ISLAMABAD, 16 February 2007 — Outgoing US Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid, at a farewell meeting with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi yesterday, discussed Pakistan’s efforts to stem cross-border insurgency and fight Taleban.

Abizaid “expressed deep appreciation of the excellent cooperation between the armed forces of Pakistan and the United States in the fight against international terrorism,” a military statement said.

“He thanked the president and Pakistan’s armed forces for their help and assistance to him during his tenure,” the statement said.

It didn’t say whether the generals discussed recent calls from US officials for Pakistan to do more to prevent Taleban militants from slipping over its border into Afghanistan to attack government and foreign troops there.

Abizaid had been a regular visitor to Pakistan and Afghanistan during nearly four years as head of Central Command, whose area of responsibility also includes Iraq and the Horn of Africa. Navy Adm. William Fallon is to replace Abizaid on March 16. Abizaid also visited the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army and had a meeting with Vice Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hayat.

33 Missing Persons Found

The government told the country’s highest court yesterday that it had found 33 of 43 missing men whose families suspect they were held incognito by the country’s intelligence agencies.

Attorney General Mukhdoom Ali Khan told the court that authorities had traced 33 of the men and that they had either been freed or were still being held for suspected links with militants. Rights groups and relatives have been holding protests in the capital, Islamabad, for months to press authorities to clear up the fate of scores of people reported missing.

Acting on their complaints, the Supreme Court also has criticized the government for not doing enough to trace the men, who have neither been put on trial nor permitted to contact their families.

The court adjourned the hearing until March 8 to enable Khan to come up with information on the remaining 10 people. Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war on terror, says it has arrested over 700 Al-Qaeda suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, but is increasingly criticized by rights groups for secret detentions.

Wanted Militants Arrested

Pakistani police arrested two militants wanted in connection with deadly sectarian attacks on rival Shiites, a senior police official said yesterday. Arshad Satti and Usman Chutto, both members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, were caught in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

The two were wanted in connection with several major attacks including a raid on a Shiite community center in Rawalpindi in 2002 in which 15 people were killed and 40 wounded, said the official, who declined to be identified. Satti had a 1 million rupee ($16,500) bounty on his head, he said. Thousands of people have been killed in sectarian attacks in Pakistan since 1980s.