rivals remain frosty.