Islamabad: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has acknowledged his regime secretly cleared US drone strikes, becoming the first serving or retired Pakistani official to publicly admit that the country had a deal on attacks by the CIA-operated spy planes. Musharraf said there was no blanket agreement with the US on the controversial drone campaign and that his regime had cleared missile strikes "only on very few occasions where the target was absolutely isolated and (the drone strike) had no chance of collateral damage".
The drone strikes were discussed "at the military (and) intelligence level" and cleared only if "there was no time for our own (special operations task force) and military to act", he said. "That was...maybe two or three times only," he told CNN in an interview. Sometimes, he said, "you couldn't delay action". He added, "These ups and downs kept going...It was a very fluid situation, a vicious enemy...mountains, inaccessible areas".
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03:55 PM, Apr 12, 2013
Islamabad: The roars celebrating the re-election of US President Barack Obama on television give Mohammad Rehman Khan a searing headache, as years of grief and anger come rushing back. The 28-year-old Pakistani accuses the president of robbing him of his father, three brothers and a nephew, all killed in a US drone attack a month after Obama first took office. "The same person who attacked my home has gotten re-elected,"...
12:46 PM, Nov 08, 2012
New Delhi: Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan was offloaded from a US-bound flight at Toronto International airport in Canada on Friday just hours after he criticised the US for drone attacks in Pakistan's restive Waziristan region. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief was reportedly questioned for his fundraising activities and his alleged links to the Taliban. Imran later tweeted about his interrogation and stood by his critical stand on US drones....
07:19 AM, Oct 27, 2012
United Nations: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday declared at the United Nations that his country has suffered more than any other nation in the "epic struggle" against terrorism, with US drone strikes on its territory adding to complexities and it should not be asked to do more. "No country and no people have suffered more in the epic struggle against terrorism, than Pakistan," he told world leaders in...
11:46 AM, Sep 26, 2012
Islamabad: US drones targeted three militant compounds in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region on Friday killing at least 18 insurgents, just a day after Pakistan summoned a top American diplomat to lodge protest over such attacks calling them a violation of its sovereignty. The CIA-operated spy planes targeted the militant compounds in Shawal region of North Waziristan tribal agency, which has witnessed a series of drone attacks in the...
05:36 PM, Aug 24, 2012
Islamabad: New ISI chief Lt Gen Zahir-ul-Islam has put off a scheduled visit to the United States due to "pressing commitments" within Pakistan, the military said on Monday. A spokesman for the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's media arm, said Islam's visit to the US had been "postponed due his pressing commitments here". The spokesman did not give details about the commitments. "There is no other reason for postponing the...
11:26 PM, May 28, 2012
Islamabad: Pakistan and China have concluded a crucial USD 1.58 billion currency swap deal and multi-million dollar pacts to upgrade the strategic Karakoram Highway and a power plant, amid severe strains in US-Pak ties. The two "all-weather" strategic partners signed six bilateral agreements, including the 10-billion-yuan currency swap deal between China's central bank and State Bank of Pakistan, on Friday. The pact were inked during a visit to Islamabad by...
05:09 PM, Dec 24, 2011
United Nations: The Iranian UN mission said on Friday it complained to the UN Security Council about a US reconnaissance drone that it says was flying over eastern Iran before the military took "forceful action" against it. "I have the honor to draw your kind attention to the provocative and covert operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran by the United States government, which have increased and intensified in recent...
02:41 AM, Dec 10, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan's top leadership on Wednesday said the US had been asked to vacate Shamsi airbase, believed to be used by CIA-operated drones, by December 11 in the aftermath of a cross-border NATO attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Prime Minister Gilani told the media in Karachi that the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee's office had sent a letter to the US asking for Shamsi airbase to be vacated by...
11:16 PM, Nov 30, 2011
Lahore: Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that Pakistan should 'leave Kashmir alone' could harm peace talks between the two countries. "This is not a political statement. Such statements complicate matters. The Indian Prime Minister should not have made such a statement and there was no need for it," Sharif, the chief of the main opposition PML-N, said during an interaction with reporters....
07:13 PM, Jul 02, 2011
Parachinar, Pakistan: Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at a vehicle and a house in northwest Pakistan, killing at least seven people on Monday in a rare attack in an area where some of NATO's fiercest enemies have reportedly travelled, Pakistani officials said. The first attack in the Kurram tribal area hit a vehicle, killing five suspected militants, said Noor Alam, a local government official. As tribesmen rushed to the scene,...
02:12 PM, Jun 20, 2011
Islamabad: The chief of Pakistan's Intelligence Agency (ISI) Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha has warned America that Pakistan will be forced to respond if it doesn't stop drone strikes in the country. Pakistani newspapers report that Pasha took this stand during a meeting between visiting CIA Deputy director Michael Morrell and senior ISI officials on Saturday. Both sides reportedly discussed a way forward that would involve the US stopping drone...
01:28 PM, May 22, 2011
Washington: US deployed its new stealth drone aircraft to fly dozens of high altitude secret missions deep into Pakistani airspace to monitor the Abbottabad compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, but was still unable to confirm his 100 per cent presence in the house. "Using unmanned planes designed to evade radar detection and operate at high altitudes, the CIA conducted clandestine flights over the compound for months before the...
12:54 PM, May 18, 2011
Washington: US is shifting its terror-killer drones from Pakistan to Afghanistan after Islamabad asked it to shut down UAV bases on its territory, but America has vowed to continue hitting militants based in Pakistan's tribal areas. Pakistan has asked CIA to remove its personnel from the Shamsi airbase, about 350 kms southwest of Baluchistan's capital Quetta, where some of the drones are based, 'New York Times' reported quoting senior American...
01:59 PM, Apr 30, 2011
Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari has urged the US to stop drone attacks in the country's tribal areas after a group of parliamentarians spoke of the growing resentment among local people against it. The issue came up when parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) met Zardari on Monday, Dawn reported. President's spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said the FATA delegation apprised the president of the resentment against drone attacks. They...
02:50 PM, Apr 26, 2011
Friday's strike is 50th in North Waziristan tribal region this year. ...
02:25 PM, Jun 11, 2010
Pakistani Taliban leader stuck in US missile strike. ...
03:01 PM, Jan 31, 2010
Civilians suffer as America goes after militants in northwest Pakistan. ...
02:56 PM, Jan 14, 2010
Nation, parliament outraged by American attacks: Rehman Malik. ...
11:55 AM, Jul 22, 2009
A peace deal with signed between the Taliban and Pak govt last year. ...
12:29 PM, Jun 30, 2009
