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- Pakistan, Afghanistan push for reconciliation as ties warm up
- Gaddafi exit from Libya is a global aim, says Cameron
- Mubarak still in Sharm El-Sheikh hospital: state media
| Pakistan, Afghanistan push for reconciliation as ties warm up Posted: 17 May 2011 06:46 AM PDT  ISLAMABAD, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and Afghanistan have found a new path in their warm up bilateral relations, particularly with the formation of a high level joint peace and reconciliation commission to push the peace process in the war- shattered country. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Saturday agreed to establish the two-tier Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Commission for facilitating and promoting reconciliation and peace. The first tier of commission will include the chief executives, foreign ministers along with chiefs of the military and intelligence services of the two countries while the second tier will comprise senior officials of foreign ministries, military and intelligence services. Chairman of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, welcomed the establishment of the Afghanistan- Pakistan Joint Commission for facilitating and promoting reconciliation and peace. Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik and former Afghan President, who had always been critical of Pakistan's role but his visit to Pakistan in January highlighted Pakistan's key role in the Afghan reconciliation process. The commission reflects a positive change in bilateral relations as now Afghan leadership recognized Islamabad's role in the reconciliation process when the American troops are set to begin withdrawal of its forces in July and Afghan forces will gradually take over the security responsibility, analysts said. Pakistan's role is considered as a key to Afghan reconciliation as the country still has influence on the Afghan Taliban. Islamabad had announced in February last year that it has reached the Afghan Taliban, the declaration was welcomed by certain quarters as Pakistan is thought to be the only country to convince the Taliban to come to the negotiation table. Prime Minister Gilani's visit to Afghanistan, the second in four months, was unique as for the first time the top military leadership joined the PM entourage to tell the world community that the political and military leadership are united. The U.S. and Afghan authorities had been critical of the role of Pakistan on Afghan issues in the past. And they even accused elements in Pakistan's military establishment of supporting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. A White House report accused Pakistan of avoiding "direct conflict" with al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban in North Waziristan tribal region. Gilani's stand that Islamabad will back the Afghan-led reconciliation process may be welcomed in Afghanistan as Afghans are very sensitive about any foreign intervention in its internal affairs. The announcement may also help in removing the mistrust among the Afghans about Pakistan's policies. There is another logic behind the fast growing high level interaction between Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter what Islamabad has described as a new "great game" in Afghanistan. Pakistani leaders have not publicly defined the great game but political analysts are of the opinion that it is the U.S. intentions for future to use Afghan soil against Iran and other countries. The U.S. quest for permanent bases in Afghanistan has also raised many questions as to why Washington is looking for permanent bases if President Obama has announced a phased withdrawal. People in Pakistan and Afghanistan still remember the U.S. regional role in the past that it had turned back to the region after the withdrawal of former Soviet forces in 1989. The economic aspect of Gilani's day-long visit to Afghanistan was also very important when he gave reference to several important mega projects, including trans-regional projects, such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline, building of electricity transmission lines, enhancing physical connectivity by building or upgrading requisite infrastructure, as well as expediting the implementation mechanisms for the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, that need to be fast- tracked. Source-Xinhua              |
| Gaddafi exit from Libya is a global aim, says Cameron Posted: 17 May 2011 06:46 AM PDT  David Cameron has claimed that "virtually every country around the world" wants Colonel Gaddafi to step down as leader of Libya. Dismissing suggestions that the anti-Gaddafi coalition had changed its war aims, the prime minister said that when he joined the presidents of the US and France in publishing a joint article saying that Gaddafi would have to go, the three leaders were merely expressing world opinion. "If you stop and think about it, the idea that at the end of all this somehow you could keep in place Colonel Gaddafi, who is even as we speak right now murdering his own civilians in Misrata – the idea that he's got a part to play in the future of Libya must be wrong," Cameron said. The publication of the joint article on Friday prompted calls for the recall of parliament, on the grounds that it implied regime change was now the main goal of the coalition. In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Cameron rejected this analysis. "We can only fulfil what is in the UN security council resolutions, but that doesn't stop us together as we have done, President Obama, President Sarkozy and I – but also virtually every prime minister in every country around the world – saying that Libya should be able to have a free and democratic future determined by themselves; it's hard to believe they'd choose one with Colonel Gaddafi still around," Cameron said. Cameron said that there was "no question of an invasion or an occupation" under the terms of the UN resolution and that this was making fighting the conflict "more difficult in many ways" for the coalition. But the coalition was supplying the rebels with non-lethal material, such as body armour and communications equipment, he said. "There's no doubt in my mind that Colonel Gaddafi is still intent on murdering people in Misrata and taking control of that large city and also pushing towards Benghazi, where I'm sure, if he ever got there, there would be a bloodbath," Cameron said. "We should be taking all the necessary steps to stop that from happening and to save civilian life." Source-guardian.co.uk       |
| Mubarak still in Sharm El-Sheikh hospital: state media Posted: 17 May 2011 06:46 AM PDT  CAIRO, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian former President Hosni Mubarak is still in Sharm El-Sheikh Hospital along with his wife Suzanne, Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted an official source as saying on Sunday. On the contrary, Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper reported on its website Saturday that Mubarak has been transferred by a military helicopter to the International Medical Center, some 42 km east of the capital Cairo, and he will stay there until the end of his interrogation on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protestors. Mubarak was sent to the Sharm El-Sheikh hospital on Tuesday after suffering heart problems while being interrogated by prosecutors. Egyptian Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud on Wednesday ordered a 15-day detention for Mubarak on charges including the ordering the killing of protesters, embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power. The prosecutor general issued on Friday a decision to move Mubarak to a military hospital. Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were sent to the Tora prison in Cairo on Wednesday awaiting investigations. Source-Xinhua       |
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