TEHRAN: The Chief Minister of Pakistani state of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, said in northeastern Razavi Khorassan Province that Pakistan wants stronger cooperation with Iran in the economic and trade sectors, the industry and energy fields in particular. “We are in dire need of Iran’s energy,” Sharif told reporters at the end of his tour of Razavi Khorassan Province.

Sharif said Iran and Pakistan enjoy great potential for expansion of mutual cooperation. He then touched on economic conditions in his country, saying extremism and economy are the main challenges facing the country. NNI

Pakistan in the past 5 decades has greatly benefited from the astronomical rise of China’s re-entry in the corridors of world power. China has proven to be Pakistan’s time-tested friend and the two countries’ enjoy time-tested brotherly relations. Pakistan and China must focus on developing their relations to the next logical level. Currently, Sino-Pakistani coordination is mostly limited to national security issues such as development of military applications at cost-effective prices and a sprinkle of Chinese investment in Pakistan’s private sector for the development Pakistani industry. Both countries have time and time again identified the need to make their close relations be reflected by increased commerce and trade however this has been limited due to several structural and stability issues on the Pakistani front. Pakistan should focus on ways to fasten regulation and increase incentives for enhanced Chinese investment in Pakistan’s national economy. Cooperation between China and our country – and the ability of Pakistan to take not just from China’s tangible wealth but also to learn how they produced this wealth and regained their greatness can serve the interests of the rising aspirations of the Pakistani people.

Deng Xiaopeng, chairman of the Communist Party of China remarked that it is ‘glorious to get wealthy’. His remark set in motion the events of 1978, when China took steps to de-regulate its command-style economy and the restructuring that resulted in the conversion of the sleepy town of Shenzhen with a population of 5000 people in 1978 to a major world city with a per capita gross domestic product within the city that would compete with Western standards. Shenzhen was the first site of the Chinese experiment with a new form of Chinese communism – one which took some of the tenets of Marxist-Lennism, blended it with Chairman Mao’s desire for self-efficiency, self-reliance and ‘collectivization’, recognized the basic attributes of 5000 years of Chinese culture and psychology, and gave birth to ‘Communism with Chinese characteristics’.

From 1978 onwards, China has liberated over a three hundred million people out of poverty in mainland China. A Chinese middle class has emerged which makes Western multinationals envy the depth of the Chinese consumer’s pocket. While China may have abandoned collective industrial units of Mao or the collective farming societies, China has created a new form of collectivization. Whether this is inadvertent or not is simply not known, but the Chinese Nation thinks with one heart beat when it comes to perceive dangers to Chinese national interest. For example, the typically holier-than-thou patronizing behaviour of the French towards China annoyed the people of China to such an extent that they collectively used the depth and strength of their pockets to ignore French products. This resulted in a downward spiral of profits which were previously being enjoyed by French multinationals in China. At one point, France used to be the #1 destination for Chinese tourists. After the debacle in Paris when the French hosted that imposter the Dalai Lama and dared to intervene in Chinese internal affairs, France’s popularity dropped dramatically amongst the Chinese. The Chinese stood up for their country. France this summer was holding the rotating presidency of the European Union. The Chinese premier rightfully snubbed Sarkozy by calling the E.U-China summit off. President Zardari was able to ‘snub’ Gordon Brown over the illegal Pakistani student arrest issue by refusing to have a joint press conference only to honour Brown’s presence in Islamabad by having our Prime Minister shake hands appear with Gordon Brown in the press conference and Mr.Brown showed neither remorse nor pain for the emotional horror he caused to the families of those ten innocent Pakistani students – a national disgrace for our pride.

Pakistan is not as weak as her civilian leaders make it seem. In the 1970’s, China was surrounded by hostile states. The U.S was considering the possibility of diplomatic relations with the Revolutionary Republic but it remained hostile to China. The Soviet Union and China were increasingly in an estranged relationship and there was a massive military mobilization on their mutual borders and as a consequence there was a genuine split between both countries. China and its neighbour Vietnam were having tensions, while China’s friction with Japan and South Korea remained hot due to both countries hosting American military bases and the conflict in the two Koreas. In between all of this, there was a recalcitrant India under the leadership of Indira Gandhi who had just defeated China’s principal ally Pakistan and she showed signs of wanting to pick a fight with China to avenge the 1962 national humiliation the Chinese delivered to their largest South Asian neighbour in a brief but bitter war. Yet no one could challenge China. China focused on internal development and decided to make itself internally strong.

What began in 1978 transformed the imagination of the Chinese people. In little over a decade, China marched straight to economic progress and technical recovery. By the turn of the millennium, China’s share in global trade took an increasingly upward trend. China averted a South East Asian recession in 2000 when the tech bubble burst in America caused American demand of products from Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Malaysia to decrease significantly. China however in less than 30 years had managed to build up the required capacity to consume those products and hence cushioned the effects of the tech bubble crisis spilling over to South East Asia. Trade and commerce are not just activities for generating employment but should also be used as instruments of foreign policy.

China’s grand stock of over $1.5 trillion in foreign reserves makes it one of the most powerful countries in the world today. While on news we read about Obama announcing stimulus packages, the Chinese are out there too announcing $600billion stimulus packages for their own national economy. While the principal pillar of growth in China since 1978 has been foreign direct investment, in the year 2008 domestic consumption overtook foreign direct investment in size and its totality.

Pakistan needs to learn from China. We cannot just go with a beggars bowl and ask for $500 million every now and then from Beijing. They are our friends and they care for us because they realize the importance Pakistan can play in the emerging world order. But we cannot be part of the new world order that is coming if we remain addicted to peanuts and crumbs because this is making our decadent political elite even more decadent while Pakistanis are unable to realize the Pakistan Ideal.

Pakistan must learn from China. We must focus on developing a holistic trade policy with China. Chinese investment in Pakistan is critical. The technicalities of what China should or should not invest in are a totally different topic, but the main areas need to be mentioned. The need for

• a fibre optic cable connecting Pakistan and China,
• building consumer and cargo railways along the Karakoram Highway,
• enhanced technical partnership,
• enhanced educational partnership,
• and enhanced energy,
• water security, and
• crop production coordination are the areas
• besides defence where China can play an instrumental role.

This will bold well for our national security and help connect Islamabad into a closer orbit with Beijing. The need to promote Mandarin in Pakistan is also needed. While China has instructed many of its institutions to dedicate a certain portion of their staff to learn Urdu (or any other language that would help China), Pakistan has failed to do this. Pakistani officials can sometimes be so insensitive to China that while the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan was gifting medals and presents to special Pakistani participants in the Special Peoples’ Olympics, Pakistani officials were busy asking Chinese journalists to sit in the back so that foreign (read European and American journalists) could sit in the front while Zardari would unleash the inimitable light he withholds within and which no one can sense or feel at a press conference few months ago. This is not just comical but it is also painful. Get over the hangover that the white man is the master. He is not. We are the masters of our own destiny, as China has demonstrated.

Pakistan is today surrounded by hostile states with the exception of China and the on-again, off-again double-mindedness of Iran. Even though most of us believe the current rounds of tensions with India began after the Mumbai tensions and allegations, this is not true – they merely came to the surface.

• Indo-Pak tensions have been building since 2004 when India unilaterally began constructing dams in Indian-occupied Kashmir, unilaterally violating the Indus Water Treaty and as a consequence severely cutting the water flow of Pakistani rivers and effecting our food security, energy security, and water security.
• Our tensions have also been rising because of Pakistani support to Sri Lanka’s War Agaisnt Terrorism. Our neighbour has been very unhappy of Pakistani assistance in training the Sri Lankan Air Force in precision guided aerial-bombing which has in fact been instrumental in the current success of Sri Lanka in stamping out the Tamil Tiger Threat.

We must not waiver in our conviction that we have the sovereign right to manage our relations bilaterally with who ever we chose to do so and however we choose to do so. We also must have the conviction in ourselves that we have the right to choose how we wish to perceive any 2nd country and for that matter President Obama should kindly focus on the appalling failure of the U.S in Afghanistan and not focus in Pakistan bashing.

However, the emerging dente in America is to de-hyphenate the Western World’s relationship with India and disregard Pakistani and Kashmiri sensitivity with regard to the ongoing occupation in Indian-occupied Kashmir. This emerging dente is the most dramatic change in the South Asia power equation since decades. The only other changes which occurred were the dismemberment of East Pakistan in 1971 and the creation of a Pakistani atomic weapon which had such a profound implication on the regional security of Pakistan. Who does Washington think it is to firstly decide for the entire Western World and also to stab Pakistan in the back once again? Washington is strong in international affairs, but not as strong as it used to be. This creates a creative dynamic in the corridors of world power and Pakistan can manoeuvre smartly if we took the right steps.

What does Pakistan do in the face of a rising pro-India sentiment in Washington? When in doubt, look to Beijing. While we look to Beijing, we should not expect that the Chinese will always be there. Hence we must introspect. While we introspect, we should take Chinese ideas on the sort of actionable change they were able to bring and then we would make the defence of Pakistan impregnable. For now, Pakistan must deeply search its soul and we must all collectively ask ourselves why our parliamentary democracy has failed in living up to the expectations and zeal of the Pakistan Movement. The answer to this is the ‘FM’ word, and feudalism is bad. But the feudal mentality of Pakistan’s decadent political elite reeks of backwardness and is not going anywhere soon. They would rather meet foreign politicians, foreign leaders, and foreign envoys while compete against other feudal-minded personalities’ on how much they are willing to sell our dignity and our sovereignty for a wink (read chance) to sit in the seat of power in Islamabad and the four provinces. Pakistan is in need of a Pakistani Deng Xiaopeng. A man or woman who will display the courage, the audacity, the credentials, and the eloquence needed to march Pakistan to the path of technical capacity, economic prosperity, and intellectual wealth. This will also ensure that a strong sovereign Pakistan emerges which is capable of standing up for its strategic interests externally in this region and beyond. If Pakistan could banish forever the corruption of the feudal mentality, provide some semblance of stability, and adopt ‘Deng Xiaopeng Thought’, then we could really ensure that rooti, kapra, makan would be more than just rhetoric and make it a reality. We could then also aspire for Gari, tahleem, and an avaaz. This voice would be strong and would reflect the imagination of the Pakistani people. Even the moon would be within our reach – as China has demonstrated.

KABUL: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in a joint statement Monday resolved to enhance cooperation against terrorism, extremism, trafficking of narcotics and regional and international organized crime to strengthen peace, stability, security and economic development in the region. The statement was issued after the first trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers of the three countries here on Monday.

The meeting was the follow up of the agreement reached between the heads of the three neighbours in March this year on the sidelines of the 10th ECO summit in Tehran, said a spokesman of Pakistan’s Foreign Office. The meeting took place in a warm and cordial atmosphere.

The Foreign Ministers reiterated the importance of trilateral political dialogue and cooperation on regional and international issues of mutual interest. They expressed their strong commitment to redouble their efforts, utilizing the potentials of the three countries, in addressing these challenges for the welfare and prosperity of their peoples. They reaffirmed the importance of expansion of economic and trade cooperation among the three countries.

They agreed to exchange and promote trade and transit facilities among the three countries, with due regard to the special needs of the land-locked countries, in accordance with the ECO recommendations, particularly the joint declaration of the 10th ECO summit as well as relevant regional and international conventions.

All the sides recognized the need to facilitate and expedite customs transactions to ensure effective and efficient delivery of goods and services. They also agreed to promote preferential trade arrangements between the three countries, and to further strengthen the existing regional agreement and frameworks and remove trade imbalances.

They underlined the need to construct in an expedited manner, railways and roads as link networks for enhancing trade, economic growth and strengthened regional cooperation. They affirmed the need to operationalize designated projects for transfer of electricity from Central Asia to Iran and Pakistan through Afghanistan.

They reiterated the importance of joint cooperation in the field of agriculture. The Foreign Ministers emphasized joint cooperation to facilitate investment in various fields, in conformity with the national legislation of the three countries, for voluntary participation in relevant actions.

They agreed to establish joint training centers aimed at achieving a proficient labour force for formulation of relevant projects among the three countries. They highlighted the importance of consolidating relations among the three countries, including people to people contact, as an important measure to bring to an end trafficking of human beings and, in that regard, agreed to identify additional measures to ensure safe and legal movement of their citizens.

They emphasized enhanced cooperation and coordination of activities in fields of culture, education, higher education, health and scientific research. The Foreign Minister acknowledged with great importance the need to enhance cooperation for controlling the spread of transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis and hepatitis.

They agreed to hold periodic meeting of Foreign Ministers of the three countries. They also agreed to hold the Second Trilateral Summit in Tehran within one month.-APP

With a set of old glories neatly arranged in the background, flanked by his Secretaries of State and Defense, President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan (or Af-Pak Strategy). President announced,

“So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.”

Apparently, the strategy was more of an escalation of Bush policy than a policy shift. However, foreign policy experts like Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski remain skeptical of the goals set for, what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called, “long slog” war.

Not long before President’s announcement, Secretary Gates was lowering nation’s expectations for winning the war. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he cautioned against setting unrealistic goals, “This is going to be a long slog, and frankly, my view is that we need to be very careful about the nature of the goals we set for ourselves in Afghanistan”. He warned, “If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience and money”. Considering, no power has ever been able to hold Afghanistan for too long, his warning was right on the money.

Despite bipartisan approval of Obama Af-Pak Strategy, experts believe the policy is fraught with unrealistic optimism, unattainable goals and erroneous calculations. Even worst, it fails to meet the tenets of the Powell Doctrine. Many analysts hail the doctrine to be the Holy Grail of modern warfare. According to the Doctrine, before America takes a military action its tenets would have to be answered affirmatively:

1. Is a vital national security interest threatened?

2. Do we have a clear attainable objective?

3. Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?

4. Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?

5. Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?

6. Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?

7. Is the action supported by the American people?

8. Do we have genuine broad international support?

Coincidently, with the exception of the first tenet, Obama policy falls short of affirming every other tenet. However, before glancing over the negations, a retrospective accounting of genesis of the Af-Pak crisis might assist in understanding the crisis.

Roots of the current mess can be traced back to the political and administrative vacuum left by the CIA, when it suddenly left Afghanistan without even saying bye to its wartime partners, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Mujahideen – who used to frequent White House as state guests. Its premature departure was resented by the abandoned, which gave birth to equally cold-hearted phenomenon of Talibanization. They controlled over 80% of Afghanistan; hence, they became its default government. In exchange for financial support, the cash-strapped Taliban provided safe heavens to terrorist organizations, like Al Qaeda.

At least initially, Al Qaeda’s core was made up of the CIA funded and trained Mujahideen; who should been rehabbed after the Soviets withdrawal. Unsupervised and forsaken by Americans and their native countries, these fighters who knew no other trait but guerrilla warfare searched for new causes. When none found, they invented their own.

Similarly, Pakistanis also found themselves deserted and heavily sanctioned by their allies. On its Eastern borders India was still as hostile as ever. Pakistanis decided to defend themselves by creating a buffer through a proxy. Pakistanis diverted thousands of idle guerrilla fighters from Afghanistan to Kashmiri. The buffer kept India engaged in an asymmetrical warfare.

After the 9/11 attacks, instead of seeking assistance of the patrons of Taliban and its time tested partner ISI, America aligned itself with a pro Indo-Iran-Russian mercenaries, the Northern-Alliance (NA). Soon after the American lead invasion, the Taliban dispersed into the civilian population. By placing an ethnic minority NA government (Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks) in Kabul, the allies further alienated the Pushtoon majority.

If things weren’t already complicated enough, Bush team made the worst possible mistake; it allowed a massive Indian influx into Afghanistan. Indians who were itching to settle scores with Pakistan wasted no time in opening at least 11 consulates on the western borders of Pakistan. Pakistanis viewed these consulates as launch pads for the subversive elements tasked to destabilize Pakistan. The Pakistanis felt entrapped by what they interpreted as a hostile Indian encirclement. They countered the move by reassembling the Taliban proxy.

That is when an Afghanistan, which was apparently turning to normalcy, took a turn for the worst. It became the shooting gallery for many; including the NATO, India, Iran, Pakistan, and non-state elements like Al Qaeda, Pakistan Sponsored Taliban (PST) and RAW/CIA Sponsored Taliban (RCST). The RCST were primarily tasked to infiltrate PST and to conduct subversive activities inside Pakistan. Additionally, it was meant to erode public support for the PST and to generate anti-Taliban sentiments among the global community. The risky strategy runs a too realistic danger of destabilizing nuclear armed Pakistan to a point of no return. Pakistan may end up fracturing into multiple unmanageable pieces, each with its own share of extremists. Clearly the strategy violates tenets 2 and 3 of the Powell Doctrine.

While analyzing President Obama’s European (G20) trip with Charlie Rose, both Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski offered their criticism of Af-Pak review. Henry Kissinger warned of an unmanageable mess, if something is not done soon to stabilize deteriorating conditions in Pakistan. He called Af-Pak policy a “fluid military strategy.” Mr. Brzezinski was more specific with his criticism. He asked, “how do we really get Pakistan to help us?” Then he answered, “Pakistanis are convinced they are under threat from India.” But Af-Pak policy does exactly the opposite. It recommends a greater role of India in Afghanistan, which only adds to Pakistan’s fears and goes against the prevailing wisdom of stabilizing Pakistan. A contradiction of the 3rd tenet.

President’s special representative, Richard Holbrooke announced Af-Pak exit strategy,

“The exit strategy includes governance, corruption, but above all, and this is the single most difficult aspect of what we are talking about today, it requires dealing with Western Pakistan.”

The unattainable and ambiguous exit strategy stood in stark contrast of the 5th tenet of the Powell Doctrine. He explained,

“If the current situation in Western Pakistan continued, the instability in Afghanistan will continue.” Meaning, success in Afghanistan is tied to the threats in the ‘Western Pakistan’.

An interdependent strategy gives birth to a range of new complexities: either, the US will have to depend on Pakistan’s resolve and capacity to deal with the extremists, or it will have to root them out itself.

America has already voiced its mistrust of Pakistan’s resolve to fight the extremists. If Pakistan cannot be trusted then US will have to do it itself. It will have to: either divert the resources from Afghanistan, or send additional troops to Western Pakistan. But the resources from Afghanistan cannot be diverted, until Afghan National Security Forces are first brought up to a level where they could function independently; an ambitious goal, considering Afghan president still can’t leave his Kabul palace without the protection provided by the US Navy SEALS. The other option is equally impractical, because it will require pumping-in additional American troops – paralleling the numbers deployed during the ‘Gulf War’.

Since American allies are already fatigued from the long drawn Afghan war, they want to leave Afghanistan altogether. Allies, like Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup (head of Britain’s armed forces), also expressed their reservations over the practicality of the American strategy. He advised, “Just as in Afghanistan, that kind of insurgency cannot be defeated by conventional military means. It can only be dealt with, in the long term, through politics.” An obvious negation of tenet 8 of Powell Doctrine.

US will have to dip into its own pool to exercise the second option, because no amount of covert/shoot & scoot missions can stem the militancy. No Pakistani government will be able to ignore populous’ demands to fight the invaders. It will be compelled to fight with any or all means at its disposal. Naturally, a Pakistani reaction cannot be calculated, without invoking the forbidden phrase of ‘nuclear exchange’. Much to be desired to affirm the 6th tenet.

Reportedly, even Vice President Joseph Biden argued against the troop surge in Afghanistan. Moreover, American public is not in mood to embark on another never-ending war. Besides, neither the US nor its allies’ economies are hardly in a shape to be able to afford yet another trillion dollar war. Cardinal sins, per 7th and 8th tenets.

Despite thumbs up from the Afghan and Pakistani presidents, the public remains extremely suspicious and resentful of the American policy. Reportedly, between January 14, 2006 and April 8, 2009, 60 UAV hits in Pakistan killed 14 Al Qaeda men, 687 innocent civilians, including women and children. Fairly or unfairly, an ordinary Afghan or a Pakistani believes, West is in there to destroy their faith, their country and the Muslim world altogether. If the war is to be won, then Obama’s team will have to reevaluate and reform its strategy.

The emphasis should be on winning hearts and minds of Afghans and Pakistanis. Before exercising the military option, a really heavy dose of diplomacy, political and financial support will have to be thrown in the mix. Above all, US will have to win back the trust and goodwill of their Pakistani counterparts. Suspension of UAV attacks and phenomenal reduction of Indian presence in Afghanistan would be good starting points in generating goodwill and normalcy in the region.

Secretary Gates was prophetic when he said, “If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of central Asian Valhalla [in Afghanistan], we will lose, because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience and money”. Listen to him!

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet has decided to immediately go ahead with Iran gas pipeline project on bilateral basis, gradually increase spending on education and health to 10% of GDP, impose 25% duty on export of molasses and advance clocks by one hour from 15th of this month. The meeting held in Islamabad on Wednesday was chaired by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The meeting observed that since India, the third country involved in the proposed gas pipeline has withdrawn, Pakistan will execute the project to import one billion cubic feet of gas. It was decided to conclude gas purchase agreement.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira said as the price of Iranian gas would be comparatively higher, it would mainly be used for power generation by those plants that are currently run on furnace oil.

He emphasized that government is striving to reduce its dependence on imported energy and intends to exploit local resources. He said the cabinet also discussed the new educational policy and decided to take the provincial governments on board before its approval. Ministry of Education has been directed to send copies of the draft policy to the chief ministers for their input as implementation is mainly the domain of the provinces.

The Information Minister said that government is giving top priority to the education and health and would seek foreign assistance including that from Friends of Pakistan for the purpose and would gradually enhance the allocations for education and health up to ten percent of the GDP.

The cabinet also decided to organize the education system in religious schools to bring them in mainstream. The education minister said we don’t want to impose curbs on religious education but want Madaris to teach comtemporary education so that the students of these institutions may also join other services including appearance in competitive examination.

The Cabinet directed the ministry of finance to give briefing to it about the financial position every month so that the nation is kept informed of the situation.

It also decided that special incentives would be given to export processing zone at Gwadar to give a fillip to economic activities in Balochistan. A ministerial committee comprising of Minister for Industries, Advisor on Finance and Minister for Port and Shipping has been set up to recommend incentives.

The Minister for Information said that the government wants to bring the backward areas of Balochistan at par with the developed parts of the country.

The Information Minister said that the cabinet has taken important decision for resolving electricity crisis in Karachi and rid the city of load shedding. For this purpose the cabinet decided to accept liability of thirty-one billion loan, out of a total of over forty billion loans owed by KESC. He informed that the loan is due to differences between purchase and selling rates of power by the Corporation.

He said the new management of KESC has pledged an investment of three hundred and sixty million dollars in power generation and improvement of system in Karachi. The loan would be adjusted in accordance with this investment. A committee comprising of Advisor on Finance, Minister for Water and Power, Advisor on Petroleum and Minister for Overseas Pakistanis has been constituted to look after the KESC performance.

The cabinet also decide to review Afghan transit trade with a view to meeting the requirements of Afghanistan and at the same time warding off any loss to Pakistan. The Information Minister said it was also decided at today’s meeting that legislation would be made through bills and parliament instead of ordinances.

A National University of Law and Social Sciences would establish in Islamabad with campuses in the four provinces to cater to the higher education needs of those seeking to pursue law. It was also decided to advance clocks by an hour from 15th of this month to make the maximum use of day light and save the electricity. He said a similar decision last year helped saved 250 MW of electricity daily.

The Cabinet decided to impose 25% regulatory duty on molasses to help meet needs of the local Ethanol producing industry. The Information Minister said the country will have to import sugar in view of less than targeted production of the sugarcane.

Replying to questions Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira said the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would be presented in the National Assembly tomorrow and before the Senate on 17th of this month. These would be implemented by the government after finalization by the parliament.

To another question he said drone attacks constitute attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty and these are counter productive to the objectives of fight against terrorism.-SANA

WASHINGTON: Barack Obama on Friday told Iran’s people that the United States wanted to engage with their country and end decades of strained relationship if their leaders stopped making threats.

The US president released a video message with Farsi subtitles that urged the two countries to resolve their long-standing differences. Obama released the video to coincide with the major Iranian festival of Nowruz, a 12-day holiday that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year in Iran. In the video, which has Farsi subtitles.

In the video, Obama said:

“In this season of new beginnings I would like to speak clearly to Iran’s leaders. We have serious differences that have grown over time. My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties among the US, Iran and the international community.”

Obama has signaled a willingness to speak directly with Iran about its nuclear programme and hostility towards Israel, a key US ally.

While Iran played down President Barack Obama’s new video message to the Iranian people on Friday, saying it welcomed the overtures but warned that decades of mistrust could not easily be erased.

But in the first government reaction to the video, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s press adviser said “minor changes will not end the differences” between Tehran and Washington.

“Obama has talked of change but has taken no practical measures to address America’s past mistakes in Iran. If Obama takes concrete actions and makes fundamental changes in US foreign policy toward other nations including Iran, the Iranian government and people will not turn their back on him,”

Ali Akbar Javanfekr said.

But Iranian leaders have been not been as eager. Ahmadinejad has said Iran would welcome talks with the US but only if there was mutual respect. Iranian officials say that means the US needs to stop accusing Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism, charges Tehran has denied.

On Friday, Javanfekr blamed the United States’ “hostile policy toward Iran” for the tense ties between the two countries. He said Iranian’s “will never forget” Washington’s past actions including the US-backed coup that toppled the elected government of Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh in 1953, its backing of Saddam Hussein during Iraq’s war with Iran in the 1980s and the downing of an Iranian airliner in 1988 by a US naval ship.

But in Europe, the EU’s policy chief urged Iranian officials to accept Obama’s outstretched hand. “It is a very constructive message,” Javier Solana said at an EU summit in Brussels. “I hope that will open a new chapter in relations with Tehran.-SANA

TEHRAN: President Asif Ali Zardari, President Hamid Karzai and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday agreed on enhanced closer cooperation between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran by holding regular interactions between the three countries on regional issues and for increased mutual cooperation in all spheres including the fight against terrorism.

The three leaders who had a meeting here on the sidelines of the 10th ECO summit agreed to have a meeting of their foreign ministers every month while the three heads of states will meet every three months to discuss regional situation and coordinate efforts for closer ties.

The three foreign ministers will announce the dates, venue and agenda for the first foreign ministers level trilateral meeting by Wednesday, paving way for enhanced closer cooperation between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

During the trilateral meeting which was held on the proposal of resident Zardari, who also had exclusive as well as the delegation level talks with the Iranian and Afghan Presidents separately, the three leaders identified war on terror, border issues and trade and economic cooperation as major areas of focus.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Syed Sumsam Ali Bukhari, Advisor on Petroleum Dr. Asim, MNA Farah Naz Isfahani and senior Pakistani officials assisted President Zardari, while the Presidents of Iran and Afghanistan were aided by their respective delegations.

After the trilateral meeting, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Syed
Sumsam Ali Bukhari and MNA Farah Naz Isfahani told the Pakistani media that the decision to hold triangular consultations on regional issues was a step in right direction and will send a positive signal to the world.

Sumsam Bukhari said President Zardari took the lead in suggesting a triangular increased cooperation between the three brotherly and Muslim neighbors for tackling the challenges faced by this region through a collective approach, which was highly appreciated by President Ahmadinejad and President Karzai.

During the meeting President Ahmadinejad and President Karzai appreciated the vision and leadership of President Zardari and they were confident that the three countries can work together to tackle the issues facing the region.

To a question about the IPI gas pipeline project, the Minister said that there was a progress on this subject, as the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister has been given the task of working on a new formula.

Member National Assembly Farah Naz Isfahani described as a “breakthrough” the decision in the trilateral meeting and said the cooperation between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan for increased socioeconomic development and in facing the challenges jointly is good news for the region.

She said during the meeting President Ahmadinejad made a strong point by saying that if Soviet Union can be forced to leave Afghanistan with the cooperation and support of Pakistan and Iran, then why these neighbors cannot succeed in tackling the current challenges including terrorism and militancy.-SANA

TEHRAN: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday called for a regional approach to deal with the menace of terrorism and militancy, while taking into account the interests, capacity and aspirations of sovereign states and their peoples. “A regional approach has to take into account the interest, the capacity and the aspirations of sovereign states and their people and has to build solid stakes in lasting peace”, President Zardari said while addressing the 10th ECO Summit being held here in the Iranian capital. The President said as terrorism does not have any faith and frontiers, it was important to focus on addressing and eliminating its root causes which include injustice, deprivation and dispossession. “Terrorism knows neither faith, nor frontiers. It breeds on injustice, deprivation and dispossession. Terrorism has roots across the region and its root causes have to be addressed”, he stressed.

President Zardari said the democratic government in Pakistan has made a promising beginning with Afghanistan and the two brotherly countries are making steady progress in building a relationship of deeper trust and understanding. “We have revived the Jirga process and set the directions of future cooperation”, he remarked.

The President said the ECO family bears a special responsibility towards Afghanistan, adding, Pakistan has been at the forefront of ECO’s efforts for the reconstruction of this brotherly country. “Let us give these efforts a strong impetus”, President

Zardari said and announced that Pakistan will shortly be remitting an additional US $ one million to the ECO fund for Afghanistan. President Zardari said with important strides being made across the world, the ECO has yet to realize its potential to the fullest measure. “We have to fashion ECO to the specifications of our region and the demands of our times”, he said.

The President in this respect made some vital proposals which include the creation of ECO free trade area, development of an ECO, Energy Ring of pipelines and electricity grids, economic partnership, greater connectivity through road, rail, air and sea links and forging of closer links with adjoining regions particularly SCO and SAARC.-SANA

ISLAMABAD: The presidents of Pakistan and neighboring Iran and Afghanistan have agreed that their foreign ministers will hold monthly meetings to discuss regional issues, according to a spokesman for Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

Zardari, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also decided Tuesday to hold quarterly meetings among themselves to discuss topics including terrorism, trade and development, Zardari spokesman Sarfraz Hussain told CNN.

The three leaders met in Tehran, where they plan to attend a summit Wednesday of the Economic Cooperation Organization — a group of 10 nations, including Turkey and Kazakhstan, established in 1985. The agenda and venue for the first foreign ministerial meeting would be announced Wednesday, Hussain said. There was no immediate comment from Iranian or Afghan officials.-SANA

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has said Pakistan will purchase gas from Iran pipeline even India pullout of the project and will hold talks with the Iranian officials during his Iran visit. In an interview to Iranian news agency Zardari said that the gas pipeline project has been in the best interest of Pakistan and Iran. Pakistan had proposed President Ahmadinejad to finalize the gas pipeline project even India joins it or not.

President Zardari said that during his stay in Iran he will push for progress in the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project. President Asif Ali Zardari will leave for Tehran tomorrow.-SANA