Pak court orders cops to charge CIA spy

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad’s High Court on Thursday ordered police to press charges against the CIA’s former station chief for murder, conspiracy and waging war against Pakistan.
Judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui issued the orders following a 2010 court petition by drone activist Kareem Khan, whose brother and teenage son were killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan tribal district.
The former top spy left Pakistan in December 2010 after his identity was disclosed through the court case, and there is little expectation Islamabad will seek his return to face charges.
“Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court ordered today registration of a criminal case for offenses of murder, conspiracy, waging war against Pakistan and offenses under the provisions of Terrorism Act 1997,” against the ex-chief, a statement by Khan’s lawyers said.
Khan is being provided legal assistance by the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, a charity associated with Britain’s Reprieve.
“Today’s order is a victory for all those innocent civilians that have been killed in US-led drone strikes in Pakistan,” he said.
“We are fighting this legal battle since 2010 and the police was reluctant to pursue our case but finally we did it, we won the war,” Mirza Shahzad Akbar, his lawyer, added.

30 militants killed
in Balochistan
A Pakistani minister said Thursday paramilitary forces killed at least 30 separatist rebels in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan as part of a fresh operation to quell a long-running insurgency.
The operation was carried out in Dera Bugti area, some 250 kilometers southeast of the capital Quetta.
The death toll could not be independently confirmed.
“The forces surrounded the militants early morning on Thursday. It culminated with the killing of 30 militants and arrest of three others,” Sarfraz Bugti, home minister in Balochistan, told AFP.
He added that one paramilitary was killed and five wounded during the action. “We have recovered 350 kilograms of explosive material and 300 kilograms of land mines,” he said.
Bugti said the militants were members of the Baluch Republican Army (BRA) and two main commanders were also killed in the operation.
“Two of the BRA commanders were also killed during the action. The forces also freed two local Bugti men kidnapped for ransom by the militants,” he added.
Resource-rich Balochistan is home to a long-running separatist conflict that was revived in 2004, with nationalists seeking to stop what they see as the exploitation of the region’s natural resources and alleged rights abuses.
The idea of giving greater autonomy to the province, the size of Italy but with only nine million inhabitants, is highly sensitive in a country still scarred by the independence in 1971 of its eastern portion, now Bangladesh.