DG Operations, ANP leader exchange harsh words in Senate body meeting

ISLAMABAD: DG Operations and Planning Major Gen. Tahir Ashraf and the parliamentary leader of Awami National Party Haji Adeel Khan exchanged harsh words in the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production.
The meeting presided by Chairman standing committee Lt. Gen. (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi here in the Parliament House on Tuesday.
The exchange of harsh words began when Haji Adeel asked about the distribution of food items by the Army among the flood affectees.
Major General Tahir Ashraf said that they did not come in the meeting to organize their ‘postmortem or accountability’ by someone on which the ANP leader said that the country was not under martial law rule that Army Generals were showing ‘such attitude’.
The Secretary Defence Lt. Gen. (r) Athar Ali interfered and appeased the two participants of the meeting.
He said the Senators were having the right to ask about the matter adding they would satisfy the peoples’ representatives in connection with their questions.
Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force officials briefed the committee about the rescue and relief operations in the flood-hit areas of the country.
The Secretary Defence admitted during the course of the meeting that no ‘exemplary’ response was seen in the beginning days of the floods.
He emphasized the need of creating coordination among all the institutes and organizations which were making efforts for the relief of the flood affectees.
The Army officials, on the occasion, said due to the lack of contacts between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the foreign planes carrying aid for the flood victims could not land on the airports of the nearby cities.
The committee was informed that 22 helicopters would be given to Pakistan by the US and Japan in the mid of September.
The Army officials said the news that Chinese army had come to Gilgit Baltistan for relief work was wrong.
The Pakistan Navy officials said that one battalion and more than 90 boats took part in the rescue and relief operations in the flood-ravaged areas of the country.
They said 20 ton medicines were provided to the victims in the Navy camps adding the Navy personnel rescued 1, 65000 people and transferred them to safe places.
The Pakistan Air Force officials said they started rescue and relief efforts from July 29 while all the aircrafts including C1-30.
They said that 4, 000 Air Force personnel took part in the rescue and relief operations adding they carried aid goods to the flood-ravaged areas.
On the occasion, the Secretary Defence Athar Ali Shah said the planes carrying aid goods took off on Chaklala Airbase due to security situation of the country.
While briefing the committee about the relief efforts made by Army, DG Military Operations Brigadier Azhar maintained the floods broke the record of past 80 years as about 1645 casualties were reported due to the devastating calamity.
He further said that almost 79 districts of the country and 3.5 million square feet areas were affected.
He said that 72, 000 Army personnel were deployed for the rescue and relief operations in the calamity-hit areas.
He said that 950 boats and 70 helicopters were being used in the operations while, he added, the Army 217 relief camps were installed by the Army.

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10,000 Chinese troops in Gilgit-Baltistan

NEW YORK: Well known South Asia specialist and writer Selig Harrison, who has a long been a critic of Pak policy, has made a startling disclosure in his latest article in the New York Times, which has almost gone unnoticed in Pakistan. He says Pakistan has decided to hand over Gilgit-Baltistan to China and up to 10,000 troops of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have moved into the area.The article, published on Aug 26 in the opinion pages of the NYT, says a quiet geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Himalayan borderlands of northern Pakistan, where Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China.Selig Harrison, who is director of the Asia Programme at the Center for International Policy and a former South Asia bureau chief of The Washington Post, writes under the title China’s Discreet Hold on Pakistan’s Northern Borderlands: “While the world focuses on the flood-ravaged Indus River valley, a quiet geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Himalayan borderlands of northern Pakistan, where Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China. “The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency. But reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers reveal two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army. “China wants a grip on the region to assure unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan. It takes 16 to 25 days for Chinese oil tankers to reach the Gulf. When high-speed rail and road links through Gilgit and Baltistan are completed, China will be able to transport cargo from Eastern China to the new Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases at Gwadar, Pasni and Ormara, just east of the Gulf, within 48 hours.

“Many of the P.L.A. soldiers entering Gilgit-Baltistan are expected to work on the railroad. Some are extending the Karakoram Highway, built to link China’s Sinkiang Province with Pakistan. Others are working on dams, expressways and other projects. Mystery surrounds the construction of 22 tunnels in secret locations where Pakistanis are barred. Tunnels would be necessary for a projected gas pipeline from Iran to China that would cross the Himalayas through Gilgit. But they could also be used for missile storage sites. “Until recently, the P.L.A. construction crews lived in temporary encampments and went home after completing their assignments. Now they are building big residential enclaves clearly designed for a long-term presence. “What is happening in the region matters to Washington for two reasons. Coupled with its support for the Taliban, Islamabad’s collusion in facilitating China’s access to the Gulf makes clear that Pakistan is not a US ally. Equally important, the nascent revolt in the Gilgit-Baltistan region is a reminder that Kashmiri demands for autonomy on both sides of the ceasefire line would have to be addressed in a settlement. “Media attention has exposed the repression of the insurgency in the Indian-ruled Kashmir Valley. But if reporters could get into the Gilgit-Baltistan region and Azad Kashmir, they would find widespread, brutally suppressed local movements for democratic rights and regional autonomy. “When the British partitioned South Asia in 1947, the Maharajah who ruled Kashmir, including Gilgit and Baltistan, acceded to India. This set off intermittent conflict that ended with Indian control of the Kashmir Valley, the establishment of Pakistan-sponsored Free Kashmir in western Kashmir, and Pakistan’s occupation of Gilgit and Baltistan, where Sunni Jihadi groups allied with the Pakistan Army have systematically terrorized the local Shiite Muslims. “Gilgit and Baltistan are in effect under military rule. Democratic activists there want a legislature and other institutions without restrictions like the ones imposed on Free Kashmir, where the elected legislature controls only 4 out of 56 subjects covered in the state constitution. The rest are under the jurisdiction of Kashmir Council appointed by the president of Pakistan. “India gives more power to the state government in Srinagar; elections there are widely regarded as fair, and open discussion of demands for autonomy is permitted. But the Pakistan-abetted insurgency in the Kashmir Valley has added to tensions between Indian occupation forces and an assertive population seeking greater local autonomy. “The United States is uniquely situated to play a moderating role in Kashmir, given its growing economic and military ties with India and Pakistan’s aid dependence on Washington. Such a role should be limited to quiet diplomacy. Washington should press New Delhi to resume autonomy negotiations with Kashmiri separatists. Success would put pressure on Islamabad for comparable concessions in Free Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. In Pakistan, Washington should focus on getting Islamabad to stop aiding the insurgency in the Kashmir Valley and to give New Delhi a formal commitment that it will not annex Gilgit and Baltistan. “Precisely because the Gilgit-Baltistan region is so important to China, the United States, India and Pakistan should work together to make sure that it is not overwhelmed, like Tibet, by the Chinese behemoth.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/31-08-2010/Top-Story/267.htm

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