Pakistan’s leadership on ‘vacation’ amid NWFP crisis

August 31st, 2009 PESHAWAR - Police in Pakistan's restive northwest, where a major military offensive against the Taliban is winding down, have been provided with 25,000 Kalashnikovs and 14,000 bulletproof jackets to aid in the war against terrorism. Another 50,000 Kalashnikovs will be provided next year, Online news agency reported.

August 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The US will provide all help to Pakistan to deal with its crushing energy crisis, but it has no "magic solution" to the ongoing crisis, top US envoy Richard Holbrooke has said. "We are committed to resolve the energy crisis in Pakistan.

July 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah may have been killed during an operation in the restive Swat Valley, a media report said Thursday. The security forces had traced a phone call of Fazlullah, who was giving directions to his commanders for conducting more attacks, the News International qouted sources as saying.

June 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan wants the world at large and the US in particular to play a role in resolving its disputes with India, including that of Kashmir, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Thursday. The resolution of Pakistans core issues would help it focus on the war against extremism and terrorism on its western border to ensure peace and stability in South Asia, APP news agency quoted Gilani as saying when visiting US National Security Advisor James Jones called on him here.

June 7th, 2009 PESHAWAR - TheTehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had developed differences over the issue of implementing Sharia in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), provincial Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain has said. Hussain claimed the TNSM's leadership was receiving life threats from the Taliban.

June 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The US has accused private Pakistani channel Geo TV of bias in reporting America's efforts to ameliorate the sufferings of the millions of civilians who have been displaced by the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's northwest. In an interview with a Geo TV correspondent after visiting a refugee camp near Mardan in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), US special envoy Richard Holbrooke advised the channel to tell the truth to Pakistanis about the huge financial assistance Washington was providing for the displaced persons.

June 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday called on the US to write off Pakistan's debt to help Islamabad overcome the current economic crisis aggravated by the war on terror, a media report said. Gilani told visiting US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, during a meeting at his house that the debt waver would help Pakistan to mobilise resources for the displaced people in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Geo TV reported.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The lack of valid data on the number of people displaced by the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's troubled northwest has confirmed fears that many militants could have fled the area by intermingling with the refugees. At least three sets of figures exist.

June 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Four people were killed in a blast Monday in Kohat town in Pakistan's restive northwest where the military is currently engaged in a major anti-Taliban operation, a media report said. The blast, the second in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in a week, occurred at a bus stand in Kohat's Teera Bazar area, Geo TV said.

June 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least three people were killed and seven injured in a blast Monday in Kohat town in Pakistan's restive northwest where the military is currently engaged in a major anti-Taliban operation. The blast, the second in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in a week, occurred at a bus stand in Kohat's Teera Bazar area, APP news agency reported.

May 28th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan has claimed that Swat Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah has been killed in a military operation being carried out in the SwatValley. Announcing a whopping four million rupees bounty on Fazlullah, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said the Army has confirmed the deaths of several top militant commanders.

May 28th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - About 10,000 security personnel are guarding Pakistans nuclear arsenal and Western fears about the safety of the weapons are unfounded, a senior official has said. Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, director of arms control and disarmament affairs at the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), said that Pakistans command and control structure for the weapons was better than that of many other nuclear-armed states, and many countries had officially acknowledged this, DawnNews reported Thursday.

May 14th, 2009 LAHORE - Only 38 percent of the NWFP and the FATA is under Pakistan Government's control, a BBC map illustrates. The 18-month-long research covered 24 districts of NWFP, seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions of the FATA.

May 11th, 2009 LAHORE - Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad, who was released from prison to talk peace and able to convince the insurgents to lay down their weapons, still backs the Taliban. The ceasefire deal negotiated by Sufi with the NWFP Government in the Swat valley lies in tatters as the Taliban and the army square off amid accusations of betrayal from both sides.

April 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) has decided to extend the deadline for establishing Darul Qaza in NWFP for an indefinite period. The decision was taken by the Central Shoora (council) of the TNSM, which expressed satisfaction over the efforts of the NWFP government to implement the law.