Wiki revenge: MasterCard site crippled
LONDON: The websites of the international credit card MasterCard and the Swedish prosecution authority have been taken offline in the latest development over WikiLeaks, The Guardian reported Wednesday.Co-ordinated attacks by online activists who support the site and its founder Julian Assange – who is in UK custody accused of raping two Swedish women – have seen the websites of the alleged victims' Swedish lawyer disabled, while commercial and political targets have also been subject to attack by a loose coalition of global hackers.
The Swedish prosecution authority has confirmed its website was attacked last night and this morning. MasterCard was partially paralysed today in revenge for the payment network's decision to cease taking donations to WikiLeaks.
In an attack referred to as Operation Payback, a group of online activists calling themselves Anonymous appear to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the financial site, bringing its service to a halt.
Attempts to access www.mastercard.com have been unsuccessful since shortly after 9.30am.
The site would say only that it was "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but insisted this would not interfere with its ability to process transactions.
MasterCard announced on Monday that it would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks, which it claimed was engaged in illegal activity.
Visa, Amazon, Swiss bank PostFinance and others have also announced in recent days that they will cease trading with the whistle blower site.
The moves have led to concerted attempts by hackers to target companies they deem guilty of "censoring" WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks reveals Karzi's dual standards towards Pakistan
KARACHI: WikiLeaks has disclosed the dual standards of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai towards Pakistan.
According to the leaks, Karzai held a meeting with the then British prime minister Gordon Brown on 21st August 2008 in which both the leaders discussed the situation in Pakistan and the presidential election.
During the meeting, Karzai was reportedly 'warm' on PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari but encouraged the US and UK to 'open channels' to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.
Karzai blamed that the al Qaeda training activity on the Pakistan side of border has increased and termed Pakistan as more violent country than Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks in its previous cable disclosed that a very important member of the Karzai's cabinet termed Nawaz Sharif as a 'bad news', while Hamid Karzai favoured Zardari in presidential election.
The Swedish prosecution authority has confirmed its website was attacked last night and this morning. MasterCard was partially paralysed today in revenge for the payment network's decision to cease taking donations to WikiLeaks.
In an attack referred to as Operation Payback, a group of online activists calling themselves Anonymous appear to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the financial site, bringing its service to a halt.
Attempts to access www.mastercard.com have been unsuccessful since shortly after 9.30am.
The site would say only that it was "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but insisted this would not interfere with its ability to process transactions.
MasterCard announced on Monday that it would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks, which it claimed was engaged in illegal activity.
Visa, Amazon, Swiss bank PostFinance and others have also announced in recent days that they will cease trading with the whistle blower site.
The moves have led to concerted attempts by hackers to target companies they deem guilty of "censoring" WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks reveals Karzi's dual standards towards Pakistan
KARACHI: WikiLeaks has disclosed the dual standards of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai towards Pakistan.According to the leaks, Karzai held a meeting with the then British prime minister Gordon Brown on 21st August 2008 in which both the leaders discussed the situation in Pakistan and the presidential election.
During the meeting, Karzai was reportedly 'warm' on PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari but encouraged the US and UK to 'open channels' to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.
Karzai blamed that the al Qaeda training activity on the Pakistan side of border has increased and termed Pakistan as more violent country than Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks in its previous cable disclosed that a very important member of the Karzai's cabinet termed Nawaz Sharif as a 'bad news', while Hamid Karzai favoured Zardari in presidential election.
Halloween Party in Jeddah, reveals WikiLeaks
JEDDAH: US diplomat in Saudi Arab described in the cable that he attended the underground Halloween party in Jeddah in 2009 where Saudi Princes among more than 150 Saudi men and women were present, most in their 20s and 30s.The cable also revealed that the Halloween party broke all the country's Islamic taboos.
A US company also put up some of the finance, cable added.
US diplomat also told that the party was held under strict security.
Commenting on Halloween Party, US diplomat said that such parties are held only behind closed doors and for the very rich.
Libya business monopolized by Gaddafi-related gentry
KARACHI: Col. Gaddafi often speaks out publicly against government corruption, but WikiLeaks revealed that the politically-connected elite have direct access to lucrative business deals.
This commercial access can easily be cut off when individuals fall out of favour. The Gaddafi family and other Jamahiriya political favourites profit from being able to manipulate the multi-layered and regularly shifting dynamics of governance mechanisms in Libya.
According to the leaks, the Gaddafi's family and other political favourites have strong interests in the oil and gas sector, telecommunications, infrastructure development, hotels, media distribution, and consumer goods distribution.
The financial interests of Gaddafi and his key allies present both opportunities and challenges for reform efforts in Libya. Any reform is likely to be cyclical over the long-term.
KARACHI: Col. Gaddafi often speaks out publicly against government corruption, but WikiLeaks revealed that the politically-connected elite have direct access to lucrative business deals.This commercial access can easily be cut off when individuals fall out of favour. The Gaddafi family and other Jamahiriya political favourites profit from being able to manipulate the multi-layered and regularly shifting dynamics of governance mechanisms in Libya.
According to the leaks, the Gaddafi's family and other political favourites have strong interests in the oil and gas sector, telecommunications, infrastructure development, hotels, media distribution, and consumer goods distribution.
The financial interests of Gaddafi and his key allies present both opportunities and challenges for reform efforts in Libya. Any reform is likely to be cyclical over the long-term.
Australia blames U.S. over Leaked cables
LONDON: Australia blamed the United States Wednesday for the release by WikiLeaks of U.S. diplomatic cables after a British court ordered the detention of the group's founder over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, handed himself in to British police Tuesday after Sweden had issued a European Arrest Warrant for him. Assange, who denies the allegations, will remain behind bars until a hearing on December 14.
He has spent some time in Sweden and was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the accusation.
WikiLeaks, which has provoked fury in Washington with its publications, vowed it would continue making public details of the 250,000 secret U.S. documents it had obtained.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the people who originally leaked the documents, not Assange, were legally liable and the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of U.S. security.
"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters in an interview.
"The Americans are responsible for that," said Rudd, who had been described in one leaked U.S. cable as a "control freak."
The original source of the leak is not known, though a U.S. army private who worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Bradley Manning, has been charged by military authorities with unauthorized downloading of more than 150,000 State Department cables.
U.S. officials have declined to say whether those cables are the same ones now being released by WikiLeaks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed news of Assange's arrest.
"I hadn't heard that but it sounds like good news to me," Gates told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Afghanistan.
Assange defended his Internet publishing site in a newspaper commentary Wednesday, saying it was crucial to spreading democracy and likening himself to global media baron Rupert Murdoch in the quest to publish the truth.
At the Tuesday court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: "There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail."
He said the allegations were serious, and that Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters a renewed bail application would be made, and that his client was "fine."
Aus vows to back any US legal action vs WikiLeaks
LONDON: Australia blamed the United States Wednesday for the release by WikiLeaks of U.S. diplomatic cables after a British court ordered the detention of the group's founder over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, handed himself in to British police Tuesday after Sweden had issued a European Arrest Warrant for him. Assange, who denies the allegations, will remain behind bars until a hearing on December 14.
He has spent some time in Sweden and was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the accusation.
WikiLeaks, which has provoked fury in Washington with its publications, vowed it would continue making public details of the 250,000 secret U.S. documents it had obtained.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the people who originally leaked the documents, not Assange, were legally liable and the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of U.S. security.
"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters in an interview.
"The Americans are responsible for that," said Rudd, who had been described in one leaked U.S. cable as a "control freak."
The original source of the leak is not known, though a U.S. army private who worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Bradley Manning, has been charged by military authorities with unauthorized downloading of more than 150,000 State Department cables.
U.S. officials have declined to say whether those cables are the same ones now being released by WikiLeaks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed news of Assange's arrest.
"I hadn't heard that but it sounds like good news to me," Gates told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Afghanistan.
Assange defended his Internet publishing site in a newspaper commentary Wednesday, saying it was crucial to spreading democracy and likening himself to global media baron Rupert Murdoch in the quest to publish the truth.
At the Tuesday court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: "There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail."
He said the allegations were serious, and that Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters a renewed bail application would be made, and that his client was "fine."
Aus vows to back any US legal action vs WikiLeaks
SYDNEY: Australia said Monday it would support the United States in any legal action against WikiLeaks, as the whistleblower site founded by Australian Julian Assange released thousands of sensitive US cables.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said WikiLeak's publication of diplomatic US memos could harm the national security interests of the US and its allies, including Australia, as well as "prejudice the safety" of those they discussed.
"Australia will support any law enforcement action that may be taken, the US will be the lead government in that respect, but certainly Australian agencies will assist," McClelland told reporters in Canberra.
Asked whether WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange was Australia's most wanted man, McClelland said: "The United States authorities are looking at law enforcement actions as the lead country, and we are providing every assistance and could be expected to provide every assistance."
McClelland said he received no request to cancel the passport of Assange, who has said that more than a quarter of a million diplomatic cables relating to "every major issue" in the world will be released in the latest data dump.
But the attorney-general said he had asked Australian Federal Police to investigate whether the publication of the documents -- one of which describes Australia as a "rock solid" but unimposing ally -- broke any local laws.
"From Australia's point of view we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by ... the release of this information," McClelland said.
"The Australian Federal Police are looking at that, clearly I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of that advice."
McClelland said the latest WikiLeaks release, which follows that of tens of thousands of US military files relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would also be examined by a government taskforce.
The diplomatic cables will include hundreds sent by US officials in Australia, but their full content is as yet unknown.
Assange to fight extradition: lawyer
TONY EASTLEY: Lawyers for WikiLeak's editor and founder, Julian Assange, say he could have a meeting with British authorities to discuss sexual assault charges laid against him by Swedish police, within 24 hours.
Scotland Yard has received a European arrest warrant for Assange. Sweden wants him extradited but that's something he and his lawyers are fighting. They fear he will be handed over to US authorities.
Since WikiLeaks published thousands of confidential American diplomatic cables, Assange has become one of the world's most publicised and wanted men. In the US his actions have been described as akin to terrorism.
One of his lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, says her client's ability to fight the charges have been hampered by the freezing of his bank account.
She told AM that Assange will approach Australia's High Commission in London for consular assistance.
I asked Jennifer Robinson whether the arrest warrant had been officially issued.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: The arrest warrant has been communicated today and I can confirm that we were contacted by the police this afternoon and are in the process of arranging, negotiating for a meeting with Assange to deal with this matter.
They, Sweden is obviously seeking extradition but again we say it is completely disproportionate because we are offering testimony that they seek. The Swedish prosecutor was on national television just last night saying that all she wants to hear is his side of the story.
We find that incredible considering we have offered his side of the story on numerous occasions and she has rejected those offers.
Assange 'based himself at London journalists club'
LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange based himself for much of the past few months at a journalists club in London, the founder of the club said on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old Australian was remanded in custody on Tuesday in Britain after being refused bail at a London court over claims of sex crimes in Sweden.
He was widely thought to have been in the British capital in recent months and that was confirmed by Vaughan Smith, founder of the Frontline Club in central London.
"He based himself at the Frontline Club for most of the period," Smith told media, referring to the past few months but saying he could not give an exact timeframe. Smith also said he had offered Assange an address for bail.
Assange denies sexually assaulting two women in Sweden and has said he will fight an extradition request.
His detention came as his website continued to release tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables, causing embarrassment for governments worldwide.
Over the past several months, apart from trips abroad, Assange was staying at the club, Smith said.
Assange was given facilities to carry out his work at the club, where he also took part in several public debates on his whistleblower website WikiLeaks and the state of the modern media, said Smith.
"He came to us," explained the club founder. "Essentially because we are independent... he felt it would be a reasonably safe place for him to operate out of.
"It was also somewhere he could access journalists and speak to them."
Smith said that he had attended Assange's court appearance on Tuesday to offer his support.
"I am suspicious of the personal charges that have been made against Mr Assange and hope that this will be properly resolved by the courts," he added in a statement.
Video journalist Smith, 47, set up the Frontline Club seven years ago in honour of colleagues at the Frontline Television News agency who died pursuing their work, according to the club's website.
It regularly hosts talks by journalists and debates on the media, as well as documentary and film screenings.
From Today's Newspaper
WikiLeaks founder denied bail despite public offers
LONDON/SYDNEY/WASHINGTON: Despite many people’s offer to give surety for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a British court refused to bail him out on Tuesday after he was arrested over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
Assange, whose WikiLeaks website is at the centre of a row over the release of secret US diplomatic cables, was arrested under a European arrest warrant earlier on Tuesday after handing himself in to London police.
Assange, who denies the allegations, was refused bail and faces a fresh hearing on December 14. He has spent much of his time in Sweden and earlier this year was accused of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers.
A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the allegations. At a court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: “There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail”. He also said the allegations were of a serious nature, and Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
The judge refused bail for 39-year-old Assange despite an offer by personalities including film director Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Khan to put up bail for him. WikiLeaks vowed it wouldcontinue making public details of the 250,000 secret US documents it had obtained.
“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” WikiLeaks said, according to its Twitter page.
London police said Assange was arrested by officers from its extradition unit at about 9:30am (09:30 GMT) after he appeared by appointment at a police station. His whereabouts had been previously undisclosed.
“He is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010,” a London police spokeswoman said.
Swedish prosecutors opened, then dropped, then re-opened an investigation into the allegations. The crime he is suspected of is the least severe of three categories of rape, carrying a maximum of four years in jail.
WikiLeaks said it would be operating as normal using people in London and other locations, and argued the pressure it faced was becoming a fundamental question of civil liberties. “Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today (Tuesday) and in the coming days,” said spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson.
“The attacks that we are under from companies who are bowing to pressure from the US government are outrageous and I see it a clear confrontation against the freedom of speech and press freedom.”
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Gates, who was visiting Afghanistan on Tuesday, welcomed news that British police had arrested Assange.
“I hadn’t heard that but it sounds like good news to me,” Gates told reporters while visiting American troops at Forward Operating Base Connolly in eastern Afghanistan when asked for reaction to Assange’s arrest.
Renowned American scholar and activist Noam Chomsky signed an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard urging her to make a “strong statement” in support of Julian Assange.
Chomsky, a professor of linguistics at the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a prominent critic of US foreign policy, joined scores of high-profile Australian lawyers, authors and journalists in signing the letter.
Noting the “increasingly violent rhetoric” directed towards Australian-born Assange, the signatories said there were “grave concerns” for his safety.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regretted the “deeply distressing” release of a secret list of key infrastructure sites that could threaten US security if hit by terror strikes.
“I will underscore that this theft of US government information and its publication without regard for the consequences is deeply distressing,” Clinton said as she briefed reporters with Japan and South Korea’s top diplomats.
“The illegal publication of classified information poses real concerns and even potential damage to our friends and partners” worldwide, she warned.
China again said Tuesday it hoped that the ongoing revelations from secret US diplomatic cables would not affect Beijing’s relations with the United States.
“The absurd content is not worth commenting on and we hope that it will not disturb bilateral ties,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
Leaks from whistleblower website WikiLeaks have created “misunderstandings” and “cannot be taken seriously,” the head of the grouping of the six Gulf states, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, said on Tuesday.
“These links... created a kind of misunderstanding about the information,” Attiyah said, adding that “these kind of sites cannot be reliable or credible sources.”
“We cannot take seriously the things in what was said,” Attiyah said in response to a question on WikiLeaks at a news conference after the 31st annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit held in Abu Dhabi.
Big secrets not exposed by WikiLeaks
By Hamid Mir
ISLAMABAD: WikiLeaks have not unmasked all the political secrets. Many secrets are still confined only to a few individuals and to some top-secret files and these secrets will come out only when these individuals will themselves speak.
WikiLeaks has revealed that President Asif Ali Zardari feared a military coup in 2009 and considered the US as his ultimate saviour. US Ambassador in Pakistan Anne W Patterson sent cables to Washington in support of Zardari. But WikiLeaks did not expose the storm created in the White House and Pentagon by her cables, which warned Washington about a possible military coup in 2009.
President Obama asked one of his top military commanders many times to speak with General Kayani and get the truth. US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen inquired from his Pakistani counterpart General Kayani not once but more than three times about the possibility of any military coup and every time Kayani said that he was not planning any coup.
At one stage, Mullen spoke to Kayani from Washington and said that “the US administration thinks that I am too close to you and I know everything about you, please let me know in advance if you have any political plans.” This time, Kayani responded back in a lighter way and said that “Don’t worry, you will be the first person to know if anything unusual happens in Pakistan”.
The situation changed in just one year. In 2010, the Zardari-led government started suspecting US diplomats as the “mastermind” behind all the anti-government moves.
Then President Asif Ali Zardari asked his Interior Minister Rehman Malik in September 2010 to monitor the activities of a second tier US diplomat, who was meeting different politicians frequently those days. The Intelligence Bureau and ISI informed the government that the diplomat had completed his tenure and went back to the US but suddenly came back and again started meeting politicians and journalists, raising some red flags.
The IB and ISI informed the government that the diplomat was discussing the possibility of mid-term elections with opposition parties as well as some government allies. This created so much alarm in the Zardari camp that one fine morning, Rehman Malik wrote a letter to US Ambassador Anne W Patterson about the “un-diplomatic” activities of the US diplomat.
Within 48 hours, Patterson arranged a meeting between Rehman Malik and the diplomat. Interestingly, Rehman Malik produced documentary evidence in front of the US ambassador and claimed that the diplomat was instigating not only the opposition leaders but also some govt allies against the government.
Malik claimed that the diplomat had discussed the possibility of some top political changes in the government, which was not his diplomatic mandate. The diplomat tried to defend himself by saying that he had only discussed the reasons of differences within the coalition partners with some MQM leaders and he had never hatched any conspiracy against the government. Rehman Malik was not satisfied with this answer. He got satisfied only when the diplomat was sent packing to Washington.
Highly reliable sources say that President Zardari and Army chief Kayani developed some misunderstandings in March 2009 and relations between the two were tense but it was Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who seriously tried to remove this tension.
Ultimately, the president informed the PM that everything was all right and one day the PM surprised the nation by announcing a new three-year tenure for Army chief Kayani. This new tenure was the proof that the situation in 2010 had changed from 2009.
It was also learnt that Prime Minister Gilani used the recent floods as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Presidency and the Army House.
Subsequently, the president and the Army chief were on board when the government decided to cut off the Nato supply lines after the US attack on Pakistani troops in the tribal areas. Admiral Mullen tried his level best to use his “personal relations” with Kayani to cool down the situation.
It is worth mentioning that Mullen had visited Pakistan more than 20 times since November 2007 and during this period, he had 12 one-on-one meetings with Kayani. Most of the time they met alone with no note takers.
Mullen spoke to Kayani again and again during the Nato supply lines crisis but Kayani demanded an apology.
The unity in the power troika in Pakistan ultimately forced Ambassador Patterson to make a public apology. It was the same Patterson who sent dispatches to Washington in 2009 that the Army and the civilian government did not enjoy good relations but now she was apologising to all of them in 2010.
It has been learnt that Prime Minister Gilani is planning to discuss a grand plan for national reconciliation with President Zardari and General Kayani but again the new US Ambassador Munter is now becoming a problem for him.
Cameron Munter is openly making statements in support of the RGST and creating problems because he does not realise that the opposition parties are not in a position to support any new tax supported by the US.
The power troika has decided to formulate a strategy for minimising the undue political role of US diplomats in Pakistan and this strategy will bring some big surprises in 2011.
Profile of Gen Kayani and talking points sent by US envoy
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: A secret US diplomatic cable says Pakistan’s strategic assets are under the control of the secular military, which has implemented extensive physical, personnel and command and control safeguards.
“Our major concern has not been that an Islamic militant could steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in GOP facilities could gradually smuggle enough fissile material out to eventually make a weapon and the vulnerability of weapons in transit. Despite a court decision to ‘free’ nuclear proliferator AQ Khan, the GOP continues to assure us he remains under significant travel and media restrictions,” a February 19, 2009 cable of US Ambassador Anne Patterson, which was the scenesetter of General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s February 20-27, 2009 visit to Washington, said.
The message featured comprehensive points to stress, exploit, praise, acknowledge and talk about during Kayani’s visit. It also detailed his CV. It said Ashfaq Kayani was born in the Punjab in 1952, grew up in a working-class family and is the son of a former junior officer. “He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army after graduating from the Pakistan Military Academy in 1971. His long career has included command at every level from Company to Corps. He has served in key staff positions, to include Military Assistant to the Prime Minister under Benazir Bhutto from 1988-1990, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), 2000-2003, Director General, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 2004-2007, and Vice Chief of Army Staff in 2007. In November 2007, he became Chief of Army Staff (COAS). He is the only officer ever to have served as both DG-ISI and COAS. His term as DGMO coincided with the intense military standoff with India of 2001-2002.”
Continuing, the cable said, in interactions Kayani is often direct, frank, and thoughtful. “He has fond memories of his IMET training at Fort Leavenworth and values his personal relationships, particularly with US military leaders. Kayani is married and the father of two children, a son and a daughter. An avid golfer, he is President of the Pakistan Golf Association. He smokes heavily and can be difficult to understand as he tends to mumble.”
Although, the cable said, he has remained silent on the subject, Kayani does not support Zardari’s statement last year to the Indian press that Pakistan would adopt a “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons. Despite increasing financial constraints, we believe that the military is proceeding with an expansion of both its growing strategic weapons and missile programmes, it added.
“We should recognise growing Pakistani casualties in the fight against militants, praise Kayani’s support for the civilian democratic government in Islamabad, re-iterate the long-term US commitment to support Pakistan, and thank him for agreeing to send his intelligence chief and director of military operations to the Holbrooke/Riedel US-Pakistan strategic review meeting in Washington. We should also thank Kayani for the GOP’s effort to ensure that US/Nato continues to deliver fuel and dry goods through Pakistan for our forces in Afghanistan.”
“But” the cable said, “we need to lay down a clear marker that Pakistan’s Army/ISI must stop overt or tacit support for militant proxies (Haqqani network, Commander Nazir, Lashkar-e-Taiba). We should preface that conversation with an agreement to open a new page in relations; Kayani, who was ISI chief from 2004-2007, does not want a reckoning with the past. Given the GOP surrender of Swat to local Taliban, we need to press Kayani to commit his now reluctant army to retake the area after the peace deal inevitably fails.”
“We,” the message said, “should press for Pakistani prosecution of the Mumbai suspects, encourage expanded USG training of army and Frontier Corps forces, raise the prospect of embedding US military observers/advisers with the Frontier Corps, support a prioritised needs-based FMF request that builds COIN capability, ask Kayani to explain how Pakistan plans to back US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, and probe for what Indian action would allow him to redeploy troops from his eastern front to support increased combat in the Pak-Afghan border area.”
The cable said that President Asif Zardari was cementing leadership alliances, so he can avoid another election until he receives international assistance to address food and fuel inflation, electricity blackouts and high unemployment. Pakistan has met its first-quarter targets under a $6.7 billion IMF Standby Agreement but the economy remains too weak to support the Pakistani military’s appetite for expensive weapons systems (particular F-16s).
It said that Zardari and Kayani are the key decision-makers in Pakistan; they have developed a respectful if not entirely trusting working relationship. “Kayani has gone out of his way to publicly defer to Zardari because he needs political support to wage successful military operations. After eight years of military rule under Musharraf, Zardari is re-shaping civilian-military relations in the shadow of Pakistan’s history of repeated military coups. It is in USG interests for the Zardari/Gilani government to complete its full five-year term, and we should praise Kayani’s efforts to support civilian democracy.”
The cable said that Kayani may advocate for pending legislation (Kerry-Lugar) in the US Congress to triple non-military assistance to Pakistan and robust USG support for an IMF/World Bank Donors’ Conference to provide $4 billion in social safety net programmes to compensate for IMF-imposed budget cuts. “We anticipate that Special Representative Holbrooke will attend a donors’ conference in April. Kayani may request additional US support for civilian law enforcement; in addition to the over $40 million of equipment and training delivered to the Frontier Corps, we are providing $15 million in additional equipment for NWFP police and are working to re-programme another $55 million in FY2009. There is a FY2009 supplemental request pending for another $95 million for the police.”
According to the leaked message, Zardari and Gilani agree that Pakistan’s biggest threat comes from a growing militant insurgency on the Pak-Afghan border. The military and ISI have not yet made that leap; they still view India as their principal threat and Afghanistan as strategic depth in a possible conflict with India. They continue to provide overt or tacit support for proxy forces (including the Haqqani group, Commander Nazir, Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, and Lashkar-e-Taiba) as a foreign policy tool, it charged.
“The single biggest message Kayani should hear in Washington is that this support must end. It is now counterproductive to Pakistan’s own interests and directly conflicts with USG objectives in Afghanistan — where Haqqani is killing American soldiers and Afghan civilians — and the region — where Mumbai exposed the fruits of previous ISI policy to create Lashkar-e-Taiba and still threatens potential conflict between nuclear powers.”
Now, the cable said, absorbing combat losses against formidable militants, the FC and military finally have begun to accept more USG training and assistance in support of counter-insurgency (COIN). “Kayani will appreciate US recognition of the casualties his men have suffered, and this is an opening we should exploit to press for expanded FC and special forces (SSG) training. Kayani remains leery of too large a USG military footprint in Pakistan, but to win he must be able to fight without creating the level of civilian casualties his forces’ blind artillery and F-16 bombardments are now producing. We are responding to Pakistan Air Force requests for Close Air Support training to improve the precision of F-16s they are using in Fata. We should probe for the possible introduction of US military observers/advisers to improve the COIN capability of this 1940’s force.”
The cable said that Kayani may request additional US support for Pakistan’s F-16 programme, the flagship symbol of post-9/11 re-engagement. “We are about to send to Congress notification for an additional $142 million in FMF support for one part of this complex programme. But we do not believe Pakistan can afford to complete a $2 billion plus programme to buy 18 new F-16s, upgrade 35 older aircraft, upgrade a new base, and fund a munitions package. Given the funding and production line implications of either bailing out the GOP or cancelling the programme, US agencies are reviewing our options.”
“We could not agree more with Kayani on the need to modernise Pakistan’s helicopter fleet; on any given day, they have perhaps 2-3 attack helos flying in support of COIN operations. We now are delivering spare parts for their Cobra and Bell 412s, overhauling and upgrading their MI-17s, and assessing ways to improve overall helicopter maintenance.”
The cable said that the drone attacks have put increasing political pressure on the Pakistani government, which has struggled to explain why it is allowing an ally to violate its sovereignty. The Pakistan government, it said, so far has denied recent media reports alleging that the US is launching the strikes from bases in Pakistan.
“Kayani knows full well that the strikes have been precise (creating few civilian casualties) and targeted primarily at foreign fighters in the Waziristans. He will argue, however, that they undermine his campaign plan, which is to keep the Waziristans quiet until the army is capable of attacking Baitullah Mahsud and other militants entrenched there. In recent meetings with Special Representative Holbrooke, a variety of Pakistani interlocutors (and now the press) suggested that the US work jointly with Pakistan and target Mahsud or other militants who are killing Pakistanis.”
Patterson penned the following talking points:
- What is in the past is behind us. What we seek going forward is an all-encompassing bilateral relationship based on what we can accomplish for the future. We recognise your sacrifices and are well-aware of the trust-deficit that exists on each side. We must both work to overcome it.
- We appreciate your efforts to support stable civilian democracy in Pakistan and are working to provide a democracy dividend that improves both economic conditions and the law and order situation.
- We must succeed in Afghanistan. What is your vision for what constitutes an acceptable outcome?
- We want more Pakistani forces deployed to the western border to fight the militants. What conditions are necessary for you to reposition forces from the eastern to the western border?
- It is time to cut your ties to extremist groups/proxy forces and urge the permanent severing of ties. Such ties hinder trust and our ability to move forward together.
- Our security relationship must move beyond the provision of equipment, and we seek opportunities to expand training throughout the military.
- Our ability to deliver sustained security assistance also depends on the administration securing Congressional approval. Congress is likely to prioritise assistance to counterinsurgency-related equipment and training, as well as align its support with Pakistani performance in the field.
- Strikes in Fata are succeeding in eliminating the enemy senior leadership and collateral damage has been minimal. We are working to provide you with tactical battlefield intelligence to support your operations in Fata.
What the US diplomats think about Zardari
By Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: “Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” a top US Embassy official wrote to Washington on February 25, 2009, the day Dogar’s Supreme Court disqualified the Sharif brothers.
The same day a top Zardari confidant informed the US Embassy that the reason to get this verdict from the Dogar court was that Prime Minister Gilani was acting against the “ways” of President Zardari.
Gilani had started discussions with Shahbaz Sharif against the will of Zardari at a time when the latter was in China, according to the cable.
This top Zardari confidant, who met the US Embassy high official after announcement of the verdict of the Dogar court the same day, discussed President Asif Ali Zardari’s strategies to oust Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, according to the cable classified and sent to Washington by Charge d’Affaires Gerald Feierstein.
The most shocking revelation of the cable is that this top confidant of Zardari also ‘assured’ the US Embassy that her boss President Zardari, beside this verdict, would take ‘more actions’ to ensure that the planned March 12-16 lawyers’ long march would not create any problems.
In this Feb 25, 09 cable, Charge d’affaires informed Washington that according to media interaction of Sharifs, Zardari was against the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as he feared that Justice Chaudhry, after being restored, would term the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) ‘invalid’ and this would reopen the corruption cases against Zardari.
This Feb 25, 09 cable also talks of Zardari’s plan to increase the retirement age of Abdul Hameed Dogar and his repeated messages to the US Embassy that Dogar Court was going to disqualify the Sharif brothers. The same cable also shows how Zardari tried to befool the Americans by telling Patterson one thing and her staff the other thing.
In an unbelievable disclosure this Wikileak cable shows that an important member of the Zardari-camp reached the US Embassy to complain against none other than Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
This Zardari-camp member described by the US Embassy as a “Zardari’s confidant”, Farah Naz Ispahani’s report to US Embassy, their questions and her replies are reproduced below as given in para-11 of the cable: “Ispahani confided that Zardari would take further actions to ensure the March 12-16 lawyers’ march/sit-in would not cause problems.” She hinted at proposals affecting former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Shahbaz Sharif. Asked why Zardari chose now to move on this long-stalled decision, Ispahani said the PPP-led GOP “had no choice” because Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani had entered into discussions with Shahbaz on February 23.
“We are very unhappy with the way Gilani has gone off the reservation” while Zardari was in China, she said. According to unconfirmed press reports, Gilani had assured Shahbaz that the PPP would not try to remove the Sharifs from power in the Punjab and suggested the Chaudhrys might lead a new “Constitutional Court,” proposed by the 2006 PPP/PML-N Charter of Democracy. US Embassy official wrote to Washington that US diplomats noted divisions between Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
The diplomat reported to Washington that the Sharifs told the Principal Officer of the embassy in Lahore that Zardari had offered them to agree on a constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of the PCO Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and in return, he (Zardari) would close the Supreme Court cases against them.
The diplomat further wrote to his capital that Zardari after the Supreme Court verdict told him that he did not expect significant political fallout from the court’s decision. The street reaction would be “in the hundreds, not the millions,” claimed Zardari while talking to the diplomat, according to the cable. According to the cable, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had told the diplomat the same thing regarding the expected reaction.
The Charge d’affaires, Gerald Feierstein, wrote that Dogar court’s verdict was not a surprise for him. He gave the reason in the following words: “The decision comes as no surprise; Zardari has been telling us for weeks that it was coming and that he felt he could control the reaction.”
The diplomat even reported that the Zardari’s move to get this verdict from Supreme Court did not have the agreement of the PPP loyalists. He described alienation of these PPP loyalists in the following words: “Many in the PPP disagreed with the decision to challenge Nawaz, so Zardari has further alienated the party faithful.”
The cable says that PM Gilani’s attempt to subside political temperature and negotiate with Shahbaz Sharif was apparently not blessed by Zardari. The cable further says that before moving (against Sharifs), Zardari expanded the coalition’s seats in the National Assembly and worked out deals in three of the four provinces to ensure the PPP would increase its seats in the upcoming Senate elections. “It also demonstrates, disappointingly, that Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” the cable says.
According to another revelation of this cable, Zardari told Charge D’Affaires on phone that he would launch his candidate for the chief ministership of the Punjab who would contest with the help of the PML-Q. The diplomat described his conversation with Zardari by saying: “He expected the PPP would have a candidate and thought the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party would also be interested in running a candidate.”
The cable says that US diplomats by seeing the Zardari’s actions were already aware of the fact that PML-N would charge Zardari with “assuming the mantle of Musharraf”.
The cable dubs senior bureaucrat Kamran Lashari as a long-time PPP supporter. Lashari was appointed Chief Secretary Punjab by Taseer after sacking of Shahbaz on Feb 25, 09.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the US diplomat that the Punjab Inspector General of the Police technically was not fired but since he was so close to the Sharifs, he had voluntarily vacated the office. Cable further writes that both the chief secretary and IG Police are federal appointees.
The cable also disclosed what PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat said about the Dogar court’s verdict that he respected the decision.
The cable disclosed that following the Dogar court’s verdict, Zardari reached back the country and the diplomat contacted him on phone and told about the Lahore Principal officer’s meeting with the Sharifs. At this, Zardari asked the diplomat for readout of PO Lahore’s meeting with Nawaz.
However, the diplomat replied to Zardari that PO Lahore had already conveyed the US position that it was an internal matter for the Pakistani government and thus refused to give inside information of the PO-Nawaz meeting to Zardari.
The cable also commented that after Supreme Court’s decision of disqualifying Sharifs it became imminent that PML-N would participate in the lawyers’ long march in any case.
However, in a phone call, Zardari, just back from his latest trip to China, told the Charge d’affaires on February 25 that he had “nothing to do with the decision” and had been surprised by Shahbaz’s disqualification.
While Zardari was telling Patterson that Dogar Supreme Court was going to disqualify Sharifs and he was ready to move against the Sharifs, he was telling a different tale to other US Embassy officials.
Interestingly, the information given to Patterson was known to all top officials of the embassy. So the diplomat while sending this cable to Washington, along with giving Zardari’s conversation with Patterson, gave accounts of his conversation with Zardari, which were entirely different.
Charge D’affaires wrote his account with Zardari as follows: “He noted that the court had ruled against the government, which had been representing the Sharifs (Federal government was representing the Sharifs in SC). He said he had ordered PPP Punjab Governor Taseer to temporarily take over the Punjab government until new elections for a chief minister could be held. Asked about any further legal steps, Zardari indicated the government might consider going back to the Lahore High Court to appeal the decision.”
The Charge d’affaires concluded the cable in the words: “This decision and promises of additional deals for the former Chief Justice or Shahbaz demonstrate, disappointingly, that Zardari remains focused on political machinations rather than the militant threat in Swat and the tribal areas.”
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: The Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi were running their terror groups while still in custody in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, said US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
The information is contained in a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence community, and shared with Pakistan in August 2009 on the directions of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Washington has worked discreetly to block the supply of Iranian and Syrian weapons to militant groups in the Middle East, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday, citing US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The United States, in many cases using secret intelligence provided by Israel, had pressured Arab governments not to cooperate with arms smuggling to Palestinian group Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, it said.
According to another leaked document, the US suspected a Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Philippines of potential involvement in funding terrorists.
A security aide of then-US president George W Bush raised concerns over Muhammad Amin Waly in a private meeting with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Jeddah in 2007, the secret cable showed.
“In a following private meeting... (Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Terrorism) Townsend raised US concerns with the potential involvement of the Saudi ambassador... in terrorism facilitation,” it said.
Francis Townsend cited Waly’s intervention to secure the release of two members of an Islamic charity detained in the Philippines, the cable showed. The group was suspected of funnelling funds to al-Qaeda-linked groups based in the southern Philippines.
“Prince Saud said some of his actions may have involved bad judgement rather than intentional support for terrorism,” said the missive from the US embassy in Riyadh.“Waly had been investigated, he said, and no evidence was found regarding his involvement.”
The prince also told the Bush aide that Waly’s Manila assignment was ending in a few months and sought US government evidence of his alleged terror links, the cable said. Townsend pledged cooperation with the Saudi authorities in providing evidence, the cable added.
Waly was replaced by Abdullah Al Hassan as Saudi envoy to Manila in January this year. Nato has expanded defence plans in parts of eastern Europe amid fears that Russia poses an increasing threat, leaked US diplomatic cables showed.
Contingency plans were drawn up for the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — earlier this year after they lobbied for extra protection following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, said the leaked cables.
The US has also offered to beef up Polish security amid fears of a resurgent Russia, said the cables, despite the policy of US President Barack Obama’s administration to “reset” relations with Moscow.
Algeria agreed in January to allow the United States to fly spy planes
over its territory to hunt for Al-Qaeda bases in the Sahara, according to a leaked diplomatic cable published Tuesday.
The French daily Le Monde uncovered the secret note in the trove of secret US State Department correspondence released by the WikiLeaks.
“No partner is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaeda,” the US embassy in Algiers said, according to Le Monde’s French translation of the memo. “Algeria wants to be strategic partner, not a rival.”
The memo said that the planes would usually operate from the US naval airbase in Rota, in southern Spain.
The United States views Hungarian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as ineffective, according to leaked diplomatic cables.
An undated cable signed by Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) did little to combat the escalating violence, drug problems and power struggles in the northern province of Baghlan.
When insurgents caused a “security situation”, New Zealand troops from the neighbouring Bamyan province had to cross the border to deal with it, the cable said.
According to another leaked document, the United States government lobbied the head of the UN climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic.
At a meeting in Geneva in 2008, the US delegation told Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the election of Mostafa Jafri as one of two co-chairman of a key climate group would affect US funding of the climate body. The other chair was to be an American expert. Jafri was a highly qualified scientist with research ties to United Kingdom and Japan, the US delegation said in the cables released by WikiLeaks, but he was also a senior Iranian government employee and that complicated US efforts in the climate control body.
Washington saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables.
“We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan,” a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.
Leaked US diplomatic cables show the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times said one cable quoted a Pentagon official expressing concern over the Hezbollah arsenal.
The cable highlighted US concerns about proliferation of weapons, especially from Syria, the daily said.
The Pentagon official indicated Hezbollah’s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 to 50 Fateh-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles.
The information is contained in a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence community, and shared with Pakistan in August 2009 on the directions of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Washington has worked discreetly to block the supply of Iranian and Syrian weapons to militant groups in the Middle East, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday, citing US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The United States, in many cases using secret intelligence provided by Israel, had pressured Arab governments not to cooperate with arms smuggling to Palestinian group Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, it said.
According to another leaked document, the US suspected a Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Philippines of potential involvement in funding terrorists.
A security aide of then-US president George W Bush raised concerns over Muhammad Amin Waly in a private meeting with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Jeddah in 2007, the secret cable showed.
“In a following private meeting... (Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Terrorism) Townsend raised US concerns with the potential involvement of the Saudi ambassador... in terrorism facilitation,” it said.
Francis Townsend cited Waly’s intervention to secure the release of two members of an Islamic charity detained in the Philippines, the cable showed. The group was suspected of funnelling funds to al-Qaeda-linked groups based in the southern Philippines.
“Prince Saud said some of his actions may have involved bad judgement rather than intentional support for terrorism,” said the missive from the US embassy in Riyadh.“Waly had been investigated, he said, and no evidence was found regarding his involvement.”
The prince also told the Bush aide that Waly’s Manila assignment was ending in a few months and sought US government evidence of his alleged terror links, the cable said. Townsend pledged cooperation with the Saudi authorities in providing evidence, the cable added.
Waly was replaced by Abdullah Al Hassan as Saudi envoy to Manila in January this year. Nato has expanded defence plans in parts of eastern Europe amid fears that Russia poses an increasing threat, leaked US diplomatic cables showed.
Contingency plans were drawn up for the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — earlier this year after they lobbied for extra protection following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, said the leaked cables.
The US has also offered to beef up Polish security amid fears of a resurgent Russia, said the cables, despite the policy of US President Barack Obama’s administration to “reset” relations with Moscow.
Algeria agreed in January to allow the United States to fly spy planes
over its territory to hunt for Al-Qaeda bases in the Sahara, according to a leaked diplomatic cable published Tuesday.
The French daily Le Monde uncovered the secret note in the trove of secret US State Department correspondence released by the WikiLeaks.
“No partner is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaeda,” the US embassy in Algiers said, according to Le Monde’s French translation of the memo. “Algeria wants to be strategic partner, not a rival.”
The memo said that the planes would usually operate from the US naval airbase in Rota, in southern Spain.
The United States views Hungarian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as ineffective, according to leaked diplomatic cables.
An undated cable signed by Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) did little to combat the escalating violence, drug problems and power struggles in the northern province of Baghlan.
When insurgents caused a “security situation”, New Zealand troops from the neighbouring Bamyan province had to cross the border to deal with it, the cable said.
According to another leaked document, the United States government lobbied the head of the UN climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic.
At a meeting in Geneva in 2008, the US delegation told Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the election of Mostafa Jafri as one of two co-chairman of a key climate group would affect US funding of the climate body. The other chair was to be an American expert. Jafri was a highly qualified scientist with research ties to United Kingdom and Japan, the US delegation said in the cables released by WikiLeaks, but he was also a senior Iranian government employee and that complicated US efforts in the climate control body.
Washington saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables.
“We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan,” a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.
Leaked US diplomatic cables show the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times said one cable quoted a Pentagon official expressing concern over the Hezbollah arsenal.
The cable highlighted US concerns about proliferation of weapons, especially from Syria, the daily said.
The Pentagon official indicated Hezbollah’s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 to 50 Fateh-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles.
Zardari repented making anti-Mush statements
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari told the visiting US Congressmen that he wanted to privately discuss with Pervez Musharraf the latter’s ‘honourable exit’ while keeping away the Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani from such political discussion, revealed a diplomatic cable of May 2008, a few months before the dictator resigned.
He also repented making anti-Musharraf statements, simultaneously declaring the military dictator’s exit is inevitable for improving US image in Pakistan and expressed resolve of making Pakistanis a pro-US nation, saying “anti-US feelings will go away when the old faces go away.”
Zardari also shared his apprehension with the ambassador that Nawaz Sharif’s decision of supporting the restoration of judges has won Sharif tremendous public support, nevertheless he insisted on just throwing Musharraf out without bringing back the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Portraying himself as a statesman, Zardari said Nawaz Sharif had ‘walked into the vacuum’ after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and it was PPP that brought him back for the sake of stability of democratic system.
Zardari also said his party would be kicked out of power if it failed in changing “the face of Pakistan” but assured the ambassador “we won’t act without consulting you.” He blamed Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the war against terrorism in Pakistan, resulting in leaving the public disillusioned who tended to believe as if Pakistanis were being killed for the US.
The cable is about a meeting of the US Congressmen, Adam Schiff and Allyson Schwartz, who met with Zardari, then co-chairman of the PPP, during their visit to Pakistan. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the then National Security Advisor Maj. Gen. Mehmood Durrani and Pakistan ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani were also in attendance.
Zardari admitted that his public statements had been more anti-Musharraf, the cable said. He was afraid that he and his party were losing popular support, while Nawaz was able to pretend to be populist by supporting restoration of the pre-November 3 judges. “But he doesn’t want the Chief Justice (Iftikhar Chaudhry) back in, just Musharraf out.”
Zardari revealed that he hoped to discuss privately with Musharraf the possibility of an “honourable exit” and believed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Kayani would stay out of such political discussions, noted the cable.
Zardari feared, however, that Musharraf was misguided by “smooth-talking advisors,” who were protecting their own personal interests. The public was against the president, the institution and the man, adding the PPP needed to “change the face of Pakistan” or it too would be kicked out of power. “We won’t act without consulting with you,” Zardari concluded.
Zardari blamed President Pervez Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in Pakistan; the public, instead, believed Pakistanis were dying for the U.S. Zardari then said, “Anti-U.S. feelings will go away when the old faces go away,” adding that the US should no longer rely on just Musharraf in fighting radicalism.
Zardari stressed that the Global War on Terror (GWOT) was “Pakistan’s war.” The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists.
But counter-terrorism initiatives lacked popular Pakistani support, Zardari lamented, and terrorism fostered profiteers who had an interest in the struggle continuing.
Zardari argued that Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif had “walked into the vacuum” as opposition leader when Bhutto was assassinated just weeks before national elections. For stability, however, the PPP continued to cooperate with the PML-N at the federal and Punjab provincial levels.
The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists, the cable said.
250,000 leaks: how many belong to whom News Desk
RAWALPINDI: The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks on Tuesday announced that it would continue releasing the US diplomatic cables despite arrest of its founder Julian Assange and other difficulties.
Out of total 250,000 cables only a few thousand have been released so far. As many as 2,220 cables originated from the US Embassy Islamabad.
Following is the list of embassy-wise WikiLeaks cables.
Embassy-wise cables (with reference to embassy or other source and number of documents): Secretary of State 8,017, Embassy Ankara 7,918, Embassy Baghdad 6,677, Embassy Tokyo 5,697, Embassy Amman 4,312, Embassy Paris 3,775, Embassy Kuwait 3,717, Embassy Madrid 3,620, American Institute Taiwan, Taipei 3,456, Embassy Moscow 3,376, Embassy Colombo 3,325, Embassy Beijing 3,297, Embassy Tel Aviv 3,194, USUN New York 3,116, Embassy Khartoum 3,078, Embassy Jakarta 3,059, Embassy New Delhi 3,038, Embassy Abuja 3,025, Embassy The Hague 3,021, Embassy Harare 2,998, Embassy Kabul 2,961, Embassy Bangkok 2,941, Embassy Rome 2,890, Embassy Cairo 2,752, Embassy Kinshasa 2,551, Embassy Abu Dhabi 2,547, Embassy Ashgabat 2,439, Embassy Bogota 2,416, Embassy Beirut 2,368, Embassy Caracas 2,340, Embassy Hanoi 2,325, Embassy Mexico 2,285, Embassy Kathmandu 2,278, Embassy Buenos Aires 2,233, Embassy Islamabad 2,220, Consulate Jerusalem 2,217, Embassy Dhaka 1,984, Embassy Seoul 1,980, Embassy Tegucigalpa, 1,958, Embassy Ottawa 1,948, Embassy Brasilia 1,947, Embassy Rangoon 1,864, Embassy Nairobi 1,821, Embassy Manila 1,796, Embassy Yerevan 1,735, Embassy Vienna 1,722, Embassy Berlin 1,719, Embassy Zagreb 1,686, Embassy Santo Domingo 1,675, Embassy Manama 1,645, Embassy Muscat 1,644, Embassy Sanaa 1,591, Embassy Baku 1,569, Embassy Pretoria 1,566, Embassy Wellington 1,490, Consulate Lagos 1,487, Embassy Santiago 1,464, Embassy Quito 1,450, Embassy Damascus 1,419, Embassy Addis Ababa 1,395, Embassy Astana 1,394, Embassy Lima 1,388, Embassy Rabat 1,365, Embassy Athens 1,313, Embassy La Paz 1,299, Embassy Tashkent 1,296, Embassy Prague 1,271, Embassy Managua 1,264, Embassy Guatemala 1,261, Embassy Riyadh 1,245, Embassy Port Au Prince 1,214, Embassy Bridgetown 1,204, Embassy Bratislava 1,172, Embassy Tbilisi 1,167, Embassy Asuncion 1,148, Embassy Kyiv 1,139, Embassy Kingston 1,138, Embassy Brussels 1,136, Embassy San Salvador 1,119, Embassy London 1,083, Embassy Tunis 1,055, Embassy Minsk 1,014, USEU Brussels 1,000, Embassy Belgrade 994, Embassy Kuala Lumpur 994, Embassy Dushanbe 990, Embassy Sofia 978, Embassy Bishkek 973, Embassy Maputo 970, Embassy Warsaw 970, Embassy Djibouti 956, Consulate Hong Kong 950, Embassy Ndjamena 948, Embassy Canberra 933, Embassy Panama 912, Embassy Dublin 910, Embassy Vilnius 903, Consulate Adana 887, Embassy Sarajevo 869, Embassy Accra 862, Embassy Nicosia 849, Embassy Conakry 847, Embassy Ljubljana 836, Embassy Bucharest 830, Embassy Algiers 806, Mission USNATO 799, Consulate Sao Paulo 786, Consulate Ho Chi Minh 777, Embassy Phnom Penh 777, Embassy San Jose 764, Embassy Oslo 763, Consulate Istanbul 752, Embassy Budapest 734, Embassy Vatican 729, Embassy Lisbon 722, Embassy Lilongwe 715, Embassy Singapore 704, Embassy Dakar 681, Embassy Stockholm 671, Embassy Pristina 668, Embassy Dar Es Salaam 665, Consulate Guangzhou 662, Embassy Kigali 651, Embassy Doha 640, Embassy Riga 632, Embassy Tallinn 610, Embassy Maseru 607, Embassy Helsinki 601, Embassy Tripoli 598, Embassy Asmara 564, UNVIE 560, Consulate Shanghai 555, Embassy Paramaribo 554, Embassy Abidjan 549,
Embassy Antananarivo 535, Mission Geneva 529, Embassy Skopje 522, US Interests Section Havana 507, Embassy Nouakchott 498, Embassy Niamey 490, Embassy Freetown 480, US Office Almaty 477, Embassy Tirana 452, Embassy Montevideo 445, Embassy Ulaanbaatar 432, Mission Geneva 432, Embassy Chisinau 425, Embassy Kampala 417, Embassy Bamako 399, Embassy Georgetown 395, Embassy Nassau 394.
RAWALPINDI: The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks on Tuesday announced that it would continue releasing the US diplomatic cables despite arrest of its founder Julian Assange and other difficulties.
Out of total 250,000 cables only a few thousand have been released so far. As many as 2,220 cables originated from the US Embassy Islamabad.
Following is the list of embassy-wise WikiLeaks cables.
Embassy-wise cables (with reference to embassy or other source and number of documents): Secretary of State 8,017, Embassy Ankara 7,918, Embassy Baghdad 6,677, Embassy Tokyo 5,697, Embassy Amman 4,312, Embassy Paris 3,775, Embassy Kuwait 3,717, Embassy Madrid 3,620, American Institute Taiwan, Taipei 3,456, Embassy Moscow 3,376, Embassy Colombo 3,325, Embassy Beijing 3,297, Embassy Tel Aviv 3,194, USUN New York 3,116, Embassy Khartoum 3,078, Embassy Jakarta 3,059, Embassy New Delhi 3,038, Embassy Abuja 3,025, Embassy The Hague 3,021, Embassy Harare 2,998, Embassy Kabul 2,961, Embassy Bangkok 2,941, Embassy Rome 2,890, Embassy Cairo 2,752, Embassy Kinshasa 2,551, Embassy Abu Dhabi 2,547, Embassy Ashgabat 2,439, Embassy Bogota 2,416, Embassy Beirut 2,368, Embassy Caracas 2,340, Embassy Hanoi 2,325, Embassy Mexico 2,285, Embassy Kathmandu 2,278, Embassy Buenos Aires 2,233, Embassy Islamabad 2,220, Consulate Jerusalem 2,217, Embassy Dhaka 1,984, Embassy Seoul 1,980, Embassy Tegucigalpa, 1,958, Embassy Ottawa 1,948, Embassy Brasilia 1,947, Embassy Rangoon 1,864, Embassy Nairobi 1,821, Embassy Manila 1,796, Embassy Yerevan 1,735, Embassy Vienna 1,722, Embassy Berlin 1,719, Embassy Zagreb 1,686, Embassy Santo Domingo 1,675, Embassy Manama 1,645, Embassy Muscat 1,644, Embassy Sanaa 1,591, Embassy Baku 1,569, Embassy Pretoria 1,566, Embassy Wellington 1,490, Consulate Lagos 1,487, Embassy Santiago 1,464, Embassy Quito 1,450, Embassy Damascus 1,419, Embassy Addis Ababa 1,395, Embassy Astana 1,394, Embassy Lima 1,388, Embassy Rabat 1,365, Embassy Athens 1,313, Embassy La Paz 1,299, Embassy Tashkent 1,296, Embassy Prague 1,271, Embassy Managua 1,264, Embassy Guatemala 1,261, Embassy Riyadh 1,245, Embassy Port Au Prince 1,214, Embassy Bridgetown 1,204, Embassy Bratislava 1,172, Embassy Tbilisi 1,167, Embassy Asuncion 1,148, Embassy Kyiv 1,139, Embassy Kingston 1,138, Embassy Brussels 1,136, Embassy San Salvador 1,119, Embassy London 1,083, Embassy Tunis 1,055, Embassy Minsk 1,014, USEU Brussels 1,000, Embassy Belgrade 994, Embassy Kuala Lumpur 994, Embassy Dushanbe 990, Embassy Sofia 978, Embassy Bishkek 973, Embassy Maputo 970, Embassy Warsaw 970, Embassy Djibouti 956, Consulate Hong Kong 950, Embassy Ndjamena 948, Embassy Canberra 933, Embassy Panama 912, Embassy Dublin 910, Embassy Vilnius 903, Consulate Adana 887, Embassy Sarajevo 869, Embassy Accra 862, Embassy Nicosia 849, Embassy Conakry 847, Embassy Ljubljana 836, Embassy Bucharest 830, Embassy Algiers 806, Mission USNATO 799, Consulate Sao Paulo 786, Consulate Ho Chi Minh 777, Embassy Phnom Penh 777, Embassy San Jose 764, Embassy Oslo 763, Consulate Istanbul 752, Embassy Budapest 734, Embassy Vatican 729, Embassy Lisbon 722, Embassy Lilongwe 715, Embassy Singapore 704, Embassy Dakar 681, Embassy Stockholm 671, Embassy Pristina 668, Embassy Dar Es Salaam 665, Consulate Guangzhou 662, Embassy Kigali 651, Embassy Doha 640, Embassy Riga 632, Embassy Tallinn 610, Embassy Maseru 607, Embassy Helsinki 601, Embassy Tripoli 598, Embassy Asmara 564, UNVIE 560, Consulate Shanghai 555, Embassy Paramaribo 554, Embassy Abidjan 549,
Embassy Antananarivo 535, Mission Geneva 529, Embassy Skopje 522, US Interests Section Havana 507, Embassy Nouakchott 498, Embassy Niamey 490, Embassy Freetown 480, US Office Almaty 477, Embassy Tirana 452, Embassy Montevideo 445, Embassy Ulaanbaatar 432, Mission Geneva 432, Embassy Chisinau 425, Embassy Kampala 417, Embassy Bamako 399, Embassy Georgetown 395, Embassy Nassau 394.
Saudi Arabia wants US to secure Pakistan’s eastern border
By Dilshad Azeem
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia told the US to ensure more safety at Pak-India borders to get absolute results in the war on terror while letting Islamabad authorities fully concentrate on its Afghan boundaries to combat al-Qaeda.
A latest US Embassy (Riyadh) cable, released by WikiLeaks, quoting Saudi authorities, provides that Pakistan would feel more comfortable and focused on checking terrorists when its Indian side is in a safer position.
“If we want one hundred percent from them (Pakistan), we should make them feel more secure on their border with India,” Riyadh cautioned a visiting US general early this year in a detailed meeting.
The Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior Prince Mohammed Bin Naif and US General Jones had a half an hour meeting on January 12, 2010 minutes of which were dispatched to Washington by its Riyadh-based Ambassador James B Smith on January 19, 2010.
As both discussed US and Saudi efforts to combat al-Qaeda extremists in the region besides Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iran, the Saudi minister is quoted by Smith saying “Pakistan must let people know that it is fighting a war to keep Pakistan united and its people safe.”
Prince Mohammed told the US militaryman that King Abdullah “has concerns about the Pakistani government; the biggest problem is the army.” General Kayani is a good man; I asked him, Prince Mohammed recounted, whether or not his soldiers, when they visit their villages, wear their uniforms, or if they changed into civilian clothes. “He told me that they change to civilian clothes.”
US Ambassador Smith wrote in the communication with General Jones noting that the Obama administration’s approach in Pakistan and Afghanistan reflects many of the same lessons that the Saudis have learned. “That is why the US is working with a new emphasis on national reunification in Afghanistan.”
“The approach includes reducing the emphasis on military operations while exerting new efforts to encourage reconciliation. In order for this strategy to succeed, Gen Jones cautioned, it will be essential that Pakistani territory no longer be available as a safe haven to terrorists.”
General Jones, the US Embassy Riyadh cable provides, assured Prince Mohammed that the US is working to reduce Pakistani-Indian tensions, and emphasised that what is most needed at this moment is for Pakistan to choose which path it wants to take.
Ambassador Smith further quoted General Jones in the cable that the first step is to dislodge the terrorists; if Pakistan resolves to do this, they will find that the US will help them for some time to come. “The Pakistani ISI also needs to act with greater consistency.”
In the meeting, General Jones also noted Riyadh’s influence with Pakistan and emphasised that the US is looking for Saudi Arabia’s support.
Fazlur Rehman getting isolated after WikiLeaks exposure By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: After WikiLeaks disclosures about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, not only the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership have decided to sever links with him but various religio-political parties have also hinted at staying away from him.
“Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who has been an ally of the Pervez Musharraf regime and is also a partner in the present ruling coalition, had strong contacts with militant groups in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan but nobody did even imagine until now that he is constantly in touch with the Americans also,” said a former Taliban official, currently based in Peshawar, while talking to The News on Tuesday.
Talking to The News via telephone, the former Taliban official said on condition of anonymity that although the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership had expressed its reservations several times about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, majority of the people believed it is because of political differences between the JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami. The time has, however, proven that the reservations and fears of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the JUI-F chief were absolutely genuine, he added.
“As the WikiLeaks have unmasked the truth, now Maulana Fazlur Rahman will have to be extremely careful because his acts and attitude fall in the category of betrayal,” commented the former Taliban official.
A Taliban commander told The News from Afghanistan via telephone that the Taliban leaders, who have been in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rahman in the past, are extremely disappointed and angered.
He said now all doors of the Taliban have been closed for the JUI-F chief as his real face has finally been exposed. “We may forgive him [Fazlur Rahman] for the sake of his father’s services for Islam but we have shut all doors for him,” he said.
When contacted, former spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami Ameerul Azeem, who has been attending meetings of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) of which the JUI-F was also a part, said now the time has come for the JUI-F chief to review his entire political life, particularly his manoeuvres to become part of every government. He said the role of the JUI-F chief in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD), when his politics was based on mere principles, is no secret. He recalled that even (late) Benazir Bhutto had once dumped (late) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan but the Maulana had extended unflinching support to the Nawabzada.
“Now the political moves of the JUI-F chief are completely different as of late he has been preferring gains to principles,” the former Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman said. “If Maulana Fazlur Rahman failed in returning to his old political path, he would remain all alone,” he remarked.
Ameerul Azeem pointed out that currently there are many leaders in the JUI-F who strongly believe in the politics of principles and are extremely valued by different quarters. He said the Jamaat-e-Islami would definitely maintain its contacts with such leaders.
The News contacted several religious figures that have been close to the Taliban leadership in the past and sought their comments on the latest situation, they were unanimous that Maulana Fazlur Rahman would pay a heavy price for what they called his deceit and betrayal.
The JUI-F chief, who is facing scathing criticism from various religious circles following WikiLeaks disclosures about him, is likely to face very difficult situation in the near future because the religious parties are unanimous that he would not be included in any alliance of religio-political parties.
“We have firmly decided that Maulana Fazlur Rahman or any leader of his party will not be included in the alliance of religious parties before the next general elections. Nor will we maintain any contact with the JUI-F or its leadership,” said a leader of another religious party, pleading anonymity.
This correspondent made several attempts to contact the JUI-F chief for his comments but failed while any other leader of his party was also not ready to speak on the issue.
Zardari using Baloch nationalists: WikiLeaks By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support while discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in 1960s and 70s, Afghan Intelligence chief told Senator John McCain early this year, says a WikiLeaks cable.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the attendants of the meeting that the overall bilateral relationship of Pakistan and Afghanistan was “held back” by the Pakistan Army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban.
This meeting was held in Kabul among Senator John McCain, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator John Thune and Senator John Barrosso and President Karzai, his senior security leadership, including the ministers of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as National Security Adviser Rassoul, on January 6, 2010 accompanied by Ambassador Eikenberry, Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone, and McChyrstal.
Ambassador Eikenberry reported that Intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh noted that “Pakistan’s energy sector was in decline and that discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in the volatile 1960’s and 1970’s; meanwhile, he said, President Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support. Saleh predicted that neither the army nor Nawaz Sharif would bring Zardari’s term to an abrupt end.”
“The group reviewed current developments in Pakistan, and Karzai said that the overall bilateral relationship, while an improvement over past years, was ‘held back’ by the army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban. He said that he wants to engage more and have US support in doing so, since ‘the war won’t end easily without Pakistani cooperation.’ He was pessimistic about the internal situation, as was Saleh.”
The cable also says: “Lieberman pressed him to explain the concept of offering incentives to the Taliban, and emphasised that this outreach could be problematic if it’s not explained right to the American people and the importance of Karzai articulating his plan before the US could support it.
ISLAMABAD: After WikiLeaks disclosures about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, not only the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership have decided to sever links with him but various religio-political parties have also hinted at staying away from him.
“Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who has been an ally of the Pervez Musharraf regime and is also a partner in the present ruling coalition, had strong contacts with militant groups in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan but nobody did even imagine until now that he is constantly in touch with the Americans also,” said a former Taliban official, currently based in Peshawar, while talking to The News on Tuesday.
Talking to The News via telephone, the former Taliban official said on condition of anonymity that although the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership had expressed its reservations several times about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, majority of the people believed it is because of political differences between the JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami. The time has, however, proven that the reservations and fears of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the JUI-F chief were absolutely genuine, he added.
“As the WikiLeaks have unmasked the truth, now Maulana Fazlur Rahman will have to be extremely careful because his acts and attitude fall in the category of betrayal,” commented the former Taliban official.
A Taliban commander told The News from Afghanistan via telephone that the Taliban leaders, who have been in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rahman in the past, are extremely disappointed and angered.
He said now all doors of the Taliban have been closed for the JUI-F chief as his real face has finally been exposed. “We may forgive him [Fazlur Rahman] for the sake of his father’s services for Islam but we have shut all doors for him,” he said.
When contacted, former spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami Ameerul Azeem, who has been attending meetings of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) of which the JUI-F was also a part, said now the time has come for the JUI-F chief to review his entire political life, particularly his manoeuvres to become part of every government. He said the role of the JUI-F chief in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD), when his politics was based on mere principles, is no secret. He recalled that even (late) Benazir Bhutto had once dumped (late) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan but the Maulana had extended unflinching support to the Nawabzada.
“Now the political moves of the JUI-F chief are completely different as of late he has been preferring gains to principles,” the former Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman said. “If Maulana Fazlur Rahman failed in returning to his old political path, he would remain all alone,” he remarked.
Ameerul Azeem pointed out that currently there are many leaders in the JUI-F who strongly believe in the politics of principles and are extremely valued by different quarters. He said the Jamaat-e-Islami would definitely maintain its contacts with such leaders.
The News contacted several religious figures that have been close to the Taliban leadership in the past and sought their comments on the latest situation, they were unanimous that Maulana Fazlur Rahman would pay a heavy price for what they called his deceit and betrayal.
The JUI-F chief, who is facing scathing criticism from various religious circles following WikiLeaks disclosures about him, is likely to face very difficult situation in the near future because the religious parties are unanimous that he would not be included in any alliance of religio-political parties.
“We have firmly decided that Maulana Fazlur Rahman or any leader of his party will not be included in the alliance of religious parties before the next general elections. Nor will we maintain any contact with the JUI-F or its leadership,” said a leader of another religious party, pleading anonymity.
This correspondent made several attempts to contact the JUI-F chief for his comments but failed while any other leader of his party was also not ready to speak on the issue.
Zardari using Baloch nationalists: WikiLeaks By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support while discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in 1960s and 70s, Afghan Intelligence chief told Senator John McCain early this year, says a WikiLeaks cable.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the attendants of the meeting that the overall bilateral relationship of Pakistan and Afghanistan was “held back” by the Pakistan Army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban.
This meeting was held in Kabul among Senator John McCain, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator John Thune and Senator John Barrosso and President Karzai, his senior security leadership, including the ministers of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as National Security Adviser Rassoul, on January 6, 2010 accompanied by Ambassador Eikenberry, Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone, and McChyrstal.
Ambassador Eikenberry reported that Intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh noted that “Pakistan’s energy sector was in decline and that discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in the volatile 1960’s and 1970’s; meanwhile, he said, President Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support. Saleh predicted that neither the army nor Nawaz Sharif would bring Zardari’s term to an abrupt end.”
“The group reviewed current developments in Pakistan, and Karzai said that the overall bilateral relationship, while an improvement over past years, was ‘held back’ by the army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban. He said that he wants to engage more and have US support in doing so, since ‘the war won’t end easily without Pakistani cooperation.’ He was pessimistic about the internal situation, as was Saleh.”
The cable also says: “Lieberman pressed him to explain the concept of offering incentives to the Taliban, and emphasised that this outreach could be problematic if it’s not explained right to the American people and the importance of Karzai articulating his plan before the US could support it.
Australia blames U.S. over Leaked cables
LONDON: Australia blamed the United States Wednesday for the release by WikiLeaks of U.S. diplomatic cables after a British court ordered the detention of the group's founder over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, handed himself in to British police Tuesday after Sweden had issued a European Arrest Warrant for him. Assange, who denies the allegations, will remain behind bars until a hearing on December 14.
He has spent some time in Sweden and was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the accusation.
WikiLeaks, which has provoked fury in Washington with its publications, vowed it would continue making public details of the 250,000 secret U.S. documents it had obtained.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the people who originally leaked the documents, not Assange, were legally liable and the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of U.S. security.
"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters in an interview.
"The Americans are responsible for that," said Rudd, who had been described in one leaked U.S. cable as a "control freak."
The original source of the leak is not known, though a U.S. army private who worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Bradley Manning, has been charged by military authorities with unauthorized downloading of more than 150,000 State Department cables.
U.S. officials have declined to say whether those cables are the same ones now being released by WikiLeaks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed news of Assange's arrest.
"I hadn't heard that but it sounds like good news to me," Gates told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Afghanistan.
Assange defended his Internet publishing site in a newspaper commentary Wednesday, saying it was crucial to spreading democracy and likening himself to global media baron Rupert Murdoch in the quest to publish the truth.
At the Tuesday court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: "There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail."
He said the allegations were serious, and that Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters a renewed bail application would be made, and that his client was "fine."
Aus vows to back any US legal action vs WikiLeaks
LONDON: Australia blamed the United States Wednesday for the release by WikiLeaks of U.S. diplomatic cables after a British court ordered the detention of the group's founder over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, handed himself in to British police Tuesday after Sweden had issued a European Arrest Warrant for him. Assange, who denies the allegations, will remain behind bars until a hearing on December 14.
He has spent some time in Sweden and was accused this year of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the accusation.
WikiLeaks, which has provoked fury in Washington with its publications, vowed it would continue making public details of the 250,000 secret U.S. documents it had obtained.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the people who originally leaked the documents, not Assange, were legally liable and the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of U.S. security.
"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters in an interview.
"The Americans are responsible for that," said Rudd, who had been described in one leaked U.S. cable as a "control freak."
The original source of the leak is not known, though a U.S. army private who worked as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Bradley Manning, has been charged by military authorities with unauthorized downloading of more than 150,000 State Department cables.
U.S. officials have declined to say whether those cables are the same ones now being released by WikiLeaks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed news of Assange's arrest.
"I hadn't heard that but it sounds like good news to me," Gates told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Afghanistan.
Assange defended his Internet publishing site in a newspaper commentary Wednesday, saying it was crucial to spreading democracy and likening himself to global media baron Rupert Murdoch in the quest to publish the truth.
At the Tuesday court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: "There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail."
He said the allegations were serious, and that Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters a renewed bail application would be made, and that his client was "fine."
Aus vows to back any US legal action vs WikiLeaks
SYDNEY: Australia said Monday it would support the United States in any legal action against WikiLeaks, as the whistleblower site founded by Australian Julian Assange released thousands of sensitive US cables.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said WikiLeak's publication of diplomatic US memos could harm the national security interests of the US and its allies, including Australia, as well as "prejudice the safety" of those they discussed.
"Australia will support any law enforcement action that may be taken, the US will be the lead government in that respect, but certainly Australian agencies will assist," McClelland told reporters in Canberra.
Asked whether WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange was Australia's most wanted man, McClelland said: "The United States authorities are looking at law enforcement actions as the lead country, and we are providing every assistance and could be expected to provide every assistance."
McClelland said he received no request to cancel the passport of Assange, who has said that more than a quarter of a million diplomatic cables relating to "every major issue" in the world will be released in the latest data dump.
But the attorney-general said he had asked Australian Federal Police to investigate whether the publication of the documents -- one of which describes Australia as a "rock solid" but unimposing ally -- broke any local laws.
"From Australia's point of view we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by ... the release of this information," McClelland said.
"The Australian Federal Police are looking at that, clearly I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of that advice."
McClelland said the latest WikiLeaks release, which follows that of tens of thousands of US military files relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would also be examined by a government taskforce.
The diplomatic cables will include hundreds sent by US officials in Australia, but their full content is as yet unknown.
Assange to fight extradition: lawyer
TONY EASTLEY: Lawyers for WikiLeak's editor and founder, Julian Assange, say he could have a meeting with British authorities to discuss sexual assault charges laid against him by Swedish police, within 24 hours.
Scotland Yard has received a European arrest warrant for Assange. Sweden wants him extradited but that's something he and his lawyers are fighting. They fear he will be handed over to US authorities.
Since WikiLeaks published thousands of confidential American diplomatic cables, Assange has become one of the world's most publicised and wanted men. In the US his actions have been described as akin to terrorism.
One of his lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, says her client's ability to fight the charges have been hampered by the freezing of his bank account.
She told AM that Assange will approach Australia's High Commission in London for consular assistance.
I asked Jennifer Robinson whether the arrest warrant had been officially issued.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: The arrest warrant has been communicated today and I can confirm that we were contacted by the police this afternoon and are in the process of arranging, negotiating for a meeting with Assange to deal with this matter.
They, Sweden is obviously seeking extradition but again we say it is completely disproportionate because we are offering testimony that they seek. The Swedish prosecutor was on national television just last night saying that all she wants to hear is his side of the story.
We find that incredible considering we have offered his side of the story on numerous occasions and she has rejected those offers.
Assange 'based himself at London journalists club'
LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange based himself for much of the past few months at a journalists club in London, the founder of the club said on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old Australian was remanded in custody on Tuesday in Britain after being refused bail at a London court over claims of sex crimes in Sweden.
He was widely thought to have been in the British capital in recent months and that was confirmed by Vaughan Smith, founder of the Frontline Club in central London.
"He based himself at the Frontline Club for most of the period," Smith told media, referring to the past few months but saying he could not give an exact timeframe. Smith also said he had offered Assange an address for bail.
Assange denies sexually assaulting two women in Sweden and has said he will fight an extradition request.
His detention came as his website continued to release tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables, causing embarrassment for governments worldwide.
Over the past several months, apart from trips abroad, Assange was staying at the club, Smith said.
Assange was given facilities to carry out his work at the club, where he also took part in several public debates on his whistleblower website WikiLeaks and the state of the modern media, said Smith.
"He came to us," explained the club founder. "Essentially because we are independent... he felt it would be a reasonably safe place for him to operate out of.
"It was also somewhere he could access journalists and speak to them."
Smith said that he had attended Assange's court appearance on Tuesday to offer his support.
"I am suspicious of the personal charges that have been made against Mr Assange and hope that this will be properly resolved by the courts," he added in a statement.
Video journalist Smith, 47, set up the Frontline Club seven years ago in honour of colleagues at the Frontline Television News agency who died pursuing their work, according to the club's website.
It regularly hosts talks by journalists and debates on the media, as well as documentary and film screenings.
From Today's Newspaper
WikiLeaks founder denied bail despite public offers
LONDON/SYDNEY/WASHINGTON: Despite many people’s offer to give surety for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a British court refused to bail him out on Tuesday after he was arrested over allegations of sex crimes in Sweden.
Assange, whose WikiLeaks website is at the centre of a row over the release of secret US diplomatic cables, was arrested under a European arrest warrant earlier on Tuesday after handing himself in to London police.
Assange, who denies the allegations, was refused bail and faces a fresh hearing on December 14. He has spent much of his time in Sweden and earlier this year was accused of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers.
A Swedish prosecutor wants to question him about the allegations. At a court hearing in London, Senior District Judge Howard Riddle said: “There are substantial grounds to believe he could abscond if granted bail”. He also said the allegations were of a serious nature, and Assange had comparatively weak community ties in Britain.
The judge refused bail for 39-year-old Assange despite an offer by personalities including film director Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Khan to put up bail for him. WikiLeaks vowed it wouldcontinue making public details of the 250,000 secret US documents it had obtained.
“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” WikiLeaks said, according to its Twitter page.
London police said Assange was arrested by officers from its extradition unit at about 9:30am (09:30 GMT) after he appeared by appointment at a police station. His whereabouts had been previously undisclosed.
“He is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010,” a London police spokeswoman said.
Swedish prosecutors opened, then dropped, then re-opened an investigation into the allegations. The crime he is suspected of is the least severe of three categories of rape, carrying a maximum of four years in jail.
WikiLeaks said it would be operating as normal using people in London and other locations, and argued the pressure it faced was becoming a fundamental question of civil liberties. “Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today (Tuesday) and in the coming days,” said spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson.
“The attacks that we are under from companies who are bowing to pressure from the US government are outrageous and I see it a clear confrontation against the freedom of speech and press freedom.”
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Gates, who was visiting Afghanistan on Tuesday, welcomed news that British police had arrested Assange.
“I hadn’t heard that but it sounds like good news to me,” Gates told reporters while visiting American troops at Forward Operating Base Connolly in eastern Afghanistan when asked for reaction to Assange’s arrest.
Renowned American scholar and activist Noam Chomsky signed an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard urging her to make a “strong statement” in support of Julian Assange.
Chomsky, a professor of linguistics at the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a prominent critic of US foreign policy, joined scores of high-profile Australian lawyers, authors and journalists in signing the letter.
Noting the “increasingly violent rhetoric” directed towards Australian-born Assange, the signatories said there were “grave concerns” for his safety.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regretted the “deeply distressing” release of a secret list of key infrastructure sites that could threaten US security if hit by terror strikes.
“I will underscore that this theft of US government information and its publication without regard for the consequences is deeply distressing,” Clinton said as she briefed reporters with Japan and South Korea’s top diplomats.
“The illegal publication of classified information poses real concerns and even potential damage to our friends and partners” worldwide, she warned.
China again said Tuesday it hoped that the ongoing revelations from secret US diplomatic cables would not affect Beijing’s relations with the United States.
“The absurd content is not worth commenting on and we hope that it will not disturb bilateral ties,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
Leaks from whistleblower website WikiLeaks have created “misunderstandings” and “cannot be taken seriously,” the head of the grouping of the six Gulf states, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, said on Tuesday.
“These links... created a kind of misunderstanding about the information,” Attiyah said, adding that “these kind of sites cannot be reliable or credible sources.”
“We cannot take seriously the things in what was said,” Attiyah said in response to a question on WikiLeaks at a news conference after the 31st annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit held in Abu Dhabi.
Big secrets not exposed by WikiLeaks
By Hamid Mir
ISLAMABAD: WikiLeaks have not unmasked all the political secrets. Many secrets are still confined only to a few individuals and to some top-secret files and these secrets will come out only when these individuals will themselves speak.
WikiLeaks has revealed that President Asif Ali Zardari feared a military coup in 2009 and considered the US as his ultimate saviour. US Ambassador in Pakistan Anne W Patterson sent cables to Washington in support of Zardari. But WikiLeaks did not expose the storm created in the White House and Pentagon by her cables, which warned Washington about a possible military coup in 2009.
President Obama asked one of his top military commanders many times to speak with General Kayani and get the truth. US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen inquired from his Pakistani counterpart General Kayani not once but more than three times about the possibility of any military coup and every time Kayani said that he was not planning any coup.
At one stage, Mullen spoke to Kayani from Washington and said that “the US administration thinks that I am too close to you and I know everything about you, please let me know in advance if you have any political plans.” This time, Kayani responded back in a lighter way and said that “Don’t worry, you will be the first person to know if anything unusual happens in Pakistan”.
The situation changed in just one year. In 2010, the Zardari-led government started suspecting US diplomats as the “mastermind” behind all the anti-government moves.
Then President Asif Ali Zardari asked his Interior Minister Rehman Malik in September 2010 to monitor the activities of a second tier US diplomat, who was meeting different politicians frequently those days. The Intelligence Bureau and ISI informed the government that the diplomat had completed his tenure and went back to the US but suddenly came back and again started meeting politicians and journalists, raising some red flags.
The IB and ISI informed the government that the diplomat was discussing the possibility of mid-term elections with opposition parties as well as some government allies. This created so much alarm in the Zardari camp that one fine morning, Rehman Malik wrote a letter to US Ambassador Anne W Patterson about the “un-diplomatic” activities of the US diplomat.
Within 48 hours, Patterson arranged a meeting between Rehman Malik and the diplomat. Interestingly, Rehman Malik produced documentary evidence in front of the US ambassador and claimed that the diplomat was instigating not only the opposition leaders but also some govt allies against the government.
Malik claimed that the diplomat had discussed the possibility of some top political changes in the government, which was not his diplomatic mandate. The diplomat tried to defend himself by saying that he had only discussed the reasons of differences within the coalition partners with some MQM leaders and he had never hatched any conspiracy against the government. Rehman Malik was not satisfied with this answer. He got satisfied only when the diplomat was sent packing to Washington.
Highly reliable sources say that President Zardari and Army chief Kayani developed some misunderstandings in March 2009 and relations between the two were tense but it was Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who seriously tried to remove this tension.
Ultimately, the president informed the PM that everything was all right and one day the PM surprised the nation by announcing a new three-year tenure for Army chief Kayani. This new tenure was the proof that the situation in 2010 had changed from 2009.
It was also learnt that Prime Minister Gilani used the recent floods as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Presidency and the Army House.
Subsequently, the president and the Army chief were on board when the government decided to cut off the Nato supply lines after the US attack on Pakistani troops in the tribal areas. Admiral Mullen tried his level best to use his “personal relations” with Kayani to cool down the situation.
It is worth mentioning that Mullen had visited Pakistan more than 20 times since November 2007 and during this period, he had 12 one-on-one meetings with Kayani. Most of the time they met alone with no note takers.
Mullen spoke to Kayani again and again during the Nato supply lines crisis but Kayani demanded an apology.
The unity in the power troika in Pakistan ultimately forced Ambassador Patterson to make a public apology. It was the same Patterson who sent dispatches to Washington in 2009 that the Army and the civilian government did not enjoy good relations but now she was apologising to all of them in 2010.
It has been learnt that Prime Minister Gilani is planning to discuss a grand plan for national reconciliation with President Zardari and General Kayani but again the new US Ambassador Munter is now becoming a problem for him.
Cameron Munter is openly making statements in support of the RGST and creating problems because he does not realise that the opposition parties are not in a position to support any new tax supported by the US.
The power troika has decided to formulate a strategy for minimising the undue political role of US diplomats in Pakistan and this strategy will bring some big surprises in 2011.
Profile of Gen Kayani and talking points sent by US envoy
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: A secret US diplomatic cable says Pakistan’s strategic assets are under the control of the secular military, which has implemented extensive physical, personnel and command and control safeguards.
“Our major concern has not been that an Islamic militant could steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in GOP facilities could gradually smuggle enough fissile material out to eventually make a weapon and the vulnerability of weapons in transit. Despite a court decision to ‘free’ nuclear proliferator AQ Khan, the GOP continues to assure us he remains under significant travel and media restrictions,” a February 19, 2009 cable of US Ambassador Anne Patterson, which was the scenesetter of General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s February 20-27, 2009 visit to Washington, said.
The message featured comprehensive points to stress, exploit, praise, acknowledge and talk about during Kayani’s visit. It also detailed his CV. It said Ashfaq Kayani was born in the Punjab in 1952, grew up in a working-class family and is the son of a former junior officer. “He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army after graduating from the Pakistan Military Academy in 1971. His long career has included command at every level from Company to Corps. He has served in key staff positions, to include Military Assistant to the Prime Minister under Benazir Bhutto from 1988-1990, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), 2000-2003, Director General, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 2004-2007, and Vice Chief of Army Staff in 2007. In November 2007, he became Chief of Army Staff (COAS). He is the only officer ever to have served as both DG-ISI and COAS. His term as DGMO coincided with the intense military standoff with India of 2001-2002.”
Continuing, the cable said, in interactions Kayani is often direct, frank, and thoughtful. “He has fond memories of his IMET training at Fort Leavenworth and values his personal relationships, particularly with US military leaders. Kayani is married and the father of two children, a son and a daughter. An avid golfer, he is President of the Pakistan Golf Association. He smokes heavily and can be difficult to understand as he tends to mumble.”
Although, the cable said, he has remained silent on the subject, Kayani does not support Zardari’s statement last year to the Indian press that Pakistan would adopt a “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons. Despite increasing financial constraints, we believe that the military is proceeding with an expansion of both its growing strategic weapons and missile programmes, it added.
“We should recognise growing Pakistani casualties in the fight against militants, praise Kayani’s support for the civilian democratic government in Islamabad, re-iterate the long-term US commitment to support Pakistan, and thank him for agreeing to send his intelligence chief and director of military operations to the Holbrooke/Riedel US-Pakistan strategic review meeting in Washington. We should also thank Kayani for the GOP’s effort to ensure that US/Nato continues to deliver fuel and dry goods through Pakistan for our forces in Afghanistan.”
“But” the cable said, “we need to lay down a clear marker that Pakistan’s Army/ISI must stop overt or tacit support for militant proxies (Haqqani network, Commander Nazir, Lashkar-e-Taiba). We should preface that conversation with an agreement to open a new page in relations; Kayani, who was ISI chief from 2004-2007, does not want a reckoning with the past. Given the GOP surrender of Swat to local Taliban, we need to press Kayani to commit his now reluctant army to retake the area after the peace deal inevitably fails.”
“We,” the message said, “should press for Pakistani prosecution of the Mumbai suspects, encourage expanded USG training of army and Frontier Corps forces, raise the prospect of embedding US military observers/advisers with the Frontier Corps, support a prioritised needs-based FMF request that builds COIN capability, ask Kayani to explain how Pakistan plans to back US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, and probe for what Indian action would allow him to redeploy troops from his eastern front to support increased combat in the Pak-Afghan border area.”
The cable said that President Asif Zardari was cementing leadership alliances, so he can avoid another election until he receives international assistance to address food and fuel inflation, electricity blackouts and high unemployment. Pakistan has met its first-quarter targets under a $6.7 billion IMF Standby Agreement but the economy remains too weak to support the Pakistani military’s appetite for expensive weapons systems (particular F-16s).
It said that Zardari and Kayani are the key decision-makers in Pakistan; they have developed a respectful if not entirely trusting working relationship. “Kayani has gone out of his way to publicly defer to Zardari because he needs political support to wage successful military operations. After eight years of military rule under Musharraf, Zardari is re-shaping civilian-military relations in the shadow of Pakistan’s history of repeated military coups. It is in USG interests for the Zardari/Gilani government to complete its full five-year term, and we should praise Kayani’s efforts to support civilian democracy.”
The cable said that Kayani may advocate for pending legislation (Kerry-Lugar) in the US Congress to triple non-military assistance to Pakistan and robust USG support for an IMF/World Bank Donors’ Conference to provide $4 billion in social safety net programmes to compensate for IMF-imposed budget cuts. “We anticipate that Special Representative Holbrooke will attend a donors’ conference in April. Kayani may request additional US support for civilian law enforcement; in addition to the over $40 million of equipment and training delivered to the Frontier Corps, we are providing $15 million in additional equipment for NWFP police and are working to re-programme another $55 million in FY2009. There is a FY2009 supplemental request pending for another $95 million for the police.”
According to the leaked message, Zardari and Gilani agree that Pakistan’s biggest threat comes from a growing militant insurgency on the Pak-Afghan border. The military and ISI have not yet made that leap; they still view India as their principal threat and Afghanistan as strategic depth in a possible conflict with India. They continue to provide overt or tacit support for proxy forces (including the Haqqani group, Commander Nazir, Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, and Lashkar-e-Taiba) as a foreign policy tool, it charged.
“The single biggest message Kayani should hear in Washington is that this support must end. It is now counterproductive to Pakistan’s own interests and directly conflicts with USG objectives in Afghanistan — where Haqqani is killing American soldiers and Afghan civilians — and the region — where Mumbai exposed the fruits of previous ISI policy to create Lashkar-e-Taiba and still threatens potential conflict between nuclear powers.”
Now, the cable said, absorbing combat losses against formidable militants, the FC and military finally have begun to accept more USG training and assistance in support of counter-insurgency (COIN). “Kayani will appreciate US recognition of the casualties his men have suffered, and this is an opening we should exploit to press for expanded FC and special forces (SSG) training. Kayani remains leery of too large a USG military footprint in Pakistan, but to win he must be able to fight without creating the level of civilian casualties his forces’ blind artillery and F-16 bombardments are now producing. We are responding to Pakistan Air Force requests for Close Air Support training to improve the precision of F-16s they are using in Fata. We should probe for the possible introduction of US military observers/advisers to improve the COIN capability of this 1940’s force.”
The cable said that Kayani may request additional US support for Pakistan’s F-16 programme, the flagship symbol of post-9/11 re-engagement. “We are about to send to Congress notification for an additional $142 million in FMF support for one part of this complex programme. But we do not believe Pakistan can afford to complete a $2 billion plus programme to buy 18 new F-16s, upgrade 35 older aircraft, upgrade a new base, and fund a munitions package. Given the funding and production line implications of either bailing out the GOP or cancelling the programme, US agencies are reviewing our options.”
“We could not agree more with Kayani on the need to modernise Pakistan’s helicopter fleet; on any given day, they have perhaps 2-3 attack helos flying in support of COIN operations. We now are delivering spare parts for their Cobra and Bell 412s, overhauling and upgrading their MI-17s, and assessing ways to improve overall helicopter maintenance.”
The cable said that the drone attacks have put increasing political pressure on the Pakistani government, which has struggled to explain why it is allowing an ally to violate its sovereignty. The Pakistan government, it said, so far has denied recent media reports alleging that the US is launching the strikes from bases in Pakistan.
“Kayani knows full well that the strikes have been precise (creating few civilian casualties) and targeted primarily at foreign fighters in the Waziristans. He will argue, however, that they undermine his campaign plan, which is to keep the Waziristans quiet until the army is capable of attacking Baitullah Mahsud and other militants entrenched there. In recent meetings with Special Representative Holbrooke, a variety of Pakistani interlocutors (and now the press) suggested that the US work jointly with Pakistan and target Mahsud or other militants who are killing Pakistanis.”
Patterson penned the following talking points:
- What is in the past is behind us. What we seek going forward is an all-encompassing bilateral relationship based on what we can accomplish for the future. We recognise your sacrifices and are well-aware of the trust-deficit that exists on each side. We must both work to overcome it.
- We appreciate your efforts to support stable civilian democracy in Pakistan and are working to provide a democracy dividend that improves both economic conditions and the law and order situation.
- We must succeed in Afghanistan. What is your vision for what constitutes an acceptable outcome?
- We want more Pakistani forces deployed to the western border to fight the militants. What conditions are necessary for you to reposition forces from the eastern to the western border?
- It is time to cut your ties to extremist groups/proxy forces and urge the permanent severing of ties. Such ties hinder trust and our ability to move forward together.
- Our security relationship must move beyond the provision of equipment, and we seek opportunities to expand training throughout the military.
- Our ability to deliver sustained security assistance also depends on the administration securing Congressional approval. Congress is likely to prioritise assistance to counterinsurgency-related equipment and training, as well as align its support with Pakistani performance in the field.
- Strikes in Fata are succeeding in eliminating the enemy senior leadership and collateral damage has been minimal. We are working to provide you with tactical battlefield intelligence to support your operations in Fata.
What the US diplomats think about Zardari
By Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: “Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” a top US Embassy official wrote to Washington on February 25, 2009, the day Dogar’s Supreme Court disqualified the Sharif brothers.
The same day a top Zardari confidant informed the US Embassy that the reason to get this verdict from the Dogar court was that Prime Minister Gilani was acting against the “ways” of President Zardari.
Gilani had started discussions with Shahbaz Sharif against the will of Zardari at a time when the latter was in China, according to the cable.
This top Zardari confidant, who met the US Embassy high official after announcement of the verdict of the Dogar court the same day, discussed President Asif Ali Zardari’s strategies to oust Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, according to the cable classified and sent to Washington by Charge d’Affaires Gerald Feierstein.
The most shocking revelation of the cable is that this top confidant of Zardari also ‘assured’ the US Embassy that her boss President Zardari, beside this verdict, would take ‘more actions’ to ensure that the planned March 12-16 lawyers’ long march would not create any problems.
In this Feb 25, 09 cable, Charge d’affaires informed Washington that according to media interaction of Sharifs, Zardari was against the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as he feared that Justice Chaudhry, after being restored, would term the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) ‘invalid’ and this would reopen the corruption cases against Zardari.
This Feb 25, 09 cable also talks of Zardari’s plan to increase the retirement age of Abdul Hameed Dogar and his repeated messages to the US Embassy that Dogar Court was going to disqualify the Sharif brothers. The same cable also shows how Zardari tried to befool the Americans by telling Patterson one thing and her staff the other thing.
In an unbelievable disclosure this Wikileak cable shows that an important member of the Zardari-camp reached the US Embassy to complain against none other than Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
This Zardari-camp member described by the US Embassy as a “Zardari’s confidant”, Farah Naz Ispahani’s report to US Embassy, their questions and her replies are reproduced below as given in para-11 of the cable: “Ispahani confided that Zardari would take further actions to ensure the March 12-16 lawyers’ march/sit-in would not cause problems.” She hinted at proposals affecting former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Shahbaz Sharif. Asked why Zardari chose now to move on this long-stalled decision, Ispahani said the PPP-led GOP “had no choice” because Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani had entered into discussions with Shahbaz on February 23.
“We are very unhappy with the way Gilani has gone off the reservation” while Zardari was in China, she said. According to unconfirmed press reports, Gilani had assured Shahbaz that the PPP would not try to remove the Sharifs from power in the Punjab and suggested the Chaudhrys might lead a new “Constitutional Court,” proposed by the 2006 PPP/PML-N Charter of Democracy. US Embassy official wrote to Washington that US diplomats noted divisions between Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
The diplomat reported to Washington that the Sharifs told the Principal Officer of the embassy in Lahore that Zardari had offered them to agree on a constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of the PCO Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and in return, he (Zardari) would close the Supreme Court cases against them.
The diplomat further wrote to his capital that Zardari after the Supreme Court verdict told him that he did not expect significant political fallout from the court’s decision. The street reaction would be “in the hundreds, not the millions,” claimed Zardari while talking to the diplomat, according to the cable. According to the cable, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had told the diplomat the same thing regarding the expected reaction.
The Charge d’affaires, Gerald Feierstein, wrote that Dogar court’s verdict was not a surprise for him. He gave the reason in the following words: “The decision comes as no surprise; Zardari has been telling us for weeks that it was coming and that he felt he could control the reaction.”
The diplomat even reported that the Zardari’s move to get this verdict from Supreme Court did not have the agreement of the PPP loyalists. He described alienation of these PPP loyalists in the following words: “Many in the PPP disagreed with the decision to challenge Nawaz, so Zardari has further alienated the party faithful.”
The cable says that PM Gilani’s attempt to subside political temperature and negotiate with Shahbaz Sharif was apparently not blessed by Zardari. The cable further says that before moving (against Sharifs), Zardari expanded the coalition’s seats in the National Assembly and worked out deals in three of the four provinces to ensure the PPP would increase its seats in the upcoming Senate elections. “It also demonstrates, disappointingly, that Zardari continues to play politics while his country disintegrates,” the cable says.
According to another revelation of this cable, Zardari told Charge D’Affaires on phone that he would launch his candidate for the chief ministership of the Punjab who would contest with the help of the PML-Q. The diplomat described his conversation with Zardari by saying: “He expected the PPP would have a candidate and thought the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party would also be interested in running a candidate.”
The cable says that US diplomats by seeing the Zardari’s actions were already aware of the fact that PML-N would charge Zardari with “assuming the mantle of Musharraf”.
The cable dubs senior bureaucrat Kamran Lashari as a long-time PPP supporter. Lashari was appointed Chief Secretary Punjab by Taseer after sacking of Shahbaz on Feb 25, 09.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the US diplomat that the Punjab Inspector General of the Police technically was not fired but since he was so close to the Sharifs, he had voluntarily vacated the office. Cable further writes that both the chief secretary and IG Police are federal appointees.
The cable also disclosed what PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat said about the Dogar court’s verdict that he respected the decision.
The cable disclosed that following the Dogar court’s verdict, Zardari reached back the country and the diplomat contacted him on phone and told about the Lahore Principal officer’s meeting with the Sharifs. At this, Zardari asked the diplomat for readout of PO Lahore’s meeting with Nawaz.
However, the diplomat replied to Zardari that PO Lahore had already conveyed the US position that it was an internal matter for the Pakistani government and thus refused to give inside information of the PO-Nawaz meeting to Zardari.
The cable also commented that after Supreme Court’s decision of disqualifying Sharifs it became imminent that PML-N would participate in the lawyers’ long march in any case.
However, in a phone call, Zardari, just back from his latest trip to China, told the Charge d’affaires on February 25 that he had “nothing to do with the decision” and had been surprised by Shahbaz’s disqualification.
While Zardari was telling Patterson that Dogar Supreme Court was going to disqualify Sharifs and he was ready to move against the Sharifs, he was telling a different tale to other US Embassy officials.
Interestingly, the information given to Patterson was known to all top officials of the embassy. So the diplomat while sending this cable to Washington, along with giving Zardari’s conversation with Patterson, gave accounts of his conversation with Zardari, which were entirely different.
Charge D’affaires wrote his account with Zardari as follows: “He noted that the court had ruled against the government, which had been representing the Sharifs (Federal government was representing the Sharifs in SC). He said he had ordered PPP Punjab Governor Taseer to temporarily take over the Punjab government until new elections for a chief minister could be held. Asked about any further legal steps, Zardari indicated the government might consider going back to the Lahore High Court to appeal the decision.”
The Charge d’affaires concluded the cable in the words: “This decision and promises of additional deals for the former Chief Justice or Shahbaz demonstrate, disappointingly, that Zardari remains focused on political machinations rather than the militant threat in Swat and the tribal areas.”
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: The Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi were running their terror groups while still in custody in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, said US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
The information is contained in a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence community, and shared with Pakistan in August 2009 on the directions of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Washington has worked discreetly to block the supply of Iranian and Syrian weapons to militant groups in the Middle East, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday, citing US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The United States, in many cases using secret intelligence provided by Israel, had pressured Arab governments not to cooperate with arms smuggling to Palestinian group Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, it said.
According to another leaked document, the US suspected a Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Philippines of potential involvement in funding terrorists.
A security aide of then-US president George W Bush raised concerns over Muhammad Amin Waly in a private meeting with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Jeddah in 2007, the secret cable showed.
“In a following private meeting... (Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Terrorism) Townsend raised US concerns with the potential involvement of the Saudi ambassador... in terrorism facilitation,” it said.
Francis Townsend cited Waly’s intervention to secure the release of two members of an Islamic charity detained in the Philippines, the cable showed. The group was suspected of funnelling funds to al-Qaeda-linked groups based in the southern Philippines.
“Prince Saud said some of his actions may have involved bad judgement rather than intentional support for terrorism,” said the missive from the US embassy in Riyadh.“Waly had been investigated, he said, and no evidence was found regarding his involvement.”
The prince also told the Bush aide that Waly’s Manila assignment was ending in a few months and sought US government evidence of his alleged terror links, the cable said. Townsend pledged cooperation with the Saudi authorities in providing evidence, the cable added.
Waly was replaced by Abdullah Al Hassan as Saudi envoy to Manila in January this year. Nato has expanded defence plans in parts of eastern Europe amid fears that Russia poses an increasing threat, leaked US diplomatic cables showed.
Contingency plans were drawn up for the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — earlier this year after they lobbied for extra protection following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, said the leaked cables.
The US has also offered to beef up Polish security amid fears of a resurgent Russia, said the cables, despite the policy of US President Barack Obama’s administration to “reset” relations with Moscow.
Algeria agreed in January to allow the United States to fly spy planes
over its territory to hunt for Al-Qaeda bases in the Sahara, according to a leaked diplomatic cable published Tuesday.
The French daily Le Monde uncovered the secret note in the trove of secret US State Department correspondence released by the WikiLeaks.
“No partner is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaeda,” the US embassy in Algiers said, according to Le Monde’s French translation of the memo. “Algeria wants to be strategic partner, not a rival.”
The memo said that the planes would usually operate from the US naval airbase in Rota, in southern Spain.
The United States views Hungarian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as ineffective, according to leaked diplomatic cables.
An undated cable signed by Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) did little to combat the escalating violence, drug problems and power struggles in the northern province of Baghlan.
When insurgents caused a “security situation”, New Zealand troops from the neighbouring Bamyan province had to cross the border to deal with it, the cable said.
According to another leaked document, the United States government lobbied the head of the UN climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic.
At a meeting in Geneva in 2008, the US delegation told Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the election of Mostafa Jafri as one of two co-chairman of a key climate group would affect US funding of the climate body. The other chair was to be an American expert. Jafri was a highly qualified scientist with research ties to United Kingdom and Japan, the US delegation said in the cables released by WikiLeaks, but he was also a senior Iranian government employee and that complicated US efforts in the climate control body.
Washington saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables.
“We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan,” a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.
Leaked US diplomatic cables show the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times said one cable quoted a Pentagon official expressing concern over the Hezbollah arsenal.
The cable highlighted US concerns about proliferation of weapons, especially from Syria, the daily said.
The Pentagon official indicated Hezbollah’s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 to 50 Fateh-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles.
The information is contained in a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence community, and shared with Pakistan in August 2009 on the directions of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Washington has worked discreetly to block the supply of Iranian and Syrian weapons to militant groups in the Middle East, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday, citing US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The United States, in many cases using secret intelligence provided by Israel, had pressured Arab governments not to cooperate with arms smuggling to Palestinian group Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, it said.
According to another leaked document, the US suspected a Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Philippines of potential involvement in funding terrorists.
A security aide of then-US president George W Bush raised concerns over Muhammad Amin Waly in a private meeting with Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Jeddah in 2007, the secret cable showed.
“In a following private meeting... (Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Terrorism) Townsend raised US concerns with the potential involvement of the Saudi ambassador... in terrorism facilitation,” it said.
Francis Townsend cited Waly’s intervention to secure the release of two members of an Islamic charity detained in the Philippines, the cable showed. The group was suspected of funnelling funds to al-Qaeda-linked groups based in the southern Philippines.
“Prince Saud said some of his actions may have involved bad judgement rather than intentional support for terrorism,” said the missive from the US embassy in Riyadh.“Waly had been investigated, he said, and no evidence was found regarding his involvement.”
The prince also told the Bush aide that Waly’s Manila assignment was ending in a few months and sought US government evidence of his alleged terror links, the cable said. Townsend pledged cooperation with the Saudi authorities in providing evidence, the cable added.
Waly was replaced by Abdullah Al Hassan as Saudi envoy to Manila in January this year. Nato has expanded defence plans in parts of eastern Europe amid fears that Russia poses an increasing threat, leaked US diplomatic cables showed.
Contingency plans were drawn up for the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — earlier this year after they lobbied for extra protection following the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, said the leaked cables.
The US has also offered to beef up Polish security amid fears of a resurgent Russia, said the cables, despite the policy of US President Barack Obama’s administration to “reset” relations with Moscow.
Algeria agreed in January to allow the United States to fly spy planes
over its territory to hunt for Al-Qaeda bases in the Sahara, according to a leaked diplomatic cable published Tuesday.
The French daily Le Monde uncovered the secret note in the trove of secret US State Department correspondence released by the WikiLeaks.
“No partner is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaeda,” the US embassy in Algiers said, according to Le Monde’s French translation of the memo. “Algeria wants to be strategic partner, not a rival.”
The memo said that the planes would usually operate from the US naval airbase in Rota, in southern Spain.
The United States views Hungarian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as ineffective, according to leaked diplomatic cables.
An undated cable signed by Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) did little to combat the escalating violence, drug problems and power struggles in the northern province of Baghlan.
When insurgents caused a “security situation”, New Zealand troops from the neighbouring Bamyan province had to cross the border to deal with it, the cable said.
According to another leaked document, the United States government lobbied the head of the UN climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic.
At a meeting in Geneva in 2008, the US delegation told Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the election of Mostafa Jafri as one of two co-chairman of a key climate group would affect US funding of the climate body. The other chair was to be an American expert. Jafri was a highly qualified scientist with research ties to United Kingdom and Japan, the US delegation said in the cables released by WikiLeaks, but he was also a senior Iranian government employee and that complicated US efforts in the climate control body.
Washington saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables.
“We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan,” a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.
Leaked US diplomatic cables show the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times said one cable quoted a Pentagon official expressing concern over the Hezbollah arsenal.
The cable highlighted US concerns about proliferation of weapons, especially from Syria, the daily said.
The Pentagon official indicated Hezbollah’s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including 40 to 50 Fateh-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles.
Zardari repented making anti-Mush statements
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari told the visiting US Congressmen that he wanted to privately discuss with Pervez Musharraf the latter’s ‘honourable exit’ while keeping away the Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani from such political discussion, revealed a diplomatic cable of May 2008, a few months before the dictator resigned.
He also repented making anti-Musharraf statements, simultaneously declaring the military dictator’s exit is inevitable for improving US image in Pakistan and expressed resolve of making Pakistanis a pro-US nation, saying “anti-US feelings will go away when the old faces go away.”
Zardari also shared his apprehension with the ambassador that Nawaz Sharif’s decision of supporting the restoration of judges has won Sharif tremendous public support, nevertheless he insisted on just throwing Musharraf out without bringing back the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Portraying himself as a statesman, Zardari said Nawaz Sharif had ‘walked into the vacuum’ after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and it was PPP that brought him back for the sake of stability of democratic system.
Zardari also said his party would be kicked out of power if it failed in changing “the face of Pakistan” but assured the ambassador “we won’t act without consulting you.” He blamed Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the war against terrorism in Pakistan, resulting in leaving the public disillusioned who tended to believe as if Pakistanis were being killed for the US.
The cable is about a meeting of the US Congressmen, Adam Schiff and Allyson Schwartz, who met with Zardari, then co-chairman of the PPP, during their visit to Pakistan. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the then National Security Advisor Maj. Gen. Mehmood Durrani and Pakistan ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani were also in attendance.
Zardari admitted that his public statements had been more anti-Musharraf, the cable said. He was afraid that he and his party were losing popular support, while Nawaz was able to pretend to be populist by supporting restoration of the pre-November 3 judges. “But he doesn’t want the Chief Justice (Iftikhar Chaudhry) back in, just Musharraf out.”
Zardari revealed that he hoped to discuss privately with Musharraf the possibility of an “honourable exit” and believed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Kayani would stay out of such political discussions, noted the cable.
Zardari feared, however, that Musharraf was misguided by “smooth-talking advisors,” who were protecting their own personal interests. The public was against the president, the institution and the man, adding the PPP needed to “change the face of Pakistan” or it too would be kicked out of power. “We won’t act without consulting with you,” Zardari concluded.
Zardari blamed President Pervez Musharraf for not taking enough responsibility for the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in Pakistan; the public, instead, believed Pakistanis were dying for the U.S. Zardari then said, “Anti-U.S. feelings will go away when the old faces go away,” adding that the US should no longer rely on just Musharraf in fighting radicalism.
Zardari stressed that the Global War on Terror (GWOT) was “Pakistan’s war.” The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists.
But counter-terrorism initiatives lacked popular Pakistani support, Zardari lamented, and terrorism fostered profiteers who had an interest in the struggle continuing.
Zardari argued that Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif had “walked into the vacuum” as opposition leader when Bhutto was assassinated just weeks before national elections. For stability, however, the PPP continued to cooperate with the PML-N at the federal and Punjab provincial levels.
The fall of Bhutto’s second government was financed by Osama bin Laden, he claimed, noting that she and her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists, the cable said.
250,000 leaks: how many belong to whom News Desk
RAWALPINDI: The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks on Tuesday announced that it would continue releasing the US diplomatic cables despite arrest of its founder Julian Assange and other difficulties.
Out of total 250,000 cables only a few thousand have been released so far. As many as 2,220 cables originated from the US Embassy Islamabad.
Following is the list of embassy-wise WikiLeaks cables.
Embassy-wise cables (with reference to embassy or other source and number of documents): Secretary of State 8,017, Embassy Ankara 7,918, Embassy Baghdad 6,677, Embassy Tokyo 5,697, Embassy Amman 4,312, Embassy Paris 3,775, Embassy Kuwait 3,717, Embassy Madrid 3,620, American Institute Taiwan, Taipei 3,456, Embassy Moscow 3,376, Embassy Colombo 3,325, Embassy Beijing 3,297, Embassy Tel Aviv 3,194, USUN New York 3,116, Embassy Khartoum 3,078, Embassy Jakarta 3,059, Embassy New Delhi 3,038, Embassy Abuja 3,025, Embassy The Hague 3,021, Embassy Harare 2,998, Embassy Kabul 2,961, Embassy Bangkok 2,941, Embassy Rome 2,890, Embassy Cairo 2,752, Embassy Kinshasa 2,551, Embassy Abu Dhabi 2,547, Embassy Ashgabat 2,439, Embassy Bogota 2,416, Embassy Beirut 2,368, Embassy Caracas 2,340, Embassy Hanoi 2,325, Embassy Mexico 2,285, Embassy Kathmandu 2,278, Embassy Buenos Aires 2,233, Embassy Islamabad 2,220, Consulate Jerusalem 2,217, Embassy Dhaka 1,984, Embassy Seoul 1,980, Embassy Tegucigalpa, 1,958, Embassy Ottawa 1,948, Embassy Brasilia 1,947, Embassy Rangoon 1,864, Embassy Nairobi 1,821, Embassy Manila 1,796, Embassy Yerevan 1,735, Embassy Vienna 1,722, Embassy Berlin 1,719, Embassy Zagreb 1,686, Embassy Santo Domingo 1,675, Embassy Manama 1,645, Embassy Muscat 1,644, Embassy Sanaa 1,591, Embassy Baku 1,569, Embassy Pretoria 1,566, Embassy Wellington 1,490, Consulate Lagos 1,487, Embassy Santiago 1,464, Embassy Quito 1,450, Embassy Damascus 1,419, Embassy Addis Ababa 1,395, Embassy Astana 1,394, Embassy Lima 1,388, Embassy Rabat 1,365, Embassy Athens 1,313, Embassy La Paz 1,299, Embassy Tashkent 1,296, Embassy Prague 1,271, Embassy Managua 1,264, Embassy Guatemala 1,261, Embassy Riyadh 1,245, Embassy Port Au Prince 1,214, Embassy Bridgetown 1,204, Embassy Bratislava 1,172, Embassy Tbilisi 1,167, Embassy Asuncion 1,148, Embassy Kyiv 1,139, Embassy Kingston 1,138, Embassy Brussels 1,136, Embassy San Salvador 1,119, Embassy London 1,083, Embassy Tunis 1,055, Embassy Minsk 1,014, USEU Brussels 1,000, Embassy Belgrade 994, Embassy Kuala Lumpur 994, Embassy Dushanbe 990, Embassy Sofia 978, Embassy Bishkek 973, Embassy Maputo 970, Embassy Warsaw 970, Embassy Djibouti 956, Consulate Hong Kong 950, Embassy Ndjamena 948, Embassy Canberra 933, Embassy Panama 912, Embassy Dublin 910, Embassy Vilnius 903, Consulate Adana 887, Embassy Sarajevo 869, Embassy Accra 862, Embassy Nicosia 849, Embassy Conakry 847, Embassy Ljubljana 836, Embassy Bucharest 830, Embassy Algiers 806, Mission USNATO 799, Consulate Sao Paulo 786, Consulate Ho Chi Minh 777, Embassy Phnom Penh 777, Embassy San Jose 764, Embassy Oslo 763, Consulate Istanbul 752, Embassy Budapest 734, Embassy Vatican 729, Embassy Lisbon 722, Embassy Lilongwe 715, Embassy Singapore 704, Embassy Dakar 681, Embassy Stockholm 671, Embassy Pristina 668, Embassy Dar Es Salaam 665, Consulate Guangzhou 662, Embassy Kigali 651, Embassy Doha 640, Embassy Riga 632, Embassy Tallinn 610, Embassy Maseru 607, Embassy Helsinki 601, Embassy Tripoli 598, Embassy Asmara 564, UNVIE 560, Consulate Shanghai 555, Embassy Paramaribo 554, Embassy Abidjan 549,
Embassy Antananarivo 535, Mission Geneva 529, Embassy Skopje 522, US Interests Section Havana 507, Embassy Nouakchott 498, Embassy Niamey 490, Embassy Freetown 480, US Office Almaty 477, Embassy Tirana 452, Embassy Montevideo 445, Embassy Ulaanbaatar 432, Mission Geneva 432, Embassy Chisinau 425, Embassy Kampala 417, Embassy Bamako 399, Embassy Georgetown 395, Embassy Nassau 394.
RAWALPINDI: The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks on Tuesday announced that it would continue releasing the US diplomatic cables despite arrest of its founder Julian Assange and other difficulties.
Out of total 250,000 cables only a few thousand have been released so far. As many as 2,220 cables originated from the US Embassy Islamabad.
Following is the list of embassy-wise WikiLeaks cables.
Embassy-wise cables (with reference to embassy or other source and number of documents): Secretary of State 8,017, Embassy Ankara 7,918, Embassy Baghdad 6,677, Embassy Tokyo 5,697, Embassy Amman 4,312, Embassy Paris 3,775, Embassy Kuwait 3,717, Embassy Madrid 3,620, American Institute Taiwan, Taipei 3,456, Embassy Moscow 3,376, Embassy Colombo 3,325, Embassy Beijing 3,297, Embassy Tel Aviv 3,194, USUN New York 3,116, Embassy Khartoum 3,078, Embassy Jakarta 3,059, Embassy New Delhi 3,038, Embassy Abuja 3,025, Embassy The Hague 3,021, Embassy Harare 2,998, Embassy Kabul 2,961, Embassy Bangkok 2,941, Embassy Rome 2,890, Embassy Cairo 2,752, Embassy Kinshasa 2,551, Embassy Abu Dhabi 2,547, Embassy Ashgabat 2,439, Embassy Bogota 2,416, Embassy Beirut 2,368, Embassy Caracas 2,340, Embassy Hanoi 2,325, Embassy Mexico 2,285, Embassy Kathmandu 2,278, Embassy Buenos Aires 2,233, Embassy Islamabad 2,220, Consulate Jerusalem 2,217, Embassy Dhaka 1,984, Embassy Seoul 1,980, Embassy Tegucigalpa, 1,958, Embassy Ottawa 1,948, Embassy Brasilia 1,947, Embassy Rangoon 1,864, Embassy Nairobi 1,821, Embassy Manila 1,796, Embassy Yerevan 1,735, Embassy Vienna 1,722, Embassy Berlin 1,719, Embassy Zagreb 1,686, Embassy Santo Domingo 1,675, Embassy Manama 1,645, Embassy Muscat 1,644, Embassy Sanaa 1,591, Embassy Baku 1,569, Embassy Pretoria 1,566, Embassy Wellington 1,490, Consulate Lagos 1,487, Embassy Santiago 1,464, Embassy Quito 1,450, Embassy Damascus 1,419, Embassy Addis Ababa 1,395, Embassy Astana 1,394, Embassy Lima 1,388, Embassy Rabat 1,365, Embassy Athens 1,313, Embassy La Paz 1,299, Embassy Tashkent 1,296, Embassy Prague 1,271, Embassy Managua 1,264, Embassy Guatemala 1,261, Embassy Riyadh 1,245, Embassy Port Au Prince 1,214, Embassy Bridgetown 1,204, Embassy Bratislava 1,172, Embassy Tbilisi 1,167, Embassy Asuncion 1,148, Embassy Kyiv 1,139, Embassy Kingston 1,138, Embassy Brussels 1,136, Embassy San Salvador 1,119, Embassy London 1,083, Embassy Tunis 1,055, Embassy Minsk 1,014, USEU Brussels 1,000, Embassy Belgrade 994, Embassy Kuala Lumpur 994, Embassy Dushanbe 990, Embassy Sofia 978, Embassy Bishkek 973, Embassy Maputo 970, Embassy Warsaw 970, Embassy Djibouti 956, Consulate Hong Kong 950, Embassy Ndjamena 948, Embassy Canberra 933, Embassy Panama 912, Embassy Dublin 910, Embassy Vilnius 903, Consulate Adana 887, Embassy Sarajevo 869, Embassy Accra 862, Embassy Nicosia 849, Embassy Conakry 847, Embassy Ljubljana 836, Embassy Bucharest 830, Embassy Algiers 806, Mission USNATO 799, Consulate Sao Paulo 786, Consulate Ho Chi Minh 777, Embassy Phnom Penh 777, Embassy San Jose 764, Embassy Oslo 763, Consulate Istanbul 752, Embassy Budapest 734, Embassy Vatican 729, Embassy Lisbon 722, Embassy Lilongwe 715, Embassy Singapore 704, Embassy Dakar 681, Embassy Stockholm 671, Embassy Pristina 668, Embassy Dar Es Salaam 665, Consulate Guangzhou 662, Embassy Kigali 651, Embassy Doha 640, Embassy Riga 632, Embassy Tallinn 610, Embassy Maseru 607, Embassy Helsinki 601, Embassy Tripoli 598, Embassy Asmara 564, UNVIE 560, Consulate Shanghai 555, Embassy Paramaribo 554, Embassy Abidjan 549,
Embassy Antananarivo 535, Mission Geneva 529, Embassy Skopje 522, US Interests Section Havana 507, Embassy Nouakchott 498, Embassy Niamey 490, Embassy Freetown 480, US Office Almaty 477, Embassy Tirana 452, Embassy Montevideo 445, Embassy Ulaanbaatar 432, Mission Geneva 432, Embassy Chisinau 425, Embassy Kampala 417, Embassy Bamako 399, Embassy Georgetown 395, Embassy Nassau 394.
Saudi Arabia wants US to secure Pakistan’s eastern border
By Dilshad Azeem
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia told the US to ensure more safety at Pak-India borders to get absolute results in the war on terror while letting Islamabad authorities fully concentrate on its Afghan boundaries to combat al-Qaeda.
A latest US Embassy (Riyadh) cable, released by WikiLeaks, quoting Saudi authorities, provides that Pakistan would feel more comfortable and focused on checking terrorists when its Indian side is in a safer position.
“If we want one hundred percent from them (Pakistan), we should make them feel more secure on their border with India,” Riyadh cautioned a visiting US general early this year in a detailed meeting.
The Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior Prince Mohammed Bin Naif and US General Jones had a half an hour meeting on January 12, 2010 minutes of which were dispatched to Washington by its Riyadh-based Ambassador James B Smith on January 19, 2010.
As both discussed US and Saudi efforts to combat al-Qaeda extremists in the region besides Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iran, the Saudi minister is quoted by Smith saying “Pakistan must let people know that it is fighting a war to keep Pakistan united and its people safe.”
Prince Mohammed told the US militaryman that King Abdullah “has concerns about the Pakistani government; the biggest problem is the army.” General Kayani is a good man; I asked him, Prince Mohammed recounted, whether or not his soldiers, when they visit their villages, wear their uniforms, or if they changed into civilian clothes. “He told me that they change to civilian clothes.”
US Ambassador Smith wrote in the communication with General Jones noting that the Obama administration’s approach in Pakistan and Afghanistan reflects many of the same lessons that the Saudis have learned. “That is why the US is working with a new emphasis on national reunification in Afghanistan.”
“The approach includes reducing the emphasis on military operations while exerting new efforts to encourage reconciliation. In order for this strategy to succeed, Gen Jones cautioned, it will be essential that Pakistani territory no longer be available as a safe haven to terrorists.”
General Jones, the US Embassy Riyadh cable provides, assured Prince Mohammed that the US is working to reduce Pakistani-Indian tensions, and emphasised that what is most needed at this moment is for Pakistan to choose which path it wants to take.
Ambassador Smith further quoted General Jones in the cable that the first step is to dislodge the terrorists; if Pakistan resolves to do this, they will find that the US will help them for some time to come. “The Pakistani ISI also needs to act with greater consistency.”
In the meeting, General Jones also noted Riyadh’s influence with Pakistan and emphasised that the US is looking for Saudi Arabia’s support.
Fazlur Rehman getting isolated after WikiLeaks exposure By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: After WikiLeaks disclosures about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, not only the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership have decided to sever links with him but various religio-political parties have also hinted at staying away from him.
“Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who has been an ally of the Pervez Musharraf regime and is also a partner in the present ruling coalition, had strong contacts with militant groups in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan but nobody did even imagine until now that he is constantly in touch with the Americans also,” said a former Taliban official, currently based in Peshawar, while talking to The News on Tuesday.
Talking to The News via telephone, the former Taliban official said on condition of anonymity that although the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership had expressed its reservations several times about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, majority of the people believed it is because of political differences between the JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami. The time has, however, proven that the reservations and fears of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the JUI-F chief were absolutely genuine, he added.
“As the WikiLeaks have unmasked the truth, now Maulana Fazlur Rahman will have to be extremely careful because his acts and attitude fall in the category of betrayal,” commented the former Taliban official.
A Taliban commander told The News from Afghanistan via telephone that the Taliban leaders, who have been in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rahman in the past, are extremely disappointed and angered.
He said now all doors of the Taliban have been closed for the JUI-F chief as his real face has finally been exposed. “We may forgive him [Fazlur Rahman] for the sake of his father’s services for Islam but we have shut all doors for him,” he said.
When contacted, former spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami Ameerul Azeem, who has been attending meetings of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) of which the JUI-F was also a part, said now the time has come for the JUI-F chief to review his entire political life, particularly his manoeuvres to become part of every government. He said the role of the JUI-F chief in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD), when his politics was based on mere principles, is no secret. He recalled that even (late) Benazir Bhutto had once dumped (late) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan but the Maulana had extended unflinching support to the Nawabzada.
“Now the political moves of the JUI-F chief are completely different as of late he has been preferring gains to principles,” the former Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman said. “If Maulana Fazlur Rahman failed in returning to his old political path, he would remain all alone,” he remarked.
Ameerul Azeem pointed out that currently there are many leaders in the JUI-F who strongly believe in the politics of principles and are extremely valued by different quarters. He said the Jamaat-e-Islami would definitely maintain its contacts with such leaders.
The News contacted several religious figures that have been close to the Taliban leadership in the past and sought their comments on the latest situation, they were unanimous that Maulana Fazlur Rahman would pay a heavy price for what they called his deceit and betrayal.
The JUI-F chief, who is facing scathing criticism from various religious circles following WikiLeaks disclosures about him, is likely to face very difficult situation in the near future because the religious parties are unanimous that he would not be included in any alliance of religio-political parties.
“We have firmly decided that Maulana Fazlur Rahman or any leader of his party will not be included in the alliance of religious parties before the next general elections. Nor will we maintain any contact with the JUI-F or its leadership,” said a leader of another religious party, pleading anonymity.
This correspondent made several attempts to contact the JUI-F chief for his comments but failed while any other leader of his party was also not ready to speak on the issue.
Zardari using Baloch nationalists: WikiLeaks By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support while discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in 1960s and 70s, Afghan Intelligence chief told Senator John McCain early this year, says a WikiLeaks cable.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the attendants of the meeting that the overall bilateral relationship of Pakistan and Afghanistan was “held back” by the Pakistan Army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban.
This meeting was held in Kabul among Senator John McCain, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator John Thune and Senator John Barrosso and President Karzai, his senior security leadership, including the ministers of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as National Security Adviser Rassoul, on January 6, 2010 accompanied by Ambassador Eikenberry, Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone, and McChyrstal.
Ambassador Eikenberry reported that Intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh noted that “Pakistan’s energy sector was in decline and that discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in the volatile 1960’s and 1970’s; meanwhile, he said, President Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support. Saleh predicted that neither the army nor Nawaz Sharif would bring Zardari’s term to an abrupt end.”
“The group reviewed current developments in Pakistan, and Karzai said that the overall bilateral relationship, while an improvement over past years, was ‘held back’ by the army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban. He said that he wants to engage more and have US support in doing so, since ‘the war won’t end easily without Pakistani cooperation.’ He was pessimistic about the internal situation, as was Saleh.”
The cable also says: “Lieberman pressed him to explain the concept of offering incentives to the Taliban, and emphasised that this outreach could be problematic if it’s not explained right to the American people and the importance of Karzai articulating his plan before the US could support it.
ISLAMABAD: After WikiLeaks disclosures about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, not only the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership have decided to sever links with him but various religio-political parties have also hinted at staying away from him.
“Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who has been an ally of the Pervez Musharraf regime and is also a partner in the present ruling coalition, had strong contacts with militant groups in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan but nobody did even imagine until now that he is constantly in touch with the Americans also,” said a former Taliban official, currently based in Peshawar, while talking to The News on Tuesday.
Talking to The News via telephone, the former Taliban official said on condition of anonymity that although the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership had expressed its reservations several times about Maulana Fazlur Rahman, majority of the people believed it is because of political differences between the JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami. The time has, however, proven that the reservations and fears of the Jamaat-e-Islami about the JUI-F chief were absolutely genuine, he added.
“As the WikiLeaks have unmasked the truth, now Maulana Fazlur Rahman will have to be extremely careful because his acts and attitude fall in the category of betrayal,” commented the former Taliban official.
A Taliban commander told The News from Afghanistan via telephone that the Taliban leaders, who have been in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rahman in the past, are extremely disappointed and angered.
He said now all doors of the Taliban have been closed for the JUI-F chief as his real face has finally been exposed. “We may forgive him [Fazlur Rahman] for the sake of his father’s services for Islam but we have shut all doors for him,” he said.
When contacted, former spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami Ameerul Azeem, who has been attending meetings of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) of which the JUI-F was also a part, said now the time has come for the JUI-F chief to review his entire political life, particularly his manoeuvres to become part of every government. He said the role of the JUI-F chief in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD), when his politics was based on mere principles, is no secret. He recalled that even (late) Benazir Bhutto had once dumped (late) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan but the Maulana had extended unflinching support to the Nawabzada.
“Now the political moves of the JUI-F chief are completely different as of late he has been preferring gains to principles,” the former Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman said. “If Maulana Fazlur Rahman failed in returning to his old political path, he would remain all alone,” he remarked.
Ameerul Azeem pointed out that currently there are many leaders in the JUI-F who strongly believe in the politics of principles and are extremely valued by different quarters. He said the Jamaat-e-Islami would definitely maintain its contacts with such leaders.
The News contacted several religious figures that have been close to the Taliban leadership in the past and sought their comments on the latest situation, they were unanimous that Maulana Fazlur Rahman would pay a heavy price for what they called his deceit and betrayal.
The JUI-F chief, who is facing scathing criticism from various religious circles following WikiLeaks disclosures about him, is likely to face very difficult situation in the near future because the religious parties are unanimous that he would not be included in any alliance of religio-political parties.
“We have firmly decided that Maulana Fazlur Rahman or any leader of his party will not be included in the alliance of religious parties before the next general elections. Nor will we maintain any contact with the JUI-F or its leadership,” said a leader of another religious party, pleading anonymity.
This correspondent made several attempts to contact the JUI-F chief for his comments but failed while any other leader of his party was also not ready to speak on the issue.
Zardari using Baloch nationalists: WikiLeaks By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support while discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in 1960s and 70s, Afghan Intelligence chief told Senator John McCain early this year, says a WikiLeaks cable.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the attendants of the meeting that the overall bilateral relationship of Pakistan and Afghanistan was “held back” by the Pakistan Army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban.
This meeting was held in Kabul among Senator John McCain, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator John Thune and Senator John Barrosso and President Karzai, his senior security leadership, including the ministers of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as National Security Adviser Rassoul, on January 6, 2010 accompanied by Ambassador Eikenberry, Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone, and McChyrstal.
Ambassador Eikenberry reported that Intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh noted that “Pakistan’s energy sector was in decline and that discontent in Pashtun areas was higher than it had been in the volatile 1960’s and 1970’s; meanwhile, he said, President Zardari is using Baloch nationalists as his base of support. Saleh predicted that neither the army nor Nawaz Sharif would bring Zardari’s term to an abrupt end.”
“The group reviewed current developments in Pakistan, and Karzai said that the overall bilateral relationship, while an improvement over past years, was ‘held back’ by the army and ISI who continue to help the Afghan Taliban. He said that he wants to engage more and have US support in doing so, since ‘the war won’t end easily without Pakistani cooperation.’ He was pessimistic about the internal situation, as was Saleh.”
The cable also says: “Lieberman pressed him to explain the concept of offering incentives to the Taliban, and emphasised that this outreach could be problematic if it’s not explained right to the American people and the importance of Karzai articulating his plan before the US could support it.
Zardari wanted judiciary of his choice: Leaks
KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari wanted judiciary of his own choice, and believed that the Supreme Court will declare PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif disqualified, according to one of the cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.This was revealed in a cable sent by former ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson to her government on February 09, 2009.
It revealed Patterson called on President Zardari prior to the visit of US Special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke. The President informed the US ambassador that Nawaz Sharif would be declared ineligible for National Assembly, the leads stated and added that it was proved on February 25.
President Zardari also explained his plan to halt restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaidhary. The cable further revealed the President was confident that the Chief Justice would not be reinstated. The US government was also against the restoration of CJ.
The cable also highlights the role of PCO judges, saying that the judges under the leadership of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, worked on the directives of the rulers.
According to the cables, the President wanted constitutional amendment for extending the retirement age of the judges. He was also prepared for deal with Shahbaz Sharif but the latter was reluctant.
President Zardari also informed the US envoy that he was preparing against Nawaz Sharif as PML-N chief had chalked out a plan to bring nuclear scientist Abdul Qadir Khan in his party.
Swiss Post closes Assange’s bank account
GENEVA: The Swiss Post Office's banking arm said on Monday that it had closed an account set up by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after he gave false information.
"PostFinance has ended its business relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange," the bank said in a statement.
"The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."
Assange had given an undisclosed address in the Swiss city of Geneva as his residence, it added.
WikiLeaks had advertised the Post Finance account details online to "donate directly to the Julian Assange and other WikiLeaks Staff Defence Fund," giving an account name of "Assange Julian Paul, Geneve."
WikiLeaks safeguards data as US pressure buildsWASHINGTON: WikiLeaks, the website infuriating Washington for releasing hundreds of restricted US diplomatic cables, was making all its archives so far available for download as pressure mounted to close it down entirely.
The site has already been forced to change its domain name and hop-scotch to servers around the globe as successive companies and countries bent to US arguments branding its divulgations over the past week "illegal."
It has also come under repeated cyber-attack, through a tactic known as distributed denial of service (DDoS) in which thousands of computers connect to its servers in a concerted attempt to knock them off-line.
With options progressively being closed off, and its founder, 39-year-old Australian Julian Assange, under an Interpol wanted persons alert for alleged "sexual offenses" in Sweden, the website has taken steps to ensure its information remains available.
Mirror websites, which replicate WikiLeaks's data, have sprung up on servers in various countries.
And in the past few days, WikiLeaks has been offering its archives for download through torrent peer-to-peer sharing -- a move that could allow any user around the world to post them or share them.
The files include previous WikiLeaks scoops, such as information on US military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the more than 800 US diplomatic cables released so far.
"Due to recent attacks on our infrastructure, we've decided to make sure everyone can reach our content. As part of this process we're releasing archived copy of all files we ever released," WikiLeaks said in a message on its site.
WikiLeaks says it has another 250,000 cables it plans to gradually release over coming months -- if it can.
Anticipating the US attempts to block it though, WikiLeaks has taken the precaution of posting a big, 1.4-gigabyte file encrypted with a 256-digit key said to be unbreakable.
Titled "insurance.aes256", the file was big enough to contain all the US cables said to be in WikiLeaks's possession.
The encryption makes it unreadable until the key is supplied -- at which time all its contents would be available to those who downloaded it from torrent-feeding sites such as ThePirateBay.org.
Assange, communicating online Friday through The Guardian, Britain's newspaper that is one of several dailies around the world cooperating with WikiLeaks in releasing the cables, said people all around the planet had already put the insurance file on their computers.
"The Cable Gate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the US and other countries to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically. Further, the Cable Gate archives is in the hands of multiple news organisations. History will win. The world will be elevated to a better place," he wrote.
Assange accused "abusive elements of the United States government" of forcing WikiLeaks's hand and said "we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a super power."
The Australian also said Australia's government was working with the United States against him, and that he was not welcome back in his home country.
Australia's Attorney-general Robert McClelland said Saturday the government had considered canceling Assange's passport but was stymied because of "issues in respect of serving a notice of cancellation."
Assange is in hiding somewhere in the world, believed to be Europe, and thus not easily served by an official notice from Australia.
Interpol, however, has issued a "red notice" against him alerting all police forces that he is a wanted person in Sweden, which wants to question him "in connection with a number of sexual offenses."
Leading US lawmakers meanwhile continued to call for Assange's arrest, with top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell slamming him Sunday as a "high-tech terrorist."
"He has done enormous damage to our country, and I think he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," McConnell told US television.
WikiLeaks releases list of global sites 'vital' to US
WASHINGTON: WikiLeaks has divulged a secret list compiled by Washington of key infrastructure sites around the world that could pose a critical threat to US security if they come under terrorist attack.
The newly released diplomatic cable is one of the most explosive yet out of many leaked by the whistle-blowing website that have heaped embarrassment on Washington and caused anger around the world.
Among other revelations, the latest WikiLeaks document dump showed Australia's then leader Kevin Rudd warning US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that force might be needed against China "if everything goes wrong".
A State Department cable from February 2009 asked US missions to update a list of infrastructure and key resources worldwide whose loss "could critically impact" the country's public health, economic life and national security.
It details undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries ranging from Britain to New Zealand, via Africa, the Middle East and China.
Also listed are European manufacturers of vaccines for smallpox and rabies, an Italian maker of treatment for snake-bite venom, and a German company making treatment for plutonium poisoning.
Compilation of the list would help "prevent, deter, neutralize or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit" sites deemed of "vital" importance to the United States.
Britain was quick to condemn release of the list as "damaging to national security".
The cable includes the British locations of undersea cables, satellite systems and defence plants.
"We unequivocally condemn the unauthorised release of classified information," a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street office said Monday.
The release will add to the political storm engulfing WikiLeaks and its 39-year-old founder Julian Assange, who broke cover on Friday to say in an online chat that he had boosted his security after receiving death threats.
The website is already battling to secure its avenues for financial donations online, and has been hop-scotching across servers and legal jurisdictions to evade a total shutdown.
Facing repeated cyber-attack, Wikileaks has moved to ensure its information remains available. Mirror websites, which replicate WikiLeaks's data, have sprung up on servers in various countries.
The leaks have led Washington to plan a major reshuffle of its diplomats, military officers and intelligence operatives who have been compromised.
Meanwhile, Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said Sunday that a legal pursuit of Assange in Sweden had "political motivations".
But Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny, who is investigating allegations of rape and sexual assault against Assange, defended her prosecution.
"This investigation has proceeded perfectly normally without any political pressure of any kind," said Ny, who, via Interpol, has asked police forces around the world to track Assange down.
In the United States, leading lawmakers are calling for Assange's arrest or even execution.
Among the latest revelations:
-- One cable said Saudi Arabia was the key source of funding for radical Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hamas.
-- Gulf states Qatar and Kuwait are lax in pursuing locals who donated to the groups, according to the cable dated December 2009.
-- Qatar is using the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other countries, despite the broadcaster's insistence that it is editorially independent.
-- Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri feared another war with Israel would mean the "death" of his pro-Western alliance, leaked cables showed Monday.
-- Lebanon warned "Iran telecom" was taking over the country after its discovery of a secret communications network used by Hezbollah two years ago, according to one US cable.
-- Clinton views Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a "behind-the-scenes puppeteer" who chafes at his role working alongside President Dmitry Medvedev.
-- One leak with the potential to infuriate China revealed details of a conversation between Rudd, when he was Australia's prime minister, and Clinton over a Washington lunch in March 2009.
Rudd called for "integrating China effectively into the international community and allowing it to demonstrate greater responsibility, all while also preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong," the cable stated.
Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who is now foreign minister, refused to confirm the details in the confidential memo released by Wikileaks.
But he defended Australia's "robust" ties with the Asian powerhouse, adding that he would not be contacting Beijing over the comments.
GENEVA: The Swiss Post Office's banking arm said on Monday that it had closed an account set up by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after he gave false information."PostFinance has ended its business relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange," the bank said in a statement.
"The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."
Assange had given an undisclosed address in the Swiss city of Geneva as his residence, it added.
WikiLeaks had advertised the Post Finance account details online to "donate directly to the Julian Assange and other WikiLeaks Staff Defence Fund," giving an account name of "Assange Julian Paul, Geneve."
WikiLeaks safeguards data as US pressure buildsWASHINGTON: WikiLeaks, the website infuriating Washington for releasing hundreds of restricted US diplomatic cables, was making all its archives so far available for download as pressure mounted to close it down entirely.
The site has already been forced to change its domain name and hop-scotch to servers around the globe as successive companies and countries bent to US arguments branding its divulgations over the past week "illegal."
It has also come under repeated cyber-attack, through a tactic known as distributed denial of service (DDoS) in which thousands of computers connect to its servers in a concerted attempt to knock them off-line.
With options progressively being closed off, and its founder, 39-year-old Australian Julian Assange, under an Interpol wanted persons alert for alleged "sexual offenses" in Sweden, the website has taken steps to ensure its information remains available.
Mirror websites, which replicate WikiLeaks's data, have sprung up on servers in various countries.
And in the past few days, WikiLeaks has been offering its archives for download through torrent peer-to-peer sharing -- a move that could allow any user around the world to post them or share them.
The files include previous WikiLeaks scoops, such as information on US military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the more than 800 US diplomatic cables released so far.
"Due to recent attacks on our infrastructure, we've decided to make sure everyone can reach our content. As part of this process we're releasing archived copy of all files we ever released," WikiLeaks said in a message on its site.
WikiLeaks says it has another 250,000 cables it plans to gradually release over coming months -- if it can.
Anticipating the US attempts to block it though, WikiLeaks has taken the precaution of posting a big, 1.4-gigabyte file encrypted with a 256-digit key said to be unbreakable.
Titled "insurance.aes256", the file was big enough to contain all the US cables said to be in WikiLeaks's possession.
The encryption makes it unreadable until the key is supplied -- at which time all its contents would be available to those who downloaded it from torrent-feeding sites such as ThePirateBay.org.
Assange, communicating online Friday through The Guardian, Britain's newspaper that is one of several dailies around the world cooperating with WikiLeaks in releasing the cables, said people all around the planet had already put the insurance file on their computers.
"The Cable Gate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the US and other countries to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically. Further, the Cable Gate archives is in the hands of multiple news organisations. History will win. The world will be elevated to a better place," he wrote.
Assange accused "abusive elements of the United States government" of forcing WikiLeaks's hand and said "we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a super power."
The Australian also said Australia's government was working with the United States against him, and that he was not welcome back in his home country.
Australia's Attorney-general Robert McClelland said Saturday the government had considered canceling Assange's passport but was stymied because of "issues in respect of serving a notice of cancellation."
Assange is in hiding somewhere in the world, believed to be Europe, and thus not easily served by an official notice from Australia.
Interpol, however, has issued a "red notice" against him alerting all police forces that he is a wanted person in Sweden, which wants to question him "in connection with a number of sexual offenses."
Leading US lawmakers meanwhile continued to call for Assange's arrest, with top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell slamming him Sunday as a "high-tech terrorist."
"He has done enormous damage to our country, and I think he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," McConnell told US television.
WikiLeaks releases list of global sites 'vital' to US
WASHINGTON: WikiLeaks has divulged a secret list compiled by Washington of key infrastructure sites around the world that could pose a critical threat to US security if they come under terrorist attack.
The newly released diplomatic cable is one of the most explosive yet out of many leaked by the whistle-blowing website that have heaped embarrassment on Washington and caused anger around the world.
Among other revelations, the latest WikiLeaks document dump showed Australia's then leader Kevin Rudd warning US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that force might be needed against China "if everything goes wrong".
A State Department cable from February 2009 asked US missions to update a list of infrastructure and key resources worldwide whose loss "could critically impact" the country's public health, economic life and national security.
It details undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries ranging from Britain to New Zealand, via Africa, the Middle East and China.
Also listed are European manufacturers of vaccines for smallpox and rabies, an Italian maker of treatment for snake-bite venom, and a German company making treatment for plutonium poisoning.
Compilation of the list would help "prevent, deter, neutralize or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit" sites deemed of "vital" importance to the United States.
Britain was quick to condemn release of the list as "damaging to national security".
The cable includes the British locations of undersea cables, satellite systems and defence plants.
"We unequivocally condemn the unauthorised release of classified information," a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street office said Monday.
The release will add to the political storm engulfing WikiLeaks and its 39-year-old founder Julian Assange, who broke cover on Friday to say in an online chat that he had boosted his security after receiving death threats.
The website is already battling to secure its avenues for financial donations online, and has been hop-scotching across servers and legal jurisdictions to evade a total shutdown.
Facing repeated cyber-attack, Wikileaks has moved to ensure its information remains available. Mirror websites, which replicate WikiLeaks's data, have sprung up on servers in various countries.
The leaks have led Washington to plan a major reshuffle of its diplomats, military officers and intelligence operatives who have been compromised.
Meanwhile, Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said Sunday that a legal pursuit of Assange in Sweden had "political motivations".
But Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny, who is investigating allegations of rape and sexual assault against Assange, defended her prosecution.
"This investigation has proceeded perfectly normally without any political pressure of any kind," said Ny, who, via Interpol, has asked police forces around the world to track Assange down.
In the United States, leading lawmakers are calling for Assange's arrest or even execution.
Among the latest revelations:
-- One cable said Saudi Arabia was the key source of funding for radical Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hamas.
-- Gulf states Qatar and Kuwait are lax in pursuing locals who donated to the groups, according to the cable dated December 2009.
-- Qatar is using the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other countries, despite the broadcaster's insistence that it is editorially independent.
-- Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri feared another war with Israel would mean the "death" of his pro-Western alliance, leaked cables showed Monday.
-- Lebanon warned "Iran telecom" was taking over the country after its discovery of a secret communications network used by Hezbollah two years ago, according to one US cable.
-- Clinton views Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a "behind-the-scenes puppeteer" who chafes at his role working alongside President Dmitry Medvedev.
-- One leak with the potential to infuriate China revealed details of a conversation between Rudd, when he was Australia's prime minister, and Clinton over a Washington lunch in March 2009.
Rudd called for "integrating China effectively into the international community and allowing it to demonstrate greater responsibility, all while also preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong," the cable stated.
Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who is now foreign minister, refused to confirm the details in the confidential memo released by Wikileaks.
But he defended Australia's "robust" ties with the Asian powerhouse, adding that he would not be contacting Beijing over the comments.
Army better option for talks on nuclear issue: LeaksKARACHI: Former US ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson had said that it would be better to have dialogue on nuclear issue with Pak Army instead of foreign office, revealed the cables disclosed by the WikiLeaks.
Patterson, in a cable sent to Washington ahead of Arms Reduction conference in Russia, on November 24, 2009, stated that talks on nuclear reduction with foreign office will be fruitless, adding if US army engage itself with COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and DG MO Major General Javed Iqball it will have not only positive impacts but will also satisfy the army.
Swiss govt dismisses pressure to take WikiLeaks’ site offline
GENEVA: WikiLeaks received a boost when Switzerland rejected growing international calls to force the site off the internet.
Patterson, in a cable sent to Washington ahead of Arms Reduction conference in Russia, on November 24, 2009, stated that talks on nuclear reduction with foreign office will be fruitless, adding if US army engage itself with COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and DG MO Major General Javed Iqball it will have not only positive impacts but will also satisfy the army.
Swiss govt dismisses pressure to take WikiLeaks’ site offline
GENEVA: WikiLeaks received a boost when Switzerland rejected growing international calls to force the site off the internet.The whistleblowers site, which has been publishing leaked US embassy cables, was forced to switch domain names to WikiLeaks.ch after the US host of its main website, WikiLeaks.org, pulled the plug following mounting political pressure.
The site's new Swiss registrar, Switch, said there was "no reason" why it should be forced offline, despite demands from France and the US. Switch is a non-profit registrar set up by the Swiss government for all 1.5 million Swiss .ch domain names.
The reassurances come just hours after eBay-owned PayPal, the primary donation channel to WikiLeaks, terminated its links with the site, citing "illegal activity".
Obama should resign if approved UN spying: Julian Assange
MADRID: President Barack Obama should resign if it can be shown that he approved spying by US diplomatic figures on UN officials, the founder of WikiLeaks said in an interview published Sunday.
The site's new Swiss registrar, Switch, said there was "no reason" why it should be forced offline, despite demands from France and the US. Switch is a non-profit registrar set up by the Swiss government for all 1.5 million Swiss .ch domain names.
The reassurances come just hours after eBay-owned PayPal, the primary donation channel to WikiLeaks, terminated its links with the site, citing "illegal activity".
Obama should resign if approved UN spying: Julian Assange
MADRID: President Barack Obama should resign if it can be shown that he approved spying by US diplomatic figures on UN officials, the founder of WikiLeaks said in an interview published Sunday."The whole chain of command who was aware of this order, and approved it, must resign if the US is to be seen to be a credible nation that obeys the rule of law. The order is so serious it may well have been put to the president for approval," Julian Assange told Spanish daily El Pais.
"Obama must answer what he knew about this illegal order and when. If he refuses to answer or there is evidence he approved of these actions, he must resign," he added during an Internet chat interview published online.
WikiLeaks threw US diplomacy into chaos when it started releasing more than 250,000 classified State Department cables on November 28, creating an international firestorm as American diplomats' private assessments of foreign leaders and politics have been publicly aired.
According to one of the documents, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked for UN personnel's telephones, emails, credit card details and frequent flier numbers.
The United States and other governments said the release of the documents broke their laws.
Assange gave the interview to El Pais on Saturday from an undisclosed location. The 39-year-old Australian is believed to be in Britain, and a report said he could be arrested this week.
WikiLeaks has come under intense pressure to close since it began releasing the trove of US State Department cables.
The site has already been forced to change its domain name and hop-scotch to servers around the globe as successive companies and countries bent to US arguments branding its divulgations over the past week "illegal".
It has also come under repeated cyber-attack, through a tactic known as distributed denial of service (DDoS) in which thousands of computers connect to its servers in a concerted attempt to knock them off-line.
Mirror websites, which replicate WikiLeaks's data, have sprung up on servers in various countries.
Interpol, meanwhile, has issued a "red notice" against Assange alerting all police forces that he is a wanted person in Sweden, which wants to question him "in connection with a number of sexual offenses", charges he denies.
"The organisation is strong. We have a lot of support, however we also have many attacks of different forms. From ongoing mass DDoS attacks to smears and the legal issues," said Assange.
He said WikiLeaks had "dozens" of people who were helping the organisation deal with the cyber-attack and set up the mirror websites "but it takes a lot of time for us to manage the process".
"We are automating that process and will soon have hundreds. If there is a battle between the US military and the preservation of History, we have insured History will win."
Assange said he and others who work for WikiLeaks had received "hundreds" of "specific" death threats from "US military militants".
"That is not unusual, and we have become practiced from past experiences at ignoring such threats from Islamic extremists, African kleptocrats and so on. Recently the situation has changed with these threats now extending to our lawyers and my children," he added.
Assange said he believed the "ripples are just starting to flow throughout the world" from the release of the State Department cables.
"But I believe geopolitics will be separated into pre and post cablegate phases," he said.
"Obama must answer what he knew about this illegal order and when. If he refuses to answer or there is evidence he approved of these actions, he must resign," he added during an Internet chat interview published online.
WikiLeaks threw US diplomacy into chaos when it started releasing more than 250,000 classified State Department cables on November 28, creating an international firestorm as American diplomats' private assessments of foreign leaders and politics have been publicly aired.
According to one of the documents, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked for UN personnel's telephones, emails, credit card details and frequent flier numbers.
The United States and other governments said the release of the documents broke their laws.
Assange gave the interview to El Pais on Saturday from an undisclosed location. The 39-year-old Australian is believed to be in Britain, and a report said he could be arrested this week.
WikiLeaks has come under intense pressure to close since it began releasing the trove of US State Department cables.
The site has already been forced to change its domain name and hop-scotch to servers around the globe as successive companies and countries bent to US arguments branding its divulgations over the past week "illegal".
It has also come under repeated cyber-attack, through a tactic known as distributed denial of service (DDoS) in which thousands of computers connect to its servers in a concerted attempt to knock them off-line.
Mirror websites, which replicate WikiLeaks's data, have sprung up on servers in various countries.
Interpol, meanwhile, has issued a "red notice" against Assange alerting all police forces that he is a wanted person in Sweden, which wants to question him "in connection with a number of sexual offenses", charges he denies.
"The organisation is strong. We have a lot of support, however we also have many attacks of different forms. From ongoing mass DDoS attacks to smears and the legal issues," said Assange.
He said WikiLeaks had "dozens" of people who were helping the organisation deal with the cyber-attack and set up the mirror websites "but it takes a lot of time for us to manage the process".
"We are automating that process and will soon have hundreds. If there is a battle between the US military and the preservation of History, we have insured History will win."
Assange said he and others who work for WikiLeaks had received "hundreds" of "specific" death threats from "US military militants".
"That is not unusual, and we have become practiced from past experiences at ignoring such threats from Islamic extremists, African kleptocrats and so on. Recently the situation has changed with these threats now extending to our lawyers and my children," he added.
Assange said he believed the "ripples are just starting to flow throughout the world" from the release of the State Department cables.
"But I believe geopolitics will be separated into pre and post cablegate phases," he said.
Zardari lacks 'public leadership' skills: WikiLeaks
ISLAMABAD: In a cable sent on Saturday, 20 June 2009 by US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson wrote; 'although he (President Zardari) is not a popular leader and admits himself that he came to high office without previous direct experience as an elected politician.
ISLAMABAD: In a cable sent on Saturday, 20 June 2009 by US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson wrote; 'although he (President Zardari) is not a popular leader and admits himself that he came to high office without previous direct experience as an elected politician.The cable also said; 'Prime Minister Gilani has shown strong leadership skills in building Parliamentary coalitions at times of national crisis and in the absence of public leadership by President Zardari.
The text of the cable read:
Saturday, 20 June 2009, 16:06
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 06 ISLAMABAD 001364
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 06/19/2019
TAGS PREL, PGOV, PTER, PHUM, EAID, MARR, MOPS, PK
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR JONES
Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b,d)
1. (C) Summary:............................After losing strength in his spring match-off with opposition leader (and former Prime Minister) Nawaz Sharif, President Zardari has regained much of his political capital by garnering national support for the military campaign.
9. (C) While far from perfect, you will find Zardari is pro-American, anti-extremist and eager to be seen as working with the USG. Zardari runs the show on the civilian side, although he is not a popular leader and admits himself that he came to high office without previous direct experience as an elected politician. Secular and westernized, Zardari sees himself as viewing the world the way Americans do; this same image works against him with the public.
11. (C) Prime Minister Gilani has shown strong leadership skills in building Parliamentary coalitions at times of national crisis and in the absence of public leadership by President Zardari. Gilani has stiched together all party Parliamentary sessions that have forged cross-party unity on the need to tackle terrorism and to endorse the military offensives against Pakistani extremists (often referred to as "miscreants"). He gave the impassioned address to the public May 7 asking the Pakistani people to support military action in Swat and surrounding agrees; a defining moment that marked the beginning of the sea change in public attitudes toward the taliban and granted legitimacy to the military's actions.
12. (C) Gilani was also instrumental in bringing the "long march" crisis to a peaceful resolution, and was the senior GOP official (not Zardari) who announced the reinstatement of the Supreme Court Justice.
29. (C) President Zardari is personally in favor of improving Pakistan's relations with India, but efforts early in his tenure (including on opening trade between Indian and Pakistan-held Kashmir) were overcome by the Mumbai terror attacks and India's reaction to what it perceived as Pakistan's complicity in them and by the Pakistan Military's lack of approval for such initiatives which Zardari can not take on his own. Zardari is conscious that he must not be perceived as reopening negotiations on Kashmir now if he wants to keep Pakistan's military focused on the western campaigns -- and not its institutional enemy, India.
WikiLeaks exposed true faces of Pak leadership: JI
ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Sunday staged a peaceful rally and sit-in on the Constitutional Avenue in protest against the price-hike, sentence of Dr. Afia, drone attacks, target killing in Karachi and Balochistan, RGST bill and recovery of missing persons.
The text of the cable read:
Saturday, 20 June 2009, 16:06
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 06 ISLAMABAD 001364
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 06/19/2019
TAGS PREL, PGOV, PTER, PHUM, EAID, MARR, MOPS, PK
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR JONES
Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b,d)
1. (C) Summary:............................After losing strength in his spring match-off with opposition leader (and former Prime Minister) Nawaz Sharif, President Zardari has regained much of his political capital by garnering national support for the military campaign.
9. (C) While far from perfect, you will find Zardari is pro-American, anti-extremist and eager to be seen as working with the USG. Zardari runs the show on the civilian side, although he is not a popular leader and admits himself that he came to high office without previous direct experience as an elected politician. Secular and westernized, Zardari sees himself as viewing the world the way Americans do; this same image works against him with the public.
11. (C) Prime Minister Gilani has shown strong leadership skills in building Parliamentary coalitions at times of national crisis and in the absence of public leadership by President Zardari. Gilani has stiched together all party Parliamentary sessions that have forged cross-party unity on the need to tackle terrorism and to endorse the military offensives against Pakistani extremists (often referred to as "miscreants"). He gave the impassioned address to the public May 7 asking the Pakistani people to support military action in Swat and surrounding agrees; a defining moment that marked the beginning of the sea change in public attitudes toward the taliban and granted legitimacy to the military's actions.
12. (C) Gilani was also instrumental in bringing the "long march" crisis to a peaceful resolution, and was the senior GOP official (not Zardari) who announced the reinstatement of the Supreme Court Justice.
29. (C) President Zardari is personally in favor of improving Pakistan's relations with India, but efforts early in his tenure (including on opening trade between Indian and Pakistan-held Kashmir) were overcome by the Mumbai terror attacks and India's reaction to what it perceived as Pakistan's complicity in them and by the Pakistan Military's lack of approval for such initiatives which Zardari can not take on his own. Zardari is conscious that he must not be perceived as reopening negotiations on Kashmir now if he wants to keep Pakistan's military focused on the western campaigns -- and not its institutional enemy, India.
WikiLeaks exposed true faces of Pak leadership: JI
ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Sunday staged a peaceful rally and sit-in on the Constitutional Avenue in protest against the price-hike, sentence of Dr. Afia, drone attacks, target killing in Karachi and Balochistan, RGST bill and recovery of missing persons.The speakers urged the government to check inflation, corruption, target killing in Karachi and Balochistan, stop drone attacks and recover missing persons.
Addressing on the occasion, JI Chief Munawwar Hassan said that WikiLeaks exposed true faces of Pakistan’s military, political, democratic leadership, adding, however, that the people will reject all kinds of attempts of adventurism.
He said the next sit- in would be staged in Peshawar.
He said that they strongly condemn the act of terrorism and do not believe in un-democratic steps.
He said that if operation was lunched in North Wazirstan it would foment terrorism in the country and have serious consequences.
Munawwar resolved to continue the protest until the government finds the missing persons.
The former JI Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry should look into the cases of missing persons.
JI leaders Fareed Paracha, Liaquat Baloch, Sirajul Haq, DrFouzia Siddiqui, Amina Masood Janjua and others also addressed the JI workers.
JI's started sit-in demonstration at 10 am and it culminated in front parliament House at around 4 pm.
Strict security measures were taken for safety of the protestors.
A large number of security personnel were deployed to avert the possibility of any untoward incident.
All the routes leading to the Parliament House were sealed off, while walk through gates and metal detectors were installed.
Earlier, Interior Minister Rehman Malik directed the chief commissioner of Islamabad to ensure foolproof security on the routes and no hurdles should be created.
US-UAE task force formed to check terrorist funding: Leak
LONDON: The US had established a joint task force with UAE government composed of interagency elements on both sides to combat illicit financial flows to and from Afghanistan, specifically bulk cash smuggling, said a US Embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks on the website of The Guardian on Sunday.
Addressing on the occasion, JI Chief Munawwar Hassan said that WikiLeaks exposed true faces of Pakistan’s military, political, democratic leadership, adding, however, that the people will reject all kinds of attempts of adventurism.
He said the next sit- in would be staged in Peshawar.
He said that they strongly condemn the act of terrorism and do not believe in un-democratic steps.
He said that if operation was lunched in North Wazirstan it would foment terrorism in the country and have serious consequences.
Munawwar resolved to continue the protest until the government finds the missing persons.
The former JI Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry should look into the cases of missing persons.
JI leaders Fareed Paracha, Liaquat Baloch, Sirajul Haq, DrFouzia Siddiqui, Amina Masood Janjua and others also addressed the JI workers.
JI's started sit-in demonstration at 10 am and it culminated in front parliament House at around 4 pm.
Strict security measures were taken for safety of the protestors.
A large number of security personnel were deployed to avert the possibility of any untoward incident.
All the routes leading to the Parliament House were sealed off, while walk through gates and metal detectors were installed.
Earlier, Interior Minister Rehman Malik directed the chief commissioner of Islamabad to ensure foolproof security on the routes and no hurdles should be created.
US-UAE task force formed to check terrorist funding: Leak
LONDON: The US had established a joint task force with UAE government composed of interagency elements on both sides to combat illicit financial flows to and from Afghanistan, specifically bulk cash smuggling, said a US Embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks on the website of The Guardian on Sunday.The task force was formed on the suggestion of UAE government, the cable said.
In the cable that appeared on The Guardian website on Dec 5, diplomats at the Abu Dhabi embassy answered questions about the local Pakistani and Afghan migrant populations, and how the lack of border controls allows funds to flow back to the Taliban and other militant groups.
The text of the cable read:
Wednesday, 02 September 2009, 11:56
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 000874
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, NEA/ARP (MCGOVERN) AND INR
EO 12958 DECL: 08/19/2019
TAGS EFIN, ECON, EINV, PGOV, AE
SUBJECT: C-SA9-01527: PAKISTANI AND AFGHAN EXPATRIATE TIES TO
EXTREMISTS
REF: STATE 71311
ABU DHABI 00000874 001.2 OF 003
CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR RICHARD OLSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B AND D).
2. (S) Structurally, the UAE is a relatively open economy with the most vibrant financial sector in the Gulf; its federal structure also gives much economic autonomy to the various emirates, which impose varying levels of regulation and due diligence on economic activity. Characteristic of the region, the use of cash is common for legitimate financial transactions. High volumes of cash and electronic funds flow both to and from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the vast majority of which is derived from legitimate trade and remittances. The lack of effective border controls on cash is no doubt exploited by Taliban couriers and Afghan drug lords, camouflaged among traders, businessmen and migrant workers. Systemically approaching this issue both in the UAE and in the broader Gulf region to disrupt Taliban finances, while protecting commerce and economic activity, is an important, though challenging task. At the suggestion of the UAEG, we have established joint US/UAE task force (composed of interagency elements on both sides) to combat illicit financial flows to and from Afghanistan, specifically bulk cash smuggling.
In the cable that appeared on The Guardian website on Dec 5, diplomats at the Abu Dhabi embassy answered questions about the local Pakistani and Afghan migrant populations, and how the lack of border controls allows funds to flow back to the Taliban and other militant groups.
The text of the cable read:
Wednesday, 02 September 2009, 11:56
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 000874
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, NEA/ARP (MCGOVERN) AND INR
EO 12958 DECL: 08/19/2019
TAGS EFIN, ECON, EINV, PGOV, AE
SUBJECT: C-SA9-01527: PAKISTANI AND AFGHAN EXPATRIATE TIES TO
EXTREMISTS
REF: STATE 71311
ABU DHABI 00000874 001.2 OF 003
CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR RICHARD OLSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B AND D).
2. (S) Structurally, the UAE is a relatively open economy with the most vibrant financial sector in the Gulf; its federal structure also gives much economic autonomy to the various emirates, which impose varying levels of regulation and due diligence on economic activity. Characteristic of the region, the use of cash is common for legitimate financial transactions. High volumes of cash and electronic funds flow both to and from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the vast majority of which is derived from legitimate trade and remittances. The lack of effective border controls on cash is no doubt exploited by Taliban couriers and Afghan drug lords, camouflaged among traders, businessmen and migrant workers. Systemically approaching this issue both in the UAE and in the broader Gulf region to disrupt Taliban finances, while protecting commerce and economic activity, is an important, though challenging task. At the suggestion of the UAEG, we have established joint US/UAE task force (composed of interagency elements on both sides) to combat illicit financial flows to and from Afghanistan, specifically bulk cash smuggling.
Latest WikiLeaks developmentsLONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he and his colleagues are taking steps to protect themselves after death threats following the publication of leaked US diplomatic cables on their website.
WikiLeaks moved its website address to the Swiss http://wikileaks.ch on Friday after two US Internet providers ditched it and Paris tried to ban French servers from hosting its database of leaked information.
Swedish authorities said missing information in the European arrest warrant for alleged sex crimes against Assange had been handed to British authorities.
Here are some of the latest revelations in US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks and related stories:
MIDEAST
- Top US officials have grown frustrated over the resistance of allies in the Middle East to help shut the financial pipeline of terrorists.
CHINA
- The hacking of Google Inc that led the Internet company to briefly pull out of China was orchestrated by two members of China's top ruling body.
IRAN
- The WikiLeaks publication of secret cables was not the embarrassing blow to US diplomacy many people assume, but a deliberate ploy by Washington to improve its image, a senior Iranian official said.
- Iran told Gulf Arab states it was not a threat and wanted cooperation, in an apparent attempt to lower tensions after WikiLeaks revelations that Gulf Arab leaders are deeply anxious about its nuclear program.
AUSTRALIA
- Australian police are investigating whether WikiLeaks' Australian founder, Julian Assange, has broken any of the country's laws and is liable to prosecution there, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said.
LIBYA
- Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi caused a month-long nuclear scare in 2009 when he delayed the return to Russia of radioactive material in an apparent fit of diplomatic pique, leaked US embassy cables showed.
GERMANY
- A top official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said he was shocked how sloppily the United States policed sensitive data and that it had failed to live up to its responsibilities as a global power.
AFGHANISTAN
- Leaked US government cables critical of Afghanistan and Pakistan have helped bring the two nations together, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said, dismissing their content as lies.
- Afghanistan's finance minister offered to resign over a leaked US cable which reported him as describing President Hamid Karzai as a "weak man" and said ties with the US Embassy in Kabul were damaged.
- British troops were "not up" to the task of securing Afghanistan's Helmand province and the governor pleaded for US reinforcements, American diplomats said.
EGYPT
- President Hosni Mubarak warned US officials Egypt might develop nuclear weapons if Iran obtained them. A US ambassador described Egypt, recipient of billions of dollars in US aid since making peace with Israel in 1979, as a "stubborn and recalcitrant ally" in a February 2009 cable.
Egypt lobbied last year to delay southern Sudan's secession vote for 4-6 years because it feared the division could imperil its share of Nile waters.
ITALY
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dismissed reports of US worries over his ties with Moscow and repeated he had never profited personally from his contacts.
LEBANON
US spy planes flew reconnaissance flights over Lebanon from a British air base in Cyprus in a counter-terrorist operation requested by Lebanese officials.
MEXICO
- A Mexican official said the government was in danger of losing control of parts of the country to powerful drug cartels.
RUSSIA
President Dmitry Medvedev said the leaks showed the "cynicism" of US diplomacy but suggested they would not seriously upset improving ties with Washington.
TURKMENISTAN
- Turkmenistan's leader is described as "not very bright" and "a practiced liar" in a cable from the US embassy in the gas-rich Central Asian state. It said President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov did not like the United States, Iran or Turkey, but was fond of China.
UNITED NATIONS
- The CIA prepared a list of the kinds of information on UN officials and diplomats that it wanted US envoys in New York and around the world to gather.
VENEZUELA
- Cuban intelligence services directly advised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in what a US diplomat called the "Axis of Mischief," according to a State Department cable. Other cables revealed US anxiety at Chavez's "cosiness" with Iran, and concerns of Venezuelan Jews over what they saw as government prejudice against them.
YEMEN
- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh secretly offered US forces open access to his country to launch attacks against al Qaeda targets.
WikiLeaks moved its website address to the Swiss http://wikileaks.ch on Friday after two US Internet providers ditched it and Paris tried to ban French servers from hosting its database of leaked information.
Swedish authorities said missing information in the European arrest warrant for alleged sex crimes against Assange had been handed to British authorities.
Here are some of the latest revelations in US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks and related stories:
MIDEAST
- Top US officials have grown frustrated over the resistance of allies in the Middle East to help shut the financial pipeline of terrorists.
CHINA
- The hacking of Google Inc that led the Internet company to briefly pull out of China was orchestrated by two members of China's top ruling body.
IRAN
- The WikiLeaks publication of secret cables was not the embarrassing blow to US diplomacy many people assume, but a deliberate ploy by Washington to improve its image, a senior Iranian official said.
- Iran told Gulf Arab states it was not a threat and wanted cooperation, in an apparent attempt to lower tensions after WikiLeaks revelations that Gulf Arab leaders are deeply anxious about its nuclear program.
AUSTRALIA
- Australian police are investigating whether WikiLeaks' Australian founder, Julian Assange, has broken any of the country's laws and is liable to prosecution there, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said.
LIBYA
- Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi caused a month-long nuclear scare in 2009 when he delayed the return to Russia of radioactive material in an apparent fit of diplomatic pique, leaked US embassy cables showed.
GERMANY
- A top official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said he was shocked how sloppily the United States policed sensitive data and that it had failed to live up to its responsibilities as a global power.
AFGHANISTAN
- Leaked US government cables critical of Afghanistan and Pakistan have helped bring the two nations together, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said, dismissing their content as lies.
- Afghanistan's finance minister offered to resign over a leaked US cable which reported him as describing President Hamid Karzai as a "weak man" and said ties with the US Embassy in Kabul were damaged.
- British troops were "not up" to the task of securing Afghanistan's Helmand province and the governor pleaded for US reinforcements, American diplomats said.
EGYPT
- President Hosni Mubarak warned US officials Egypt might develop nuclear weapons if Iran obtained them. A US ambassador described Egypt, recipient of billions of dollars in US aid since making peace with Israel in 1979, as a "stubborn and recalcitrant ally" in a February 2009 cable.
Egypt lobbied last year to delay southern Sudan's secession vote for 4-6 years because it feared the division could imperil its share of Nile waters.
ITALY
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dismissed reports of US worries over his ties with Moscow and repeated he had never profited personally from his contacts.
LEBANON
US spy planes flew reconnaissance flights over Lebanon from a British air base in Cyprus in a counter-terrorist operation requested by Lebanese officials.
MEXICO
- A Mexican official said the government was in danger of losing control of parts of the country to powerful drug cartels.
RUSSIA
President Dmitry Medvedev said the leaks showed the "cynicism" of US diplomacy but suggested they would not seriously upset improving ties with Washington.
TURKMENISTAN
- Turkmenistan's leader is described as "not very bright" and "a practiced liar" in a cable from the US embassy in the gas-rich Central Asian state. It said President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov did not like the United States, Iran or Turkey, but was fond of China.
UNITED NATIONS
- The CIA prepared a list of the kinds of information on UN officials and diplomats that it wanted US envoys in New York and around the world to gather.
VENEZUELA
- Cuban intelligence services directly advised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in what a US diplomat called the "Axis of Mischief," according to a State Department cable. Other cables revealed US anxiety at Chavez's "cosiness" with Iran, and concerns of Venezuelan Jews over what they saw as government prejudice against them.
YEMEN
- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh secretly offered US forces open access to his country to launch attacks against al Qaeda targets.
WikiLeaks: Saudi 'critical' finance base for Qaeda, Taliban
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is the key source of funding for radical groups including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas and Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a US diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks Sunday.
"Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," said the document, an assessment from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dated December 30, 2009.
"Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), and other terrorist groups, including Hamas, which probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan," the cable said.
It said that the Saudis had made "significant progress" under US pressure to deal with the issue, especially disrupting Al-Qaeda's sources of money in Saudi Arabia.
The same memo said Gulf states remain important sources of financing for militant groups, singling out Qatar as "the worst in the region" in its overall level of cooperation with Washington in "counter-terror" issues.
Qatar's approach on the financing issue is "largely passive," while Kuwait has been "less inclined to take action" on local financiers and facilitators plotting attacks outside the country, the memo said.
WikiLeaks server goes down in France
GENEVA: A Swiss group that supports WikiLeaks says the website's main server in France has gone offline.
Denis Simonet of the Swiss Pirate Party says his group is currently redirecting the domain wikileaks.ch to another server based in Sweden.
Simonet told that the switch could take several hours but that the site that publishes leaked classified documents is still reachable through the numerical address of its Swedish server.
He was unable to immediately say why the French server stopped working.
WikiLeaks has come under attack from governments and private individuals since releasing thousands of classified U.S. State Department messages last month.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is the key source of funding for radical groups including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas and Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a US diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks Sunday.
"Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," said the document, an assessment from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dated December 30, 2009.
"Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), and other terrorist groups, including Hamas, which probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan," the cable said.
It said that the Saudis had made "significant progress" under US pressure to deal with the issue, especially disrupting Al-Qaeda's sources of money in Saudi Arabia.
The same memo said Gulf states remain important sources of financing for militant groups, singling out Qatar as "the worst in the region" in its overall level of cooperation with Washington in "counter-terror" issues.
Qatar's approach on the financing issue is "largely passive," while Kuwait has been "less inclined to take action" on local financiers and facilitators plotting attacks outside the country, the memo said.
WikiLeaks server goes down in France
GENEVA: A Swiss group that supports WikiLeaks says the website's main server in France has gone offline.Denis Simonet of the Swiss Pirate Party says his group is currently redirecting the domain wikileaks.ch to another server based in Sweden.
Simonet told that the switch could take several hours but that the site that publishes leaked classified documents is still reachable through the numerical address of its Swedish server.
He was unable to immediately say why the French server stopped working.
WikiLeaks has come under attack from governments and private individuals since releasing thousands of classified U.S. State Department messages last month.
Assange hunt appears to have 'political motivations': lawyer
LONDON: The pursuit of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange appears to have "political motivations", his lawyer told BBC television on Sunday.
"I'm really rather worried by the political motivations that appear to be behind this," Mark Stephens said during an interview.
His comments came after Swedish prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for Assange -- the elusive boss of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks -- on sex assault allegations.
Assange broke cover on Friday to say in an online chat that he had boosted security after receiving death threats amid the storm that was unleashed by his site's decision to publish 250,000 US diplomatic cables.
Over the past several days, WikiLeaks has published the first of the cables, creating an international firestorm as American diplomats' private assessments of foreign leaders and politics has been publicly aired.
The release marked the third major publication of secret US files by WikiLeaks this year, after the site had published tens of thousands of American military files from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
The United States and other governments said the release of the documents were against their laws.
Meanwhile on Friday, Sweden said it had sent out a new international arrest warrant for Assange that included missing elements requested by the British police.
The Stockholm district court had ordered on November 18 an arrest warrant for Assange for questioning on suspicions of "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion" in Sweden in August.
The court order authorised prosecutor Marianne Ny, who had requested Assange's detention, to prepare an international arrest warrant for the hacker, who travels constantly.
The global police agency Interpol said Wednesday it had alerted member states to arrest the 39-year-old Australian on suspicion of rape on the basis of a Swedish arrest warrant.
But British reports said Thursday that police in Britain -- where Assange could be hiding -- could not arrest him because the Swedish warrant was incomplete.
Sweden acknowledged the blunder and said it would issue a new warrant.
LONDON: The pursuit of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange appears to have "political motivations", his lawyer told BBC television on Sunday."I'm really rather worried by the political motivations that appear to be behind this," Mark Stephens said during an interview.
His comments came after Swedish prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for Assange -- the elusive boss of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks -- on sex assault allegations.
Assange broke cover on Friday to say in an online chat that he had boosted security after receiving death threats amid the storm that was unleashed by his site's decision to publish 250,000 US diplomatic cables.
Over the past several days, WikiLeaks has published the first of the cables, creating an international firestorm as American diplomats' private assessments of foreign leaders and politics has been publicly aired.
The release marked the third major publication of secret US files by WikiLeaks this year, after the site had published tens of thousands of American military files from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
The United States and other governments said the release of the documents were against their laws.
Meanwhile on Friday, Sweden said it had sent out a new international arrest warrant for Assange that included missing elements requested by the British police.
The Stockholm district court had ordered on November 18 an arrest warrant for Assange for questioning on suspicions of "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion" in Sweden in August.
The court order authorised prosecutor Marianne Ny, who had requested Assange's detention, to prepare an international arrest warrant for the hacker, who travels constantly.
The global police agency Interpol said Wednesday it had alerted member states to arrest the 39-year-old Australian on suspicion of rape on the basis of a Swedish arrest warrant.
But British reports said Thursday that police in Britain -- where Assange could be hiding -- could not arrest him because the Swedish warrant was incomplete.
Sweden acknowledged the blunder and said it would issue a new warrant.
Wikileaks documents misleading, ridiculous: Pak Envoy
JEDDAH: Pakistan's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Umar Khan Alisherzai has said that the Government of Pakistan has described the documents released by Wikileaks as misleading, pre-ponderous and ridiculous.
The Ambassador said that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani perceive the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the elder brother and leader and pattern of Muslim Ummah.
He said that there was no truth in all those unfounded reports by the Wikileaks.
Umar Khan Alisherzai in a statement on Sunday said that the Government of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan enjoy fraternal relations which are deep-rooted in our history, faith, culture and religion.
He said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always stood with Pakistan in its times of difficulties. He said that the recent assistance provided by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the flood affected people of Pakistan was a gesture of the feeling of fraternity and brotherhood.
The ambassador said that if there was any truth in these accusations, the Saudi leaders, government and people would not have supported Pakistan in such unprecedented manner.
The ambassador said that the government and the people of Pakistan regard Saudi Arabia as their second home and dearest to their hearts and minds.
He said that the Wikileaks documents are deliberate efforts to create misunderstanding between the two brotherly countries and its leadership.
The ambassador said that the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman while commenting on Wikileaks observed that "Pakistan enjoys a very special and unique relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Pakistani leadership, government and the people of Pakistan hold the leadership and the people of Saudi Arabia not only in very high esteem but as true friends and brothers. Saudi Arabia, His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, the Royal family and the people of Saudi Arabia have always stood by Pakistan. It is quite evident that these mischievous reports reveal the utter inadequacy of the author to grasp the essence of the Pakistan-Saudi relationship".
The ambassador said that it should be therefore clear to everybody that these notorious objectives can never be achieved by providing such misleading reports. He said that the leadership of the two countries as in the past will continue to cooperate to support each other at all times.
Karzai admits Bugti’s presence in Afghanistan: Leaks
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has finally admitted the presence of Baloch leader Brahmdagh Bugti in his country, according to WikiLeaks cables.
Karzai revealed this during a meeting with a UN official in February 2009.
The Afghan government has been reluctant to publicly admit the Baloch rebel’s presence in the country despite Islamabad’s repeated requests for his extradition to Pakistan where the authorities blame him for instigating an uprising in the restive Balochistan province.
According to WikiLeaks, during a meeting in 2007 with the then US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, Karzai had expressed his unawareness about Brahmdagh’s presence in Afghanistan. When Boucher asked him if he knew anything about the Baloch leader, he said he was aware that around 200 Bugtis, “with their sons and money”, had entered his country to seek shelter. According to Karzai, he had advised them to go to the United Nations for asylum but they were frightened. Besides, Karzai added that the UN had declined to deal with the issue considering it “too sensitive.”
Although Karzai told Boucher that he was not interested to allow Baloch rebels in Afghanistan, he argued that Bugtis would blame the United States if Afghanistan turned them in. He declined to call Brahmdagh a terrorist. “Fomenting uprising doesn’t make one terrorist,” he said when Boucher told him that Pakistan had been blaming Brahmdagh for stirring unrest in Balochistan. For Karzai, the matter was so “sensitive” that he asked US officials to stop taking notes during the meeting.
The Afghan president went on to add that the elder Bugti was highly respected in the United States. “Karzai explained that Bugti had once tried to call Karzai but he had refused for the sake of good relations with Pakistan. Now he cannot forgive himself for refusing,” says a cable released by WikiLeaks.
MQM took back NRO support on US, UK pressure: leaksKARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) took back its support of government on pressure from the US and Britain, according to a cable leaked by WikiLeaks.
According to a US State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, Interior Minister Rehman Malik suspected that the “establishment” was out to get President Asif Zardari and that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was being influenced by the US and the UK.
In a meeting held on November 9, 2009, Malik claimed to then US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson that the MQM had repeatedly stated that both the US and the UK had urged the party to oppose the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) � a move that led the government to withdraw the legislation from parliamentary consideration and placed the future of Zardari at risk.
In a November 9 meeting with Ambassador Patterson, Interior Minister Rehman Malik requested that the USG (United States government) issue a public statement in support of Pakistani democracy. He suggested that such a statement would be useful in protecting President Asif Ali Zardari from military-induced pressure for Zardari to leave office. In addition, it would help dispel persistent charges from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) that the United States and the United Kingdom had urged it to withdraw support for the National Reconciliation Ordinance, thereby placing Zardari at risk. Malik assessed that Saudi Arabia and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were cooperating with the military and MQM to bring down President Zardari. Despite these charges, Malik was optimistic that the Supreme Court would not/not strip Zardari of his presidential immunity and suggested that even if it did, the government would simply cease prosecution of Zardari`s cases, thereby allowing him to continue to hold office.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik met on November 9 with Ambassador Patterson to provide a read-out of his meetings with senior officials of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in Dubai. Throughout the meeting, Malik was clearly nervous that the USG was distancing itself both from him and President Zardari. Malik claimed that during the course of his Dubai meetings, the MQM had repeatedly stated that both the United States and the United Kingdom had urged the party to oppose the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) — a move that led the government to withdraw the legislation from parliamentary consideration and placed the future of President Zardari at risk. Malik claimed that the MQM stated it had received this message during the Sindh Governor`s recent trip to the United States and that Altaf Hussain had been approached by the British government in London. Ambassador strongly denied these allegations, stating that the USG had not/not had any such discussions with the Sindh Governor.
Minister Malik inquired as to whether the Ambassador was aware that the “establishment” — local short-hand for the military and the intelligence services — was involved in working against the NRO and for President Zardari`s departure. Ambassador told Rehman that we were aware of such allegations. Minister Malik reported that the MQM had told him directly in the Dubai meetings that the military was involved, although Malik personally did not/not believe that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was involved in the plotting. Malik also claimed that the MQM was meeting regularly with the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was, in turn, pressuring Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to disqualify President Zardari. Malik also assessed that Saudi Arabia was working to unseat President Zardari. Malik intended to visit Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, Chief of Saudi General Intelligence, in Saudi Arabia and then travel on to London to meet with MQM Convener Altaf Hussain.
Malik suggested that the best way to deal with military pressure would be for President Zardari to make internal changes within the military hierarchy. Malik proposed that Zardari recreate the Deputy Chief of Army Staff position and move Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Ahmad Shuja Pasha into that position in March 2010. Zardari could then commit to elevating Pasha to COAS in October 2010 on the expiration of Kayani`s term. Malik suggested that Kayani could then be moved to Chairman of the Joint Staff. Comment: Malik seemed to believe that ISI DG Pasha was unilaterally behind the push to oust Zardari — which we know is not/not the case.
Despite these concerns, Malik reiterated the government`s line that Zardari is not in any real danger on expiration of the NRO. He asserted that the Chief Justice would not/not revoke Zardari`s presidential immunity. Even if he did, Malik claimed that the Interior Minister can instruct prosecutors to dismiss charges in any court case. He shared that, in one of his own corruption cases, this had been done, and that in another case, the Supreme Court had ruled his imprisonment illegal. Malik also added that President Zardari had the ability to pardon anyone.
Malik pressed the Ambassador for issuance of a strong statement from the United States. Ambassador inquired as to the content and the audience. Malik suggested that it be a public statement saying that the United States supported democracy in Pakistan.
Malik was clearly worried that President Zardari and his inner circle of advisors — including Malik — had lost the support of the international community. Malik appeared to believe that such support was essential for their survival in the face of military plotting against them. Malik`s view that ISI DG Pasha is behind the moves against President Zardari and that COAS Kayani is not involved is either naive or intentionally misleading. It would be impossible for Pasha to move without Kayani`s acquiescence. Malik`s views on Zardari`s legal troubles presuppose that Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will be bound by normal interpretations of the law and precedent. Such an assumption ignores Chaudhry`s penchant for ignoring both in recent rulings and his personal animosity towards Asif Ali Zardari.
Turkey seen as answer to Saudis' influence in PakistanWASHINGTON: The US wants to replace Saudi influence in Pakistan with that of Turkey, leaked with a cable of Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b), (d) by WikiLeaks.
1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador, accompanied by EmbOffs, met May 20 with Turkish Ambassador Soysal and other Turkish counterparts. The Turkish Embassy, which has taken on a coordinating role for NATO in Pakistan, advocated greater cooperation with the U.S. vis-a-vis Pakistan. Soysal described Turkey's own trilateral meetings with Afghanistan and Pakistan. He thought the Af-Pak relationship had improved since the February 2008 elections and credited Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in particular for this "geographic sensitivity." While Turkey hoped their trilaterals would result in cooperative programs, the real objective was increased trust and transparency between the two neighbors. The trilaterals had matured past joint statements; decisions on specific projects needed to be implemented for the meetings to be worthwhile, Soysal said. Encouragingly, the three countries had already conducted a number of joint training on a range of subjects. Soysal agreed that the "Friends of Democratic Pakistan" initiative should not morph into a donors forum, despite the GOP predilection. He believed a strong secretariat, along the lines of a task force model, was needed to ensure the initiative's policy success. NATO could also contribute to Pakistan's development, sponsoring education initiatives and professional exchanges.
2. (C) Summary continued: Turkish President Gul would call President Zardari May 22 to offer an aid package for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Soysal focused on the July/August timeframe, which this year includes Ramadan, suggesting Turkish aid may be more post-emergency. So far, Turkey was the only Muslim country to contribute to this humanitarian crisis, though Soysal hoped next week's Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) would take action. He was frustrated the GOP had no timeline for the offensive in Swat and thought the Army was moving too slowly to initiate operations in the Waziristans before next year. He was not certain Pakistani politics would be so patient and encouraged international missions to push for a non-partisan climate for as long as possible. Most of the responsibility for this, however, rested with Zardari, who needed to employ confidence building measures within his own party and with other parties, especially leading opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). End summary.
3. (S) Turkish Embassy Participants: Ambassador Engin Soysal, DCM Semih Luffu Turgut, Army/Air Attache Colonel Nuri Gayir, Naval Attache Erhan Sensoy, and Second Secretary Ilker Kucukkurt. US Mission Participants: Ambassador Anne Patterson, DCM Jerry Feierstein, RAO Chief John Bennett, Army Attache Scott Taylor, and PolOff Terry Steers-Gonzalez (notetaker).
Their Trilaterals
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4. (C) Soysal described the trilateral meetings by Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, dating back to April 2007. Those three meetings had been kept relatively "small and focused," he said; each had its own theme -- (1) dialogue, (2) development, and (3) security and intelligence. The next trilateral meeting, date to be determined, will focus on education. Though Soysal admitted the three countries' education systems were quite different, the exchange was meant to build trust and transparency. He emphasized the meeting would be formatted as parallel bilateral discussions rather than true trilats.
5. (C) The GOT had witnessed first-hand a deterioration in the relationship between the Karzai-Musharraf administrations over the first three trilaterals, Soysal revealed. Since Zardari's presidency, he had observed much improved relations, relatively, between the two countries. While President Asif Zardari deserved some recognition for this positive turn, Soysal credited principally Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. They both exhibited "geographic sensitivity," he added, playing up their moderate Sufi credentials and raising universal and/or conciliatory themes.
6. (C) Soysal was proud the Turkish-sponsored trilaterals had
ISLAMABAD 00001118 002 OF 003
matured beyond joint statements; now, the three countries needed to implement their decisions. There had already been trilateral training opportunities, he added, including on crisis response, counter-narcotics, and public affairs topics. He also mentioned a number of proposals he hoped would materialize soon, including a "joint" community center in Peshawar and a development center in Ankara. He thought the latter would welcome the visits of American experts. Turkey was additionally proposing a trilateral military exercise or war game.
7. (S) Ambassador Patterson briefed Soysal on our own recent trilateral summit. The U.S.-Afghanistan-Pakistan meetings complemented Turkey's process begun years before. President Zardari had performed well in a high-stakes situation. The Ambassador thought President Obama's focus on counter-insurgency, good governance, and overall support had been received well by the Pakistanis. The RAO Chief noted that Turkey's trilateral on Af-Pak intelligence cooperation may have gone better than our own trilateral consultations. The Ambassador highlighted the transit trade agreement and the commitment to increased border controls and cross-border training. Our next trilateral would likely come in October, the Ambassador mentioned.
8. (C) Turkey was receptive to Zardari's suggestion for a regional summit, not just trilateral, to include all of Afghanistan's neighbors, said Soysal. He confirmed the Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan summit set for May 19 had been postponed to May 24. He recommended Pakistan reach out to even more international partners and suggested Pakistani parliamentarians, not just GOP officials, travel abroad to push Pakistan's case. Zardari would address NATO members at a special session in June. Of course, Soysal added, Zardari might demur depending on how the Army offensive was going in Swat.
Friends of Pakistan
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9. (C) Speaking of the calendar, Soysal turned to the "Friends of Democratic Pakistan" initiative, informing the Ambassador that the GOP aimed for a July ministerial in Istanbul. (Comment: We have conveyed to the Turks our own concerns that there is not sufficient time to prepare for a ministerial in mid-July. We will continue to discuss.) The British would likely propose a Friends summit on the margins of the usual September UN General Assembly session of heads of government, Soysal relayed. U.N. Assistant Secretary General Jean Arnault would arrive in Pakistan on May 21; he had attended the Friends/Donors meeting hosted by Japan in late April. Soysal hoped he, as well as the Ambassador, would encourage the GOP to stand-up a secretariat for "Friends." While the assignment of Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit as GOP POC was positive, Soysal really advocated a taskforce.
10. (C) The DCM stressed that Friends not morph in to a donors forum, which was the GOP's inclination. Also, membership in the group had expanded and may now be too broad to work as a coherent group, he added. Lastly, it would be up to the GOP to provide the initiative its "strategic vision." The DCM encouraged the Turkish Ambassador to convey similar messages to the GOP. Soysal concurred: "They have to hear from us."
Initiatives for NATO
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11. (C) The Turkish Embassy in Islamabad has taken on the task of NATO coordinator, at least on political issues, among members' missions and with the GOP. In that informal role, Soysal recommended a number of joint initiatives and exchanges. He thought members' respective ambassadors to NATO should jointly visit Pakistan soon. He also noted Pakistani journalists and academics were being sent on study tours (similar to our International Visitors Program) to NATO headquarters in Brussels. Soysal welcomed U.S. suggestions on suitable Pakistani candidates for the trips. Lastly, he had recently learned that a number of Pakistani universities conducted model U.N. competitions; he felt his and other NATO members' missions could sponsor such events.
ISLAMABAD 00001118 003 OF 003
12. (C) Turkish Ambassador Soysal noted President Obama's recent trip to Turkey had been very positive and hoped for increased coordination between our two countries and embassies on a spectrum of issues and beyond traditional fora. He also noted his government's recent hosting of other Special Representatives to this region.
The IDP Challenge
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13. (C) The Turkish Ambassador complimented the U.S. on its May 19 announcement to provide $110 million in direct assistance to Pakistan's internally displaced (IDPs). He revealed Turkish President Abdullah Gul would call Zardari May 22 to offer a support package as well. He hinted that Turkish aid may be geared to the post-emergency phase in August/September, which would also coincide this year with the holy month of Ramadan. Soysal noted that Turkey would be the first (and so far only) Muslim country to assist Pakistan with this humanitarian crisis; he was perplexed that Saudi Arabia had not ponied up yet. The GOT would encourage, at the least, a strong statement of support by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit during the week of May 25 and was hoping other OIC members would kick in contributions, Soysal said.
14. (C) However, it appeared the GOP did not have a clear timeline for the offensive operations in Swat, Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), Soysal complained. He agreed with the Ambassador that the GOP also needed to identify competent civil administrators to enter recently cleared towns. Soysal was also concerned that the Pakistan Army was moving too slowly to clear militants from other districts and the Waziristan Agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). GOP plans were still "broad brush" and may not realistically be implemented, if at all, until the new year, he analyzed. The Ambassador added that 2500 Waziri families had already reportedly fled their homes in anticipation of Army action, but yet, the GOP refused to give international aid organizations access to the nearest settled district of D.I. Khan, forcing families to move north to Peshawar or farther east into Punjab.
Thoughts on Nawaz
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15. (C) Soysal met one-on-one with opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif in Lahore the week of May 11. Nawaz understood the seriousness of the situation in Swat, Soysal concluded. He reported that Nawaz stated the Taliban should be "eliminated." Nawaz warned, however, that Pakistan's democracy needed to deliver soon before the public looked again to alternatives; Soysal did not specify whether Nawaz implied the military or the militants as the likely alternates.
16. (C) While tit-for-tat politics would eventually return, Soysal thought the international community should encourage for as long as possible a non-partisan stance by Pakistan's political parties. But Zardari held much of the responsibility for setting the tone, Soysal argued. He should bring all parties into major decision-making, host party leaders for a session of the next "Friends" meeting, and reconcile with factions inside his own Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
17. (C) Comment: This was the first meeting between the two embassies in this format, which parallels a similar dialogue we have with the U.K. High Commission. But with the Turks playing an increasingly high profile, constructive role in Pakistan, we will continue to develop our dialogue and find opportunities to work together in areas of mutual interest. As a moderate, progressive Muslim state featuring relatively stable, democratic governance, Turkey is well-positioned to be a much more positive role model for the Pakistanis and to neutralize somewhat the more negative influence on Pakistani politics and society exercised by Saudi Arabia.
PATTERSON
PayPal cuts WikiLeaks from money flowBERLIN: Online payment service provider PayPal says in a company blog it has cut off the account used by WikiLeaks to collect donations.
The company said in a blog posting the move was prompted by a violation of its policy, "which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity."
The short notice was dated Friday, and a spokeswoman for PayPal Germany on Saturday declined to elaborate and referred to the official blog posting.
Donating money to WikiLeaks via PayPal on Saturday was not possible anymore, generating an error message saying "this recipient is currently unable to receive money."
PayPal is one of several ways WikiLeaks collects donations.
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The Ambassador said that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani perceive the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the elder brother and leader and pattern of Muslim Ummah.
He said that there was no truth in all those unfounded reports by the Wikileaks.
Umar Khan Alisherzai in a statement on Sunday said that the Government of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan enjoy fraternal relations which are deep-rooted in our history, faith, culture and religion.
He said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always stood with Pakistan in its times of difficulties. He said that the recent assistance provided by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the flood affected people of Pakistan was a gesture of the feeling of fraternity and brotherhood.
The ambassador said that if there was any truth in these accusations, the Saudi leaders, government and people would not have supported Pakistan in such unprecedented manner.
The ambassador said that the government and the people of Pakistan regard Saudi Arabia as their second home and dearest to their hearts and minds.
He said that the Wikileaks documents are deliberate efforts to create misunderstanding between the two brotherly countries and its leadership.
The ambassador said that the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman while commenting on Wikileaks observed that "Pakistan enjoys a very special and unique relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Pakistani leadership, government and the people of Pakistan hold the leadership and the people of Saudi Arabia not only in very high esteem but as true friends and brothers. Saudi Arabia, His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, the Royal family and the people of Saudi Arabia have always stood by Pakistan. It is quite evident that these mischievous reports reveal the utter inadequacy of the author to grasp the essence of the Pakistan-Saudi relationship".
The ambassador said that it should be therefore clear to everybody that these notorious objectives can never be achieved by providing such misleading reports. He said that the leadership of the two countries as in the past will continue to cooperate to support each other at all times.
Karzai admits Bugti’s presence in Afghanistan: Leaks
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has finally admitted the presence of Baloch leader Brahmdagh Bugti in his country, according to WikiLeaks cables.Karzai revealed this during a meeting with a UN official in February 2009.
The Afghan government has been reluctant to publicly admit the Baloch rebel’s presence in the country despite Islamabad’s repeated requests for his extradition to Pakistan where the authorities blame him for instigating an uprising in the restive Balochistan province.
According to WikiLeaks, during a meeting in 2007 with the then US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, Karzai had expressed his unawareness about Brahmdagh’s presence in Afghanistan. When Boucher asked him if he knew anything about the Baloch leader, he said he was aware that around 200 Bugtis, “with their sons and money”, had entered his country to seek shelter. According to Karzai, he had advised them to go to the United Nations for asylum but they were frightened. Besides, Karzai added that the UN had declined to deal with the issue considering it “too sensitive.”
Although Karzai told Boucher that he was not interested to allow Baloch rebels in Afghanistan, he argued that Bugtis would blame the United States if Afghanistan turned them in. He declined to call Brahmdagh a terrorist. “Fomenting uprising doesn’t make one terrorist,” he said when Boucher told him that Pakistan had been blaming Brahmdagh for stirring unrest in Balochistan. For Karzai, the matter was so “sensitive” that he asked US officials to stop taking notes during the meeting.
The Afghan president went on to add that the elder Bugti was highly respected in the United States. “Karzai explained that Bugti had once tried to call Karzai but he had refused for the sake of good relations with Pakistan. Now he cannot forgive himself for refusing,” says a cable released by WikiLeaks.
MQM took back NRO support on US, UK pressure: leaksKARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) took back its support of government on pressure from the US and Britain, according to a cable leaked by WikiLeaks.
According to a US State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, Interior Minister Rehman Malik suspected that the “establishment” was out to get President Asif Zardari and that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was being influenced by the US and the UK.
In a meeting held on November 9, 2009, Malik claimed to then US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson that the MQM had repeatedly stated that both the US and the UK had urged the party to oppose the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) � a move that led the government to withdraw the legislation from parliamentary consideration and placed the future of Zardari at risk.
In a November 9 meeting with Ambassador Patterson, Interior Minister Rehman Malik requested that the USG (United States government) issue a public statement in support of Pakistani democracy. He suggested that such a statement would be useful in protecting President Asif Ali Zardari from military-induced pressure for Zardari to leave office. In addition, it would help dispel persistent charges from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) that the United States and the United Kingdom had urged it to withdraw support for the National Reconciliation Ordinance, thereby placing Zardari at risk. Malik assessed that Saudi Arabia and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were cooperating with the military and MQM to bring down President Zardari. Despite these charges, Malik was optimistic that the Supreme Court would not/not strip Zardari of his presidential immunity and suggested that even if it did, the government would simply cease prosecution of Zardari`s cases, thereby allowing him to continue to hold office.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik met on November 9 with Ambassador Patterson to provide a read-out of his meetings with senior officials of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in Dubai. Throughout the meeting, Malik was clearly nervous that the USG was distancing itself both from him and President Zardari. Malik claimed that during the course of his Dubai meetings, the MQM had repeatedly stated that both the United States and the United Kingdom had urged the party to oppose the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) — a move that led the government to withdraw the legislation from parliamentary consideration and placed the future of President Zardari at risk. Malik claimed that the MQM stated it had received this message during the Sindh Governor`s recent trip to the United States and that Altaf Hussain had been approached by the British government in London. Ambassador strongly denied these allegations, stating that the USG had not/not had any such discussions with the Sindh Governor.
Minister Malik inquired as to whether the Ambassador was aware that the “establishment” — local short-hand for the military and the intelligence services — was involved in working against the NRO and for President Zardari`s departure. Ambassador told Rehman that we were aware of such allegations. Minister Malik reported that the MQM had told him directly in the Dubai meetings that the military was involved, although Malik personally did not/not believe that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was involved in the plotting. Malik also claimed that the MQM was meeting regularly with the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was, in turn, pressuring Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to disqualify President Zardari. Malik also assessed that Saudi Arabia was working to unseat President Zardari. Malik intended to visit Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, Chief of Saudi General Intelligence, in Saudi Arabia and then travel on to London to meet with MQM Convener Altaf Hussain.
Malik suggested that the best way to deal with military pressure would be for President Zardari to make internal changes within the military hierarchy. Malik proposed that Zardari recreate the Deputy Chief of Army Staff position and move Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Ahmad Shuja Pasha into that position in March 2010. Zardari could then commit to elevating Pasha to COAS in October 2010 on the expiration of Kayani`s term. Malik suggested that Kayani could then be moved to Chairman of the Joint Staff. Comment: Malik seemed to believe that ISI DG Pasha was unilaterally behind the push to oust Zardari — which we know is not/not the case.
Despite these concerns, Malik reiterated the government`s line that Zardari is not in any real danger on expiration of the NRO. He asserted that the Chief Justice would not/not revoke Zardari`s presidential immunity. Even if he did, Malik claimed that the Interior Minister can instruct prosecutors to dismiss charges in any court case. He shared that, in one of his own corruption cases, this had been done, and that in another case, the Supreme Court had ruled his imprisonment illegal. Malik also added that President Zardari had the ability to pardon anyone.
Malik pressed the Ambassador for issuance of a strong statement from the United States. Ambassador inquired as to the content and the audience. Malik suggested that it be a public statement saying that the United States supported democracy in Pakistan.
Malik was clearly worried that President Zardari and his inner circle of advisors — including Malik — had lost the support of the international community. Malik appeared to believe that such support was essential for their survival in the face of military plotting against them. Malik`s view that ISI DG Pasha is behind the moves against President Zardari and that COAS Kayani is not involved is either naive or intentionally misleading. It would be impossible for Pasha to move without Kayani`s acquiescence. Malik`s views on Zardari`s legal troubles presuppose that Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will be bound by normal interpretations of the law and precedent. Such an assumption ignores Chaudhry`s penchant for ignoring both in recent rulings and his personal animosity towards Asif Ali Zardari.
Turkey seen as answer to Saudis' influence in PakistanWASHINGTON: The US wants to replace Saudi influence in Pakistan with that of Turkey, leaked with a cable of Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b), (d) by WikiLeaks.
1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador, accompanied by EmbOffs, met May 20 with Turkish Ambassador Soysal and other Turkish counterparts. The Turkish Embassy, which has taken on a coordinating role for NATO in Pakistan, advocated greater cooperation with the U.S. vis-a-vis Pakistan. Soysal described Turkey's own trilateral meetings with Afghanistan and Pakistan. He thought the Af-Pak relationship had improved since the February 2008 elections and credited Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in particular for this "geographic sensitivity." While Turkey hoped their trilaterals would result in cooperative programs, the real objective was increased trust and transparency between the two neighbors. The trilaterals had matured past joint statements; decisions on specific projects needed to be implemented for the meetings to be worthwhile, Soysal said. Encouragingly, the three countries had already conducted a number of joint training on a range of subjects. Soysal agreed that the "Friends of Democratic Pakistan" initiative should not morph into a donors forum, despite the GOP predilection. He believed a strong secretariat, along the lines of a task force model, was needed to ensure the initiative's policy success. NATO could also contribute to Pakistan's development, sponsoring education initiatives and professional exchanges.
2. (C) Summary continued: Turkish President Gul would call President Zardari May 22 to offer an aid package for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Soysal focused on the July/August timeframe, which this year includes Ramadan, suggesting Turkish aid may be more post-emergency. So far, Turkey was the only Muslim country to contribute to this humanitarian crisis, though Soysal hoped next week's Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) would take action. He was frustrated the GOP had no timeline for the offensive in Swat and thought the Army was moving too slowly to initiate operations in the Waziristans before next year. He was not certain Pakistani politics would be so patient and encouraged international missions to push for a non-partisan climate for as long as possible. Most of the responsibility for this, however, rested with Zardari, who needed to employ confidence building measures within his own party and with other parties, especially leading opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). End summary.
3. (S) Turkish Embassy Participants: Ambassador Engin Soysal, DCM Semih Luffu Turgut, Army/Air Attache Colonel Nuri Gayir, Naval Attache Erhan Sensoy, and Second Secretary Ilker Kucukkurt. US Mission Participants: Ambassador Anne Patterson, DCM Jerry Feierstein, RAO Chief John Bennett, Army Attache Scott Taylor, and PolOff Terry Steers-Gonzalez (notetaker).
Their Trilaterals
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4. (C) Soysal described the trilateral meetings by Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, dating back to April 2007. Those three meetings had been kept relatively "small and focused," he said; each had its own theme -- (1) dialogue, (2) development, and (3) security and intelligence. The next trilateral meeting, date to be determined, will focus on education. Though Soysal admitted the three countries' education systems were quite different, the exchange was meant to build trust and transparency. He emphasized the meeting would be formatted as parallel bilateral discussions rather than true trilats.
5. (C) The GOT had witnessed first-hand a deterioration in the relationship between the Karzai-Musharraf administrations over the first three trilaterals, Soysal revealed. Since Zardari's presidency, he had observed much improved relations, relatively, between the two countries. While President Asif Zardari deserved some recognition for this positive turn, Soysal credited principally Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. They both exhibited "geographic sensitivity," he added, playing up their moderate Sufi credentials and raising universal and/or conciliatory themes.
6. (C) Soysal was proud the Turkish-sponsored trilaterals had
ISLAMABAD 00001118 002 OF 003
matured beyond joint statements; now, the three countries needed to implement their decisions. There had already been trilateral training opportunities, he added, including on crisis response, counter-narcotics, and public affairs topics. He also mentioned a number of proposals he hoped would materialize soon, including a "joint" community center in Peshawar and a development center in Ankara. He thought the latter would welcome the visits of American experts. Turkey was additionally proposing a trilateral military exercise or war game.
7. (S) Ambassador Patterson briefed Soysal on our own recent trilateral summit. The U.S.-Afghanistan-Pakistan meetings complemented Turkey's process begun years before. President Zardari had performed well in a high-stakes situation. The Ambassador thought President Obama's focus on counter-insurgency, good governance, and overall support had been received well by the Pakistanis. The RAO Chief noted that Turkey's trilateral on Af-Pak intelligence cooperation may have gone better than our own trilateral consultations. The Ambassador highlighted the transit trade agreement and the commitment to increased border controls and cross-border training. Our next trilateral would likely come in October, the Ambassador mentioned.
8. (C) Turkey was receptive to Zardari's suggestion for a regional summit, not just trilateral, to include all of Afghanistan's neighbors, said Soysal. He confirmed the Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan summit set for May 19 had been postponed to May 24. He recommended Pakistan reach out to even more international partners and suggested Pakistani parliamentarians, not just GOP officials, travel abroad to push Pakistan's case. Zardari would address NATO members at a special session in June. Of course, Soysal added, Zardari might demur depending on how the Army offensive was going in Swat.
Friends of Pakistan
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9. (C) Speaking of the calendar, Soysal turned to the "Friends of Democratic Pakistan" initiative, informing the Ambassador that the GOP aimed for a July ministerial in Istanbul. (Comment: We have conveyed to the Turks our own concerns that there is not sufficient time to prepare for a ministerial in mid-July. We will continue to discuss.) The British would likely propose a Friends summit on the margins of the usual September UN General Assembly session of heads of government, Soysal relayed. U.N. Assistant Secretary General Jean Arnault would arrive in Pakistan on May 21; he had attended the Friends/Donors meeting hosted by Japan in late April. Soysal hoped he, as well as the Ambassador, would encourage the GOP to stand-up a secretariat for "Friends." While the assignment of Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit as GOP POC was positive, Soysal really advocated a taskforce.
10. (C) The DCM stressed that Friends not morph in to a donors forum, which was the GOP's inclination. Also, membership in the group had expanded and may now be too broad to work as a coherent group, he added. Lastly, it would be up to the GOP to provide the initiative its "strategic vision." The DCM encouraged the Turkish Ambassador to convey similar messages to the GOP. Soysal concurred: "They have to hear from us."
Initiatives for NATO
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11. (C) The Turkish Embassy in Islamabad has taken on the task of NATO coordinator, at least on political issues, among members' missions and with the GOP. In that informal role, Soysal recommended a number of joint initiatives and exchanges. He thought members' respective ambassadors to NATO should jointly visit Pakistan soon. He also noted Pakistani journalists and academics were being sent on study tours (similar to our International Visitors Program) to NATO headquarters in Brussels. Soysal welcomed U.S. suggestions on suitable Pakistani candidates for the trips. Lastly, he had recently learned that a number of Pakistani universities conducted model U.N. competitions; he felt his and other NATO members' missions could sponsor such events.
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12. (C) Turkish Ambassador Soysal noted President Obama's recent trip to Turkey had been very positive and hoped for increased coordination between our two countries and embassies on a spectrum of issues and beyond traditional fora. He also noted his government's recent hosting of other Special Representatives to this region.
The IDP Challenge
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13. (C) The Turkish Ambassador complimented the U.S. on its May 19 announcement to provide $110 million in direct assistance to Pakistan's internally displaced (IDPs). He revealed Turkish President Abdullah Gul would call Zardari May 22 to offer a support package as well. He hinted that Turkish aid may be geared to the post-emergency phase in August/September, which would also coincide this year with the holy month of Ramadan. Soysal noted that Turkey would be the first (and so far only) Muslim country to assist Pakistan with this humanitarian crisis; he was perplexed that Saudi Arabia had not ponied up yet. The GOT would encourage, at the least, a strong statement of support by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit during the week of May 25 and was hoping other OIC members would kick in contributions, Soysal said.
14. (C) However, it appeared the GOP did not have a clear timeline for the offensive operations in Swat, Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), Soysal complained. He agreed with the Ambassador that the GOP also needed to identify competent civil administrators to enter recently cleared towns. Soysal was also concerned that the Pakistan Army was moving too slowly to clear militants from other districts and the Waziristan Agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). GOP plans were still "broad brush" and may not realistically be implemented, if at all, until the new year, he analyzed. The Ambassador added that 2500 Waziri families had already reportedly fled their homes in anticipation of Army action, but yet, the GOP refused to give international aid organizations access to the nearest settled district of D.I. Khan, forcing families to move north to Peshawar or farther east into Punjab.
Thoughts on Nawaz
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15. (C) Soysal met one-on-one with opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif in Lahore the week of May 11. Nawaz understood the seriousness of the situation in Swat, Soysal concluded. He reported that Nawaz stated the Taliban should be "eliminated." Nawaz warned, however, that Pakistan's democracy needed to deliver soon before the public looked again to alternatives; Soysal did not specify whether Nawaz implied the military or the militants as the likely alternates.
16. (C) While tit-for-tat politics would eventually return, Soysal thought the international community should encourage for as long as possible a non-partisan stance by Pakistan's political parties. But Zardari held much of the responsibility for setting the tone, Soysal argued. He should bring all parties into major decision-making, host party leaders for a session of the next "Friends" meeting, and reconcile with factions inside his own Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
17. (C) Comment: This was the first meeting between the two embassies in this format, which parallels a similar dialogue we have with the U.K. High Commission. But with the Turks playing an increasingly high profile, constructive role in Pakistan, we will continue to develop our dialogue and find opportunities to work together in areas of mutual interest. As a moderate, progressive Muslim state featuring relatively stable, democratic governance, Turkey is well-positioned to be a much more positive role model for the Pakistanis and to neutralize somewhat the more negative influence on Pakistani politics and society exercised by Saudi Arabia.
PATTERSON
PayPal cuts WikiLeaks from money flowBERLIN: Online payment service provider PayPal says in a company blog it has cut off the account used by WikiLeaks to collect donations.
The company said in a blog posting the move was prompted by a violation of its policy, "which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity."
The short notice was dated Friday, and a spokeswoman for PayPal Germany on Saturday declined to elaborate and referred to the official blog posting.
Donating money to WikiLeaks via PayPal on Saturday was not possible anymore, generating an error message saying "this recipient is currently unable to receive money."
PayPal is one of several ways WikiLeaks collects donations.
In potentially the most significant attack on WikiLeaks to date, PayPal on Friday froze the account of the German foundation accepting donations for the secret spilling website, claiming that WikiLeaks was in violation of PayPal
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