Pilots and aircrews from the 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron arrived at PAFB Chaklala March 3 to conduct the information exchange with their Pakistan air force hosts.

Upon arrival, the Airmen invited PAF pilots and aircrews aboard their KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft to familiarize them with Air Force air refueling equipment and procedures.

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Michael LeFever, the senior U.S. Defense Representative to Pakistan, hosted Pakistan Air Commodore Tahir Ranjha, the PAF air transportation director and Air Commodore Khalil Ahmed, the PAF Chaklala commander, aboard the KC-135 aircraft.

“Events like these promote understanding and enhance our military-to-military relationships while also boosting capability and expertise,” Admiral LeFever said. “In addition, with the planned arrival of more F-16s to Pakistan later this year, developing PAF air refueling expertise is critical to increasing their airborne endurance and enhancing their ability to counter the violent extremist threat in their country.”

The role in strengthening commercial ties with industrial units in Pakistan and enlarging the scope of economic co-operation between the two countries were discussed.

The delegation is from the 39th Pakistan Navy Staff Course, led by Rear Admiral Sayed Bashir Ahmad.

It was accompanied by Pakistan Embassy First Secretary Muhammad Saleem.

“Bahrain and Pakistan share ties that go way back in history, and the relationship remains strong to this day,” said Alba chief executive officer Laurent Schmitt.

“The economic ties between the two countries continue to show encouraging growth, and we discussed ways in which Alba could contribute towards boosting commercial and technological co-operation with industrial bodies in Pakistan.”

The Pakistani naval delegation was given a tour of the smelter and was briefed on the process of aluminium production.

At end of December 2009, country’s total EDLs stood at unprecedented $55.675 billion or 32 percent of GDP, while in June 2008 these stood at 46.16 billion dollars (27.6 percent of GDP), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported Thursday.

The stagnant exports and foreign exchange earnings, together with heavy reliance on foreign resources, were the main factors contributing to the worsening of the external debt indicators.

In six-month period, from June to December 2009, these increased by $3.34 billion, as on June 2009, liabilities were recorded at 52.33 billion dollars.

According to the bank’s figures, out of these liabilities, external debt stood at $54.453 billion against $50.76 billion at end June 2009 and $53.99 billion in September of the same year.

The Ministry of Finance latest summary of Pakistan’s consolidated federal and provincial expenditure figures also reported that during July-December 2009-10, on external debt servicing, Islamabad has spent about $375 million that is 0.2 per cent of GDP.

Already the debt-servicing burden has progressively reduced the government’s ability to undertake much needed infrastructure development projects, and further rise in debt burden would hamper country’s efforts for social and economic development, economist believe. Debt service burden has also a negative impact on labour and capital productivity, which adversely effects economic growth.

Besides, back-record of external debt of the country also reveals a significant increase in last few years. As on June 30, 2003 external debt stood at $32.46 billion, June 2004 ($32.93 billion), June 2005 ($34.04 billion), June 2006 ($35.89 billion), June 2007 ($39.5 billion), June 2008 ($44.87 billion), June 2009 ($51.06 billion) and now at the end of December 2009, it has jumped to $54.45 billion. Increased debt burden could negatively affect economic growth by reducing capital accumulation and productivity.

Foreign exchange liabilities comprising on central bank deposits, foreign currency bonds and other liabilities almost stood stagnant at $1.22 billion since June 2008.

Independent economists believe that the increase in public debt could have severe long-term direct and indirect negative impact on economy. They say the government to make strong fiscal adjustments instead of more borrowing. Otherwise, in coming years, debt problem will cause severe macroeconomic consequences like low economic growth, closure of businesses, rising unemployment and poverty, deterioration of physical and human infrastructure, high inflation, pressures on exchange rate, discouragement of both domestic and foreign private investment etc.

Lessening over-dependence on external debt needs improvement in economy’s competitiveness in order to stabilize macro imbalances and helps mobilize domestic resources.

A viable monitoring system was also a need of the hour, which could ensure proper and systematic utilization of the external borrowings for the developmental projects. Provision of a favourable macroeconomic environment was also needed for reducing mismanagement to promote economic growth.

‘Polemics and unfounded insinuations cannot advance the cause of justice in civilized societies. Legal processes cannot and must not be interfered with,’ said Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit while commenting on Indian External Affairs Ministry’s criticism of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed’s release.

Hafiz Saeed was put under arrest following Mumbai attacks.

The India External Affairs Ministry expressed ‘serious doubts’ about Pakistan’s ‘sincerity’ in dealing with terrorism after Hafiz Saeed was released from house arrest on the orders of Lahore High Court.

Basit dismissed Indian concerns as ‘misplaced.’

He stressed that the Pakistani government knew its national and international obligations and had shown complete sincerity and commitment in the Mumbai attack probe.

Indian authorities, the spokesman recalled, is yet to provide an English translation of the information material about the Mumbai attack which they handed over to Pakistan on May 20 in Hindi and Marathi languages.

Major-General Sajjad Ghani, who is leading the offensive in the upper part of Swat valley, said people in neighbouring Kalam valley and Lower Dir district were raising their own militias, commonly known as lashkars, to confront the militants, Reuters reports

‘They are resolutely defending against the advance of the Taliban. That’s the silver lining that I can see,’ he told reporters during a trip to Swat arranged by the military.

In a sign of growing hostility, villagers in Kalam and Lower Dir have tried to expel the gunmen.

Several people were killed or wounded in a clash between armed villagers and Taliban fighters in Kalam on Thursday, provincial assembly member Jafar Shah told Reuters.

Villagers had made a similar stand in parts of Lower Dir, to the west of Swat, and the Taliban had pulled out of some areas, a provincial government official there said.

‘Today they stand isolated, not only in the valley but also at the national scene. I think this is a big achievement of the government as well as the military,’ military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said.

Ghani said civilian casualties were ‘less than double figures’ in areas under his command.

Ghani said two major militant strongholds had been secured in upper Swat and people who had fled the area would soon be asked to return to their homes.

Ghani said the military was determined to eliminate the Taliban and ruled out the possibility of any talks or a ceasefire with the militants.

‘This time it has been decided to take the operation to its logical conclusion aimed at eliminating the terrorists,’ he said.

The six-month battle with Islamist insurgents in the remote Bajaur district is seen as pivotal to the country’s fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, after bombings have killed more than 1,600 people in less than two years.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan’s government launched the Bajaur offensive in August amid heavy criticism from US and Afghan officials who say it is not doing enough to stop militants crossing into Afghanistan to attack foreign troops.

Heavy artillery and helicopter gunships have pounded Bajaur, one of Pakistan’s seven federally-administered tribal areas (FATA) along the Afghan border, in a bid to flush out militant bases, killing hundreds.

“We think that we have secured this agency (district),” said Major General Tariq Khan, the commander of forces fighting in Bajaur.

“They have lost. They have lost their cohesion out here,” Khan told reporters flown by helicopters from the capital, Islamabad.

A Pakistani army colonel named Saifullah, who gave only one name, said the military had also beaten back militants in the neighbouring tribal area of Mohmand, also on the Afghan border, where security forces have been waging lower-level offensives.

“Now the people’s minds are clear. They now believe in the strength of the force and the resolve of the government that this militancy is being pursued and is being finished,” he told reporters in Ghallanai.

“The influence of militants has reduced over a major proportion of the population and area,” the colonel added.

Pakistan is facing increased US pressure to clampdown on militant hideouts with President Barack Obama deploying an extra 17,000 troops to Afghanistan as part of a major shift in its action against global terrorist networks from Iraq to south Asia.

There was no independent verification of the Bajaur victory but the Taliban see the district as a key strategic district they cannot not afford to lose, analysts have said.

To the east is Swat, where the Taliban have called an indefinite ceasefire following a nearly two-year insurgency, while on the Afghan side is a long frontier with the Taliban hotspot of Kunar province.

Khan recommended fencing the rugged and porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent the cross-border movement of Taliban militants.

He said troops would withdraw gradually but not pull out for some time, speculating that military operations in five of Pakistan’s seven wild tribal districts could finish by the end of the year.

In Bajaur, 97 soldiers from the Pakistan army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps have been killed, while 404 troops were injured, he said.

Khan said about 50 percent of the militants were Afghans and some Sudanese and Egyptians had been killed in Bajaur in the initial stages of operation.

He described a unilateral ceasefire declared by the Taliban on Monday as “a face-saving statement”.

“There was no question of ceasefire, the resistance has melted, dissolved. It is not there,” he said.

Shafir Ullah, the chief of the Bajaur civil administration, said 1,600 militants were killed during the campaign and more than 2,000 injured while some 150 civilians also died and about 2,000 were injured in the fighting.

The pitched battles and bombardment had destroyed about 5,000 homes in Bajaur, which is home to about one million people, Ullah said.

Ullah appealed for international donors to come forward with money for reconstruction and the provision of basic services such as electricity and water to 304,598 people displaced from their homes in Bajaur.

The official said more than 180,000 had returned.

This organization has been crucial in bringing regional stability. Its contribution in the 1980s against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan could not be denied, and it operated cooperatively with multiple US agencies for a decade or more.

After Sept. 11, 2001, the American campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan could not have materialized without the willful support of Pakistan and its security organizations, including the ISI. Scores of key Al Qaeda and Taliban figures were either killed or handed over to the United States through the ISI’s help.

Supporting the United States in Afghanistan and elsewhere while combating extremism, Pakistan has incurred colossal human loss in terms of deaths of its citizens and security officials.

Recurring suicide attacks on Pakistan’s security officials in Rawalpindi and Islamabad and target killing of its members in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and elsewhere illustrate the frustration and damage Pakistan has caused to the militants and terrorists.

Allegations of the ISI’s cadres operating in connivance with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda and portrayals of the agency as an autonomous body are not based on fact. The ISI operates under complete control of the civilian government, and American authorities are convinced of the credibility of this institution following the return of Pakistan to full democracy.

Nadeem H. Kiani
Press attache
Embassy of Pakistan
Washington

Richard Holbrooke, considered the architect of peace in Bosnia, was due to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and military chiefs, the foreign ministry said.

US President Barack Obama has called Afghanistan the main front in the “war on terror” and plans to send a further 30,000 troops there, doubling the US contingent fighting a Taliban-led insurgency along with NATO forces.

Holbrooke will hold top-level talks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India before “reporting back” to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Obama.

“I am here to listen and learn the ground realities of this critically important country,” Holbrooke was quoted as saying in a statement released by the US embassy after his arrival in Islamabad late Monday.

“The United States looks forward to reviewing our policies and renewing our commitment and friendship with the people of Pakistan,” he added.

The foreign ministry said Islamabad was looking for fresh perspective on security, stability and development, to address “militancy, terrorism and extremism effectively” in a “comprehensive and holistic strategy”.

But Holbrooke will likely face criticism from a civilian government worried that US missile strikes against militant targets on its territory will exacerbate its domestic problems and unpopularity.

Islamabad’s relations with Washington and Kabul have been strained over accusations that Pakistan is not doing enough to eradicate Islamist “safe havens” on its territory.

Pakistan, reeling from attacks that have killed more than 1,500 people in 20 months, has welcomed the US policy review.

Holbrooke’s mission will be further complicated by an escalating blame game between India and Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks, which New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

The United States has also expressed concern that nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb who was freed from house arrest last week, will not be involved in nuclear proliferation.

“What is required in my view is new ideas, better coordination within the US government, better coordination with our NATO allies and other concerned countries, and the time to get it right,” Holbrooke said in Germany on Sunday.

“Pakistan’s situation is dire,” he said. “It needs international assistance, international sympathy and international support.”

Pakistan wants the US missile attacks to end, US aid (10 billion dollars under ex-ruler Pervez Musharraf) and renewed diplomacy on Kashmir, an issue at the heart of its troubles with India but which Washington says is not within Holbrooke’s mandate.

Islamabad said Monday its investigators needed more information from India to complete a probe into the Mumbai attacks in November, when 10 gunmen killed 165 people during a 60-hour siege.

New Delhi blamed the attacks on the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is active in Indian-ruled Kashmir, but the outfit has denied responsibility.

We wish you are in the best of health and high-spirits.

Mr. President, we are writing to you as a group of concerned American, foreign, and Pakistani students who would like to bring your attention to the world’s longest-standing flashpoint. It is our belief that a watershed has been reached where some common-sense needs to prevail in South Asia with regards to India-Pakistan relations. We recognize and appreciate some of the statements that you have made with regards to that but we urge you to accept with utmost seriousness that the Kashmir Dispute has lingered on for far too long. We ask you to offer the best of your offices to facilitate and mediate a resolution to the disputed conflict of Jammu and Kashmir.

For over 60 years, the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been a source of intense bitterness and discord between India and Pakistan.

In 1947, after the Partition of the British colony of India, Kashmir’s Maharajah ceded to the Indian Union under questionable circumstances. However, the principle enshrined in the Partition of British India was that ascension was to be based on the notion of Muslim-majority provinces & princely states be given to Pakistan while Hindu-majority territories would form India.

There was also the Princely State of Hyderabad, a state with a Muslim Nawab and a Hindu majority. Indian Armed Forces annexed the Princely State of Hyderabad through the illegal use of force on the logic that Hyderabad was Hindu-majority even though the Nawab had expressed his intentions of joining Pakistan. Similar, was the fate of the state of Junagardh.

On hearing the news of the Maharajah of Kashmir joining the Indian Union without the consent of the Kashmiri masses – an undemocratic move indeed – the populace of the state and adjoining areas revolted against the Maharajah. This meant Pakistan and India were juxtaposed for their first war that neither side had wanted. While for India this was tantamount to land grab, for Pakistan this was an attempt to defend its very rationale for existence as a state.

Mr. President, Resolution 47 of the United Nations Security Council, passed in 1948, stands as a source of truth and justice to resolve this dispute between India and Pakistan. This is in line with the long standing principle that has held the international system together since Westphalia – the right to self-determination.

India claims to be the world’s largest democracy, then why, we ask, does it not adhere to the words of its own co-founding father, Jawaharlal Nehru who affirmed his faith in a free and fair plebiscite to let the Kashmiris decide their fate? Why, we ask, has the international community and more importantly America been silent to this gross violation of the ‘self-determination’ principle of International Relations?

Mr President, just like the founding fathers of the United States of America made innumerable sacrifices by raising voice against the tyranny of the monarchy and for exercising their right to self-determination, do the people of Kashmir not deserve that same unalienable right to rid themselves of a tyrannical rule that they have never accepted?

Mr. President, Pakistanis and Kashmiris are only seeking what is just and fair. The Pakistani state and people have been long-standing allies of the United States and its peoples. We joined forces with your nation to defeat the threat of Communism in Afghanistan. What did we receive in return? A humiliating Pressler Amendment which crippled our defence needs based on arbitrary, unilateral and comatose efforts by lobbyists.

Mr. President, we consider this our duty to point out to you that Pakistan did not introduce nuclear weapons to South Asia – our neighbour to the east did. Now we watch in deep horror as America gifts our eastern neighbour with nuclear technology and next generation reactors even though India has not ratified either the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. This is a clear break from tradition when America believed in the power of treaty and customary laws.

Such provisions also challenge America’s long standing position of being ‘fair’ to both nuclear states in the subcontinent. However, now Pakistan is being denied this fairness and just treatment even though we carry the tag of a ‘Major Non-NATO Ally’.

Mr. President, coming to the War on Terror, how many Americans are aware that 8000 Pakistani civilians have lost their lives last year as a result of terrorist attacks? Do the think-tanks that churn out anti-Pakistan rhetoric not see the price being paid by Pakistan or are they oblivious to glaring harsh and documented realities?

Pakistan has become the frontline state in the War on Terror yet we receive a paltry amount of development aid and security aid that is not enough to tackle a hardened Taliban insurgency and growing economic crisis that the world financial crisis has triggered. Pakistan lacks duty-free access to American and European markets. Such provisions would allow for economic liberty to emerge with a new dynamic in our country and hence reduce the threat posed by extremism. We point these issues, along with Kashmir flashpoint out to open some eyes in Washington to the dilemmas that plague South Asia that if left unattended could well converge into a mega issue which can cause rapid destabilization of the region while spiraling in to a major international crisis.

Respected Sir, you may not be aware, but India has defaulted on its pledge to the international community, to Pakistan, to the People of Kashmir, and to human conscience; for it has failed to carry out the plebiscite which it had agreed to under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47.

Sir, are you aware of what is really happening in Kashmir? Mr. President, 100,000 civilians have lost their lives in the conflict which began in the early 1990′s as a result of a heavy presence of Indian occupying forces and their brutal methods in the occupied state. The Indian mainland has actively engaged in attempts to alter the natural demographics of the Kashmir Valley. Over 50,000 Kashmiri Hindus have fled the valley, as a result of increased communal tensions due to India’s denial of a plebiscite to Kashmiris – communal violence that plagues India proper as well. This is not of Pakistan’s doing, but India’s abject failure; for this adamant daughter of a once wise civilization denies Kashmir her democratic rights.

This past summer of 2008, Kashmiri separatists eschewed violence in favour for peaceful non-violent protests. Hundreds and thousands of Kashmiris, upwards of half a million poured out on to the streets to protest Indian rule. The result? Indian security forces gunned down 70 unarmed protesters in broad daylight. For the past 60 years, India’s Independence Day is marked as a ‘Black Day’ by Kashmiris as they hoist black flags in defiance to illegal Indian rule. One only needs to look at reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to discover the plethora of evidence of Indian atrocities, not to forget the discovery of thousands of unmarked mass graves in Indian-occupied Kashmir in mid-2008.

India also continues to plan and build mega-dam projects that are a blatant violation of the standards laid down by the Indus River Water Treaty between itself and Pakistan. This has resulted in Pakistan’s two most important rivers, the Chenab and the Ravi, being choked as India illegally tampers with the water topography of Kashmir. This has started to pose acute problems and threatens the very existence of Pakistan’s agriculture-based economy. It also threatens two of Pakistan’s provinces with acute water shortages and the Pakistani people at large. This also affects Pakistan’s hydroelectricity generation capacity – already plagued by acute energy crisis – further damaging our capacity to ensure economic liberty and the prospect of upward social mobility. Does the United States not see these violations?

Mr. President, we want the People of Pakistan and the People of Kashmir – whether the latter chooses independence or union with Pakistan – to have every right to exercise their aspirations whether that is to live with human dignity and/or the right to upward social mobility. The current conflict has taken a heavy toll on the Pakistani masses while also resulting in unimaginable suffering for the Kashmiri masses. We can forgive those who have been afraid of the dark in the past and have not embraced rationality, but we cannot forgive those who are afraid to accept the light. The light, Mr. President, is democracy. This has two loose ends that will have to be tied up. America has to give up its love affair with dictatorships in Pakistan and Kashmir has to be entitled to a democratic exercise to determine its own destiny. Freedom beckons for Kashmir as Kashmir bleeds under the yoke of a million-strong illegal Indian military occupation. You alluded to Iran unclenching its fist, but what about India unclenching not just its fist but unloading that shotgun it has placed on the heart of Kashmir?

We ask upon you to fix this historic injustice and to allow the people of Kashmir to exercise their unalienable right to self-determination and democratic exercise to choose their own destiny, whether it be with India, Pakistan, or as a free nation-state in the comity of Nations – such as Kosovo has done. Sir, you are in a position to act. Mr. President, prove to us the merit of playing by the rules and set a strong precedent that the international system can work for the weak as well and not just the strong. Because sooner or later, if the prospect is not shown to the masses that the international system supports justice and not just narrowly defined self-interests and profits, then playing by the rules will seem distasteful and paradoxical as we would have come to the realization that we are not considered part of the game.

P.S: Please see the thousands of signatures and more profoundly a light we have lit for you on this website; www.plebiscitekashmir.com

Regards ,

Authors: Haroon S. Ellahi Shaikh and Saad Syed
Society For Plebiscite Against Occupation

The meeting was informed that the aircraft would have an edge over its contemporary aircraft particularly Indian light-combat aircraft in terms of cost, early availability and supportability.

The JF-17 Thunder is a light weight, all-weather, multi-role fighter aircraft jointly developed by China and Pakistan. The aircraft has been designed for high performance at low cost.

JF-17 Thunder Pictures at DefenceTalk.com