Britain to amplify military and intelligence presence in Pakistan : Report

October 10th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan intelligence agencies have warned that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) may carry out a series of suicide attacks across the country including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Chaklala and Peshawar. An intelligence report said the Taliban may target important government installations and eminent personalities.

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 6th, 2009 NEW YORK - With the Obama Administration pushing the Pakistan government to take more steps against the Taliban amid reports that the top commanders of the banned outfit have taken refuge in Quetta near the Afghan border, anti-US sentiment in Pakistan is rising. The United States is trying hard to reduce the anti-American feeling with the approval of an aid package of 1.5 billion dollars a year for the next five years, however, the terms and conditions attached with the aid are being seen as an insult by the Pakistanis and they believe that it impedes the nation's sovereignty.

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Britain will assist Pakistan to set up a counter-intelligence agency on the line of British secret service, MI5. BBC's Richard Watson quoted senior British and Pakistani counter-terrorism officials as saying that British training and funding will be made available to the new security authority.

September 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security agencies have reprimanded the editor of a Lahore-based English daily, demanding her to furnish concrete evidence of her newspaper's claims of US security contractor Blackwater operating in Pakistan. The newspaper had carried stories on Blackwater's alleged presence in Pakistan quoting army or intelligence sources, the Daily Times reports.

September 9th, 2009 LONDON - A top Pakistani diplomat has reacted strongly to Britain's accusations regarding Pakistan harbouring extremists plotting to attack the UK. The diplomat charged Britain of not doing enough to tackle home grown terrorists and treating Pakistan as a "whipping boy".

August 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States is planning to set-up a training centre at the Central Command to train military officials and secret agents to focus more on Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to the Washington Times, CENTCOM chief General David Petraeus would open the intelligence organization called the Centre for Afghanistan Pakistan Excellence later this week.

August 1st, 2009 LONDON - Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, who has been ruled guilty of illegally imposing emergency two years ago, faces exile in Britain because his presence may destabilise the country, a British newspaper reported Saturday. Musharraf, a former military general who was ousted from power in August 2008, has been in Britain for the past two months and is reported to be on a luxury cruise.

June 13th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan has rejected the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief, Leon Panetta's claims that Osama Bin Laden is hiding in the country. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar rebuffed Panetta's claims, saying reports about Bin Laden's presence in Pakistan do not have an iota of truth in them.

June 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A key adviser to the US Central Command chief General David Petraeus, Lieutenant Colonel David Kilcullen has said that Pakistan is a 'lost cause', and until it initiates wholesale changes, the prevailing lawlessness in the country would amplify. "I think it's lost (Pakistan).

May 6th, 2009 LONDON - About 20 top military and intelligence experts of Britain will now advise the Pakistani Amry in fighting against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the country, the Online news agency has reported. The British advisers will liaise with the Pakistani Army and particularly with the Frontier Corps, an ethnic Pashtun paramilitary force on the frontline of the battle with the Taliban, according to Whitehall officials.

April 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Britain and Pakistan on Monday expressed a firm resolve to jointly fight against terrorism. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani addressing a joint press conference along with his British counterpart Gordon Brown, said Pakistani is united in the battle against terrorism.

March 29th, 2009 LONDON - Britain has offered its full backing for a renewed military offensive inside Pakistan. British Defence Secretary John Hutton said his country supports targeting Pakistan-based Taliban and al-Qaida positions and urged Europe to begin offering assistance to eradicate insurgents in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

March 24th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) appears primarily to exist to fight India and to maintain a constant link between its political and military wings. It spends most of its time monitoring whom to recruit from within and outside Pakistan for intelligence-related activity.

February 7th, 2009 LONDON - Russia and China lead a list of 20 foreign intelligence agencies targeting Britain for cutting edge technologies and other secrets, a British government document was quoted saying Sunday. While Russia and China have 'the most active spy networks' operating in Britain, other countries, including European allies such as France and Germany, are also spying on Britain, the Sunday Telegraph reported quoting from the Jan 19 document that it said had been circulated to all government departments.