Sunday International News

‘Pakistan won’t be staging ground
for terror attacks’
Agence France-Presse . Washington
Pakistan will not allow itself to be staging ground for any terrorist attacks, the foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Friday amid reports foreign fighters were heading to the country to join al-Qaeda militants.
Washington has warned that global terror group al-Qaeda is rebuilding itself in Pakistan’s tribal areas for a possible terrorist attack on US soil while Kabul has accused Pakistan of backing Taliban insurgents waging a bloody insurgency against international troops in Afghanistan.
‘Pakistan will not permit its territory to be used by anyone against any country,’ Qureshi told a forum of the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
The newly elected administration of the Pakistani prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, ‘has now the legitimate mandate to confront the forces of terrorism wherever they rear their ugly heads,’ Qureshi said.
US intelligence officials say there has been an increase in foreign fighters travelling to Pakistan to join up with al-Qaeda-linked militants in the country’s tribal areas, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Dozens or more Uzbeks, North Africans and Arabs from Gulf states have reportedly moved into Pakistan in recent months, shoring up the al-Qaeda forces backing the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
General David McKiernan, the new NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the situation in Pakistan’s northwestern border areas, where al-Qaeda and other Islamic insurgents are reportedly based, had worsened.
In talks with White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Qureshi ‘expressed determination’ of his government ‘to fight terrorism, which continues to be a threat to Pakistan,’ the Pakistan embassy in Washington said in a statement.
He told Hadley that Islamabad ‘will not negotiate with the terrorists, but will work with our people to limit the influence of extremists in the society,’ the statement said.
At the forum, the minister said his government would continue with what he called a ‘political dialogue’ to complement its military strategy ‘aimed at achieving peace agreement with those who desire peace and are willing to lay down their arms.
‘While we prefer dialogue over use of force for obvious reasons, we are not shy to employ force where it is required as evident from’ recent operations against militants along the border with Afghanistan, he said.
The United States has said that it did not approve of Islamabad’s negotiations with top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, accused of masterminding the slaying of former premier Benazir Bhutto last year.
Gilani’s government launched the talks after defeating allies of US-backed president Pervez Musharraf in elections in February.
Qureshi stressed that Pakistan had a vital stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan, saying, ‘We cannot think of a scenario where Pakistan can benefit from the continuing turmoil’ in the neighbouring nation.
‘For that reason, it is baffling when we come across the insinuations that Pakistan was in a way responsible for the present or past crises in Afghanistan,’ he said.
On India-Pakistan relations, Qureshi said Islamabad was committed to continuing dialogue with its eastern neighbour but called for immediate steps to take them ‘out of the cycle of hostility, acrimony and mutual suspicion.’
Four rounds of talks since January 2004 have added more bus and train links between the traditionally feuding neighbours, but there has been scant headway on Kashmir, the trigger for two of their three wars since 1947.


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Obama won’t change nuclear deal
with India: report
Agence France-Presse . New Delhi
US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he would not seek changes in a controversial nuclear deal with India and hoped it would be finalised by year-end, a magazine reported Saturday.
‘The existing agreement effectively balanced a range of important issues – from our strategic relationship with India to our non-proliferation concerns to India’s energy needs,’ Obama was quoted as saying by the weekly Outlook news magazine.
‘I am therefore reluctant to seek changes,’ he said in the interview. The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and the US president, George W Bush, had in 2005 unveiled the agreement which if finalised will allow India in to the fold of global nuclear commerce after having been shut out for decades.
Singh argues the pact is crucial for India’s energy security and continued strong economic growth. But the Indian government’s left-wing allies who are staunchly opposed to the agreement last week withdrew their support over the issue.
The government will now face a confidence vote on July 22.
Despite the political opposition, Singh’s government moved forward on an agreement subjecting the country’s civilian nuclear sites to international controls for the first time.
An approval by the UN atomic agency International Atomic Energy of the draft agreement is one of the several conditions India must fulfil to clinch the accord, apart from getting the nod from the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
‘A final judgement on the deal negotiated by the Indian and US governments ... must await the IAEA’s approval of a safeguards agreement with India and changes to be agreed by the Nuclear Suppliers Group,’ Obama was quoted as saying.
‘At that point, the US Congress will decide whether to approve the agreement. I continue to hope this process can be concluded before the end of the year,’ Obama said. Analysts have previously said that the agreement may face hurdles in finalising the agreement once Bush’s administration ends in January.


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North Korea agrees to disable
nuclear facilities by October
Agence France-Presse . Beijing
North Korea agreed on Saturday to completely disable its main nuclear facilities by the end of October and to allow thorough site inspections to verify that all necessary steps had been taken.
The deal was announced as the latest round of six-nation disarmament talks concluded in Beijing, having restarted Thursday after a nine-month hiatus.
In return for Pyongyang deactivating its Yongbyon reactor, the other five parties guaranteed delivery of all heavy fuel oil promised in exchange by the end of the same month, a joint communique said.
North Korea ‘will work to complete the disablement of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities by the end of October 2008,’ the statement said.
The head of the Chinese delegation, Wu Dawei, read out the broad details of how to ensure that North Korea keeps it word.
The parties agreed to a verification mechanism that would include experts from the six nations to visit facilities, review documents and interview technical personnel, Wu said.
He added the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, could also be asked to assist in verification if necessary.
US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said the technical details of the verification process were yet to be decided, but that Washington hoped it would be finalised by the end of next month.
‘We’d like a protocol to be reached within 45 days and secondly to actually begin the verification within 45 days,’ Hill told reporters.