Amidst mounting tension, Pak recalls Hina Khar from US

Kayani meets army top brass

Islamabad, September 25
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today asked Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to cut short a visit to the US amid strained ties with Washington. Gilani asked Khar, who was representing Pakistan at the UN General Assembly in New York, to return to the country immediately, TV news channels quoted official sources as saying.
The premier had earlier called off his visit to the US and sent Khar in his place. Though Gilani said he had cancelled the visit to oversee relief operations in flood-hit areas, reports said he had decided not to go to the US after President Barack Obama refused to meet him on the sidelines of the UN meet.
Khar had been called back to Pakistan as her presence is vital for a meeting of the country’s political leadership to be convened by the premier, the official sources were quoted as saying. She was the only member of the civilian leadership to have had direct contact with US officials regarding allegations of the ISI backing the Haqqani network and running a proxy war in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani met his top commanders today at a “special” meeting to discuss the security situation, the military said, as the war of words with the USA escalated.
The extraordinary meeting of the corps commanders came against the backdrop of sharp US allegations that Pakistan army’s powerful spy agency supported the Haqqani militant group Washington blames for the recent attack on its embassy and other targets in Kabul.
“The prevailing security situation was discussed,” military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said without giving details. Kayani, who is departing for London to address the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal College of Defence Studies, chaired the meeting. Separately, the US CENTCOM commander Gen James N. Mattis met with Chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Khalid Shameem Wyne who expressed concern over the “negative statements emanating from (the) US.”
“He (Wyne) stressed upon addressing the irritants in relationship which are a result of an extremely complex situation,” the military said in a statement.
“He reiterated that Pakistan armed forces are committed to achieving enduring peace in the region which will only be possible through mutual trust and cooperation.”
In the most blunt remarks by a US official since Pakistan joined the US-led war on militancy in 2001, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, on Thursday testified before the US Senate that the Haqqani militant network is a “veritable arm” of the Directorate of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of the Pakistan army. He also for the first time held Islamabad responsible for the Kabul attack, saying Pakistan provided support for that assault.
The Pakistan government as well as the army rejected the allegations and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani spoke to political leaders by telephone on Sunday and decided to call a meeting of to discuss the issue of tensions with the United States.
On Saturday night, Gilani rejected US allegations as a sign of American “confusion and policy disarray.”
Abbas acknowledged that the ISI maintained contacts with the Haqqani network, but said that didn’t mean it supported it. “No intelligence agency can afford to shut the last door of contact,” he told Reuters. “Maintaining contact doesn’t mean that you are endorsing or supporting that terrorist organisation.” — Reuters

MULLEN’S TESTIMONY

The outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, had on Thursday testified before the US Senate that the Haqqani militant network is a “veritable arm” of the ISI. He also for the first time held Islamabad responsible for the Kabul attack, saying Pakistan provided support for that assault.

PAK REJECTS CHARGES

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani rejected US allegations as a sign of American “confusion and policy disarray.” Gilani’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar told Washington on Friday that it risked losing an ally if it kept accusing Islamabad of playing a double game in the war against militancy