Pakistan ‘categorically rejects’ claim that it tacitly allows US drone strikes

The Bureau Investigates
Chris Woods

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has bluntly rejected claims by the Obama administration that it tacitly approves CIA drone strikes on its territory, saying that ‘drone attacks are illegal, counterproductive, in contravention of international law and a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.’

The remarks came after the Wall Street Journal revealed that US claims of legality appear built on a monthly fax from the CIA to its ISI counterpart which goes unanswered, and on Pakistan’s apparent acceptance of  ’no fly zones’ over the tribal areas which enable the drones to operate.

Islamabad’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar also waded into the fray, telling an audience in New York that  ’What the drones are trying to achieve, we may not disagree… If they’re going for terrorists — we do not disagree. But we have to find ways which are lawful, which are legal. The use of unilateral strikes on Pakistani territory is illegal.’

According to the Bureau’s data, at least 2,570 people have died since 2004 in 346 US drone strikes. Senior Pakistani officials have labelled the attacks ‘illegal’ on more than a dozen occasions this year. Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK recently told the Guardian that CIA strikes were ‘a violation of the UN charter.’ And on September 24 President Asif Ali Zardari, speaking at the UN General Assembly said that ‘drone strikes and civilian casualties on our territory add to the complexity of our battle for hearts and minds through this epic struggle.’

Despite these public protests, US officials still hint that they have Pakistan’s tacit permission to carry out the attacks. Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan insisted recentlythat ‘We do not use force whenever we want, wherever we want… The United States of America respects national sovereignty and international law.’

Drone attacks are illegal, counterproductive, in contravention of international law and a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.’
Pakistan Foreign Ministry September 28 2012

According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, that ‘respect’ rests on tenuous grounds, and it is causing concern among some senior Obama administration officials about the legality of the attacks. One described US policy as ‘cowboy behaviour’.

No Pakistani officials have any input or say into the CIA bombing campaign, the paper reports. Instead, once a month the CIA sends a fax to Pakistan’s spy agency the ISI outlining ‘the boundaries of the airspace the drones would use—large areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border referred to as flight “boxes” because they are shaped like three-dimensional rectangles in the sky.’

For at least 17 months nobody at the ISI has acknowledged or answered the faxes.

Kill Boxes
Those ‘flight boxes’ are better known as Restricted Operating Zones, precise military jargon for a three-dimensional air exclusion or ‘kill zone’. These enable other air traffic to go safely over or around ongoing combat or surveillance operations. Pakistan and the US may never have signed a formal agreement on the drone strikes – but in order to avoid collision between aircraft such zones have been in place over  the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), for some years.

Their existence is confirmed in a secret US diplomatic cable dated March 24 2008. Admiral Mike Mullen, US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was in Islamabad to meet with Pakistan’s chief of the army staff (and now head of the army) General Ashfaq Kayani. Mullen secretly ‘asked Kayani for his help in approving a third Restricted Operating Zone for US aircraft over the FATA,’ the US embassy noted at the time.

The zones are not connected to the US and NATO air traffic corridor above Pakistan. Another secret cable dated December 14 2007 identifies that route as The Boulevard, noting that up to 150 Coalition aircraft were then using it daily.

All but two CIA strikes have taken place inside FATA, suggesting that the CIA restricts itself to defined ‘kill boxes.’ US officials believe they have ‘permission’ from Islamabad to carry out the drone strikes because ‘Pakistan continues to clear airspace in the targeted areas,’ the Wall Street Journal reports.

The United States of America respects national sovereignty and international law.’
John Brennan, US chief counter terrorism advisor

However a western defence analyst – who asked to remain anonymous because of his links to the Pakistan military – warned that consent should not simply be assumed. ‘They [Pakistan] know full well that they would have something set on them if they tried to enter these boxes. It’s more likely the Pakistan air force and army are instead turning a blind eye.’

Former president Pervez Musharraf recently said that regardless of what it wanted, Pakistan was too weak militarily to oppose US attacks, and certainly could not shoot down the CIA’s drones as some proposed: ‘You cannot do it… If the air force does it, let’s see how they confront the joint might of the coalition forces.’

There is concern too in some parts of Washington. US congressman Dennis Kucinich told the Bureau that he and others in Congress questioned the legality of US strikes: ‘If in fact Pakistan has made this request and asked us to stop and we continue this bombing, then we are at war with Pakistan.’

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson later said that Islamabad ‘categorically rejected the insinuation made in the [Wall Street Journal] report’ and that ’there can be no question of Pakistan’s agreement to such attacks.’

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The Destabilization of Pakistan

GRTV
Eric Draitzer
Nile Bowie

As relations between Islamabad and Washington reach an all-time low, the ongoing debate of reopening US/NATO supply routes that traverse through Pakistani territory remains in question. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently acknowledged the fact that America is waging war in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, stating that Washington is "losing patience" with Islamabad, and that Pakistan should do more to combat terrorist entities such as the Haqqani Network. As civilians are indiscriminately killed under heavy drone assaults from the United States, a separatist movement in Balochistan, a province encompassing western Pakistan, eastern Iran, areas of southern Afghanistan, directly threatens China's commercial shipping activities in the Indian Ocean. As President Asif Zardari calls for Islamabad's full membership into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Pakistan's response to its issues of internal insurgency and separatism may shape its foreign policy for years to come. Eric Draitser of StopImperialism.com provides analysis on a wide variety of issues facing the nation of Pakistan. Interview by Nile Bowie - independent writer and photojournalist based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Regular Contributor to Global Research.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court Finds Prime Minister Gilani Guilty of Contempt; Appeal Planned; Opposition Calls for Resignation

EmptyWheel
Jim White

Yousuf Raza Gilani

In a case that has been simmering for months, Pakistan’s Supreme Court today found Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani guilty of contempt of court for failing to carry through with investigation of corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari. Gilani’s “sentence” was brief, lasting only about 30 seconds until the court adjourned. Dawn’s description of what is likely to come next suggests that appeals of various sorts will take months to play out, but the largest opposing political parties are calling for Gilani’s immediate resignation.

From the Express Tribune:

The bench found Gilani guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the president, but gave him only a symbolic sentence of a few minutes’ detention in the courtroom, while he did not receive any jail term.

“For reasons to be recorded later, the prime minister is found guilty of contempt for wilfully flouting the direction of the Supreme Court,” said Justice Nasirul Mulk.

A seven-member bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk announced the verdict and convicted him for violating Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 section 5 and the charges framed against him were for willfully disobeying the court’s orders and ridiculing it.

The court cited article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution and observed that the premier might face consequences under it.

The long process ahead for appeals is described in Dawn:

Senator (R) Iqbal Haider said, “The fact remains that the PM has been found guilty of contempt of court and was sentenced under Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution of Pakistan. His sentence, no matter how short it was, has serious repercussions. The prime minister has been labelled as a convict.”

Story of Adnan Randhawa, foriegn service official, who resigned over Raymond Davis issue

Siasat

ISLAMABAD: Besides the famous ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who resigned over the Raymond Davis affair, there was a silent officer in the Foreign Service as well, with a conscience, who also quit in protest but was never heard of.

In eight years, he joined three services, all through competitive exams but his conscience pulled him out of them each time, the latest being the Foreign Service from which he resigned in protest against the release of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor charged with killing of three Pakistanis.

Adnan Randhawa is a restless soul, not ready to reconcile with the decline of the civil service where hypocrisy reigns supreme, corruption as well as deception is rampant, and dissenting views are killed with a stroke of pen. Now this disillusioned youth has quietly started law practice in the district court of Islamabad, saying good-bye to government service.

Neither could he make headlines like Shah Mehmood Qureshi who apparently had resigned 'only' over Raymond Davis case nor was this his first resignation in life, and has joined the list of the country's unsung heroes.

An interview with him gives a rare insight into the working of Foreign Office, the country's 'cozy' relations with China, and Pakistan's sheepish attitude towards the US. All he says is dictated by his personal experiences and observation.

"I understand the Foreign Ministry has scored the highest marks in moral bankruptcy. It is polluted with the officers who would not think for a while compromising on national issues and only for petty gains," he said in a two-page resignation letter after Raymond's release.

Pakistan's military, high court both fed up with president

Los Angeles Times

The military appears to be aligning itself with the Supreme Court to loosen Zardari's tenuous grip, analysts say.

Asif Ali Zardari

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan—

In its standoff with President Asif Ali Zardari's administration, Pakistan's powerful military is relying on an institution that experts say is equally antagonistic toward the civilian government: the country's high court.

The Pakistani capital has been awash with rumors that the army, which is fed up with a civilian government defined by corruption and ineffectiveness, is planning a coup. But as the rift between civilian leaders and the security establishment widens, it's becoming clear that a military takeover isn't what the generals envision.

Rather, analysts say the military appears to be aligning itself with the Supreme Court, a body with strong backing from everyday Pakistanis and the legal firepower to endanger Zardari's tenuous grip on governance. An outright coup probably would bring international criticism of the generals; experts say those traditional power brokers would welcome Zardari's ouster through court action.

"Both are acting in a manner in which they are reinforcing each other," said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based political analyst. "They are very quietly and discreetly helping each other … even if there doesn't appear to be a formal arrangement between the two."

Last week, Pakistani news media quoted military sources as saying the army stood ready to enforce any action that the high court took against the government. The remarks came just days after the Supreme Court had warned Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that it could remove him from office if he did not abide by the court's long-standing demand that he reinstate corruption proceedings against Zardari.

The court's feud with Zardari dates back to the early days of his presidency, when he initially balked at reinstating Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who had been driven from his post by former ruler Pervez Musharraf. Zardari reportedly feared that Chaudhry would allow old corruption charges against him in Switzerland to proceed.

For the last two years, the high court has been demanding that the government send a letter to the Swiss government requesting the revival of those charges. The case stems from Zardari's conviction in absentia in 2003 in Switzerland on money-laundering charges. The case was suspended while he and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, appealed and was later dropped at the request of the Pakistani government.

Next Stop is Pakistan

Global Research
Wayne Madson

Paraphrasing the old anti-Vietnam War song,

"And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Pakistan"

It does appear that for some Pentagon brass, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta; the CIA under former U.S. Central Command and Afghanistan commander General David Petraeus; and top Republican and Democratic politicians that, indeed, Pakistanis next on the target list of nations that will soon be feeling the military muscle of the United States. Unlike other Muslim nations that have been subjected to U.S. military intervention, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and Libya, Pakistan’s ultimate prize for the West is its nuclear weapons arsenal...

A number of observers, including former senior figures with the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, have made no secret of western contingency plans, which appear to be going active, to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in order to eliminate the nation as a nuclear weapons power. The plans have been coordinated between the CIA, India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence service, and Israel’s Mossad.

President Obama appears to have decided to ratchet up tensions with Pakistan after Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari was apparently urged by Obama to attend the White House’s much-hyped Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April 2010. Obama sent a personal letter to Zardari that was delivered to the Pakistani president’s office in Islamabad on February 16, 2010, along with a cover letter from U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson. The letter to Zardari was the subject of a leaked U.S. State Department “sensitive” cable dated February 17, 2010 from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad to the State Department. The cable references a previous February 10, 2010 cable from the White House to the embassy in Islamabad. The cable from Islamabad was copied to the CIA; the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon; the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida; U.S. consulates in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi – the sites of CIA stations in Pakistan – and the U.S. embassies in London and Kabul.

The cable from Islamabad to Washington stated:

    (SBU) Post delivered the POTUS letter on the Nuclear Security Summit to the Office of President Asif Ali ZARDARI on February 16, with cover letter from Ambassador Anne Patterson. The Pakistanis have not yet confirmed to us whether ZARDARI will attend.

    PATTERSON

Zardari passed on attending the nuclear summit, opting to send Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani is his place. Soon after, Washington began expressing alarm about links between Pakistan and Taliban elements in the nation’s North West Frontier Province, as well as in Afghanistan.

It is noteworthy that Israel, which officially denies it possesses nuclear weapons, although it is estimated to have some 400 warheads, sent Dan Meridor, the deputy prime minister with oversight over Mossad, and India sent its Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. Saudi Arabia, which has been used by Washington as an interlocutor with the Taliban in Afghanistan, sent the head of its General Intelligence Service, Prince Muqran bin Abdul Aziz.

Attempt to kill Pakistani president foiled

People's Daily

Asif Ali Zardari

An Attempt to kill Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was foiled as eight plotters were arrested respectively in the country's capital Islamabad and Punjab province, reported local English TV channel Express on Saturday night.

According to the report, the security forces first got informed about the plan by some terrorists to kill the Pakistani President on May 21 by intercepting a call and arrested four of them in Islamabad and another four in different areas of Punjab province on Saturday.

Details about the plan and eight arrested terrorists are not available immediately at this point.

Since the killing of the former al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden by the U.S. forces in Pakistan's northwest city of Abbottabad on May 2, both Pakistan Taliban and al-Qaida vowed to avenge the death of bin Laden by threatening to launch attacks at the military, police and security forces as well as the top government officials in Pakistan.

Pakistan Taliban have meant their words by launching a series of attacks across the country since then.

Serious attacks launched by them included a twin suicide bomb attack at a training center of armed border forces in Pakistan's northwest city of Charsadda on May 13, in which 98 people were killed and more than 140 others injured; an attack on Pakistani naval air force in Karachi on May 22, in which over a dozen of security personnel were killed while two U.S.-made P3C Orion surveillance planes and one helicopter were destroyed; and a suicide car bomb attack in the country's northwest city of Hangu on May 26, during which 36 people were killed and over 50 others injured.

The revenge target of the Pakistan Taliban is clear this time. Most of the targets hit by them are the army, police and the United States. On May 20, two employees of the U.S. consulate in Peshawar were hit by a road-side planted bomb, which killed one passerby and injured several others apart from the two U.S. diplomats.

Source: Xinhua

Pakistan agrees to return chopper tail and go after enemy sanctuaries

A flurry of activity of Monday provided hope that the Pak-US marriage of convenience was not over despite the recent bellowing and booming of the Pakistani leadership.

By the end of Senator John Kerry’s day-long stay in Islamabad it appeared that the US had convinced Pakistan to undertake several steps for proving its commitment to the fight against terrorism. These included returning the wreckage of the helicopter which had malfunctioned during the May 2 raid in Abbotabad and eliminating terrorist sanctuaries in tribal areas.

In exchange Washington has committed itself to a process, which if successful, will lead to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Islamabad for reviving the strategic dialogue which has been stalled since the arrest of CIA operative Raymond Davis and subsequent events such as drone attacks and the unilateral US operation killing Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.

John Kerry, who heads the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, extracted these promises from the Pakistani leadership; he warned them that “if the relationship is to fall apart …. US will always reserve the right to protect its national security”.

Senator Kerry’s tough love message was reinforced, Dawn has learnt, by the telephone calls Secretary Clinton made to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

...

The test will be how long Pakistan stays committed to the deal. Will they go after the Haqqani network? Getting rid of them would be a good way to get the UIS out of their hair.