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| Army, US deny any American base at Tarbela |
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army has acknowledged the presence of US military personnel near Tarbela, saying they are trainers and are here as part of an agreement between the two countries to train Pakistani commandos.
The ex-servicemen doubt this and former ISI chief Lt Gen (R) Hamid Gul fears that they are here to pluck out our national assets whereas a member of the Senate claimed that the government has sold a piece of land to the US military near Tarbela.
The Pakistan Army spokesman and DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas categorically said that not an inch of land is sold to the US military, adding that the Tarbela site in question is actually the SSG (special services group) Unit of the Pakistan Army.
The US embassy spokesman also denied that the US military owns any piece of land in Pakistan or maintains a military base here or has stationed troops in this country. The embassy spokesman, however, did not answer the question about the reported presence of US troops near Tarbela and referred this correspondent to the defence department in Washington.
Hamid Gul recalls one of Candoleezza Rice's statements in which she admitted that the US administration did have a plan to secure Pakistan's nuclear assets but she added that she could not reveal it then.
Gul said that he does not buy the argument of "training the trainers", laughing off the suggestion that the fifth largest army in the world is dependent on American trainers. He feared that the US troops are here for a surgical operation to get hold of our national assets.
Hameed Gul, who also attended the ex-servicemen meeting in Rawalpindi on Monday where similar apprehensions were expressed, said that the US forces are preparing to twist our arm. A newspaper recently quoted US Joint Chiefs' Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen to have said that the American base would be established in Tarbela, 20 kilometers from Islamabad to train Pakistani troops and to take part in operations in the tribal areas. The report also said that the US has bought a huge plot of land at Tarbela covering several square kilometers and is directly handling the project.
Referring to his interview in the Los Angeles Times, the report quoted Mullen as saying that since Pakistan had not been able to build a training site near Peshawar quickly enough the two sides had therefore agreed to use an alternative base at Tarbela. The report said that 300 American officials have already landed recently at the facility with the official designation of a "training advisory group". It has also been reported that twenty large containers have been transported to the site by the US army without allowing them to be inspected by the Pakistani authorities. Hamid Gul also talked of the arrival of 10 containers without any security check.
Senator Professor Khurshid of Jamaat-e-Islami has recently moved an adjournment motion on the issue but the Upper House has yet to discuss the matter. The DG ISPR Athar Abbas when contacted categorically denied that any land near Tarbela was sold to the US military. He said that in Tarbela the Americans are training Pakistani commandos. He said that it is also wrong to suggest that the facility is given to the US troops.
Abbas said that the US trainers have been involved in the training of our commandos even in the past. They come, train our men and go back, he said, adding that they also bring equipment with them. This arrangement, he explained, is part of an agreement between the two countries. In Warsak, he said, the US experts are involved in the training of the capacity building of Frontier Constabulary personnel.
In the meantime an e-mail received by a colleague from a Pakistani national in US said that his American friend had revealed to him that his brother, who is a US marine and was deployed in Iraq, has received a letter from the Pentagon asking him to get ready to join a unit which is to be deployed at Lahore. However, there is no independent confirmation of this by any other source.
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