Pakistan Among Top Ten Humanitarian Disasters: Report
23 December 2009
Civilians Suffer From Violence and Neglect in Pakistan, Doctors without Borders, 23 December 2009
EXCERPT: "Pakistan was convulsed by intense violence throughout 2009. Conflict between the Pakistani army and armed opposition groups in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) displaced more than two million people, while numerous bombings in major Pakistani cities killed hundreds...
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Security Officials Call for Tangible Action Against US Drone Strikes
23 December 2009
Security Body Wants Tangible Action Against Drone Attacks, Daily Times, 23 December 2009
EXCERPT: "Parliament's Special Committee on National Security on Tuesday urged the government to go beyond verbal protests and play its role in stopping US drone attacks on Pakistani soil. The in-camera committee meeting, which was chaired by Senator Raza Rabbani, was briefed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the new US policy on Afghanistan....
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IMF Approves $1.2 Billion in Aid
23 December 2009
IMF Approves $1.2 Billion in Aid, Reuters, 23 December 2009
EXCERPT: "The International Monetary Fund has approved a $1.2 billion aid payment to Pakistan after concluding a review of the country's economic performance, the fund said in a statement on Wednesday. The IMF bailed out Pakistan in 2008 to avert a balance of payments crisis that, allied to budget and political concerns, had undermined investors' faith in a country...
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Pakistan Taliban Head to Afghanistan to Counter US Surge
23 December 2009
, The Associated Press in Yahoo, 23 December 2009
EXCERPT: "A top Pakistani Taliban commander told The Associated Press he has sent thousands of fighters to neighboring Afghanistan to counter the influx of new American troops. The U.S. military on Wednesday dismissed the claim as mere rhetoric ? although there's no denying that militants from various jihadi groups are crossing the...
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Al-Qaeda's Sights on Pakistan, and Beyond
23 December 2009
, Asia Times Online, 23 December 2009
EXCERPT: "While the surge of 30,000 United States troops in Afghanistan can only lead to an escalation of fighting, a major problem looms across the border, where al-Qaeda plans a new front against the Pakistan army - a move that will further dry up Islamabad's vital support for the war in Afghanistan. . . 'We don't have any intention for any...
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Amnesty Upheaval Leading to "Slow-Burning Disarray"?
22 December 2009
Pakistan: Through the Eye of a Needle [blog], Reuters // Pakistan:Now or Never? Perspectives on Pakistan, 21 December 2009
EXCERPT: "For the first time in many months, the future of Pakistan is being determined not in the fight against Islamist militants, but within its institutions ? its judiciary, its political parties, its government and its military. Last week's decision by the Supreme Court to strike down a 2007 amnesty given...
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Strategic Balochistan Becomes a Target in War Against Taliban
22 December 2009
Strategic Balochistan Becomes a Target in War Against Taliban, The Guardian, 21 December 2009
EXCERPT: "Look around Balochistan, and you may not see much. Pakistan's largest province is also its poorest and least inhabited ? an expanse of rocky deserts and ramshackle villages where hardy tribesmen live by ancient laws. But to outside eyes, Balochistan's barren sands glisten with hidden value. Mining companies eye its natural riches: vast...
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Suicide Bomber Strikes Press Club in NW
22 December 2009
, The Associated Press, 22 December 2009
EXCERPT: "A suicide bomber detonates his explosives outside a press club in northwestern Pakistan, leaving three people dead in the latest attack against the city of Peshawar since the military launched a major offensive near the Afghan border. A policeman tried to search the attacker as he approached the press club's gate, but the man resisted and was...
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US Forces Conducted Secret Raids into Pakistan
22 December 2009
US Forces Mounted Secret Pakistan Raids In Hunt For Al-Qaida, The Guardian, 21 December 2009
EXCERPT: "American special forces have conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan's tribal areas as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand its drone assassination programme. A former Nato officer said the incursions, only one of which has been previously reported, occurred between 2003 and...
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Tensions Mount, Opposition Holds Off Full Attack on Zardari
21 December 2009
Pakistan's Sharif Holds Off Full Attack on Zardari, Reuters, 21 December 2009
EXCERPT: "Pakistan's main opposition party said on Monday it would not support any unconstitutional action against President Asif Ali Zardari or his government but warned of protests if Zardari did not give up some powers. Political tension has been running high in Pakistan since last week when the Supreme Court threw out an amnesty that protected him,...
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