Pakistan on Tuesday decided to reopen the Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) for Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan after the United States said sorry over the brutal attack on the Salala check post last November in which 25 Pakistani soldiers, including two officers, were killed. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf at the Prime Minister House. The DCC also decided that no lethal cargo will go into Afghanistan except equipment for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), essential for ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan. In a sharp response immediately after the Salala attack, Islamabad immediately suspended GLOCs, got the Shamsi airbase vacated by the United States and boycotted the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan. The News, Dawn, Daily Times.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Tuesday threatened to attack the Afghanistan-bound NATO supply vehicles. “We were shocked to hear that Pakistan has opened NATO supply lines. We had stated earlier that it was a drama staged by the Pakistani rulers to get maximum benefit from the United States. Pakistani rulers have no love with the country and the people. They are US slaves and wanted to enslave the entire Pakistani nation. But we are here to create hurdles for NATO supplies passing through Pakistan,” said Ihsanullah Ihsan, the spokesman for the TTP. The government announced to reopen the NATO supply line late Tuesday night. Ihsan said the TTP had made all arrangements for attacking the trucks and oil-tankers taking supplies for the NATO forces in Afghanistan via Pakistan. The News, Daily Times.
The Federal Cabinet is meeting today under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf at the Prime Minister Secretariat here, Geo News reported. The Cabinet is likely to issue the formal notification of the restoration of Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) for NATO supplies after approval. Meanwhile, the NATO supply truck drivers are waiting to be restored upon notification. Geo TV.
Religious leaders have expressed strong concerns over possible restoration of Nato supplies within next few days and said such an act would never be in the interests of Islam and Pakistan as it would be assisting enemies in killing Afghan Muslim brothers. Defense of Pakistan Council (DPC) said it would re-launch its agitation movement against the rulers for compromising on vital national interests and honour. Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan said it would be a foolish decision which the nation would never forgive. He said if the government stuck to its decision of stopping NATO supplies, the US and NATO would be forced to withdraw from the region. He said by restoring supplies, the rulers would be selling the independence of the country and neighboring Afghanistan for dollars. The News.
A soldier was killed and three others sustained serious injuries in a roadside bomb explosion in the border area in Nawagai tehsil of Bajaur Agency on Tuesday, locals said. Villagers aid the security forces were on a routine patrol in the Bara Kamangara village when a remote-controlled bomb went off. “Volunteers of the local peace committees reached the spot soon after the incident and shifted the injured to the hospital,” a local resident Akhtar Gul said. The Bajaur Levies Force and local volunteers launched joint search operation in the area and arrested several persons under the collective responsibility section of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), he added. The News.
A cop sustained injuries when an explosive device planted beside the security checkpost in Mohib Banda went off Monday night, sources said. The sources said the militants planted the explosive device at the police checkpost in Mohib Banda and triggered n explosion through a remote-controlled device late in the night. Constable Ajmal Khan sustained injuries and the checkpost building was partially damaged in the blast, they added. It was the second attack on the police check post. The militants have accelerated activities in the district, particularly in the rural areas for the last few weeks. The News.
The officials of the AIDS Control Programme, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, on Sunday feared that the number of AIDS and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients might increase in the province and the adjacent tribal areas if the affected persons did not undergo medical tests to contain the spread of the fatal virus. Talking to The News, Dr Rajwal Khan, provincial head of the AIDS Control Programme said that majority of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) affected persons registered with their department were those who had returned from abroad. “Out of 997 persons with HIV positive, some 450 patients have returned from foreign countries, majority of them from the Gulf states,” he said. He said the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had sent back 257 and 84 AIDS patients, respectively. According to information obtained from AIDS Control Programme, some 592 HIV positive patients belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 243 to Fata, 88 to Afghanistan and eight to Punjab had been registered since December 2005. The News.
Police on Tuesday arrested an escaped Bannu prisoner and his protector during a raid in Abakhel village here. Police said acting on a tip-off, a team led by SHO Lakki Marwat Asad Ali Shah raided a house in Abakhel village and arrestedMukamil Shah, who escaped from Bannu Jail when militants attacked it in April this year. They said the owner of the house, Ihsanullah, was also taken into custody. Police said they booked Ihsanullah for harbouring an outlaw. Also in the day, police arrested three proclaimed offenders, includ-ing Sharifullah, Hussain Nawaz and Yaseen Wahab, during raids in Paharkhel Thall and Michenkhel areas. Dawn.
Awami National Party`s Tank district president Khan Gul Bittani was gunned down by an unidentified assailant here on Tuesday evening, his relatives and police said. Mr Bittani`s brother Dilawar Khan, who lodged FIR with police against an unidentified killer, said that they didn`t have enmity with anyone. He said that his brother, 60, was elected ANP district president for the fourth consecutive term. Mr Khan said that Mr Bittani remained associated with the party since his college life and was also a member of the ANP provincial council. He said that the ANP district president was in a rickshaw when an assailant intercepted it near his village Gara Badha, three kilometer west of Tank city, and shot him dead. Police registered an FIR against an unknown killer and have started investigation. Dawn.
Adviser to the PM on internal affairs Rehman A. Malik Wednesday directed the Interior Secretary to hammer out comprehensive strategy to ensure security for the NATO supply containers. Chairing a meeting in the wake of government’s decision to restore Ground Lines of Communication (GLOCs) here, Malik issued directives to the provincial governments and concerned Inspector Generals to beef up the security for the containers. SAMAA TV.
Tahir Amin, Sharafat Ali Chaudhry
