Afghanistan summary here.

Pakistan summaries here and here and .

Internal chaos abides.

The Pakistani military said Wednesday it had killed at least 33 militants, while two soldiers died in rocket attacks, as heavily-armed supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric gained control over a third town in the north-western valley of Swat. Article

Internal political chaos abides.

Pakistani authorities have charged former cricket star and opposition politician Imran Khan under the country’s anti-terror act, which includes penalties such as life imprisonment.

Khan was arrested Wednesday, shortly after arriving for a rally at Punjab University in the eastern city of Lahore. It was his first public appearance since the imposition of emergency rule.

In a separate development, Pakistani opposition politicians are considering plans to form a united front against the state of emergency and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Article

More. (And also a comment from ye old scribe noting the abject silence from the U.S., the EU, etc., etc. regarding restoration of the judiciary.)/p>

The counsel of General Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday submitted in the Supreme Court a written reply to the petition of Tikka Iqbal against November 3 Proclamation of Emergency, praying that the petition be dismissed and the Proclamation be validated. Raja Ibrahim Satti advocate filed the reply through advocate-on- record Ejaz Muhammad Khan a day before the 10-member full court is due to resume hearing of the two constitutional petitions on Thursday.

The other petition has been moved by Watan Party through its counsel Barrister Zafarullah Khan.

In the reply, the counsel stated that the petition was not maintainable as the Article 3 of the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) clearly lays down that “No court including the Supreme Court, the Federal Shariat Court, the High Courts and any Tribunal or other authority shall call in question the PCO, the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007 or any order made in pursuance thereof.”

The PCO also lays down that “No judgment, decree, writ, order or process whatsoever shall be made or issued by any Court or tribunal against the President or the Prime Minister or any other authority designated by the President.” Article

Short of an armada of airlifts, the alternate options for permissible overland transport are highly limited, particularly with winter setting in.

The U.S. military is looking at alternate routes to send supplies to troops in Afghanistan in case the political crisis in Pakistan makes current supply lines unavailable, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military sends 75 percent of its supplies for the Afghanistan war through or over Pakistan, including 40 percent of the fuel sent to troops, the Defense Department said.

[snip]

…Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the military had to make contingency plans due to importance of those supply lines.

“There are efforts underway right now to figure out contingency supply lines to our troops in Afghanistan if it becomes necessary to alter the way we now support our troops in Afghanistan,” Morrell said.

“In light of the fact that there is civil unrest in Pakistan, in light of the fact that there is a state of emergency in Pakistan, we feel it is responsible, given the importance of the Pakistani supply lines to our operations in Afghanistan, to have a contingency plan.”

Morrell said the United States does not send ammunition through Pakistan.

“No matter what is happening on the ground in Pakistan, it will not impact us being able to provide ammunition to troops in Afghanistan,” he said. Article

Rules and procedures exist not only to provide instruction and guidance, but also accountability.

Canadian diplomats and corrections officers in Kandahar have come across what they consider to be a clear and “credible” case of torture involving a Canadian-captured Taliban fighter.

The revelation came as the federal government was forced to release over 1,000 pages of court documents that outline in graphic detail some of the abuse claims made by Afghan prisoners.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier told the House of Commons about the latest case, which brings to seven the number of complaints Canadian authorities have received since Ottawa signed a revised prisoner transfer agreement with the government of Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

Senior government officials, speaking on background late in the evening, said the incident was discovered during the latest inspection by Canadian authorities of a jail – likely belonging to Afghanistan’s notorious intelligence service.

“Our trained observers came across particularly credible evidence of mistreatment,” said a senior official, who indicated the injuries were physical.

“We have since heard from the Afghans that their investigation has already been launched and they come to an initial indication of wrongdoing and that they’re considering measures that include both firing personnel and prosecution.”

Published reports last spring said as many as 30 prisoners – captured by Canadian troops, but handed over to local authorities – complained of being beaten and abused prior to the signing of a new transfer arrangement last May. Six more cases surfaced in the wake of the new deal.

[snip]

Both the Canadian and Afghan governments promised investigations into the allegations last spring.

Senior officials said, with the exception of the latest case, the investigations are either incomplete – or inconclusive because record-keeping in Afghan jails is spotty.

Human rights officials have raised concern that Canadians maybe held liable under international law if they’ve been deemed to have handed someone over to be tortured.

A senior federal official, with responsibility for United Nations matters, said the issue falls into a legal gray area and that Canadians might not be accountable as long as it’s demonstrated they took every precaution to ensure torture didn’t take place.

But a University of Ottawa law professor, who first raised concern about prisoner treatment, dismissed the defence.

“We have not met our obligation under international law to avoid aiding and abetting torture,” said Amir Attaran. “If you deliver the body to them in good faith and they go away and torture, you’re safe? There’s no disputing we now know torture is taking place.”

[snip]

The court records show that Canadian officials are not sure what happened to a number of the prisoners it transfered to the Afghans prior to the signing of the new arrangement. They were also put in the embarassing position of writing to the United States, which took custody of Canadian-captured insurgents between 2002-2005, to determine what happened to some of them. Article