US drops plan to appoint former Gitmo commander in Pakistan

Fri, May 9 08:43 PM

Washington/Islamabad, May 9 (PTI) The US has "quietly" dropped plans of posting a controversial former commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison to Pakistan as its military envoy after uproar in the country. The Pentagon had announced in March that Maj.

Gen. Jay W.

Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan, reflecting the military's aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a pivotal time in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas. But nearly two months later, the military has "quietly" cancelled the assignment of General Hood, a 33-year army veteran who was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the United States prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, the New York Times said today, adding no formal announcement has been made.

During Hood's command from 2004 to 2006, military authorities force-fed with tubes terror detainees who were engaging in hunger strikes at the Guantanamo prison. Also reports that an American guard may have desecrated a Koran stirred wide protests in the Islamic world.

Pakistan yesterday said it had asked the US not to appoint Hood as it had "genuine reservations". "If.

Our request is not entertained then we have options not to allow Hood and people sharing his thinking inside Pak territory," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the Upper House. Pakistani daily the 'Dawn' also reported that Hood has been dropped.

"The US government has taken note of the sensitivities of Pakistani government and the public regarding the posting of Gen Hood and it (the posting) would not materialise now," a diplomatic source told the daily. PTI.

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