Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha is new ISI Chief; Joint session of parliament called on October 8; the United States and Pakistan to work together to counter insurgency, says President Zardari
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    • Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha has been appointed as the new Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) on September 291. Pasha, just promoted from major general, had been Director General of Military Operations (DGMO). In this capacity, he headed the Pakistan Army’s operations in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and so his appointment provides no indication of a change in the military establishment’s war on terror policy. He has represented Pakistan at the tripartite commission meetings and served as UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s adviser on peacekeeping operations. Meanwhile, a joint session of parliament is called on October 8 where the top intelligence and security officers would give a briefing to the members of parliament on the ongoing ‘war on terror2.’

    In other developments, talks were held between the United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Washington on September 30. The meeting focused mainly on security operations in FATA3. Meanwhile, Pakistan has reportedly rejected the US demand to hold direct talks with Dr A Q Khan within the framework of the broader Pak-US strategic dialogue4. Before this President Asif Zardari stated in New York on September 28 that Pakistan would work along with the US to develop trained counter-insurgency units within the army5.

    Elsewhere, at least 21 people, 16 of them foreign nationals, were reported killed in missile attacks in North Waziristan on October 3. According to local sources, the missile was fired from a Predator drone which hit a house in the village some 15km west of Miramshah. Military sources, however, denied that any NATO drone had carried out the attack inside the Pakistan territory. According to Reuters, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force had informed Pakistan it would be conducting an operation across the border from North Waziristan6. Meanwhile, the Afghan diplomat Abdul Khaliq Farahi who was kidnapped by militants in Peshawar on September 22 was released on September 297.

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