[In a statement,
Pakistan’s military press office described the American account of the Nov. 26
exchange as “factually not correct,” accused the United States of failing to
share information “at any level,” and rejected any responsibility for the
bloody debacle. In the exchange, American AC-130 gunships flew two miles into
Pakistani airspace to return fire after Pakistani troops attacked an
American-Afghan ground patrol across the border in Afghanistan.]
By
Declan Walsh
 |
| Image: RT |
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s military issued an uncompromising formal rejection
on Monday of the United States report last month on a contentious border
exchange of fire that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, dealing a fresh blow to
American hopes of reviving a troubled strategic relationship.
In a statement,
Pakistan’s military press office described the American account of the Nov. 26
exchange as “factually not correct,” accused the United States of failing to
share information “at any level,” and rejected any responsibility for the
bloody debacle. In the exchange, American AC-130 gunships flew two miles into
Pakistani airspace to return fire after Pakistani troops attacked an
American-Afghan ground patrol across the border in Afghanistan.
It was the Pakistani
military’s first public comment on the American report since immediately
rejecting it when it was released nearly a month ago.
The American
investigation, led by Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark of the Air Force, described a
chain of errors, delays and conflicting protocols between American and NATO troops
that ultimately prevented the United States warplanes from identifying the
Pakistanis as friendly forces until 24 were dead and 13 others were wounded.
The inquiry also blamed
Pakistan, saying its military had failed to inform NATO of the location of new
military posts along the long, often poorly demarcated border.
Pakistan’s military
refused to cooperate with the American inquiry, claiming that previous American
investigations of disputed border attacks had been biased. The Pakistani
military on Monday published its own 25-page report, described in the title as
“Pakistan’s perspective” on General Clark’s report.
The military rejected
American criticism as “unjustified and unacceptable,” adding that the United
States and NATO had “violated all mutually agreed procedures” for border
operations.
Pakistani fury is a
product of genuine public outrage at the killings, which American officials
privately admit were largely their fault, and deep-rooted hostility to the
United States.
But it is also driven by
a desire on the part of the Pakistani military to deflect attention from their
embarrassment about the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2.
“They’ve been preparing this a long time,” a senior American official said. “It
is not coming out of the blue.”
In retaliation for the
November killings, Pakistan has blocked NATO supply lines passing through its
territory, which are estimated to account for 40 to 60 percent of supplies
reaching Western troops in Afghanistan. Pakistani military officials say that
when the supply lines are re-opened, NATO military goods will be subject to an
as-yet-undetermined transit tariff.
Amid the crisis,
Pakistan has also frozen diplomatic relations in public, although American
officials say that cooperation continues at lower levels.
Pakistani lawmakers are
engaged in a policy review aimed at reorganizing the relationship based on a
hard-nosed assessment of each side’s interests.
The lower and upper
houses of Parliament are expected to debate the new policy in a special joint
session in late January. The senior American official said the Obama
administration was engaged in “strategic patience.”
“They hope to come to us
by early February and say, ‘We are ready to talk,’ ” he said. “We are
waiting until they are ready to talk. Now they appear to be getting closer to
that place.”
The crisis has also
affected C.I.A. operations in Pakistan’s tribal belt. In December, the
Pakistani military ejected American operations from an air base in western
Baluchistan Province used to mount drone strikes against militant targets.
The drone attacks stopped
in December, but resumed Jan. 10. The latest strike was Monday morning in North
Waziristan, in a village called Deegan. Witnesses told The Associated Press
that a drone fired several missiles at a house, killing four people.
Press reports in
Pakistan have suggested that Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani
Taliban, was killed in a Jan. 12 C.I.A. strike. But a senior Pakistani
intelligence official said Monday that there was “no confirmation one way or
the other.”
The troubled
relationship has also hurt tentative American efforts to explore peace talks
with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, as a major troop reduction scheduled for
2014 draws near.
The State Department’s
envoy to the region, Marc Grossman, who is leading the effort, recently
postponed a planned trip to Islamabad after Pakistani officials declined to
meet with him.
In Kabul, a spokesman
for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force declined to comment on
the Pakistani report, but stressed that hard lessons had been learned.
The force was working
off the recommendations in the American report to improve cross-border
coordination and “ensure this type of incident does not ever occur again,” said
the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jimmie E. Cummings Jr.
“U.S. and I.S.A.F. are
taking these recommendations and are moving forward toward full
implementation,” he said.
Alissa J. Rubin contributed reporting.
TIBETANSFIRED UPON IN PROTEST IN CHINA
[There were varied reports on Monday regarding the cause of the violence in Luhuo, including one that the protesters may have sought the release of people detained for distributing leaflets calling for greater freedom for Tibetans, or that the protest was part of a local boycott against Chinese celebrations of the Lunar New Year.]
By Keith Bradsher
Free Tibet, a group based in London, said tensions remained
high into the evening after the shootings in Luhuo, which is known in Tibetan
as Draggo and located in westernmost Sichuan Province, near the border with Tibet.
It was the second reported shooting of Tibetan protesters
in the past week and a half. The previous one, on Jan. 14, in which two people
were reported wounded, took place in Aba, also located in Sichuan Province and
100 miles northeast of Luhuo.
The combination of increasingly frequent confrontations and
rising casualties during them “underlines how the situation is escalating,”
said Stephanie Brigden, the director of Free Tibet.
Chinese government agencies were closed on Monday in
observance of the first day of Lunar New Year celebrations. The official Xinhua
news agency had no report on the latest shooting. Internet access to the area
was cut off by the authorities, apparently to slow the dissemination of
information.
Free Tibet identified the slain protester as Norpa Yonten,
a 49-year-old layman. The International Campaign for Tibet, a rights group
based in Washington, said that he was the brother of a reincarnated lama.
Ms. Brigden said the group had the names of 31 more people
with gunshot wounds. She said other people had been shot and injured but their
names were not immediately available.
Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign
for Tibet, said in a telephone interview that three people, including Mr.
Yonten, had been killed and that 49 people had sought treatment for injuries at
a clinic operated by monks. Of the 49, 9 had gunshot wounds and 40 had various
injuries from beatings and other causes, she said.
People in China wounded by gunshots are often leery of
going to hospitals, fearing that they will face questioning and possibly
retaliation by the authorities.
The Tibetan exile government in India said in a statement
on its Web site that it had confirmed one death in the Luhuo shooting but that
it had heard other reports that as many as six people had been killed.
“The Tibetan Parliament is deeply aggrieved by the
incidents and condemns the Chinese authorities for resorting to such drastic
acts of force and repression,” the exile government said.
In addition to those Tibetans who have been shot and
killed, 17 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since last March 16.
There were varied reports on Monday regarding the cause of
the violence in Luhuo, including one that the protesters may have sought the
release of people detained for distributing leaflets calling for greater
freedom for Tibetans, or that the protest was part of a local boycott against
Chinese celebrations of the Lunar New Year.
Tibetans traditionally celebrate the arrival of the new
year a month later.
Anticipating further protests during Tibetan new year
celebrations or on the fourth anniversary of violent protests in March 2008,
the Chinese government informed travel agencies last week that foreigners would
not be allowed to travel in Tibet from Feb. 20 to March 31.
Luhuo lies in Ganzi Prefecture, known in Tibetan as the
Kandze Prefecture. The prefecture has been one of the most turbulent areas of
ethnic Tibetan unrest for the past four years. On March 24, 2008, a monk was
shot and killed as police officers fired on a crowd.
