Pakistan

Islamabad, October 22: Pakistan, being a nuclear state, was not weak and knew how to retaliate, the country’s interior minister says.

Speaking to reporters here Wednesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said India ‘threatened’ every three months to attack India, adding: ‘We are a nuclear state and not so weak; rather, we know how to retaliate.’

He also said that India should furnish any fresh evidence it has about an impending 26/11-style attack so that Pakistan could take preventive action in case any of its citizens were known to be involved in its planning and execution.

Mohali (Punjab), October 22: The death of a 48-year-old woman, who died after suffering from swine flu at a hospital of this Punjab town has sparked controversy, an official said Thursday. The woman’s death has pointed towards irregularities in the procedures followed by hospital staff while treating her.

Vinu Gupta, a native of Solan town in Himachal Pradesh, was admitted to the Silver Oaks hospital Oct 18 with symptoms of the influenza A (H1N1) virus. She succumbed to the disease that afternoon.

Islamabad, October 22:The suicide bombing at a university here was as much a watershed as was the siege earlier this month of the Pakistani military headquarters, an editorial in a leading English daily said Thursday. Another pointed to the “changing temperament” and increasing desperation of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and noted that “all bets, it appears, are off”.

Islamabad, October 22: Two security officials have been killed when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a military vehicle in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Police official Tahir Alam said Brigadier Moin Haider and his driver were killed and a guard was also wounded in the shooting, which happened early Thursday.

“Witnesses have told us two men came on a motorcycle and opened fire,” city police official Abdul Qadir was quoted as saying by Reuters.

No group has yet claimed the responsibility of Thursday’s attack.

Islamabad, October 22: Terror struck Islamabad again Thursday with a suicide bomber and police exchanging fire at a court here while two army personnel, including a brigadier, were shot dead in another incident.

An eyewitness told Geo News that a suicide bomber wearing a blanket reached the court Thursday. But an alert police official spotted his suicide jacket and opened fire. The bomber managed to flee.

Earlier in the day, a Pakistan Army brigadier and his driver were shot dead while another soldier sustained injuries when two men opened fire at their jeep here.

Islamabad, October 22: A pair of gunmen on a motorbike killed a soldier and a high-ranking army officer in the Pakistani capital Thursday morning, officials said, the latest strike against security forces as the military wages a major anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest.

The assault in Islamabad was part of a wave of bloodshed that has killed more than 170 people in Pakistan over the past three weeks and pushed the military into launching a long-anticipated ground offensive in South Waziristan tribal region six days ago.

Parachinar, October 22: Soldiers fought for control of the Pakistani Taliban chief’s hometown as they pressed an offensive along the Afghan border, while intelligence officials said U.S. missiles hit territory controlled by another insurgent, threatening to undermine deals that keep some militants out of the battle.

Islamabad, October 22: Gunmen shot and killed a Pakistani army brigadier and his driver in the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday as the military continued an offensive against Taliban targets, police said.

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Islamabad, October 21: All government and private schools, colleges and universities throughout Pakistan have been closed after fears of militant attacks in the wake of twin suicide bombings at a university campus here, officials said.

The News Wednesday quoted the officials as saying that all educational institutions will remain closed till the security situation improves in the country.

All schools run by the armed forces have been shut since Sunday in the wake of the military offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan that began Saturday.

Islamabad, October 21: Taliban militants attacked Pakistani forces and recaptured a strategic town yesterday while two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic university in the capital killed six people and wounded at least 20, officials said.

The government made an immediate link between the university attack and an offensive against the Taliban, with the Interior Minister Rehman Malik saying “all roads are leading towards South Waziristan”.

Islamabad, October 20: Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has said he wanted to walk out of the failed 2001 Agra summit but was dissuaded from doing so by a senior official.

His frustration, he told reporters in New York, stemmed from the fact that then Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had twice refused to include a reference to Kashmir in the joint declaration issued after the summit.

Islamabad, October 20: In a move to isolate Tehrik-e- Taliban, Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has appealed to the Mehsud tribe, linked to Hakimullah Mehsud, to support the ongoing offensive in Waziristan as it was aimed at liberating them from the clutches of “ruthless terrorists”.

As the crucial operation entered the fourth day, Kayani’s appeal, air dropped as leaflets in the lawless tribal region, was addressed to the Mehsud tribe hailing them as “respectable and patriotic” tribesmen.

Pakistan, October 20: Pakistan’s army, in the midst of a major new offensive against Taliban militants, has struck deals to keep two powerful, anti-US tribal chiefs from joining the battle against the government, officials said Monday.

The deals increase the chances of an army victory against Pakistan’s enemy No. 1, but indicate that the 3-day-old assault into the Taliban’s strongholds in South Waziristan may have less effect than the US wants on a spreading insurgency across the border in Afghanistan.

Islamabad, October 20: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today asked his Pakistani counterpart to quicky arrest the leaders of a Pakistan-based Sunni group blamed by Tehran for a suicide attack that killed 42 people, including top officers of the elite Revolutionary Guard.

“Iran and Pakistan have a brotherly relationship but the presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan is not justifiable,” Ahmadinejad told Asif Ali Zardari.

Islamabad, October 20: The Pakistani security forces have killed at least 78 militants as they continued their push into the Taliban heartland in South Waziristan Monday, the army said.

At least nine soldiers were killed and 35 others wounded since the new operation Rah-e-Nijat was launched in northwest Pakistan Saturday.

Major General Athar Abbas, director general of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), said 18 insurgents and two soldiers were killed Monday in South Waziristan. Twelve security personnel were also injured.

Washington, October 19: India has charged Pakistan of using ‘jihadi’ elements to “destabilise” it and Afghanistan and expressed willingness to normalise relations with Islamabad if it takes one step towards peace.

“It (Pakistan) has been one of actually using jihadi militants as an instrument of destabilisation in both Afghanistan and India. And we think that’s wrong,” Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told a TV channel.

Islamabad, October 19: Pakistani forces backed by artillery attacked Taliban insurgents on Monday as the army moved to wrest control of militant strongholds in a lawless region on the Afghan border.

The fighting is a new test of the government’s determination to tackle an increasingly brazen insurgency that has seen a string of attacks in different parts of the country, including an assault on army headquarters, in which more than 150 people were killed.

Islamabad, October 19: Troops fought militants on three fronts and fighter jets bombed insurgent positions Monday as Pakistan pressed ahead with its assault on an al-Qaida and Taliban sanctuary close to the Afghan border.

The army and the Taliban have each claimed early victories in South Waziristan, a mountainous tribal region that Islamist extremists use as a base to plot attacks on the Pakistani state, Western troops in Afghanistan and targets in the West.

Islamabad, October 19: Amid accusations of having played a role in a deadly terrorist explosion in southeast Iran, Pakistan moves to dismiss any involvement in the terrorist attack.

“Pakistan is not involved in terrorist activities … we are striving to eradicate this menace,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Basit told the Daily Times newspaper on Sunday.

Washington, October 19: Head of the US Central Command, Gen David Petraeus, has arrived in Islamabad for talks with Pakistani commanders about an ongoing offensive against militants in Waziristan.

Furthermore US Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday on a two-day visit to the country where a wave of militant attacks has killed more than 175 people during two weeks.

Islamabad, October 19: Pakistan has condemned a suicide bomb attack in Iran and denied suggestions from the Iranian president that “some security agents” in Pakistan were cooperating with the bombers.

Iranian state television said 42 people were killed in Sunday’s attack on the elite Revolutionary Guards in the country’s volatile southeast.

“Pakistan is not involved in terrorist activities … we are striving to eradicate this menace,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told the Daily Times newspaper on Sunday.

Basit was not available for comment on Monday.

Islamabad, October 18: The Pakistani Army says 60 militants have been killed in the first 24 hours of a major operation against the Taliban close to the Afghan border.

An Army statement said on Sunday that six soldiers had been killed over the same time period.

It was not possible to independently verify those figures because the Army prevents reporters from getting close to the battlefield.

Islamabad, October 18: General David Petraeus, chief of the US Central Command, arrived here Sunday on an emergency visit for talks on the Pakistani military’s offensive against the Taliban in the restive South Waziristan region along the Afghan border and bilateral issues.

Petraeus will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other officials during his stay here, Online news agency quoted sources as saying.

Rawalpindi, October 18:More than 60 suspicious people, among them numerous Afghans, were arrested Sunday during a search operation in areas near the Pakistani military headquarters, which was the scene of a hostage drama eight days ago.

Police sources told Online news agency on Sunday that more than 60 suspicious people have been arrested during search operation in the areas located near the headquarters.

Sniffer dogs were also used during the operation.

While a larger number of people were initially rounded, police released all those who had identity cards and other documents.

Islamabad, October 18: The Pakistani Army says 60 militants have been killed in the first 24 hours of a major operation against the Taliban close to the Afghan border.

An army statement said on Sunday that six soldiers had been killed over the same time period.

It was not possible to independently verify those figures because the Army prevents reporters from getting close to the battlefield.

—Agencies