| Pakistan, US sign deal on Nato convoys |
RAWALPINDI Pakistan on Tuesday signed a deal with the United States governing arrangements for Nato convoys travelling to Afghanistan, seeking to draw a line under a seven-month border blockade.
Islamabad agreed to reopen land routes for Nato goods on July 3 after the longest border closure of the decade-long war in Afghanistan in protest at botched US air raids that killed 24 Pakistani troops last November.
It comes just a day before the head of Pakistani intelligence, Lieutenant General Zaheer Ul Islam, begins a three-day visit to Washington for talks with the head of the CIA, which has been interpreted as another sign of a gradual rapprochement.
Under the agreement inked in Rawalpindi, the United States will release $1.1 billion under the Coalition Support Fund to reimburse the troubled nation for fighting militants within its borders.
Officials at the ceremony gave no details of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) nor did they release a copy at a news conference.
Guidelines laid out by the Pakistani parliament earlier this year insisted that in future no weapons and ammunition be transported through the country, though western officials say this never happened in the first place.
A Pakistani security official said the agreement gave Islamabad the right to refuse or reject any shipment and special radio chips would be fitted to containers for monitoring.
Richard Hoagland, the deputy US ambassador to Islamabad who signed the agreement on behalf of Washington, hailed it as a “demonstration of increased transparency and openness” between the two governments. Pakistan lifted its blockade after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sorry for the air raid deaths, but a row over security guarantees and compensation have delayed a resumption of normal traffic.
Officials closed the Torkham border crossing, the quickest route to Kabul from Karachi, to Nato traffic on Thursday over security fears.
The Pakistani Taliban have vowed to attack Nato supplies and on last Tuesday, one of the truck drivers was shot dead. Pakistani Defence Secretary Asif Yasin Malik said the deal would contribute to the stability of the region and hailed it as a “landmark event”.
In Karachi, a leading subcontractor in the business, Alhaj Taj Mohammad, said the pact could help resolve the rows over security and compensation but predicted it could still take 10 days to start clearing goods from customs.
“This agreement is very important, we were waiting for it,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll have a copy by this evening after which things could speed up,” he added.
But Akram Khan Durrani, chairman of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association, said fears about security would remain.
“No owner is going to move his vehicle until solid guarantees are given for it,” he said.
Earler, reports said the new agreement that runs through 2015 can be subsequently renewed.
The accord has provision for other Nato/Isaf countries to accede to the arrangement that would be defence-led. A concept of Central Coordination Authority, which would oversee the implementation of the pact, has been introduced.
Agencies
|
 |
|
|
| NEWS UPDATES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
