US reaffirms confidence in safety of Pak nuclear assets

WASHINGTON: The United States has reaffirmed its confidence in the safety of Pakistani nuclear assets following Sunday night's terrorist attack on Karachi's Jinnah International Airport.

We believe the Pakistani Government understands the importance of protecting all of its arsenal including things related to its nuclear program Deputy Spokesperson at the State Department Marie Harf said at the daily briefing.

We know that they care about this a great deal and have no reason at this point to think it's anything but safe she added when asked about the U.S. views on safety of Pakistani nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, in the wake of terrorist assault on Karachi airport the State Department has said the United States stands steadfast in its commitment to the people of Pakistan in their efforts to counter terrorism and build a peaceful future.

We support Pakistan's efforts to bring all those involved in planning and executing this attack to justice spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement. Regrettably she noted the Pakistani people face violent assaults from numerous groups.

She also expressed the United States sincere condolences to those affected by this heinous attack on pilgrims in Balochistan and said Washington strongly condemns those responsible. Extremist violence against innocent Pakistani men, women and children of any faith is an assault on universal human values.

We encourage the government to take steps to protect and improve the lives of members of Pakistan's minorities and take concrete steps to promote tolerance and religious freedom.

MH370 hunt goes on after Australia signals great confidence

PERTH: Ships and planes pursued Saturday the search for the missing Malaysian airliner off Australia after Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was "very confident" that signals from the black box had been detected.

The Australian-led search for the Boeing 777, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is racing to gather as many signals as possible to determine an exact resting place before a submersible is sent down to find wreckage.

The Joint Agency coordination Centre (JACC) said Saturday that the remote search area where the plane was believed to have gone down some was still shrinking.

"Today, Australian defence vessel Ocean Shield continues more focused sweeps with the towed pinger locator to try and locate further signals related to the aircraft´s black boxes," JACC said.

Ocean Shield has picked up four signals linked to aircraft black boxes, with the first two analysed as being consistent with those from aircraft flight recorders.

The beacons on the plane´s flight data and cockpit voice recorders have a normal battery lifespan of around 30 days.

MH370 vanished March 8.AP-3C Orion surveillance aircraft were also carrying out acoustic searches in conjunction with Ocean Shield, the statement said adding that the British oceanographic ship HMS Echo was also working in the area.

Saturday´s total search zone covers 41,393 square kilometres (15,982 square miles) and the core of the search zone lies 2,330 kilometres (1,450 miles) northwest of Perth.

"This work continues in an effort to narrow the underwater search area for when the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is deployed," JACC said adding that there have been no confirmed signal detections over the past 24 hours.

Army taken into confidence on release of Taliban prisoners

 

ISLAMABAD: The Army has been taken into confidence on the release of Taliban prisoners, an important source attached to the talks told ‘The News’ here on Sunday.
The sources further said that all the institutions were working in line with the vision of the prime minister to ensure the success of the talks.They informed that the government had received a list of 400 Taliban prisoners. Out of these 400, the release of innocent and non-combatant prisoners had been initiated, the sources stated.

The sources denied that the government had handed over a list to the Taliban for the release of prisoners held by the outfit.They said that none of the two parties held “prisoners of war”. They elaborated that the Taliban abducted sons of Yousuf Raza Gilani and Salman Taseer, and Vice Chancellor Dr Ajmal for ransom. Likewise, the government held the wanted Taliban for creating a law and order situation. Therefore, nothing like an exchange of prisoners was under way, they clarified.

The release of non-combatant Taliban will be accompanied by the arrangement of meetings of the under arrest Taliban with the members of their families and those found innocent will be released on a case-to-case basis, the sources claimed.

It has been made clear to the Taliban that the government has no demand other than the establishment of peace and elimination of terrorism. If these demands of the government are met, the Taliban will be ensured the same rights as other peaceful citizens of the country.

The next phase of the government-Taliban talks will start within two or three days. More measures for building confidence and creating goodwill need to be taken.The decision to cease fire made by Taliban was a difficult one but they were told, “When you threw away the Kalashnikov, the prime minister closed F-16 in the garage.” With the assistance of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made impossible things possible despite facing opposition from institutions, Parliament, the cabinet and his own party.

It was for the first time in 12 years of war on terror that chances for peace increased, as in the initial phase of the talks, the Taliban leadership was told that the sons of important personalities should be released without ransom and they should not demand compensation from the government for killing Taliban.

The sources said that in a meeting of the talks committees of the government and Taliban, chaired by Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, it was decided to proceed in a cautious way for success of the next round of the negotiation process by doing away with misunderstandings.

Peace talks: Confidence building process begins, says Ibrahim

ISLAMABAD: Taliban peace committee member Professor Ibrahim has said that negotiations between the government and the Taliban are progressing in a positive way.

Exclusively talking to Geo News, Professor Ibrahim said the process of confidence building has begun, adding that they wanted to settle all issues amicably.

Appreciating the steps of the prime minister in a bid to restore peace in the country, he expressed hope that trust would be built between the military and the Taliban after some time.

Professor Ibrahim further said that announcement to extend ceasefire is likely soon.

Govt to take all parliamentary parties in confidence on Taliban issue: Ijaz

ISLAMABAD: The leader of Pakistan Muslim League - Zia (PML-Z) MNA Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq Monday Stated that the government should take all parliamentary parties into confidence on Taliban issue.
Talking to media at the Parliament House, he said that before taking any initiative in talks with Taliban, first of all, the government should create a consensus in the parliament.
He also condemned the cowardly attack on the legal fraternity at Islamabad District Court (IDC) and expressed his profound grief on this disappointing incident.