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India-Pakistan

Twin blasts kill dozens in Parachinar market

2017-06-24

[Al Jazeera] At least 34 people have been killed and more than 70 maimed when twin kabooms destroyed a crowded market in northwest Pakistain, according to officials. The kabooms, minutes apart, took place at Toori Bazar in the town of Parachinar, capital of Kurram tribal district ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... , during rush hour on Friday afternoon. "When people rushed to the site ... to rescue the maimed, a second blast took place," Nasrullah Khan told the AFP news agency. "We fear that the corpse count will increase," Khan said, adding that no further details were available yet. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital, Islamabad, said a state of emergency had been declared in Parachinar. "The military sent two helicopters from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. to ferry the ones that are in need of help," he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The twin attacks followed a bombing earlier in the day outside the office of the police chief in southwestern Quetta, capital of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province, that killed at least 13 people.

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India-Pakistan

India - Pakistan exchange fire: Excitement over cricket match possible cause

2013-01-06

Indian troops have raided a Pakistani military post, killing one soldier and injuring another, the Pakistani military said, an incident that could heighten tensions between the neighbouring nuclear powers after a period of rapprochement. The Pakistani army repulsed the attack on the Sawan Patra checkpoint in Kashmir early on Sunday, an army spokesman said in a statement. "We retaliated only using small arms. We believe it was clearly an attempt on their part to facilitate infiltration of militants." The two sides then exchanged fire across the Line of Control, an internationally recognised line in the disputed Kashmir region patrolled by troops from both countries. Colonel Brijesh Pandey, a spokesman for the Indian army in Kashmir said that Pakistani troops "initiated unprovoked firing" and fired mortars and automatic weapons at Indian posts early Sunday morning. He said Pakistani shelling had destroyed a civilian home on the Indian side. "We retaliated only using small arms. We believe it was clearly an attempt on their part to facilitate infiltration of militants," Pandey said. Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said attacks across the Line of Control are not uncommon. "We're getting conflicting reports from both sides. The Indians saying that this was retaliatory fire for a mortar attack coming from the Pakistani side. However, the Pakistani military said a number of Indian soldiers took on a Pakistani military post, after which the Pakistanis retaliated and the Indians were forced to flee, leaving some of their weapons behind," our correspondent said. "It is tricky area and it must be understood that this is all happening on a day when both the Indian and the Pakistani national cricket teams are playing their third and the last of a series of one-day matches."

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Terror Networks

Hafiz Saeed Rejects Us Terror Accusations, $10mil Bounty

2012-04-04

Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... chief blamed for Mumbai attacks tells Al Jizz his opposition to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... supply lines led to $10m bounty. Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... , the leader of a Pakistain-based group blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, has demanded proof after the US announced a $10m bounty on his head. In an exclusive interview with Al Jizz, Saeed said the US move was prompted by the fact that he had been organising rallies against the re-opening of supply lines through Pakistain to NATO forces in Afghanistan. "We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us," Saeed said. "I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes.  "I believe either the US has very little knowledge and is basing its decisions on wrong information being provided by India, or they are just frustrated". US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, on a visit to India, said a $2m bounty had also been announced for Abdul Rahman Makki, Saeed's brother-in-law and the group's second-in-command. Rewards for Justice, a programme sponsored by the US State Department, announced the cash reward for the 62-year-old Saeed on its website. "Saeed is suspected of criminal masterminding numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including six American citizens," the page said. Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT), designated as a terrorist organization by the US in December 2001, is accused by India of carrying out several attacks besides the one on Mumbai. LeT is the military wing of Saeed's larger organization, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is also blacklisted by the US. Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman involved in the three-day rampage in November 2008, has been sentenced to death by an Indian court. Kasab accused Saeed of organising the attack, which involved 10 gunnies, nine of whom were killed during the shootout. 'Popular man' India welcomed the move as a reflection of the commitment by India and the US "to bring perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks" to justice. "[The bounty] sends a strong signal to Lashkar-e-Taiba as also its members and patrons that the international community remains united in combating terrorism," Syed Akbaruddin, front man for India's ministry of external affairs said on Twitter. Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Lahore, where Saeed is believed to be based, said Pakistain was pressured to ban Saeed's organizations after the US invasion of Afghanistan. . "He started a foundation, and his men played a key role in aid efforts after earthquake in Kashmire, and the floods in Pakistain. They still are the main frontline in any calamity. He has denied that he has any links to militancy," our correspondent said. "A man who is popular across the country - it's not going to go down very well. It is also symbolic that the annoucment came in India, by a high-ranking US diplomat. That will be an irritant." Sreeram Chaulia, a professor at India's Jindal School of International Affairs, said Saeed was "intrinsically linked" to Pakistain's spy agency. "The Pakistain establishment will not hand him over for the bounty, and any private citizen who tries to make cash through tipping off the Americans will be targeted," Chaulia told the AFP news agency. "I don't think extradition is any possibility," Ayesha Siddiqa, an Islamabad-based defence analyst, told Al Jizz. "Basically, the watch list doesn't mean anything. [Saeed] is just one of many people being watched." The announcement comes as Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... , Pakistain's president, is due to visit India for the first time since the attacks in Mumbai. The bounty on Saeed, equivalent to that on Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , is second only to the $25m bounty on Ayman al Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , who succeeded the late Osama bin Laden ... who was laid out deader than a mackerel... as the al-Qaeda chief. Saeed is the fifth Pak national on the list.

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India-Pakistan

Deadly explosion in Pakistan's Khyber region

2012-01-10

Explosion near fuel station in northwestern tribal region kills at least 26 people, officials say. A suspected kaboom near a fuel station in the Jamrud area of Pakistain's northwestern Khyber tribal region has killed at least 26 people and maimed at least 40 others, regional government officials said. "It was huge blast and caused damage to a number of vehicles at the bus terminal," Khan Zaman, a Khyber primitive from the Jamrud bazaar, around 25km west of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, said on Tuesday. Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said it was not yet clear who was behind the bombing. "We were told the kabooms were packed in a vehicle that was parked in the busy bazaar area of Jamrud. After the kaboom there were heavy casualties. Officials are confirming that at least 26 people were killed on the spot and another 40 were maimed." Shakeel Khan Umarzai, a local administration official, confirmed the blast and said: "We are trying to determine the nature of the kaboom; whether it was a planted bomb or what." The troubled Khyber tribal region serves as the main supply route for NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... forces in Afghanistan and is a stronghold of the Taliban in Pakistain and al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters and other gangs opposed to the government. Fighters, particularly linked to the Taliban in Pakistain, have carried out bomb and gun attacks killing more than 4,700 people across the country since July 2007. But there had been no major attack in Pakistain since a jacket wallah killed 46 people, targeting anti-Taliban fighters at a funeral in the northwestern district of Lower Dir on September 15. Pakistain has for years battled gangs in the northwest and the tribal belt, with more than 3,000 soldiers killed in the battle against them. On Monday Pak authorities recovered the bodies of 10 soldiers in an exchange of bodies with Taliban fighters following a clash two weeks ago in the tribal belt. An official of the military's media wing said the 10 soldiers had been missing in Orakzai district since December 21 when rebels attacked a checkpoint and killed 13 others. That exchange came four days after the corpses of 15 members of Pakistain's paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) were found in the small northwestern town of Shawa, in North Wazoo tribal region near the Afghan border, almost two weeks after they were kidnapped.

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India-Pakistan

Today's Pakaboom: Blasts hit market in Peshawar

2011-06-12

[Al Jazeera] Two blasts have destroyed a market area in Pakistain's northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, causing many casualties, police and residents said. The police operational chief said 20 people had been killed and 50 others maimed. Dost Mohammed, another police official, said a small blast went off just after midnight on Sunday, drawing rescue workers and police to the site. A few minutes later a large kaboom rocked the area, causing fatalities and injuring 35 people. Mohammed said initial reports suggested the second blast was caused by explosives placed in a vehicle and detonated by remote control. The source of the first kaboom was unknown. Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said most of the casualties occurred in a restaurant. He said the blast had been so powerful it knocked down part of the building and a fire was burning at the site. One senior police official was among the maimed. The identities of the other casualties were unclear. The attack took place across the street from the offices of the highest political agent to Khyber, part of Pakistain's volatile tribal region. Housing for army soldiers is also nearby.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan blast strikes US consulate convoy

2011-05-21

[Al Jazeera] At least one person has been killed and 10 others maimed after an attack on two US consulate vehicles in the northwestern Pak city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar. Pak police said a roadside kaboom struck two vehicles carrying foreigners on Friday, killing a Pak passer-by. The US embassy later confirmed that two of its consulate vehicles had been targeted, and that one of them was badly damaged. "Two vehicles of the US consulate were on their way to the consulate when they were attacked," US embassy front man Alberto Rodriguez said. "One vehicle was damaged. There is no death among our personnel and there are no serious injuries," he added. "Only one car was hit. In that car there were US citizen diplomats and a Pak driver." Ijaz Khan, a police superintendent, told the Rooters news agency that two American security guards were slightly maimed, and were being treated at a US medical facility. Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital, Islamabad, said, "Because the vehicle was bomb proof, none of the people in the vehicle was killed." Liaqat Ali, Peshawar police chief, said a local man riding on a cycle of violence was killed in the blast, which took place on a main road in the city. 'Revenge killing' The device was so powerful that it smashed glass up to several hundred metres away and damaged at least three buildings, our correspondent reported. The Pak Taliban has grabbed credit for the attack. "The diplomatic staff of all NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... countries are our targets," Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Taliban front man, told Rooters via telephone from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location. "We will continue such attacks. Pakistain is our first target, and America is our second." Our correspondent said the claim of responsibility appeared to be "a case of Dire Revenge™ for the the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be but now ain't... killing". "Al Jizz had obtained an exclusive video a couple of days ago in which the Taliban warned of retaliation," Hyder said. Pakistain has witnessed a jump in violence since al-Qaeda and its Pak Taliban allies threatened to avenge the May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden in the country. The Taliban also grabbed credit for a twin suicide kaboom last week that killed at least 76 people, most of them paramilitary recruits.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan Taliban warns of retaliation

2011-05-19

The Pak Taliban have issued their first videotaped message since the late Osama bin Laden ... who has made the transition back to dust... was killed by US Navy Seals earlier this month. In the exclusive footage, obtained by Kamal Hyder, Al Jizz's correspondent in Islamabad, the group is shown vowing Dire Revenge™ for the al-Qaeda leader's death. The message, from a man called Umar Khalid, said the group would "take Dire Revenge™" for Osama's killing, saying that Pakistain and the US's intelligence agencies were now on its "hit list". He added that bin Laden's influence was still strong despite his death. "Osama bin Laden has given us the ideology of Islam and Jihad ... by his death we are not scattered ... but it has given us more strength to continue his mission," he said. "It took the Americans 11 years to kill Osama but for us it is easy, we will take our Dire Revenge™ in less than a few months." Khalid and his men are now hiding in the mountains, and appear to be well-armed with assault rifles and other weapons. They are also shown with a laptop and a radio. The group use cycle of violences and a station wagon, camouflaged under several inches of mud, to move around. Meanwhile on Wednesday, dozens of fighters attacked security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistain, killing two coppers and wounding several others. Up to 100 fighters reportedly stormed the post near the Khyber tribal area, a stronghold for Taliban fighters. The Taliban have staged a number of attacks in Pakistain since bin Laden was killed in a US raid on May 2 near the Pak capital Islamabad. Last Friday, at least 76 people were killed in a double suicide kaboom on a Frontier Constabulary training centre in the northwestern town of Charsadda. The Pak Taliban said they carried out the attack - this year's deadliest on the security forces - to avenge bin Laden's death in a compound in the Pak town of Abbottabad.

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India-Pakistan

Many dead in explosion in Karachi

2011-04-22

[Al Jazeera] At least 14 people have been killed and several others maimed in a kaboom in Pakistain's biggest city, Bloody Karachi. Police said they suspected Thursday's kaboom was caused by a planted bomb. "We are gathering details," they said. Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder said a bomb squad is seeking to ascertain whether the explosive had been a large bomb or a hand grenade as earlier reports had suggested. "The attack appears to be linked to the pie fight that has been going on for some time and was also alleged to be a gambling den. "According to some estimates, up to 300 people were at the location at the time of the kaboom." The number of dead is likely to rise, with up to 35 people injured, our correspondent said. No one grabbed credit for the bombing at the club, and officials said that the club was also run by criminals and was home to illegal gambling. They suspected that the attack might be a result of a gang war. Bloody Karachi has a long history of bloody feuds between rival ethnic, political and sectarian groups, in which hundreds of people have been killed. Fighters linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have also carried out attacks in the city in the past.

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India-Pakistan

US 'will continue' Pakistan drone attacks

2011-04-21

[Al Jazeera] The US will maintain its drone programme in Pakistan but the way forward will be determined by both sides, an unnamed US military official has said. The issue has been a bone of contention between the two nations, with some Pakistani officials calling for sharp cuts in drone attacks. "The [programme] is something that we have said we go ahead on. The question is how," the official said on condition of anonymity. "And that process is going to be something that's going to be one of the main tasks that our intel and our military guys have." The matter was raised last week in Washington in talks between Leon Panetta, the CIA director, and Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. "I'll pause from my normal optimism and say this is a tough one. This is a real tough one," the unidentified US official said. "Because that has been so inflamed in the public that the ability of our intelligence and our military guys to get together and say 'what's our common ground here?' is limited." Under pressure The long-running issue of the US drone strikes on targets in Pakistan's tribal areas has kept tensions high between the two countries regarding the US' role in the region. The covert drone-launched missile strikes that target fighters in Pakistan's lawless border areas have stoked anti-American sentiment among the populace, even though it is widely believed that the strikes occur with the tacit consent of Islamabad. Publicly, Pakistan's leaders have insisted that the drone strikes stop and that the US share the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology with Pakistan so that it can take operational control of them, but US officials say operations will continue in order to achieve US security objectives. US officials have privately said in the past that Washington would not consider demands by some Pakistani officials for sharp cuts in drone attacks. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the remarks about continued US drone attacks came as a surprise especially when the strikes are widely unpopular in Pakistan. "Right now the issue is being taken up even at the International Court of Justice because the government officials and some major leaders of religious parties are saying that the Americans have no mandate to cross into Pakistani sovereign territory," he said. "There is a lot of top talking to do and a lot of protests expected over the continued US policy on drone strikes."

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India-Pakistan

Pakistanis march against government

2011-03-20

[Al Jazeera] Hundreds of Paks have marched against the government in protest over the release of a CIA contractor who had been held for murder. Protesters in Islamabad led by the Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... marched from Islamabad's Red Mosque after Friday prayers, chanting anti-government and anti-US slogans. Outrage was further heightened by a US air strike in North Wazoo on Thursday, killing at least 38 people. "All of us Paks have to get together and decide that in the future if ever the life of any Pak is taken, 180 million Paks will come out onto the streets," Khan said. The protesters chanted "Friends of the US are traitors" and "Down with America". The march came two days after Raymond Davis was released after the families of the two men he admitted to killing were given so-called "blood money" and the case was dropped. US-Pakistain relations Davis, who had earlier admitted to the killings but said he was acting in "self-defence", was indicted for the murders on Wednesday. But Rana Sanaullah, the Punjab law minister, said he was immediately pardoned by the families of the victims in exchange for compensation. Washington, however, denies any money was ever paid. Davis' detention in Pakistain had strained ties between Washington and Islamabad. Kamal Hyder, Al Jizz's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "Paying money is one thing, but there has been denial from the US. The important thing is how the two [US and Pakistain] patch up their relationship." Our correspondent also reported that tribal leaders have declared Dire Revenge™ on the US after Thursday's strike. "It must not be forgotten that the tribes never leave without taking Dire Revenge™," he said. "Whenever someone is killed there will invariably be Dire Revenge™ - something that the Americans know very well, they have been operating in Afghanistan after all. Now the tribes are saying they are going to hit the Americans on both sides of the border, whenever, wherever possibly."

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan blasphemy law 'to stand'

2011-01-11

[Al Jazeera] Pakistain's prime minister has ruled out changing the country's controversial blasphemy law that has been linked to the killing of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, who was a fierce critic of the law. Yousuf Raza Gilani told news hounds in the capital, Islamabad, that he has no intention of amending the law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults the Prophet Muhammad. Gilani made the announcement on Sunday after speaking to the leader of one of the country's largest religious parties. "I spoke to Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman on the phone. He asked whether we are making any amendments to the law," Gilani said. "I have said it categorically before, and then the minister of religious affairs also gave a clarification that the government has no such intention." His comments came just hours after tens of thousands of people turned out for a rally organised by Pakistain's religious parties in Bloody Karachi on Sunday. Speakers at the rally warned the government against making any changes to the law, while others condoned the murder of Punjab governor Taseer. Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder said the protests in Bloody Karachi were a 'sign of an increasingly polarised country' Qari Ahsaan, from the banned group Jamaat ud Dawa, addressed the rally from a stage, saying: "We can't compromise on the blasphemy law. It's a divine law and nobody can change it. "Our belief in the sanctity of our prophet is firm and uncompromising and we cannot tolerate anyone who blasphemes. Whoever blasphemes will face the same fate as Salman Taseer." Taseer was killed in the capital, Islamabad, last Tuesday over his views in favour of the blasphemy law's amendment. That liberal stance offended the country's increasingly powerful conservative religious base. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the hunt for Taseer's replacement as Punjab governor continued, with Pak media reporting that a new appointment could be announced later on Monday. Sardar Latif Khosa, Pakistain's former attorney-general and a member of parliament, is the front-runner for the job. The country's blasphemy law was recently used to sentence Asia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five, to death. Politicians and conservative religious leaders have been at loggerheads over whether Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... , Pakistain's president, should pardon her. Controversy over the law flared when Sherry Rehman, a former information minister and a senior PPP member, tabled a bill in November seeking to end the death penalty for blasphemy. Most of those convicted of blasphemy in Pakistain have their sentences overturned or commuted on appeal through the courts. Pakistain has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but Bibi's case has exposed the deep fault-lines in the conservative country. Sunday's protesters held banners in support of the police commando who rubbed out Taseer. "Mumtaz Qadri is not a murderer, he is a hero," said one banner in the national Urdu language. "We salute the courage of Qadri," said another. Omar Waraich, Pakistain correspondent for the UK's Independence newspaper, told Al Jizz the rally was a "display of muscle". "This is a muscle-flexing exercise by the religious right in Pakistain who, after the tragic events of this week when Salman Taseer was assassinated, they feel emboldened by the fact that there have been many cheering that tragedy and are now out to make political capital out of it."

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India-Pakistan

'Abusive' Pakistani units lose aid

2010-10-23

[Al Jazeera] The United States will cut off aid to several Mighty Pak Army units believed to have killed civilians and unarmed prisoners, according to reports. The New York Times and Guardian newspapers said that some US-backed Mighty Pak Army and special operations troops who have been in action against Taliban fighters in Swat Valley and South Wazoo along the border region with Afghanistan, will be affected by the decision. The reports come as the US government is laying out a new multibillion-dollar military aid package for Pakistain, as it presses the Islamabad government to step up the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban there. Washington officials told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency that Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi, the Pak foreign minister, were expected to unveil the package on Friday, at the end of the latest round of high-level US-Pak strategic talks there. 'Real concerns' The move to cut off some funding would be in line with a law known as the Leahy Amendment, which requires the US to stop aid to foreign military units found to have committed gross human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... violations. "I told the White House that I have real concerns about the Pak military's actions, and I'm not going to close my eyes to it because of our national interests in Pakistain," Senator Patrick Leahy, the amendment's author, told the New York Times. "What's our national interest mean to me? Nuttin'!" Last month, Washington asked Pakistain for an explanation about a video purporting to show Pak troops executing bound and blindfolded young men. Human Rights Watch said it briefed the US state department and congressional officials earlier this year about evidence of more than 200 extrajudicial killings of suspected Taliban sympathisers. The heart [urp!] bleeds. Those killings were said to have taken place in the Swat Valley, the home to about 1.3 million people and the site of a Pak military operation last year to take back the former Taliban stronghold. Units from Indonesia and Colombia have been affected by the amendment in the past, but this would be the first time it would hit a country of such strategic importance as Pakistain. A senior Pak official involved in discussions about the matter told the newspaper that the United States had expressed concern about reports of hundreds of extrajudicial killings committed by the Pak military. Pakistain inquiry Pakistain was addressing the issue, he said. But the official noted that so far, the US government "has not threatened us with withholding of assistance or training for any of our military units on these grounds". Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the allegations will not affect the broader co-operation between the two countries. "As far as allegations are concerned the Pakistain military chief said an inquiry would be appointed. The accusations have been there for quite a while," he said. "The videos that have emerged [recently] are very grainy and possibly show Pak military soldiers [carrying out abuses] but the big question mark was if there were executions, if the Paks wanted to conceal it, why are they being filmed?" "So really, there's insufficient evidence, isn't there?" Except for the film of course, but it's very grainy ... "At the same time as this is going on there is a realisation in Washington that any solution to the Afghan problem must have Pakistain on board ... unfortunately Pakistain has been marginalised as far as talks with the Taliban are concerned. "Both countries have their reservations [about the third round of strategic dialogue between Pakistain and US] and obviously this amendment is going to figure prominently in those talks." The aid cuts were just the latest in a series of developments highlighting the uneasy relationship between Washington and Pakistain, which the US sometimes sees as hindering the fight against al-Qaeda. It comes as the two nations seek to smooth over their latest crisis after Nato helicopters killed Pak troops along the Afghanistan-Pakistain border and Islamabad responded by blocking the main transit point for US war supplies. Pakistain receives about $2bn in US aid for its military each year.

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