DINA for the issue of 27, December 2011

----------------------------------------------------------------
D A W N I n t e r n e t N e w s A l e r t
----------------------------------------------------------------
December 27, 2011 Tuesday Safar 1, 1433
----------------------------------------------------------------
The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news-service
from Pakistan's largest English language newspaper, the Daily
DAWN.

We encourage comments & suggestions. We can be reached at:

e-mail webmaster@dawn.com
WWW http://dawn.com
fax +92(21) 35693995
snail-mail DAWN Media Group,
Haroon House, Karachi 74200, Pakistan

(c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 2011

The link at the end of each extract can be used to access the
complete story on DAWN - the Internet Edition.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Attack on posts: Probe report reveals crucial Nato delays
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON, Dec 26: A military investigation has concluded that it took about 90 minutes for Nato officers to notify a senior commander about Pakistan's calls that its outposts were under attack, underscoring a lack of timely senior-level "override" measures to avoid deadly cross-border errors like last month's air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Once alerted, the commander immediately halted American attacks on two Pakistani border posts. But by then, military communications between the two sides had sorted out a chain of errors and the shooting had already stopped. The delays — by two different officers — raise questions about whether a faster response could have spared the lives of some Pakistani soldiers...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/attacks-on-posts-probe-report-reveals-crucial-nato-delays.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Gilani changes tack, praises army chief
----------------------------------------------------------------
By Khawar Ghumman
ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani continues to drop bombshells in his public pronouncements.

In an interaction with electronic media on Monday, he denied reports that the government had even considered sacking the army chief and ISI's director general in the aftermath of the 'memogate' episode...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/gilani-changes-tack-praises-army-chief.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
PPP to use Benazir anniversary for show of strength
----------------------------------------------------------------
By M.B. Kalhoro
LARKANA, Dec 26: The Pakistan People's Party appears to have decided to demonstrate its popularity on Tuesday when the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto will be observed in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto.

President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Monday, visited the mausoleum of the Bhutto family and went to the camp office of President's House in Naudero...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/ppp-to-use-benazir-anniversary-for-show-of-strength.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Pakistan and India resume conventional CBM talks
----------------------------------------------------------------
By Iftikhar A Khan
ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: Pakistan proposed on Monday to India deployment of artillery and mortars 30 kilometres away from the Line of Control as the two sides revived talks on conventional and nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs) after a gap of four years, official sources told Dawn.

The two-day talks signified the first formal engagement between the two countries since Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in the Maldives last month, during which the two leaders agreed to push trust-building measures to add momentum to the revived dialogue process...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/pakistan-and-india-resume-conventional-cbm-talks.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Govt in no mood to back down in memo case
----------------------------------------------------------------
By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: As far as its legal battles on the controversial memo are concerned the government appears to be in no mood to back down.

An affidavit submitted by the interior ministry to the Supreme Court, which provides detailed para-wise comments on the affidavits of the chief of the army staff, the ISI director general, American businessman Mansoor Ijaz and former ambassador Husain Haqqani, makes it clear that the government is sticking to its stand that the memo is no issue...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/govt-in-no-mood-to-back-down-in-memo-case.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Al Qaeda wiped out in Pakistan, say UK officials
----------------------------------------------------------------
By Jason Burke
LONDON, Dec 26: Senior British officials believe that a "last push" in 2012 is likely to definitively destroy Al Qaeda's remaining senior leadership in Pakistan, opening a new phase in the battle against terrorism.

So many senior members of the organisation have been killed in an intense campaign of air strikes involving missiles launched from unmanned drones that "only a handful of the key players" remain alive, according to one official...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/al-qaeda-wiped-out-in-pakistan-say-uk-officials.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Al Qaeda warns of revenge attacks
----------------------------------------------------------------
By Sailab Mahsud
LADDAH: Al Qaeda has warned America, Pakistan and Afghanistan of attacks to avenge killing of its influential leader Tehsin bin Ali Abdul Aziz and his two aides in a drone strike in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan on Aug 1 this year.

A three-page pamphlet in Arabic with Urdu translation on a separate page, issued by Abdul Aalaam Maatafi Haleema (Abu Baseer Al-Tartusi), Amir of Al-Harkatah Alamia Kurdistan Iraq, said the attacks would be carried out in the three countries as they were allies...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/al-qaeda-warns-of-revenge-attacks.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Benazir's death anniversary: Zardari may make 'soft' speech to defuse tension
----------------------------------------------------------------
By Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to be soft on his 'outspoken critics' in his speech he will deliver on Tuesday on the fourth anniversary of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, according to sources in the Pakistan People's Party.

The sources told Dawn the president would rather try to lower the political temperature which had shot up in the wake of the memo controversy...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/benazirs-death-anniversary-zardari-may-make-soft-speech-to-defuse-tension.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Taliban office in Qatar acceptable, Pakistan's support needed: Kabul
----------------------------------------------------------------
KABUL, Dec 26: Afghanistan would accept a Taliban liaison office in Qatar to start peace talks but no foreign power should get involved in the process without its consent, the government's peace council said, as efforts gathered pace to find a solution to the decade-long war.

Afghanistan's High Peace Council, in a note to foreign missions, has set out ground rules for engaging the Taliban after Kabul grew concerned that the United States and Qatar, helped by Germany, had secretly agreed with the Taliban to open an office in the Qatari capital, Doha...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/taliban-office-in-qatar-acceptable-pakistans-support-needed-kabul.html

----------------------------------------------------------------
Partnership with Pakistan to be enhanced, says China
----------------------------------------------------------------
BEIJING, Dec 26: China would continue to develop its strategic partnership with Pakistan, said Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday.

"No matter how the international situation changes, this policy will not be shaken," said the spokesman for the ministry, Hong Lei...

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/27/partnership-with-pakistan-to-be-enhanced-says-china.html


--------------------------------------------------------------
*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*DINA*
--------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this mailing list, please fill the form located at: http://www.dawn.com/alerts
--------------------------------------------------------------