ISLAMABAD, 13 May 2006 — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would like to develop a strategic partnership with Pakistan to better coordinate the ongoing war against terrorism, a media report said yesterday.
“NATO would like to develop strategic partnership with Pakistan to fight terrorism,” NATO Deputy Secretary-General Ambassador Alessandro Minuto Rizzo was quoted as saying by The Nation after meeting with President Pervez Musharraf Thursday. NATO’s Rizzo also offered a number of training courses to Pakistan armed forces.
Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan Hikmet Cetin said NATO, which has a huge deployment in Afghanistan, wanted to promote cooperation in intelligence sharing with Pakistan and would like to develop a military-to-military relationship, to fight terrorism, a common threat to both Pakistan and NATO. “We want to improve NATO’s image, as Pakistanis do not have much knowledge about our organization,” the officials said and added they are inviting Pakistanis to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO troops were deployed to Pakistan following the Oct. 8 earthquake to assist in relief and rehabilitation operations.
Joint Military Exercises
Joint military exercises by Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US armies ended in Chirat yesterday. The 10-day exercises, held at the headquarters of the Pakistan Army’s elite Special Services Group, were aimed at forging better coordination among the three armies to deal with terrorists in a more effective way.
They were also intended to hamper regular intrusion of Taleban rebels from Afghanistan into Pakistan. More than 500 army personnel took part in the exercises.
Qadeer Khan
The opposition has accused the government of torturing nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Professor Khurshid Ahmad told the upper house of Parliament Qadeer was tortured and not allowed to meet even his wife and children.
Dozens Detained
Authorities detained about 30 suspects in overnight raids after a series of land mine blasts in Quetta killed six policemen, officials said yesterday. Five land mines exploded on Thursday as commandoes of police Anti-Terrorist Force were training at a school. Police detained two men hours after the blasts, and 27 more were rounded up in raids overnight.
Iranian Leaders to Visit Islamabad
Iranian First Vice President Parviz Dawoudi and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will visit Islamabad later this month for consultations with Pakistani leaders on key issues including the international standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, a report said yesterday.
