Two Westerners kidnapped in Pakistan held by Taliban

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two Western aid workers kidnapped in Pakistan in January are being held by the Pakistan Taliban near the border with Afghanistan, a senior militant commander told Reuters on Saturday.

Gunmen stormed a house in Multan in southern Punjab province on January 19 and drove away with two foreigners -- one an Italian citizen and the other believed to be a German.

"The two NGO (non-governmental organization) workers who were kidnapped in Multan nearly a month ago are in our custody near the border. We haven't made any demands yet," a senior commander of the Pakistan Taliban said.

"They are in good health."

A Punjab provincial police chief said last month the foreigners were being held for ransom.

Criminal gangs often target foreign aid workers in Pakistan in hope of securing large ransoms for their release. Pakistani officials say militant groups such as the Taliban are also involved in kidnappings.

The senior commander said the Westerners were being held by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of Pakistani militant factions formed in 2007 which is also allied with the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda.

In January, a Kenyan aid worker and his Pakistani driver went missing in southern Sindh province. A British doctor with the International Committee of the Red Cross was kidnapped by gunmen from the southwestern city of Quetta on January 5.

Last year, American aid worker Warren Weinstein was kidnapped from the central Pakistani city of Lahore. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for Weinstein's abduction in December.

In July, a Swiss couple was kidnapped from the southwestern Baluchistan province by the Pakistani Taliban.

Such kidnappings in Pakistan put off long-term investors. Foreign direct investment in Pakistan fell 37 percent to $531.2 million in the second half of 2011 from $839.6 million in the final six months of 2010.

(Reporting by Saud Mehsud; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Ed Lane)

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Pakistan allows more imports from India as ties improve

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota 
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (L) and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh prepare to shake hands before the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, at the Shangri-La in Addu November 10, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD | Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:32am EST
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan removed restrictions on the import of 12 goods from India as part of measures to normalize trade between the nuclear-armed rivals, Pakistani officials said on Saturday.
Pakistan has long been reluctant to open up trade with its neighbor because of long-running political disputes, particularly over the Kashmir region. But both countries have been trying to boost their trade following a recent thaw in ties.
Lasting peace between the rivals is seen as essential to South Asian stability and to helping a troubled transition in Afghanistan as NATO-led combat forces plan their military withdrawal from that country in 2014.
Pakistan last week said it would grant India most-favored nation (MFN) trade status that would help normalize trade by ending huge restriction. India gave MFN status to Pakistan in 1996.
Pakistan's Commerce Ministry recently requested the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the top decision-making body on economic affairs, to increase the number of items that can be imported from India.
"The ECC met on Friday and approved the addition of 12 goods in the positive list of items that can be imported from India," a ministry official said.
Another official said the goods included machinery and raw materials for the leather and textile industries.
The decision came as senior commerce officials of the two countries prepare to meet early next week in New Delhi to explore ways to boost bilateral trade.
Despite having a combined population of more than a billion, Pakistan and India's official bilateral trade stood at $1.4 billion in 2009/10 while an estimated $3 billion unofficial trade is routed through third countries in the Gulf.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said on Thursday the two countries would take the process of normalization of trade to its "logical conclusion" and India would also work toward a preferential trade agreement with Pakistan and easing of visa restrictions for businessmen.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, since their independence in 1947 but their relations have improved since they resumed a dialogue in February that was derailed by an attack by Pakistan-based militants in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh hailed progress in diplomatic ties and promised a "new chapter" in ties when they met on the sidelines of a regional summit in the Maldives on Thursday.
(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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N. Waziristan militant leader threatens Pakistan government

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Haji Mujtaba

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan | Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:23am EST

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - The most powerful militant leader in Pakistan's North Waziristan border region has threatened to tear up a peace accord and turn his fighters against the Islamabad government.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur has an unofficial non-aggression pact with the military, focusing instead on attacking U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan can't afford new militant enemies. The army's hands are full with the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, blamed for many of the suicide bombings across the South Asian country.

Bahadur is known to have links with notorious militant groups in tribal North Waziristan, including the Haqqani network, which has emerged as the most high-profile threat to U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Bahadur criticized Pakistani leaders for allowing the United States to conduct drone missile strikes in North Waziristan and said the council of militant groups he heads would no longer hold talks with the government.

"We have been showing patience because of problems being faced by common people but now the government has also resorted to repression on our common people at the behest of foreigners," Bahadur, who heads a Pakistani Taliban faction, said in a statement distributed in North Waziristan.

He accused the government of firing mortar bombs and cannons on civilians and demolishing a hospital and other buildings in North Waziristan. Army officials were not immediately available for comment.

Local military officials said "terrorists" had used public buildings to launch rocket attacks at military checkpoints.

"We are disbanding the jirga (council) set up for talks with the government. If the government resorts to any repressive act in the future then it will also be very difficult for us to show patience," said Bahadur.

Pakistan has come under intense pressure to tackle militancy since U.S. special forces in May killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani town, where he had apparently lived for years.

Admiral Mike Mullen said before retiring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September that the Haqqani network -- blamed for several attacks on U.S. targets in Afghanistan recently -- was a "veritable arm" of Pakistani intelligence.

Islamabad denies the allegation.

The United States wants Pakistan to encourage militants to pursue peace in Afghanistan, and go after groups who don't cooperate.

But the government must tread cautiously in a country where anti-American sentiment over issues such as the CIA-operated drone campaign runs deep.

Pakistani leader criticize the drone attacks, saying they play into the hands of militants. But analysts say strikes which kill high-value al Qaeda and Taliban figures would not be possible without help from Pakistani intelligence agencies.

Bahadur, believed to have thousands of fighters, reached a peace agreement with the Pakistani government in 2007. But it has been strained lately.

Two clerics who are leaders of the committee that overseas the pact, Maulana Gul Ramazan and Hafiz Noorullah Shah, suggested the army had violated the deal.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Pakistan allows more imports from India as ties improve

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota 
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (L) and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh prepare to shake hands before the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, at the Shangri-La in Addu November 10, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD | Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:32am EST
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan removed restrictions on the import of 12 goods from India as part of measures to normalize trade between the nuclear-armed rivals, Pakistani officials said on Saturday.
Pakistan has long been reluctant to open up trade with its neighbor because of long-running political disputes, particularly over the Kashmir region. But both countries have been trying to boost their trade following a recent thaw in ties.
Lasting peace between the rivals is seen as essential to South Asian stability and to helping a troubled transition in Afghanistan as NATO-led combat forces plan their military withdrawal from that country in 2014.
Pakistan last week said it would grant India most-favored nation (MFN) trade status that would help normalize trade by ending huge restriction. India gave MFN status to Pakistan in 1996.
Pakistan's Commerce Ministry recently requested the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the top decision-making body on economic affairs, to increase the number of items that can be imported from India.
"The ECC met on Friday and approved the addition of 12 goods in the positive list of items that can be imported from India," a ministry official said.
Another official said the goods included machinery and raw materials for the leather and textile industries.
The decision came as senior commerce officials of the two countries prepare to meet early next week in New Delhi to explore ways to boost bilateral trade.
Despite having a combined population of more than a billion, Pakistan and India's official bilateral trade stood at $1.4 billion in 2009/10 while an estimated $3 billion unofficial trade is routed through third countries in the Gulf.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said on Thursday the two countries would take the process of normalization of trade to its "logical conclusion" and India would also work toward a preferential trade agreement with Pakistan and easing of visa restrictions for businessmen.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, since their independence in 1947 but their relations have improved since they resumed a dialogue in February that was derailed by an attack by Pakistan-based militants in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh hailed progress in diplomatic ties and promised a "new chapter" in ties when they met on the sidelines of a regional summit in the Maldives on Thursday.
(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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