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Pakistan
Probing Airlifting 30 Nationals to India from Afghanistan
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| Indian
soldiers patrolling border in Chhamb area in Jammu |
By
IOL South Asia correspondent
NEW
DELHI, July 6 (IslamOnline) - Pakistan government is continuing
investigations into reports that nearly 30 Pakistanis were airlifted
from inside Afghanistan and flown through a Central Asian State to New
Delhi, Pakistani daily newspaper, The News, said today, July 6.
"We
have taken up the reports about these Pakistanis both with the Hamid
Karazi government in Kabul and with officials of the United States.
Both countries have denied that such an incident has occurred. But we
have still urged the Afghan government to be more alert. Yesterday
even the Indian government denied such an incident. But we are still
investigating the matter," The News quoted Foreign Office
spokesman, Aziz Khan as saying.
Pakistani
officials are surprised how it was possible for aircraft to leave
Afghan airspace without the Americans' knowledge.
The
paper said that the Pakistan government is aware that there are
definitely pockets inside Afghanistan which are not totally under the
control of the Kabul government.
Hundreds
of Pakistanis are still being held prisoners inside Afghanistan with
warlords belonging to the Northern Alliance. Several hundreds have
been freed with the intervention of Hamid Karzai on the insistence of
General Pervez Musharraf.
Islamabad
fears that these Pakistanis are likely to be used by the BJP
government for its allegations of "cross border terrorism".
This
is not the first instance of reports of the transfer of Pakistani
prisoners in Afghanistan to India. Earlier, even before the Hamid
Karzai government emerged, there were reports of such transfer of
Pakistanis to India, which New Delhi denied.
Meanwhile
PTI, the official Indian news agency reported today that Pakistan
might launch war in the next four years. It quoted an Indian think
tank, 'International Center for Peace Initiatives' (ICPI), which seems
to be a front organization of the extremist Hindu outfits that are
rabidly anti-Pakistan.
The
ICPI claimed in a report that despite the easing of tension on the
Indo-Pak border, war clouds would continue to hover over South Asia
for long, and that Pakistan might launch a full-scale war in the next
four years when it could be on the verge of collapse and
disintegration.
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| India-Pak
clashes in Kashmir sector |
"Pakistan's
collapse seems quite likely in the middle of the decade. It can lead
to an all-out war with India as it had launched in 1971 just when it
was about to be dismembered on account of the agitation in East
Pakistan," the Mumbai-based ICPI claimed in a report.
Besides
official documents and media reports from Pakistan and international
institutions, the 112-page report, "The Future of Pakistan",
is based on interviews of "several hundred people" ranging
from villagers in North West Frontier Province of Pakistan to business
leaders in Karachi and decision-makers in Islamabad, the ICPI claimed,
adding no Indian publication has been used in the report.
As
the war with Pakistan "seems inevitable, it will be essential to
have the population in the border areas on the Indian side. This
particularly applies to Jammu and Kashmir", the report said,
maintaining it was "essential to win hearts of the Kashmiri
people by launching a package of initiatives for resolution,
reconciliation and reconstruction in the state." .
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