Pakistan's stand increased importance in international community

Pakistan’s principle stand to boycott the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan and to review its relations with NATO and United States have been supported by all the political parties and Pakistan’s importance has been increased in the international community. According to diplomatic sources, although it is tough stand to boycott the Bonn Conference and stop the NATO supply but the general public and political parties have termed it a strong and committed decision by the Pakistan government at this important moment following the unproved and uncalled for attacks by the NATO/ISAF helicopters on its border check-posts in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and officers.

Pakistan’s diplomates clarified that Pakistan boycotted the Bonn Conference in the larger interest of Pakistan, but it should not be taken as Pakistan’s total disassociation from its aspiration to promote peace and security in Afghanistan.
The foreign office further stated, “Peace and stability in Afghanistan is indeed in our own larger national interest and Pakistan will continue doing whatever it can to facilitate the process of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.”
President Pakistan Muslim League-N Nawaz Sharif while appreciating the decisions of government said that NATO supplies must remain suspended till apology over attacks on Pakistan military check posts in Mohmand Agency.
Nawaz Sharif said the government had taken a firm stand and should stick to it.
He said NATO air-strike at Mohmand Agency which claimed the lives of 24 Pakistani soldiers was an open attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty. He reiterated that such attacks must not be happened.  He also praised and appreciated the government’s decision to boycott Bonn conference.
The most important decision besides condemning these attacks, taken by the Government of Pakistan was to boycott the Bonn Conference which has disturbed the world community but it was supported by the masses at home.
International community especially US President Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and other world leaders used their diplomatic channels and put pressure to convince Pakistan to withdraw its decision to boycott the Bonn conference.
The Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan was held in Bonn, Germany on December 5 and it was meant to find a solution to the problems of Afghanistan especially after the proposed withdrawal of American forces.
Pakistan time and again clarified that without ensuring protection to its sovereignty, integrity, security and honour, it will not attend Bonn conference.
Pakistan has also conveyed to the international community and especially the US that there could not be “business as usual” with Washington in the wake of the strikes.
Another important initiative by the government, which was being appreciated by the political leaders and the public, is the decision to vacate Shamsi Air Base which was allegedly used for drone attacks in Pakistan.
President Asif Ali Zardari even rejected UAE’s request to review the decision to close Shamsi Air Base when its Foreign Minister called on President soon after the decision to vacate Shamsi Air Base.
Although the United States has expressed concern about the impact of the deadly NATO strike incident on its bilateral relations with Pakistan, which, the State Department described as “vital” to both countries.
The State Department said, “Of course, we are concerned about the impact of this incident on our relations with Pakistan.”
Pakistan’s decision to boycott Bonn Conference was considered an early blow to US efforts to have Afghanistan’s powerful neighbors, act as guarantors of the post-2014 peace.
US Ambassador Cameron Munter had to meet Pakistani leadership almost every day since the NATO/ISAF attacks and he had been making efforts to revive the previous Pak-US relations.
President Zardari told the American envoy that if the US does not take care for Pakistan’s interests and sovereignty, it will deteriorate relations between the two countries.
The President further said Pakistan had rendered innumerable sacrifices in the war against terror but the government, army, and people had strong reservations about the unprovoked Mohmand Agency attack.
Pakistan Army while expressing its disgust over NATO attacks has said that it does not accept NATO apology and that this action can lead to serious consequences.
Such incidents have happened in the past that killed 72 soldiers and injured more than 250 troops in three years, said the spokesman for Pakistan Army.
Pakistan has also sealed its border with Afghanistan, shutting down the supply lines for some 130,000 US-led foreign troops in that country soon after the NATO attack on Pakistani posts.
Pakistan has also protested with the United Nations on these unprovoked attacks and a letter has been written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in this regard.
NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, “Saturday’s NATO attack in Mohmand Agency was tragic and unintended.”
He wrote a letter to Prime Minister Gilani that the deaths of Pakistani personnel are as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel.
He assured, “We will determine what happened and draw the right lessons”.
He further said NATO remained strongly committed to working with Pakistan to improve cooperation to avoid such tragedies in the future.
Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani also strongly condemned NATO/ISAF’s blatant and unacceptable act resulting in loss of precious lives of Pakistani soldiers.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar telephoned US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to inform the US government of the ‘deep sense of rage’ felt across Pakistan at the senseless killings of soldiers in attacks on a Pakistani military post in Mohmand Agency.
The Foreign Minister also contacted many countries including China, France, Turkey, Russia, Germany, Iran, UK, OIC and European Union besides United States to convey the sentiments of the Government and people of Pakistan on NATO/ISAF attacks on Pakistani order posts.

APPC

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15 days for closing of US shamsi base

The Federal Cabinet's Defence Committee on Saturday ordered the United States to vacate the Shamsi airbase within 15 days and closed NATO supply lines into Afghanistan in response to a deadly cross-border NATO air strike.

The military's top brass including CJSC, COAS and the Naval and Air Force chiefs attended the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by the Interior, Defence, Foreign, Information and Finance Ministers while senior minister Pervaiz Elahi and the secretary defence were also in attendance.

The Defence Committee that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, hours after the Nato strike in Pakistan that killed 24 troops, categorically said that attacks on Pakistan check posts were unacceptable.

It was also decided that the Prime Minister would take the Parliament into confidence on Pak-US relations. Parliament will also be taken into confidence over the shape of Pakistan's future relations with Nato and ISAF.

Condemning the Nato attack, the committee said that the strike violated international laws.

The defence body said no compromise would be made on the sovereignty and protection of the country. "People and army will ensure Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity at any cost."

It termed the attacks on Pakistan check posts as completely unacceptable and rejected the labeling of today's event as accidental.
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New Wikileaks US Plan to Defend Baltics from Russia

The US and Nato have drawn up plans to defend Nato's Baltic members against Russia, latest US diplomatic cables disclosed by Wikileaks show.

The cables, published in the Guardian, reveal plans to expand an existing strategy to defend Poland to include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Wikileaks is releasing hundreds of diplomatic cables, angering the US.

Meanwhile, a warrant for the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has reached UK authorities.

Mr Assange, who is believed to be in hiding somewhere in England, is preparing to talk to British police, his lawyer said.

Mr Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden in connection with rape allegations which he denies.
The latest leaked documents show that in January this year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apparently signed a confidential cable saying allies in Nato had agreed to expand the contingency plan to defend Poland, to include the Baltic states.

The nine Nato divisions involved would be American, British, German and Polish, the Guardian says, citing information leaked to Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

The cables say the military plans should not be discussed publicly as it might lead to an unnecessary increase in Nato-Russia tensions.

Russian news agency Interfax quoted a source in the Russian foreign ministry as saying Moscow was "perplexed" by the leaked plans.
Peter Biles says the documents should be seen against the background of Washington's efforts to "reset" its relations with Russia and improve co-operation.

One secret cable from the US mission to Nato in Brussels revealed that US Admiral James Stavridis, the alliance's top commander in Europe, had proposed in January expanding Nato's contingency plans for defending Poland - known as Eagle Guardian - to include Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

The cable adds: "The expansion was formally submitted to Allies for decision under a silence procedure."
Another cable, signed by Mrs Clinton, instructs US embassies how to deal with the new Nato plan for the Baltic states, and stresses that the project must be kept secret.

"We see the expansion of Eagle Guardian as a step toward the possible expansion of Nato's other existing country-specific contingency plans into regional plans," it says.

Analysts say other cables show a degree of frustration between Warsaw and Washington over plans to deploy Patriot air defence missiles to Poland.

This had been the key price for a Polish decision to back the Bush administration's wider missile defence plans.
But rather than getting operational systems with their full crews, the Poles received only launchers minus their missiles and a token number of US troops.

One senior Polish official is quoted in a cable from February 2009 as telling the Americans that his country expected to get operational missiles and not what he called "potted plants".
Sources have told the BBC that the European Arrest Warrant for Mr Assange arrived on Monday afternoon.

Mr Assange's UK lawyer, Mark Stephens, told the BBC: "We are in the process of making arrangements to meet with the police by consent in order to facilitate the taking of the question and answer that is needed."

Sweden first issued an arrest warrant for Mr Assange on 18 November but it was invalidated by a procedural error. A new warrant was issued on 2 December.

The Swiss post office's bank, PostFinance, has frozen Mr Assange's accounts.

PostFinance, in a statement on its website, said Mr Assange had "provided false information regarding his place of residence" during the account opening process.

"Assange entered Geneva as his domicile. Upon inspection, this information was found to be incorrect.

"Assange cannot provide proof of residence in Switzerland and thus does not meet the criteria for a customer relationship with PostFinance. For this reason, PostFinance is entitled to close his account."

Wikileaks says it and Mr Assange have lost 100,000 euros in assets in a week.

In one of its most controversial leaks so far, Wikileaks released on Monday a US State Department cable from February 2009 asking its officials around the world to update a list of key sites, the loss of which "could critically impact" the US.

The list includes undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries all over the world.

Former UK Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind described Wikileaks' actions as "verging on the criminal".

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