Pakistan

Islamabad, October 01: President Asif Ali Zardari’s daughter is expected to be named as Pakistan’s ambassador for polio eradication.

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari was the first Pakistani child to receive polio drops following the launch of the first immunisation campaign in the country by her mother and slain former premier Benazir Bhuto in 1994.

Her name was proposed as the ambassador for polio eradication in a formal document submitted to the government by the Health Ministry, media reports said.

Islamabad, October 01: At least four persons were killed and 15 others, including five security personnel, injured in an attack on a security forces convoy and a subsequent gun battle in Pakistan’s restive Khyber tribal region on Thursday.

The convoy was attacked in the Bara region of Khyber Agency. However, there were conflicting reports on whether the convoy was targeted with a roadside bomb or by a suicide attacker.

Two persons were killed and 10 others, including five security personnel, injured in the attack, media reports said.

Washington, October 01: Describing India and Pakistan as two very important countries, the United States says it is encouraging Islamabad to fully investigate and bring those responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

“Well, we certainly have encouraged and continue to encourage Pakistan to fully investigate the Mumbai attacks, and even more importantly, bring those responsible before their judicial system,” a State Department spokesman told reporters Wednesday.

Islamabad, October 01: US drones launched fresh strikes in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt killing six militants and wounding two others on Wednesday, the third such strike on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold in 24 hours.

Unmanned drone fired two missiles at two vehicles at Naurak, a village located along the road connecting Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan Agency, and Mir Ali, another key town in the region.

Witnesses said the militants travelling in the two vehicles were killed in the attack.

Mingora, October 01: Courts are back in session in Pakistan’s Swat Valley after a three-month hiatus because of an army offensive against Taliban militants. How well the judiciary performs may be crucial in ensuring that the insurgents do not return.

The Taliban gained sympathizers in Swat partly by exploiting long-standing grievances with the slow and corrupt judicial system, in which judges allowed proceedings to drag on indefinitely while lawyers milked more fees.

The government hopes to do things differently this time.

Peshawar, October 01: The brother of new Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has been killed in a clash with the military in the tribal region where militants hold sway, security officials said Thursday.

Kalimullah Mehsud was killed on Monday in a shootout in the lawless insurgent stronghold of North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan.

“Kalimullah was buried on Wednesday. He was killed on Monday in crossfire with security forces,” a security official in North Waziristan told AFP.

Karachi, October 01: The Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group has created a furore after they claimed that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was aware of the Mumbai Terror attack plan. At a time when India is reiterating the need of wiping out terror groups and restore international peace, such a claim creates a doubt about the integrity of the intelligence officials and other organs dedicated to combat all forms of terrorism.

Lashkar has not refrained from its expansive operation even after the dreadful 26/11 attack.

Rome, October 01: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari presided Wednesday over the signing of a defence memorandum between their two countries.

“The agreement aims to increase the exchange of intelligence and bilateral trade in the military field,” Berlusconi said, at a joint news conference with Zardari in Rome.

Zardari, who said he was “impressed by the personality” of Berlusconi, thanked the conservative premier for Italy’s “support in the war against terrorism”.

Washington, September 30: Former President Pervez Musharraf, a close U.S. ally in the war on terror, wants the Obama administration to send additional troops to war-torn Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is growing.
“We must win in Afghanistan,” he said in an interview with the conservative Washington Times published in its Tuesday’s edition.

Musharraf said the U.S. would make a “disastrous” mistake if it withdrew from Afghanistan and warned that a delay in sending more troops would be seen as a sign of weakness.

Islamabad, September 30: Former President Pervez Musharraf has said the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Taliban want nuclear war between Pakistan and India. Musharraf who has been on a lecture tour in United States in a lecture at Baltimore University said that the links between Students Islamic Movement of India and Pakistan Taliban could cause nuclear war between Pakistan and India. The Indian outfit can get assistance from Taliban and other extremists for strikes in Pakistan.

Islamabad, September 30: A suspected US missile strike targeted Taliban fighters on the move in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region Wednesday and killed at least nine militants, including foreigners, an intelligence official said.

Pilotless aircraft attacked and destroyed two vehicles carrying the Taliban in Naurak village near Mir Ali, one of the main towns of the district located close to the Afghan frontier.

Gilgit, September 30: At least four people were killed and eight wounded in shootings by unidentified persons in Gilgit on Wednesday.

Dead bodies and injured have been taken to hospitals.

Security has been intensified in the region in view of the presence of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Gilgit.

The forces have started patrolling in the area after the incident.
–Agenices

Gilgit, September 30: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday stressed the need to shun sectarianism in the country and said that the political maturity could help calm the divisions between the cross section of people.

I was talking to a delegation of members of the Pakistan Peoples Party, referring to the recent clashes in Gilgit that claimed lives.

Gilani said that sectarianism is not deployed at any cost and urged party members to play their role in the evolution of the peaceful situation in the region through political maturity.

Islamabad, September 30: Former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has said that he allowed late slain former premier Benazir Bhutto’s return to Pakistan, as no corruption charges were proved against her, a private TV channel reported on Monday.

Islamabad, September 30: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday admitted for regular hearing a petition by Punjab government seeking to defer by-polls on two National Assembly and two provincial assembly seats on one of which former premier Nawaz Sharif is a candidate.

The court issued notices to the Election Commission, Sharif, former federal minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed and other candidates. The government said law and order situation in the province was not conducive to holding of elections which have been powstponed many times for past nearly ten months.

Islamabad, September 30: The eight-member group of MPs from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have submitted their resignations en bloc to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in protest against persistent neglect of their constituencies disbursement of development funds.

The group that included two ministers and a parliamentary secretary have also demanded immediate removal of governor of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Owais Ahmad Ghani, accusing him of being too authoritative and inaccessible.

Pakistan, September 29: Officials say two suspected U.S. missile strikes in northwest Pakistan have killed 13 militants.

The first attack Tuesday killed six militants and wounded six others in South Waziristan.

Three intelligence officials and one government official said a second missile later Tuesday hit a house owned by a known Afghan militant in North Waziristan. Seven insurgents died in the attack.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity citing policy.

Lahore, September 29: Ex-Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has admitted that his government’s secret agreement with the Taliban had backfired.

The Taliban had misled Musharraf’s administration, the Daily Times quoted him as saying.

He said on the one hand, the Taliban negotiated with the Pakistani government on the implementation of the sharia law, while on the other, they called the country’s constitution un-Islamic.

Earlier, Musharraf had fiercely denied playing a double game of supporting the Taliban while receiving US funding to fight them when he was in power.

Islamabad, September 29: Former Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf is lobbying for his favourite General to become new army chief and has held a secret meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari on this, a media report said Tuesday.

Musharraf, according to the The News daily, has not given up hopes of making a political come back in Pakistan and wants his favourite General to help him achieve the ambitions.

Islamabad, September 29: The two terror suspects handed over by Pakistan to Saudi Arabia are the sons of Yemeni Al Qaida leader Al-Alawi, who masterminded a recent suicide attack on Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammad bin Nayef, according to a media report Tuesday.

Saudi authorities had shared intelligence about Al-Alawi’s sons Ali and Siddique with Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik during his recent visit to Jeddah and requested cooperation in tracing and arresting the two top planners of suicide attacks, the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources as saying.

Islamabad, September 29: Pakistan has mooted to India the creation of a joint maritime security agency to prevent sea borne terrorist attacks like the one on Mumbai last year that killed 183 people.

The Pakistan Navy has suggested the creation of the joint maritime security agency to the government, Naval chief Admiral Noman Bashir told reporters after inaugurating a conference on piracy organised in southern port city of Karachi by the Master Mariners Society of Pakistan.

Islamabad, September 28: The Pakistan government has decided to reverse the clocks by one hour from Nov 1, the Online news agency reported Monday citing the interior ministry.

The government had decided to advance the clocks by one hour for seven months from April 1 to Oct 31 every year to overcome the energy crisis, while the clocks would be reversed by one hour from Nov 1 to March 31, the report said.

The main purpose to advance the clocks is to use maximum daylight, it added.

–Agencies

Islamabad, September 28: A Pakistani court Monday issued notice to former president Pervez Musharraf and nine others after they failed to appear for a hearing in a case relating to the Dec 27, 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Judge Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High court issued the notice on a petition filed by Chaudhry Aslam, Bhutto’s former protocol officer, seeking the registration of a first information report (FIR) on her killing.

Islamabad, September 28: Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency has categorically rejected a report saying that it was providing a safe haven to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, describing it as a ‘propaganda blitz against an institution which has played pivotal role in the eradication of terrorism’.

The report was ‘ill motivated and sheer mudslinging’, a senior ISI official told Online news agency.

‘ISI works within a set framework and any question of providing haven to Mullah Omar or the Taliban leadership stands ruled out.

Miranshah, September 28: At least 15 militants and a security personnel were killed in fighting in South Waziristan area of Pakistan Monday, the Online news agency reported.

The fighting started when the militants fired a rocket at the camp of security forces in Razmik area, killing a security personnel and wounding five others.

The soldiers retaliated and killed 15 militants, the report said.

A curfew was clamped in the area after the incident.

—-IANS–