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Pakistan Holds
War Exercise, To Scrutinize Credentials Of Arrested Militants
From
our Indian correspondent
NEW
DELHI, Jan. 28 (IslamOnline) - As Indo-Pak border tensions persist,
Pakistan Air Force on Sunday landed, for the first time, transport and fighter
planes on a motorway on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad, PTI reported
today.
The
planes landed on the motorway as part of mock preparations, an official release
of the Pakistan Air Force said Sunday night. The operations by the planes were
meant to exercise pilots and ground crew to undertake operations from surfaces
other than the road runway in times of emergencies. It is the first time that
the PAF has undertaken this exercise which is part of the high state of
preparedness and alert being maintained by Pakistan Air Force at present, the
release said.
Pakistan
and India have put their ground and air forces on high alert after the attack on
Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. This exercise comes in the wake of the
Indian testing of a short-range missile four days ago. Pakistan has said that
the missile test threatens regional stability. Unconfirmed reports say that
Pakistan will soon follow suit with its missile test.
On
the other hand, Pakistan government has decided to set up military trial courts
to speed up cases against those charged with offences relating to terrorism,
officials said in Islamabad. They are currently scrutinizing credentials
of over 2,000 people arrested during the recent crackdown.
The
establishment of military courts under Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 was in the
offing as summary notes in this regard have been forwarded to Pakistani
President, General Pervez Musharraf, for a final decision, according to the
officials of the Pakistani law ministry, Pakistan daily newspaper, The Nation,
said. "The establishment of these courts, sources say, will come through
amendments in the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997," the paper added.
At
present most of the militants are detained under maintenance of public order (MPO),
an executive ordinance under which they can at the most be detained for 90 days,
beyond which they have to be prosecuted on specific charges.
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