Pakistan

Islamabad, March 22: In a departure from its earlier stand, the US is ready to discuss Pakistan’s request for nuclear power plants and the issue may come up for discussion during next week’s strategic dialogue between the two sides, a media report has claimed.

“We are beginning to have a discussion with the Pakistan government” on the country’s desire to tap nuclear energy, US envoy in Islamabad Anne W Patterson was quoted as saying in a Los Angeles-based Pakistani newspaper.

“We are going to have working level talks” on the issue in Washington in March, she said.

Islamabad, March 22: At least eight people were killed and four injured in two suspected US drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal district of North Waziristan Sunday, security officials said.

An unmanned drone aircraft fired three Hellfire guided missiles into a compound in the Alora Mandi area of North Waziristan, a known safe haven of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants launching cross-border raids on NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan.

Islamabad, March 22: At least eight people were killed and four injured in two suspected US drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal district of North Waziristan Sunday, security officials said.

An unmanned drone aircraft fired three Hellfire guided missiles into a compound in the Alora Mandi area of North Waziristan, a known safe haven of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants launching cross-border raids on NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan.

Islamabad, March 22: The Pakistan Air Force today deployed its first air-to-air refuelling aircraft during an ongoing air exercise, with officials describing the event as a “milestone” in the enhancement of the force’s capabilities.

The Il-78 air-to-air refuelling aircraft, which was inducted into the PAF in December last year, took active part in the High Mark 2010 exercise and refuelled two fighter jets, officials said.

Pakistan is expecting the delivery of three more refuelling aircraft by June, a PAF official told state-run APP news agency.

Peshawar, March 21: Three tribesmen were beheaded by the Taliban in Pakistan’s restive northwest for allegedly spying for the US.

Their bodies were found today at a location 24 kms east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal agency, local residents said.

A note left beside the bodies said the men were beheaded for spying on the Taliban for the US.

It warned that other “spies” would meet the same fate.

? ? ?The Taliban have beheaded dozens of tribesmen and Afghan nationals on charges of spying in Pakistan’s tribal belt over the past two years.

–Agencies

Islamabad, March 21: The bullet-riddled bodies of four Pakistani tribesmen, killed by the Taliban for allegedly spying for the United States, were found Sunday in a semiautonomous tribal region near the Afghan border, witnesses and officials said.

Hours later, a bomb exploded in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan, where authorities have been fighting an ethnic insurgency. The blast killed at least three people and injured 12 more.

Islamabad, March 20: The Pakistan Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, left Saturday on an official visit to the United States to participate in Pakistan-US strategic dialogue scheduled for March 24.

Kayani is visiting America at the special invitation of US Central Command head, General David Petraeus, Online news agency quoted Inter-Services Public Relations as saying.

During the visit, Kayani is scheduled to meet senior US military and government officials in Tampa, the headquarters of the Central Command, and Washington.

Ialamabad, March 20: A makeshift bomb exploded outside the residence of the head of the Pakistani community in central Athens early on Saturday causing damage but no injuries, police said.

“There was damage to the entrance of the apartment building and three cars but no injuries. There is no claim of responsibility,” a police official said.

It was the second incident in less than 24 hours as another makeshift bomb damaged the office of a far-right group in central Athens early on Friday without hurting anyone.

Manchester, March 19: A five-year-old British boy whose 12-day kidnap ordeal in Pakistan sparked an international police operation that led to arrests in Europe has arrived home.

Sahil Saeed was brought out onto the doorstep of his house in the arms of his mother Akila Naqqash to applause from well-wishers, shortly after his father brought him back from Islamabad on Thursday.

Looking tired, Sahil rubbed his eyes and refused to raise his head from his mother’s shoulder to face the waiting media.

Islamabad, March 19: Pakistan seeks a long-term strategic partnership with the US, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Thursday conceding that differences still exist between the two countries but it is now Washington’s turn to ‘do more’.

‘Pakistan wants a long-term strategic partnership based on mutual trust, respect and shared values,’ he told reporters here ahead of the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue in Washington March 24.

‘Unfortunately, past engagements were not successful but an entirely new framework is now in place in Pakistan.

Peshawar, March 18: Pakistani authorities today produced 12 Taliban militants in anti-terrorism courts in the restive Swat valley, marking the beginning of efforts to bring to trial those arrested during operations by security forces.

The militants were produced in anti-terrorism courts set up in Saidu Sharif, one of the main towns of Swat district, in line with a decision made by the government to try them for their crimes, official sources told PTI.

Islamabad, March 18: At least 15 people, including police and civilians, were injured Thursday during a protest here against the hike in transport fares in Islamabad and its twin city of Rawalpindi.

As the protesters raised slogans and pelted stones, a police contingent reached the spot and fired tear gas and used batons, resulting in injuries to several people, Online news agency reported.

The protesters stoned the police, injuring six police officials. The army and the Pakistan Rangers were called to control the situation. Troops later took over the area.

—-IANS—

Washington, March 18: An al Qaeda leader believed to have played a key role in the bombing of a CIA post in Afghanistan last December was apparently killed by an American missile strike last week, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

The counterterrorism official said Hussein al-Yemeni was believed killed in a strike in Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

Islamabad, March 18: A Pakistani court formally charged on Wednesday five young Americans of plotting terrorism in the country, their lawyer said, in a case that has raised alarm over the danger posed by militants using the Internet.

The students, in their 20s and from the U.S. state of Virginia, were detained in December in the town of Sargodha, 190 km (120 miles) southeast of Islamabad, and accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting attacks.

Islamabad, March 18: Pakistan has signed a deal with Iran that would lead to the construction of a crucial gas pipeline, officials said Wednesday.

The pipeline would carry 750 million cubic feet of gas from Iran’s South Pars gas field when it is completed by 2015.

Minister for Petroleum Syed Naveed Qamar expressed jubilation over the deal and termed it as an “historic achievement”.

“It is a milestone toward meeting energy needs of the country,” a statement from the Petroleum Ministry quoted Qamar as saying.

Islamabad, March 18: Lawmakers belonging to Pakistan’s minority Hindu community walked out of Parliament to protest a top judge’s remarks that Hindus might be financing terrorist attacks in the country.

Ramesh Lal, a lawmaker from the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, raised the issue in the National Assembly yesterday, saying the sentiments of an estimated four million Pakistani Hindus were hurt by Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif’s uncalled for remarks.

Islamabad, March 18: Pakistan has said the world community should nudge India to resolve all “core” bilateral issues, including Kashmir and sharing of river waters, arguing that “tension” on its eastern border is a distraction to its fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban in its restive tribal belt.

Lahore, March 18: Five young American Muslims were today indicted by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court for funding militants and plotting terror attacks in the country, a charge if proved could see them getting life-term.

Judge Mian Anwar Nazir of the anti-terror court in Sargodha in Punjab province framed charges against the accused Ramy Zamzam, 22, Waqar Hussain Khan, 22, Ahmed Abdullah Minni, 20, Iman Hasan Yemer, 17 and Omar Farooq, 24, and adjourned the case till March 31.

Islamabad, March 17: Pakistan has procured 13 Cobra gunship helicopters from the US for use as spare parts for its helicopter fleet.

The AH-1F Cobra helicopters will be shipped to Pakistan from a US facility in Alabama later this year, the American embassy said in a statement here.

The 13 helicopters are part of a larger transaction finalised in 2007 under which Pakistan also procured and refurbished 12 Cobras for its fleet.

During the past three years, US civilian and security assistance to Pakistan has totalled over Rs 340 billion or four billion dollars.

Islamabad, March 17: Pakistan has signed a deal with Iran that would lead to the construction of a crucial gas pipeline, officials said Wednesday.

The pipeline would carry 750 million cubic feet of gas from Iran’s South Pars gas field when it is completed by 2015.

Minister for Petroleum Syed Naveed Qamar expressed jubilation over the deal and termed it as an “historic achievement”.

“It is a milestone toward meeting energy needs of the country,” a statement from the Petroleum Ministry quoted Qamar as saying.

Baghdad, March 17: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his main rival Iyad Allawi were locked in a tight election battle Wednesday, with updated results showing their blocs neck-and-neck in the race for parliament.

Maliki’s State of Law Alliance and Allawi’s Iraqiya coalition were each on pace to garner 87 seats in Iraq’s Council of Representatives, with less than 9,000 votes separating the two nationwide, according to a calculation based on results released after 79 percent of ballots had been counted.

Islamabad, March 17: Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday became the first Pakistani president to donate all his body organs, after signing a landmark bill to regulate transplant of human organs in the country.

The president made the announcement of ‘donating his whole body’ after his death as he inked the document in a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Zardari said he took the decision in the light of his late wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s philosophy of living for others, Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Islamabad, March 17: Pakistan officials say two suspected U.S. missile strikes have killed at least nine militants in northwestern Pakistan.

An intelligence official and an army official say some insurgents were also wounded in Wednesday’s strikes in two separate areas of the North Waziristan tribal region.

They said the first strike targeted a vehicle near Miran Shah, which is the main town in North Waziristan. About 50 minutes later, three missiles also hit a vehicle carrying insurgents in another town.

Mumbai, March 17: Saturday’s arrests of the two terror suspects in Mumbai who wanted to set fires at three locations across the city shows that Pakistani planners are now returning to their old ally, the underworld, to plot terrorist acts.

Islamabad, March 17: The Pakistani Senate or upper house has asked cable operators to stop airing Indian television channels to prevent the “cultural invasion of Pakistan”.

The decision was taken during a high-level meeting of the Senate’s standing committee on information and broadcasting. Committee member Senator Tariq Azeem said he had twice adopted resolutions recommending a ban on Indian television channels, but these were not implemented because of the strong pro-Indian lobby in the ministry of culture.