Washington, Oct 18 (ANI): Taking a strong exception to the recent US Army chief General W Casey's visit to the base camp at the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, Pakistan has said that Washington had always maintained that Kashmir is a "disputed area", and that this visit "negated the traditional stand of US over Kashmir".

Pakistan ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani said this while taking a serious notice of the Casey's visit to Siachen.

Haqqani also a letter to the Pakistan Foreign Affairs office and Pentagon expression his country's disappointment.

He said that this visit might create a "massive problem" among people of Pakistan, and that his countrymen could take this visit as notion that the US "supports" India's Kashmir policy.

On the other hand, sources told that foreign office also took up this issue saying, "Any such visit to an area which is disputed and which is under discussion between Pakistan and India will certainly cast a shadow on the ongoing Composite Dialogue between the two neighbors," reported The News.

In the past also, India had taken several expeditions, both civil and army personnel, to Siachen Glacier while calling them "tourist expeditions". However, after Pakistan officially took up this issue with New Delhi, there have been no more reports of these expeditions. (ANI)

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Lahore, Oct 18 (ANI): Though it has now become "so critical" for the Bush administration to provide Pakistan with new and refurbished F-16 jet fighters to fight the Taliban, the US Congress is still not sure as to why Islamabad needed the jets when it was fighting the extremists on the ground.

According to a Christian Science Monitor (CSM), the US Congress was not sure "Islamabad could be trusted to use the planes against tribal Taliban".

It said: "The US Congress members wanted to know why Pakistan would need a jet fighter with 'air-to-air' fighter capability when all the Pakistanis really need to fight Taliban from the air is a plane or helicopter with 'air-to-ground' or 'close air support' capabilities".

The report said the long-proposed sale of new and refurbished F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan "has become so critical to the Bush administration, which believes the old fleet of fighters the Pakistani Air Force is using now aren't effective".

It quoted Lexington Institute analyst Loren Thompson as saying "there is a real danger that the weapons will be used for purposes other than that war."

He believed the US would be able to sell the planes to Pakistan, 'albeit with restrictions'. Defence officials said Pakistan must meet other security requirements 'to house the planes' so the F-16's technology 'does not fall into the wrong hands'.

Meanwhile, the US military begins a training effort inside Pakistan this week that 'holds promise' as the US is desperate to help Pakistan fight Taliban in the Tribal Areas. (ANI)

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New York, Oct.18 (ANI): Data on polling trends suggest that the 2008 US presidential elections will be a tight race, and continue to be open to interpretation.

According to Fox News, one group of voters in the latest Gallup daily tracking poll put John McCain within two points of rival Barack Obama, while an AP-Yahoo poll out Friday shows McCain's negatives on the rise.

Obama has warned his supporters that the Democrats have a knack for snatching defeat from victory, and a couple of conflicting polls out Friday reinforce the message that with 18 days to go, this presidential election may be closer than many think.

A Gallup daily tracking poll out Friday shows Obama leading John McCain among registered voters 49-43 percent while an AP-Yahoo poll also released Friday show Obama's favorability at 57 percent compared to 52 percent for McCain.

The 49 percent in the Gallup poll taken from Monday to Wednesday is the first time since the end of September that Obama has dipped below 50 percent. Obama had been as high as 52 percent earlier this month.

On top of that in the Gallup poll, "traditional voters" -- those who are more likely to head to the polls -- give Obama 49 percent and McCain 47 percent, well within the 2-point margin of error.

And the AP-Yahoo poll out Friday shows that if the election were held today, 44 percent of adults surveyed would choose Obama while 42 percent would pick McCain, though that poll's methodology differs from most other polls.

"The answer is two-fold: This is not primarily a horse race poll, and our story chronicled the dramatic changes in ratings of the candidates. Second, we are focusing on likely voters and our likely voter number shows Obama 5 points ahead of McCain," FOX News quoted one expert, as saying.

According to the polling data, interviews were conducted online and drawn from an original sample from a panel of respondents recruited by Knowledge Networks via random sampling of telephone land lines with listed and unlisted numbers. The two-point margin in both national polls is the tightest the race has been in some time and with just 18 days left before Election Day, Nov. 4.

With the polls so close -- indeed tightening since McCain lost ground to Obama during debate over the economic bailout bill on Capitol Hill -- poll watchers should consider both measures, say political pundits. (ANI)

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Islamabad, Oct 18 (ANI): Pakistan security forces last evening recovered one of the two abducted Chinese engineers in northwestern parts of the country. ISPR's in-charge in Swat Nadeem Ahmed confirmed that the recovered Chinese engineer was safe and healthy.

Taliban spokesman in Swat Muslim Khan also confirmed that one Chinese engineer had fled, while "the second was re-arrested", reported the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The freed engineer was flown to Islamabad by a military helicopter hours after he was rescued, added the report.

It also quoted Muslim Khan as saying that the second engineer was injured when Taliban guards opened fire to foil his attempt to flee.

Taliban had demanded ransom and the release of their over 100 jailed colleagues for the release of the Chinese engineers, added the Taliban spokesman.

Two Chinese engineers working with Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Company (ZTE) had gone missing on August 29, together with their Pakistani driver and security guard. They were on their way home after finishing their work in Lower Dir and the company lost contact of them.

The Taliban in Swat valley had later claimed responsibility for the abduction. (ANI)

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