Islamabad, December 25: With Pakistani banks writing off bad loans worth billions of rupees, the supreme court has advised authorities to consider appointing eunuchs to recover the money from defaulters.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry made the observation on Wednesday while hearing a petition filed by Insaaf Welfare Trust chairman Muhammad Aslam Khaki pertaining to the rights of ‘hijras’ or eunuchs.
Peshawar, Dec 25: The Taliban blew up on Friday three schools in northwest Pakistan where troops are fighting against militants in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.
Buildings in two boys’ schools about 1.5 kilometres (one mile) apart were blown up in the Khyber tribal district which lies between Afghanistan and Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
“Militants blew up a government boys’ high school and a middle school with explosives around 3.00 am (2100 GMT),” tribal administration official Rehan Gul Khattak said.
Islamabad, Dec 25: Pakistan has described India’s move to pull out troops from Jammu and Kashmir as a “gimmick” intended to deflect the world community’s attention from resolving the Kashmir issue.
Referring to reports about the withdrawal of 30,000 troops from Jammu and Kashmir, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the region “remains the most militarised area”.
“Such gimmicks are not going to deflect the attention of the world that the Kashmir issue should be resolved in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiris,” he said.
Peshawar, December 24: A suicide bomber wearing a jacket packed with explosives and steel pellets blew himself up today at a police check post near a missionary school on a busy road here, killing at least five people and injuring 25 others on the Christmas eve in the latest in a slew of terror attacks across Pakistan.
The attacker detonated his suicide jacket when he was stopped by policemen at the post outside the State Life Insurance Corporation building on the Mall Road in Peshawar cantonment at around 11 am local time.
Peshawar, December 24: A blast went off on a busy road in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, near offices of the national airline and some media companies, but there was no immediate word on casualties, residents said.
The blast apparently happened at a security force checkpost on the Mall Road, which is also near the city’s military district, one of the residents said.
–Agencies
Peshawar, December 24: A suicide bomber struck a neighborhood full of government buildings in Pakistan’s main northwest city Thursday, killing four people and underscoring that militant groups retain strength despite being under siege by the army.
The attack was the second in three days in Peshawar, and the latest in wave of violence that has killed more than 500 people in Pakistan since October. Insurgents are suspected of avenging a U.S.-supported Pakistani army offensive against the Taliban in a northwest tribal region along the Afghan border.
Islamabad, December 24: A Pakistani anti-terror court on Thursday adjourned the proceedings against seven suspects, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, charged with involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, till January 6 next year — even as a notice was issued to one of the defence lawyers.
Anti-terror court Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan, who was not present in court on Thursday due to some personal engagement, is yet to rule on four applications filed by the accused challenging their indictment and seeking their acquittal.
Peshawar, Dec 24: Police say a large explosion has been heard in Pakistan’s Peshawar city.
Ambulances are rushing to the area, but there was no immediate word on casualties in Thursday’s blast.
Police official Manzur Khan, says the blast occurred along a major road in a commercial area. An office of Pakistan’s main airline is located there, as is a state-run insurance company.
A wave of attacks have occurred in Pakistan since October, as militants apparently retaliate for an army offensive against the Taliban. The attacks have killed more than 500 people.
–Agencies
Islamabad, December 24: Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that India should respect Pakistani courts, adding that Islamabad would not take notes from any country including New Delhi.
Referring to the issue of Jamaat-ud-Daawa chief, whom India considers as the main plotter of the Mumbai terror attacks, Malik said the case is in the court and the government will take action once there is new evidence against him.
Talking to media persons here, he once again rebuffed reports about the presence of controversial US private security firm, Blackwater, in Pakistan.
Islamabad, December 24: The Obama Administration on Wednesday questioned the validity of media reports that the US has conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan’s tribal areas as part of a secret war in the border region.
“I would question the validity of those reports,” P J Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs said at a news conference when asked about the report in this regard in a British newspaper.
Crowley, however, refrained from giving any details.
Karachi, December 24: Against the backdrop of the political uncertainty caused by the Supreme Court verdict on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday.
Gen. Kayani briefed Mr. Zardari about “professional issues” and “security matters,” the state-run Pakistan Television said quoting unnamed officials in the presidency.
Islamabad, December 23: Carrying on their tirade against women’s education, Taliban militants blew up another girls’ school in Khyber area in Pakistan’s restive NWFP, official said.
Militants had packed tons of explosives overnight at the government-run school in Bazgarah town, about 40 kilometres west of troubled city of Peshawar.
“All the 21 rooms in the school compound were razed to the ground as the militants detonated the stored explosives early this morning,” local officials told TV channels.
Islamabad, December 23: A Pakistani court has ordered two brothers should have their noses and ears cut off after they were found guilty of doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them.
The two brothers, Sher Mohammad and Amanat Ali, abducted their 22-year-old cousin, Fazeelat Bibi, at gunpoint in September after her father refused to let her marry Mohammad.
“They put a noose around her neck and tried to strangle her. After failing to do so, Sher Mohammad chopped of her nose and two ears with a knife,” government prosecutor Ehtesham Qadir said.
Peshawar, Dec 23: A teenage suicide bomber attacked a Pakistan journalists’ club on Tuesday, killing three people.
Strapped with explosives packed with nails, the young man walked up to the gate of the press club in the northwestern city of Peshawar and blew himself up as police tried to stop him entering the building, officials said.
–Agencies
Karachi, December 23: Pakistan has ordered the release on humanitarian grounds of 100 Indian fishermen languishing in prison for illegally venturing into its territorial waters, the prime minister’s office said.
Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have been strained since an assault in the Indian city of Mumbai in November last year by Pakistani-based militants.
Islamabad, December 23: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced the release of 100 Indian fishermen, who were apprehended by Pakistani authorities for violating the country’s maritime limits.
According to sources Gilani has instructed the Interior Ministry to make necessary arrangements for their repatriation to India, which would take place on December 24.
Jails Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Mumtaz Burney confirmed the release of 100 Indian fishermen, saying that the decision was made by the government as a ‘goodwill gesture.’
Islamabad, December 23: A Pakistani court has ordered two brothers should have their noses and ears cut off after they were found guilty of doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them.
The two brothers, Sher Mohammad and Amanat Ali, abducted their 22-year-old cousin, Fazeelat Bibi, at gunpoint in September after her father refused to let her marry Mohammad.
“They put a noose around her neck and tried to strangle her. After failing to do so, Sher Mohammad chopped of her nose and two ears with a knife,” government prosecutor Ehtesham Qadir said.
Gandhinagar, December 23: Hundred of the over 600 Indian fishermen held in Pakistani jails will be released soon, a fishermen’s forum official said here Tuesday.
Manish Lodhari, secretary of the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), said from Porbandar that Sami Memon, secretary general of the Pakistan Peoples Forum, had apprised him of their government’s decision to release the fishermen.
The bulk of these fishermen are from coastal areas of Gujarat, picked up while they were engaged in fishing, taken to Karachi and their boats were seized.
Islamabad, December 23: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Tuesday said that Pakistan would neither accept foreign boots on its soil nor extension of the US drone attacks.
Speaking at the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Qureshi said Pakistan strongly believed that the US drone attacks were counterproductive and unhelpful in joint efforts towards winning hearts and minds, which was essential to succeed against violent extremism, Xinhua reported.
Peshawar, December 22: A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a press club in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing two people in the latest of a slew of attacks to strike the city of Peshawar since the military launched a major offensive near the Afghan border.
A policeman tried to search the attacker as he approached the press club’s gate, but the man resisted and was able to trigger his explosives, killing the officer and an accountant who worked for the organization, said Peshawar’s police chief, Liaquat Ali Khan.
Islamabad, December 22: It seems that terrorists have taken now media people in Pakistan, as an incident happened outside the Press Club in Peshawar when suicide bomber claimed three persons and injured many, including several reporters.
A police constable was killed when the suicide attacker blew himself up outside the Peshawar Press Club when he was stopped by police at the entrance.
The explosion shattered the windowpanes of the Press Club building in Saddar area, police sources told.
–Agencies
Islamabad, December 22: Facing charges of corruption and could try in court, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, asserted that his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would never “run away” from accountability and would face the courts like it had in the past.
The assertion came during a meeting at the Aiwan-e-Sadr with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to discuss the situation arising out of the Supreme Court striking down the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) promulgated in October 2007, Online news agency reported.
Srinagar, December 22: Contrarily asking India to initiate dialogue for peace process, Pakistan’s wrongdoing still continued at the border where the two nation’s military officials have exchanged heavy firing at the international border in Jammu and Kashmir Monday evening, an official informed.
According to the Border Security Force (BSF), the Pakistani border guards opened fire on the Indian positions in Ramgarh sector in a bid to infiltrate terrorists, provoking the Indian side to retaliate.
Islamabad, December 21: Pakistani troops killed six militants and captured 17 more during operations against the Taliban in the northwestern Swat valley and the restive Waziristan tribal region, authorities said today.
Four militants were killed in a gun battle that erupted while security forces were conducting a search and clearance operation near Totakan in Swat, the military said.
Fourteen suspects were apprehended during operations in different places in the valley, including Kanju, Tutan Bandai and Kabal.
Jammu, December 21: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, who was to take part in an international conference in Islamabad December-end, has been denied a visa due to the security situation in Pakistan.
According to PDP sources, Mehbooba Mufti, whom Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari during her early 2008 visit described as ” my sister from Kashmir”, has not been given a visa.
A party leader close to her, referring to the suicide bombings and terror attacks across that country, said the visa was denied because of problems within Pakistan.