Action against terrorists on both sides of border agreed

 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday agreed to launch indiscriminate action against the terrorists on both sides of the border.
This was decided during a meeting of Rangin Rahimi Dafdar Spanta, Afghan National Security Adviser, with Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif at the PM House. Matters relating to mutual and bilateral interest came under discussion.

The meeting was attended by Afghan delegation comprising Janan Mosazai, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan, Atiqullah Hatifmal, Afghan Deputy Foreign Secretary, Major General Asadullah Akramyar, Ministry of Defence, and Hakimullah Hakmatullah Foushanji, Director International Affairs. The Pakistani side comprised Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant to PM on National Security Tariq Fatimi and Secretary Foreign Affairs Aizaz Chaudhry.

APP adds: Rangin Dafdar Spanta called on Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif at the General Headquarters. During the meeting, views were exchanged on matters of mutual interest.

Besides, measures to enhance security cooperation, particularly in the wake of the ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb along the Pak-Afghan border and the latest situation in Afghanistan, were also discussed.

UK Border Force seizes heroin worth millions

LONDON: Millions of pounds worth of heroin woven into hand-made rugs and carpets was discovered by Border Force officers in a consignment being shipped from Peshawar in Pakistan via Abu Dhabi.

Border Force officials became suspicious of the 46-piece consignment at Manchester Airport after a sniffer dog alerted its handler to one of the carpets. After investigations officers have found over 50 kilograms of heroin woven into the carpets. The seizure has shocked the border and customs officials who have said that the smugglers are becoming more and more sophisticated in their methods and can go to any length for their heinous purposes.

The drugs were discovered on April 24th but the examination of the consignment continues. Following the discovery two people were arrested on suspicion of drug importation offences in London by the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Border Policing Command. Both are believed to be Pakistan, a source told Geo.

According to Border Force officials the haul is among the largest drug seizures made at the Manchester Airport. The Border Force has termed the seizure a result of impressive vigilance and hard work of the officers given the lengths criminals go to avoid detection.

If the sniffer dog had not spotted the carpet then, officers fear, the streets of Britain would have seen millions of Pounds worth drugs on the streets. The source said that the drugs are believed to have been coming from Afghanistan via Pakistan.

10 militants killed in operation on Panjgur-Awaran border

QUETTA: Security forces killed at least 10 separatist militants in the adjoining areas of Awaran and Panjgur on Monday.

Several militants’ hideouts were destroyed and heavy arms were recovered while three soldiers were wounded in the incident.The militants belonged to the outlawed Lashkar-e-Balochistan and Baloch Liberation Front.

The FC Special Wing, Awaran Militia and Panjgur Rifles took part in the operation in which a helicopter was also used. A spokesman of the Frontier Corps (FC) said that three hideouts of the militants and two vehicles were destroyed.

The FC said it launched an operation against the militants’ hideouts in the mountainous Panjgur district on Monday morning. “Ten militants were killed in heavy exchange of fire this morning,” said FC spokesman Wasay Khan.

The operation took place after Latif Johar, a member of the separatist Baloch Students Organisation (Azad), went on a hunger strike 11 days ago to demand the release of the group’s chairman and more than 100 detained members.

In the past three years, bodies of hundreds of members of Baloch political parties, student groups and poets have been discovered across the province, and many more are still missing.Baloch activists say the bodies are evidence that the army is pursuing a systematic ‘kill and dump’ campaign to crush the separatist movement — a charge the army has repeatedly denied.

Soldiers from India, China celebrate Bihu at border

Guwahati: In a show of brotherhood, soldiers of Indian Army and Peoples Liberation Army of China celebrated Bihu festival at the Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh.

According to an official release, the forward troops stationed in the remote areas near Bumla post celebrated the occasion on Monday by inviting PLA soldiers deployed on the other side of the border to play friendly matches of volleyball, tug of war and archery. 

The tunes of military band, followed by a cultural show which included Bihu and Bhangra dances, mesmerised all present on the occasion. 

"The guests from Peoples Liberation Army of China thanked their hosts and appreciated the Indians for their initiative, which will go a long way in creating a feeling of bonhomie, peace and tranquillity," the release said.

Both sides hoped that this initiative would go to the strategic level and take it to new heights as well as at the ground level, it said. The festivities came to an end with both the armies paying respect to their National Flags while the National Anthem was played.

Abducted Iran border guards freed by militant group

TEHRAN: A semi-official Iranian news agency is reporting that an al-Qaida-affiliated militant group Jaish al-Adl operating in a lawless frontier area along the Pakistan-Iran border has released Iranian border guards abducted two months ago.

Friday´s report by the Fars news agency quotes an unnamed official as saying the guards were handed over to Iranian officials in Pakistan. It did not elaborate.

According to Pakistan's Interior Ministry sources this was Iran's internal matter and the guards were released as a part of Tehran's prisoner swap with Jais al-Adl.

In February, the Jaish al-Adl group abducted five Iranian guards outside Sarbaz, a town in Iran´s restive Sistan-Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan. The guards were reportedly taken to Pakistan.

A local official said last month that one of those abducted was killed. Also in March, Iran´s President Hassan Rouhani phoned Pakistan´s Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif asking for "serious action" to free the guards.

No information of Iranian Border Guards being brought to Pak: Aziz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs and National Security, Sartaj Aziz says there is no information of abducted Iranian Border Guards being brought to Pakistan.

In an interview on Geo News programme ‘Jirga,’ Aziz said Iran was leveling allegations against Pakistan but was not providing any evidence pertaining to the guards being brought to Pakistan.

Aziz added that if the need arose Pakistan was willing to conduct a joint operation with Iran. “If there is information it should be shared with us.”

Iran claims five border guards were abducted by militants and brought to Pakistan and one from the group has been executed.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discussed the issue in a telephone call with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

In the weekly Foreign Office briefing on Thursday, Spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said authorities had combed Pakistani territory in search of the missing Iranian guards, however, there were no clues that they were in Pakistan.

The spokesperson said the Iranian guards went missing at least 5-10 kilometers inside Sistan and an organization, Jaish-ul-Adl, claimed the responsibility for the missing guards.

Aslam added Pakistan will extend all possible cooperation to Iran for the recovery of these guards.

Iran seeks UN’s help for release of border guards

 

TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the United Nations to help secure the release of Iranian border soldiers abducted by extremists, the media reported on Thursday.
Zarif sent a message to UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday evening demanding action from the international community, saying “mere condemnation of acts of terrorism is not enough.” His urgent plea to the UN chief came after Jaish-ul Adl, the rebel group operating in southeast Iran, claimed to have killed one of the five abducted soldiers and threatened further executions. Ban had on Tuesday condemned the reported killing as an “appalling act” and urged that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

The young soldiers, who were serving their 24-month mandatory military service, are believed to have been taken into neighbouring Pakistan after being kidnapped in February. Zarif linked the abduction to what he termed a series of “terrorist atrocities against Iranian citizens, including diplomats and other officials”, according to a copy of his letter to Ban posted on his Facebook page.

He decried action against Iran by “state-sponsored extremist groups, with similar patterns of funding, coordination, support and direction”. Zarif did not name any countries but Iranian officials have pointed the finger of blame at regional rivals for a number of attacks against Iranian diplomatic missions in Lebanon, Pakistan and Yemen.

A diplomatic source in Tehran said the letter could pave the way for a debate within the UN as “state-sponsored terrorism” was a regional issue. Jaish-ul Adl warned of further executions should Tehran refuse to release their prisoners. It claimed responsibility for killing a local prosecutor and 14 Iranian border guards in an ambush in 2013.

Ties with Islamabad have taken hit since the abduction, with Iran criticising what it calls Pakistan’s inability to secure its borders and purge its soil of militants. In a phone call with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded “serious and swift action” to free the soldiers.

Our correspondent adds: Meanwhile, Pakistan categorically denied that the recent killing of an Iranian Border Guard took place on the Pakistan territory and said that managing any border was the responsibility of both the sides.

“We are neither apologetic nor we are expected to be aggressive. As both the sides have repeatedly said, we have a very strong relationship and we will continue to work together with Iran to further strengthen it,” said the Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson.

Five Iranian Border Guards disappeared 10-15 kilometres inside the Iranian territory in the Sistan-Baluchestan province, but Pakistani authorities, after thorough investigations, could not find them nor were there any signs that they were brought inside Pakistan, the FO spokesperson said.

About the recent Iranian rhetoric mostly for domestic consumption, Pakistan says it does not want to take up a very sensitive issue using the media.“We have condemned the killing of the Iranian guard and we have full sympathy with the families and with the Iranian government. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We stand ready, as we have done in the past, to help Iran locate them but we have no indication that they are in the Pakistani territory,” said the spokesperson.

NATO flying surveillance planes to Ukraine border

Add captionAn AWACS plane takes off the NATO Airbase in Geilenkirchen, Germany, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. (AP)

NATO says it has dispatched two surveillance planes to fly over Poland and Romania to monitor the crisis unfolding in neighbouring Ukraine.

The military alliance says two AWAC, or Airborne Warning And Control System, reconnaissance planes took off from its bases in Geilenkirchen, Germany, and Waddington, Britain, on Wednesday morning.
A spokesman for NATO’s operational headquarters Mons, Belgium, said the flights will not leave the air space of its member nations thus not crossing either into Ukrainian or Russian airspace.

“The planes can observe over 300,000 square kilometres (115,000 square miles) and will primarily be looking on air activity and the sea,” Lt. Col. Jay Janzen said, adding that one AWACS aircraft already went on a surveillance mission to Romania on Tuesday and that more missions were being planned. “Our flights will not leave NATO airspace,” Janzen said. “Regardless, we can observe, we can look a very long way.”
Janzen said that one AWAC aircraft already went on a surveillance mission to Romania on Tuesday and that more missions were being planned. NATO’s 28 member states decided Monday to intensify the assessment of the possible threat the Ukrainian crisis poses to the alliance by sending AWACS planes. The decision comes after deployments of U.S. fighter planes to eastern European nations bordering Russia, such as Poland and Lithuania.
“The planes can observe over 300,000 square kilometers (115,000 square miles) and will primarily be looking on air activity and the sea,” Lt. Col. Jay Janzen said, adding that one AWACS aircraft already went on a surveillance mission to Romania on Tuesday and that more missions were being planned. “Our flights will not leave NATO airspace,” Janzen said. “Regardless, we can observe, we can look a very long way.”
Janzen said the flights had already been planned as training missions before NATO’s decision, but more planes will be added to the exercises in the coming days. The plane flying out of the German base to Romania was an E-3A AWACS and the plane leaving Britain for Poland was an E-3B AWACS, Janzen said.

Hagel warns Pakistan leaders over border protests

In this handout photograph released by Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) on December 9, 2013 Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif (R) meets with US defence secretary Chuck Hagel at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

ISLAMABAD: Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Pakistani leaders on Monday that if they don't resolve protests stalling some military shipments across the border with Afghanistan, it could be difficult to maintain political support in Washington for an aid program that has sent billions of dollars to Islamabad, defense officials said.

In response, the officials said, Hagel received assurances from the Pakistanis that they would take ''immediate action'' to resolve the shipment problem. The officials did not provide details on how that might be done.
Hagel departed from Pakistan after a brief visit during which he held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the country's new army chief General Raheel Sharif on Monday.
In the first visit by a US defence secretary in nearly four years, Hagel flew from Kabul to Islamabad as Washington seeks to defuse tensions over controversial US drone strikes and Islamabad's role in Afghanistan.
Ties between Washington and Islamabad have been seriously strained over US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt as well as Afghan Taliban sanctuaries inside Pakistan's borders.
After greeting Prime Minister Sharif at the start of their talks, Hagel said Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan had a “lot of common and mutual interests” and that he looked forward to discussing regional issues.
The meeting between the US Defence Secretary and Pakistani prime minister was also attended by Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins.
Hagel was in Pakistan “in recognition of the tremendous support that Pakistan has provided in the war on terror”, a senior US defence official told reporters.
The defence secretary wanted “to deepen our defence partnership” and to affirm continued US military assistance, the official said.
“There is some friction in the relationship” and Hagel wished to tackle that “head on”, he added.
The visit came as Hagel's deputies withdrew Sunday's statement that said Nato shipments out of Afghanistan through Pakistan were to resume due to the end of anti-drone protests.
Moreover, Hagel also met with Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Issues concerning defence relationship, Pak-US bilateral ties and regional stability came under discussion.
US Secretary of Defence was accompanied by US Ambassador in Pakistan Richard Olson and US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence Dr Peter Lavoy.
In recent weeks, activists opposed to the drone raids forcibly searched trucks in northwest Pakistan in a campaign to disrupt Nato supply routes through the Torkham gate border crossing.
The club-wielding protesters have prompted US officials to halt the shipments to protect the safety of truck drivers ferrying Nato equipment.
Contractors were still concerned over anti-drone protests and the suspension had not been lifted, officials travelling with Hagel said.
Torkham gate is the main overland route used by the Americans and Nato to withdraw military hardware from Afghanistan as part of the troop pullout set to wrap up by the end of 2014.
President Barack Obama has defended the drone strikes as an effective, lawful tool used with restraint to target suspected al Qaeda militants.
But human rights groups and Pakistani politicians say the missile attacks have killed innocent civilians and must stop.
The Pakistani government had previously blocked the routes for seven months following US airstrikes that accidentally killed two dozen soldiers on the Afghan border in November 2011.
Pakistan finally reopened the routes after the US apologised.
The rift led the US to sever most aid to Pakistan for some time, but relations were restored in July 2012.
Since then, the US has delivered over $1.15 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, including advanced communications equipment, roadside bomb jammers, night vision goggles and surveillance aircraft.
US officials are also anxious to forge a constructive dialogue with the new army chief General Raheel Sharif, who is expected to be at the centre of decision making on sensitive security questions.
“Issues concerning defence relationship, Pak-US bilateral ties and regional stability came under discussion,” the Pakistan military said after Hagel met the army chief, who last month succeeded General Ashfaq Kayani.
Pakistan is seen as crucial to peace in neighbouring Afghanistan as it was a key backer of the hardline 1996-2001 Taliban regime in Kabul and is believed to shelter some of the movement's leaders.
Pakistan is also battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency but US officials have long accused Islamabad's spy service of maintaining ties to the Afghan Taliban, as a hedge to counter any potential threat from India in Afghanistan.
Hagel visited Pakistan after two days in Afghanistan, where he urged the country's president, Hamid Karzai, to sign a long-delayed security agreement that will allow Nato-led forces to stay in the country after 2014.
Hagel began his trip last week in Bahrain, seeking to reassure Gulf allies that the United States would retain a robust military presence in the region despite an interim nuclear deal with Iran.
After morning meetings in Pakistan, Hagel was due to travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where he was expected to renew his message of solidarity with the Gulf Arab states.
The Saudis in particular are wary of the diplomatic opening with Tehran as they view Shia-led Iran as a regional rival.
The last Pentagon chief to visit Pakistan was Robert Gates in January 2010.