US: Strikes on Pakistan to continue

Pakistanis hold placards as they shout slogans to condemn a US drone attack in the North Waziristan tribal region, during a protest in Peshawar on March 19, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/175907.html

The United States says it will not halt its drone attacks in Pakistan, defying repeated calls from Islamabad and Pakistani people for an end to the non-UN-sanctioned strikes.

“The program is something that we have said we go ahead on. The question is how. And that process is going to be something that's going to be one of the main tasks that our intelligence and our military guys have,” Reuters quoted a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying on Wednesday.

This comes as the chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has met with Pakistan's high-ranking intelligence officials in Lahore.

The US had previously insisted on its stance about continuing the drone attacks in a meeting between CIA director Leon Panetta and Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency in Washington last week.

Washington has at times claimed it has an agreement with Islamabad on launching such attacks, but Pakistani authorities say there has never been such a deal and that they view the airstrikes as repeated violations of the country's sovereignty.

Moreover, Pakistani lawmakers have strongly criticized the US drone strikes and urged the government “to review its foreign policy and adopt a strict stance to stop CIA attacks inside Pakistan.”

Khawaja Saad Rafiq, the leader of major Pakistani party Muslim League Nawaz, has blamed the hike in the acts of terrorism in Pakistan on the ongoing CIA drone attacks.

The CIA's unauthorized drone strikes in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt claimed the lives of more than 1,180 people in 2010 alone, reports say.

Pakistan urges end to US strikes

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/175542.html

Pakistan has called on the US to stop non-UN-sanctioned drone strikes in the country's northern tribal belt as differences between Islamabad and Washington escalate.

The row between the US and its Asian ally over the scale of the unauthorized CIA drone operations in Pakistan's North Waziristan were exposed last week.

Pakistan has repeatedly criticized the attacks which it condemns for violating the country's sovereignty.

Washington, on the other hand, defends the strikes as necessary to fight the militants it claims to have holed up.

But Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that Washington should share better intelligence so Islamabad can take action against militants itself.

For several months, Pakistani diplomats and military officials have complained that they were being kept in the dark by the US administration's non-UN-sanctioned military campaigns.

Politicians on both sides are disappointed with the results of investment of billions of dollars in the US military and civilian assistance since 2001 with Washington admitting in a recent report to Congress that the results of the spending fell short of expectations.

More than 1,180 people were killed by over 120 CIA drone strikes in 2010 alone, reports say.

The strikes have further fueled the anti-US sentiment already on the rise in the region.

Pakistan urges US to cut CIA operations

Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174439.html

Pakistan's spy chief has demanded that the United States steeply reduce the number of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives and halt drone attacks on its soil.

This comes as the current Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha met with CIA chief Leon Panetta in Washington on Monday.

In the meeting, Pasha called for Islamabad's control over CIA operations in Pakistan.

According to Pakistani and US officials, Islamabad also asked Washington to reduce the number of CIA operatives in the county.

Meanwhile, reports say US President Barack Obama has rejected Islamabad's call for more transparency regarding CIA operations in the country.

US-Pakistani ties have been strained over Washington's deadly drone attacks as well as the case of Raymond Davis -- a CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis in January.

Reports say Pakistan has also demanded that the United States stop its drone attacks inside its territory.

The developments come as President Obama has frequently blamed Pakistan for not doing enough to fight terrorism in its troubled northwestern tribal belt along the Afghan border.

This is while US planes and helicopters have increasingly violated Pakistani airspace over the past months.

The US claims its air raids target militants who cross the Pakistani border into Afghanistan. But locals say civilians are the main victims of the unauthorized attacks.

The unauthorized US drone attacks have drawn strong criticism from the Pakistani nationals and officials.

The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the region, however, after nine years the region remains unstable and militancy has expanded towards Pakistan.

Analysts say the US is looking for an excuse to expand its military operations in the troubled South and Central Asian region to secure bases near Russia and China.

Pakistan urges US apology over strike

Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani has condemned the deadly raids on Thursday, March 17, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170500.html

Pakistan has strongly condemned the US over an unauthorized drone strike, which has killed at least 35 people in the North Waziristan tribal region, and demanded Washington's apology.

The Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani said that it is “highly regrettable that innocent citizens should be targeted with complete disregard for human life,” AFP quoted him as saying.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has also condemned the attack as "irrational behavior." He stressed that such strikes will only strengthen the hands of extremist elements.

Civilians and police were among those killed in the assault that struck a peaceful meeting of tribal elders on Thursday. This was the seventh such attack within nine days and the most deadly since 2008.

Islamabad is now demanding an apology from Washington.

"Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir conveyed this strong condemnation to US ambassador Cameron Munter and has demanded an apology and explanation," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said in a statement on Friday.

The non-UN-sanctioned attack targeted was the 23rd such strike in Pakistan since the beginning of the year.

Most of the victims of drone attacks have been civilians. The US military denies the claims, saying its air raids target militants.

Pakistanis condemn CIA agent release

Pakistanis shout slogans as they march toward the US embassy during a protest against the release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Islamabad on Wednesday March 16.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170317.html

Pakistani people have staged street protests to voice their outrage at the release of a CIA contractor charged with killing two men in Lahore.

Anti-US demonstrations broke out on Wednesday in the capital, Islamabad, and similar protests were held in the major cities of Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.

In Lahore, baton-wielding police forces tried to disperse the demonstrators who had gathered in front of the US consulate, injuring several protesters.

Pakistani officials say Davis was released after he paid the blood money for the victims. However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has denied any payments for securing the release.

Family members of the slain men appeared in the court and confirmed that they had pardoned Davis. But the move was clouded with reports that they were pressured by police into signing the agreement.

Davis killed two locals in the eastern city of Lahore in January in a move repeatedly claimed by Washington to be an act of “self-defense.”

The US insisted that as a consulate official, Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity, but he eventually turned out to be working for CIA.

Pakistan has since been under mounting pressure to release Davis. US lawmakers had threatened to cut millions of dollars in military and other aid to Islamabad.

The case has soured relations between Islamabad and Washington since January and intensified anti-US sentiments in Pakistan.

Pakistanis outraged at Davis acquittal

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170314.html

Outrage on the streets of Islamabad! Within hours of the release of the American CIA agent Raymond Davis, angry protests erupted across Pakistan. Many were injured after protestors attempted to remove road barricades in a failed attempt to attack US Consulate General Office in the eastern city of Lahore.

The release of Raymond Davis has caused an outcry in Pakistan. The CIA agent who was charged with killing two men in the eastern city of Lahore in January.

There have been reports that the victims' families were kidnapped and coerced into pardoning the CIA contracor.

An official statement by the US embassy in Islamabad said that Raymond Davis was acquitted of murder after being pardoned by the victims' families in exchange for compensation; a claim backed by the government. But it is hard to find people on the street who will buy into that version of the story.

Many Pakistanis are of the opinion that the government and the opposition mainstream somehow knew what pattern the events around the case would follow.

The Taliban may now have found some reasons to politically cash-in on public resentment. Militants have vowed to target officials and political leaders involved in the alleged backroom deal to release the CIA agent who is believed to be a key CIA operative to carry out espionage operations in Pakistan.

CIA man free after 'blood money' payment

Court frees Raymond Davis, contractor accused of murdering two men, after he agreed to pay money to their families.

The case prompted widespread protests across Pakistan, with demonstrators calling for Davis to be hanged [REUTERS]

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/2011316121616279778.html

Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor accused of murdering two men in Lahore, Pakistan, has been released after the families to the two men he killed were given "blood money" and the case was dropped, Pakistani officials said.

While Davis, who had earlier admitted to the killings but said he was acting in "self-defence", was indicted for the murders earlier on Wednesday, Rana Sanaullah, the Punjab law minister, said he was immediately pardoned by the families of the victims in exchange for compensation or "blood money".

The practice of pardoning those accused of murder under such an arrangement is permitted under Pakistani law.

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Peshawar, said the families' lawyer had claimed they were forced to sign the agreement over the blood money, but none of the family members have spoken out so far.

"There is likely to be a public reaction, despite the fact that the court had moved according to the law of the land," he said.

The amount of money agreed to has not been made clear.

Davis had been arrested on January 27, after having killed the two men on a street in Lahore. He said that the two men were attempting to rob him, and that he acted in self-defence.

Chaudhry Mushtaq, superintendent at Kot Lakhpat jail, said Davis left the jail with US consulate officials after the hearing.

US officials were not immediately available for comment.

Patty Culhane, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington, said there had been a lot of criticism about how the Obama administration had handled the case since the beginning.

The United States has consistently insisted that Davis had diplomatic immunity and had demanded that the Pakistani authorities release him immediately. The case has caused a diplomatic row between the countries, with the Pakistani government, under pressure from the public not to allow Davis immunity, leaving the matter up to the courts.

Pakistani officials had earlier suggested that the payment of "blood money" was the best solution. Lawyers for the victims however suggested that they were forced to sign the deal.

"We were put in detention for four hours and not allowed to meet our clients who were called by authorities to the court," Asad Manzoor Butt, a lawyer for the family of one of victims told Reuters.

Sanaullah said Davis was formally indicted on murder charges before members of the two victims' families were taken into the court, where they signed papers formally forgiving him in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money.

Judges then acquitted him on all charges, he said.

Davis case fueling anger across Pakistan

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/167561.html

Anti-US protests are raging across Pakistan following the murder of two Pakistanis by a US national in late January.

People from all walks of life have staged protests almost every day since then to put pressure on the government to punish Raymon Davis who killed two Pakistani citizens on a busy road in the eastern city of Lahore.

His case has also sparked a bitter diplomatic row between Washington and Islamabad. The US claims he is an embassy official; while other sources say he is a CIA contractor.

Legal experts believe Davis may be given either life sentence or death punishment amid rising anti-US sentiments never seen before in Pakistan. They say this was the specific reason that former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi lost his job and is now attracting tens of thousands of people rallying around anti-US sentiments in Pakistan.

Many here are furious that the US has urged Pakistan to release Raymond Davis. The official records reportedly dispatched by the US embassy to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry a day before the incident, shows that Davis was not even registered with the government as a non-diplomatic member of the embassy .

Despite the rising public anger, the US remains engaged in what appears to be an offensive diplomacy putting tremendous pressure on Islamabad to secure the release of Davis without prosecution.

Washington has threatened to oust the Pakistani ambassador and close down US consulates in Pakistan if Islamabad did not immediately free him

With 47 eyewitness accounts, Davis is being prosecuted in the court after police concluded that he killed the two citizens not in self-defense.

Pakistani court puts CIA agent on trial

Thousands of Pakistanis have demanded the execution of a CIA contractor

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/167033.html

A court in Pakistan has adjourned the trial of a CIA contractor charged with killing two Pakistani men, dismissing Washington demands for his release.

The next hearing has been scheduled for March 3.

The US initially claimed that Raymond Davis -- a former US Special Forces officer -- was a diplomat. Washington insisted that Islamabad must repatriate Davis as he has diplomatic immunity.

However, it was later revealed that Davis is a CIA contractor.

If convicted, Davis could face execution for double homicide. Davis claims he acted in self-defense when he shot the men in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

The killings have inflamed anti-US sentiments in Pakistan, where people are already angry with Washington over its non-UN-sanctioned airstrikes.

The unauthorized strikes, which were initiated by former US President George W. Bush and continued under President Barack Obama, have drastically increased in recent months.

Washington claims the airstrikes target militants. However, according to statistics, the attacks have left hundreds of civilians dead in Pakistan since 2008.

'CIA agent Davis linked to Taliban'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/166139.html

Documents show Raymond Davis, an American who killed two Pakistanis in Lahore in January, had links with CIA's espionage and sabotage plans in the Asian country.

“The documents, photographs and the evidence that has come out from Davis' sofa almost confirms his links with Taliban terrorism…the attacks on ISI and the security establishment as well as the drone attacks,” Pakistani defense analyst and security consultant Zaid Hamid said in an interview with Press TV's US Desk on Saturday.

Hamid added that there is evidence confirming Davis has been a US undercover operative in Pakistan.

“With this kind of evidence the issue is not just the assassination of those two boys on the streets of Lahore but it is an indication of a much larger network of CIA espionage and sabotage inside Pakistan,” he said.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama urged Pakistan to free the US official saying he enjoys diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention.

However, under public pressure, Lahore High Court adjourned a decision on whether Davis had diplomatic immunity.

The court gave the foreign ministry more time to answer on whether full diplomatic status was held by Davis, who has been remanded in custody since his arrest following the incident on January 27.

Pakistani police have pressed charges of espionage against Davis, saying he is an employee of the notorious US security firm Xe/Blackwater, working in Pakistan under the cover of the so-called war on terror.

US official to face trial in Pakistan

Pakistani policemen gather around the car of US consular worker at the police station in Lahore on January 27, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162362.html

The American employee of the US consulate in Pakistan who is charged with the murder of two locals in Lahore is expected to appear in court on Friday.

"Once we get the report and other documents, we expect to produce the American before a magistrate for possible remand," AFP quoted police investigation officer Muneer Ahmed as saying.

The US official identified by police as Raymond Davis shot dead two men riding on a motorcycle on Thursday in what he claimed was self-defense during an attempt robbery.

A third Pakistani was run over and killed in the incident after being hit by a US consulate vehicle rushing to the American's aid.

Scores of people took to the streets after the incidents in protest, setting tires on fire at the scene, blocking escape by the Americans.

Lahore police Chief Aslam Tareen said the American was being questioned by the police and may be charged with both murder and illegally carrying a weapon, a Beretta pistol.

The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular official and says it is carrying out an investigation.

Trying to avoid an anti-American reaction, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington will fully cooperate with Pakistani authorities and will explain about the incident to the Pakistani people.

The killing comes as anti-American sentiments are running high in the country.