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Friday, 7 December, 2012
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Egypt army deploys tanks outside presidential palace CAIRo aGEnCiEs
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QuETTa: a large number of motorcyclists and rickshaws swarm at a petrol filling station for refueling on wednesday due to shortage of petrol in the provincial capital. InP
US pledges $200 million for Diamer Bhasha Dam WASHIngton sPECial CORREsPOnDEnT
Pakistan got a boost in its efforts to secure international financing for the massive Diamer Bhasha Dam, when the United States committed $200 million for preliminary work on the multi-billion dollars project. The US commitment, signifying a steady improvement in bilateral ties, was made to Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, who discussed the major project in a series of meetings with American officials. According to Shaikh, the multi-year power generation and water conservation project was likely to cost more than $10 billion. Washington’s expression of support for the project is seen as an important signal to the international finance institutions and rich countries in
terms of financial backing of the project, which upon its completion would contribute hugely to the country’s economic development. Rejecting the reports that the Asian Development Bank had backed out of its commitment to financing the mega project, the finance minister at a press conference said the ADB and the US would finance the feasibility study, surveys and consortium formation for the dam, to be built in Gilgit-Baltistan in an estimated 8-10 years. The government would complete land survey, feasibility and land acquisition processes to pave the way for construction of the dam. “This is a very good development,” Shaikh told reporters. Washington’s financing of the project would be in addition to the ongoing support it is providing to revamp existing dams’ power generation capacity.
GYPTIAN troops deployed tanks outside the presidential palace on Thursday as the nation awaited President Mohamed Morsi's first address since streets clashes between his supporters and opponents rocked the capital. The military set up a barbed wire barrier 150 metres from the palace, after ordering Morsi allies and foes alike to pull back. Confusion reigned as to whether Morsi would give a televised address to the nation, with a senior aide saying he would, but an official in his office later saying he would "most likely" not give the speech on Thursday. In Morsi's hometown, the Nile Delta city of Zagazig, police used tear gas to disperse protesters who surrounded the home of one of the president's relatives, a police official said. On Wednesday night, seven people were killed and 644 injured in clashes between Islamists and opposition activists, medical sources said. Another 50 people were arrested. The anti-Morsi camp is furious with the president for his assuming sweeping powers two weeks ago and by what it feels was the railroading through by an Islamist-dominated panel of a draft constitution. Many demonstrators were injured by birdshot, the Health Ministry said, but it was not immediately clear who was firing. "(Hosni) Mubarak was tried for not protecting protesters. What about Morsi?" said student Korlos Magdy, 21, referring to the veteran strongman who was sentenced
to life in prison for his role in the deaths of hundreds of protesters in the uprising that toppled him early last year. At least 10 Republican Guard tanks deployed around the presidential palace in the upmarket Cairo neighbourhood of Heliopolis as the army gave demonstrators a 3pm (1300 GMT) deadline to disperse. Morsi supporters who had camped out near the palace began packing their belongings ahead of the deadline, the correpondent reported. Morsi opponents regrouped in a square about 300 metres (yards) away. Republican Guard chief General Mohammed Zaki said the tanks were deployed to separate the feuding sides, pledging that the military "will not be an instrument of oppression." Morsi, who often spends the night at his private home in another Cairo suburb, arrived at the palace early on Thursday. Egypt's top Islamic body, Al-Azhar, told him he should "suspend the latest decree and stop using it," while also demanding an unconditional dialogue between the president and his opponents. Four of Morsi's advisers have quit over the crisis, official news agency MENA reported, and the head of state television has also resigned, the independent newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm reported on its website. The Cairo stock market took a heavy hit from the latest violence, with the EGX30 index plunging 4.6 percent at the close. Wednesday's violence erupted when the Muslim Brotherhood, which fielded Morsi for the presidency, marched to the palace where opposition protesters were holding a sit-in. Pro- and anti-Morsi activists armed
with sticks, guns, fire bombs and rocks clashed with each other through the night. "It's the beginning of a religious state," said Sahar Ali, a 39-year-old tour guide and Morsi opponent. "They're trying to turn it into Iran, but we won't let this happen. We got rid of the military -- the Brotherhood is next." The opposition says it will not stand down until Morsi surrenders his new powers -- which put his decisions beyond judicial review -- and until he cancels a snap December 15 referendum on the new constitution opposed by liberals and Christians. The Brotherhood urged protesters on both sides to stand down, as did Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. The United States called for an open and "democratic dialogue" in Egypt. "The upheaval we are seeing... indicates that dialogue is urgently needed. It needs to be two-way," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in comments echoed by Britain and the European Union. Despite the protests, Vice President Mahmud Mekki said a referendum on the charter "will go ahead on time" on December 15. He said the opposition would be allowed to object in writing to articles in the draft constitution that would be discussed by a parliament yet to be elected. Prominent opposition leader and former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Morsi bore "full responsibility" for the violence. He said the opposition was ready for dialogue but would use "any means necessary" to scupper the charter, stressing, however, that they would be peaceful.
Foreign troops in Afghanistan to bear the brunt of TTP leadership change ISLAMABAD aGEnCiEs
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is preparing for a leadership change that could mean less violence against the state but more attacks against US-led forces in Afghanistan, according to media reports citing Pakistani military sources. Hakimullah Mehsud, a ruthless commander who has led the TTP for the last three years, has lost operational control of the movement and the trust of his fighters, said a senior Pakistan army official based in the South Waziristan tribal region, the group’s stronghold. The organisation’s more moderate deputy leader, Wali-ur-Rehman, 40, is poised to succeed Mehsud, whose extreme violence has alienated enough of his fighters to significantly weaken him, the military sources said. “Rehman is fast emerging as a consensus candidate to formally replace Hakimullah,” said the army official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. “Now we may see the brutal commander replaced by a more pragmatic one for whom reconciliation with the Pakistani government has become a priority.” The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of militants in 2007. Its main aim is to topple the US-backed government in Pakistan and impose its brand of Islam across the country of 185 million people, although it has also carried out attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan. The militants intensified their battle against the Pakistani state after an army raid on Islamabad’s Lal Masjid in 2007, which had been seized by allies of the group. Mehsud, believed to be in his mid-
30s, took over the Pakistan Taliban in August 2009. He rose to prominence in 2010 when US prosecutors charged him with involvement in an attack that killed seven CIA employees at a US base in Afghanistan. His profile was raised further when he appeared in a farewell video with the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed the employees. Three senior military officials interviewed in this regard said that informers in the TTP had told them Mehsud was no longer steering the group. Pakistan Taliban commanders did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the possible leadership change. US officials said that while Rehman was Mehsud’s natural successor, they cautioned about expecting an imminent transition. Mehsud’s standing in the Pakistan Taliban might have weakened, but he still had followers, they said. Washington has offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to the capture of either Mehsud or Rehman. One Pakistan military official, who has served in South Waziristan for more than two years, said his Pakistan Taliban contacts first alerted him to Mehsud’s waning power six months ago, when constant pressure from the Pakistan military, US drone strikes and poor health had hurt his ability to lead. “Representing the moderate point of view, there is a probability that under Rehman, TTP will dial down its fight against the Pakistani state, unlike Hakimullah who believes in wanton destruction here,” said the military official based in the South Waziristani capital of Wana. The official said this might lead to more attacks across the border in Afghanistan be-
cause Rehman has been pushing for the group’s fighters to turn their guns on Western forces. Other factions within the TTP such as the Nazir group in South Waziristan and the Hekmat Gul Bahadur faction in North Waziristan have struck peace deals with the Pakistani military while focusing attacks on Western and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. A change in the TTP’s focus would complicate Western efforts to stabilise Afghanistan before most NATO troops leave by the end of 2014, said Riaz Mohammad Khan, a Pakistani diplomat who has held several posts dealing with Afghanistan. The United States is already fighting the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, which is based along the unruly frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan and which is perhaps Washington’s deadliest foe in Afghanistan. The last thing US-led NATO troops need is a new, formidable enemy in the approach to 2014. Such a shift in emphasis, however, could reduce the number of suicide bombings that have plagued Pakistan in recent years, scaring off investment needed to prop up an economy that has barely managed to grow since 2007. The TTP, which is close to al Qaeda, remains resilient despite a series of military offensives. It took part in a number of high-profile operations, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the attempted assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai in October, who had campaigned for girls’ education. The TTP was also blamed for the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad which killed more than 50 people. Under Mehsud, the organisation formed
Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore.
complex alliances with other militant groups spread across Pakistan. But it has long been strained by internal rivalries over strategy. Mehsud has pushed the war with the Pakistani state, while others such as Rehman want the battle to be against US and allied forces in Afghanistan. “Rehman has even held secret negotiations with the Pakistani government in the past but Hakimullah always stood in his way, wanting to carry on fighting the Pakistani military,” a second Wana-based military official said. The two were at each other’s throats earlier this year and hostilities were close to open warfare, Taliban sources said. “Differences within the ranks have only gotten worse, not better, rendering the TTP a much weaker force today than a few years ago,” the second military official said. A source close to the Taliban said there had been months of internal talks on the Pakistan Taliban’s decreasing support among locals and fighters in tribal areas where the group has assassinated many progovernment elders. “The Taliban know they are fighting a public relations war, and under someone like Hakimullah, they will only lose it,” added the source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. It isn’t clear whether Mehsud will hand over the leadership to Rehman without a fight. A power struggle could split the group, making it more difficult to recruit young fighters and also disrupt the safe havens in Pakistan used by Afghan militants. According to accepted practice, a leadership council, or shura, will ultimately decide whether to formally replace Mehsud with
Editor: Arif Nizami
Rehman. Intelligence officials said Mehsud had not commanded any recent operations, including an August 16 attack on the Minhas Airbase in Pakistan and a suicide attack on a street market in May that killed 24 people. Military sources said Rehman planned the April 15 jail break in Bannu in Pakistan that freed 384 prisoners, including an estimated 200 Taliban members and an al Qaedalinked militant who had attempted to assassinate former president Pervez Musharraf. fALL fRoM GRACE: Intelligence officials in the area said Mehsud’s brutality had turned his own subordinates against him, while the more measured Rehman had emerged as the group’s primary military strategist. “If a leader doesn’t behave like a leader, he loses support. For the longest time now, Hakimullah has done the dirty work while Wali-ur-Rehman is the thinker. Taliban fighters recognise this,” said the first Pakistani military source. A local elder described Mehsud as “short-tempered and trigger-happy”. “(Mehsud) used to work 24 hours a day, tirelessly. But he would also put a gun to anyone’s head and kill them for his cause,” said a local shopkeeper who has family members involved in the Pakistan Taliban. Mehsud gained his reputation fighting with the Afghan Taliban against US and allied forces in Helmand province in Afghanistan. He was later given command of Taliban factions in the Bajaur, Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram regions. He took over the Pakistan Taliban after a weeks-long succession battle with Rehman following the death of Baitullah Mehsud in a drone strike. The two Mehsuds were not related.