Army chief tells US Senator not to set conditions on Pak security

October 14th, 2009 RAWALPINDI - A new security advisory has been issued to all corps headquarters of Pakistan on the directive of army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani following the militant attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) here on Saturday.

October 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani senators Tuesday urged the government to withdraw from the Kerry Lugar bill that places conditionalities on the US aid to the country. The senators said the government should withdraw from the bill as parliament as well as the public is not supportive of the agreement.

October 10th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Explosions and gunfire were heard early Sunday near the Pakistan army headquarters in Rawalpindi where militants were holding many security men and civilians hostage, media reports said. Eight hostages were freed late Saturday by militants.

October 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - While the Kerry Lugar Bill has created a furor in Pakistan due to its Army and ISI-specific conditionalities, questions are also being raised as to who actually fathered these 'iron-clad conditions'. Fingers are being raised at the Pakistani lobbyists in Washington who were hired by the Pakistan Embassy.

October 8th, 2009 KARACHI - The Pakistan Army's top brass, while objecting to the terms and conditions attached with the Kerry Lugar Bill, has also raised apprehensions regarding the presence of some persons within the Gilani government who are trying to weaken the nation's Armed Forces and the premier intelligence agency, the Inter State Intelligence (ISI), The News reports. According to sources, the Army has substantial evidence regarding the presence of some 'elements' in the government who lobbied heavily for the inclusion of anti-military and anti-nuclear programme clauses in the controversial Kerry Lugar Bill.

October 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has rejected reports regarding a rift between the government and the Army over the Kerry Lugar Bill issue. Responding to queries about altercations between the government and the Pakistan Army over the 'severe' terms and conditions attached with the US aid bill, Kaira said: "There is no clash between the government and Army." Kaira said Pakistan was not bound to accept the terms and conditions in the bill, as it has not inked any deal with the US in this regard.

October 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army has objected to the stern terms and conditions attached with the Kerry Lugar Bill, opening a rift with the government, which has been describing the assistance as its 'big success'. During a regular meeting of Corps Commanders at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, military's top brass raised questions over the 'stringed' aid, which would provide Pakistan with 1.5 billion dollars a year over the next five years for democratic, economic and social development programmes.

September 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Former White House Chief of Staff, Andy Card, has decided not to run for the Senate in Massachusetts, a seat vacated by late Senator Edward Kennedy. Instead, Card is supporting Scott Brown the Massachusetts state senator who recently indicated that he was willing to back down to let the former top White House aide run for the seat.

September 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday said that the army has broken the back of terrorists and the war will continue until the complete elimination of extremists from the country. When COAS Kayani arrived in Swat's scenic place Kalam, Pakistani soldiers accorded him warm welcome.

August 8th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan's political and security conditions are increasingly deteriorating from the US point of view, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has said. The Daily Times quoted Bolton, as saying that US leaders had erred in facilitating the ouster of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf - an American ally.

May 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Eighteen months after retiring as the Pakistani Army chief, former president Pervez Musharraf has finally vacated Army House in the adjacent garrison town of Rawalpindi that he had continued to occupy on grounds of security. Citing sources, Dawn said Sunday that Musharraf's belongings had been moved to his sprawling country villa in the Chak Shahzad suburb of Islamabad.

May 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has vacated the Army House - 18 months after retiring as the Chief of Army Staff.ources said the belongings of the former army chief had been moved to his Chak Shahzad farmhouse, near Tamri Chowk. Musharraf had retired from the army on November 28, 2007.

April 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Had Gen. Pervez Musharraf not been appointed Pakistan's army chief, the 1999 Kargil conflict wouldn't have happened, former foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan says in a new book.

April 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry met President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Monday. Officials privy to the talks between Kerry and Gilani were quoted by the Dawn as saying that the Pakistan Prime Minister had told Senator Kerry that Pakistan does not want the US to base its aid on conditions linked to the campaign against militancy.

March 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani wants to defuse the ongoing political crisis in Pakistan by undoing "all the wrongs" to mark his place in the history of the country. Gilani privately told a group of senators that he wanted to "decisively deliver" in the present crisis even if he might have to lose his coveted post, sources said.