Pakistan

Tehran, September 11: A road accident in northwest Iran has claimed the lives of 17 Pakistani nationals, who were on their way to work in Europe by crossing the borders illegally.

The victims were on board a truck along with 7 other Pakistani nationals, when the vehicle skidded off the road and fell of a bridge in the highway connecting the two cities of Zanjan and Tabriz, the Iranian Tabnak news website reported.

Red Crescent workers and medics transferred the 7 people who survived the crash to a hospital in Tabriz.

Islamabad, September Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari rejects his US counterpart’s strategy for regional peace which links Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan and Pakistan are distinctly different countries and cannot be lumped together for any reason,” Zardari told The Financial Times in an interview.

Earlier this year, the US President Barack Obama appointed senior diplomat Richard Holbrooke as his special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan in a move intended to address these two states as a single arena of conflict.

Islamabad, Septembe 11: Pakistan’s army has detained a top Taliban spokesman and 4 other militant leaders in the Swat Valley in the first major arrests of top-level insurgents from the troubled region, military officials said Friday.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas did not give any details of the capture, including when it took place, saying only that it came after a successful operation in Swat. However, a local newspaper reported in Friday’s editions that some of the men had been engaged in secret peace talks with the military.

Islamabad, September 11: Pakistan’s military said Friday it has arrested a Taliban spokesman in the Swat valley, where troops have spent five months fighting Islamist insurgents. Muslim Khan was captured with four colleagues including key militant commander Mehmood Khan, Geo news channel reported, citing army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas.

Muslim Khan had a bounty of 10 million rupees (122,000 US dollars) on his head for involvement in terrorist activities. Mehmood Khan also had a bounty of 10 million rupees on his head.

Islamabad, September 11: Pakistan’s army says it has arrested Muslim Khan, the Taliban spokesman in the Swat Valley, and four other militant leaders from the region.

These are the first major arrests of members of the Swat Taliban leadership.

The army said Friday that the militant spokesman and fellow detainee Mahmood Khan both had bounties of 10 million rupees ($121,000) on their head.

Pakistan has waged a four-month-old offensive in the valley, which was once dominated by the Taliban.

Hyderabad, September 11: Twenty-eight bogies overturned as a result of the collision of two freight trains at Kotri Railway Station near Hyderabad on Thursday.

Moreover, two persons were injured while oil from bogies spilled over around the area.

According to reports, a goods train coming from Karachi collided with another goods train stationed at Kotri Railway station due to which several bogies overturned.

A train driver Shahid and a fireman Rashid sustained injuries in the incident and they were taken to Taluka Hospital Kotri for immediate medical treatment.

Islamabad, September 11: Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Thursday that Pakistan will train Maldives Police.

Malik made the remarks after a meeting with his Maldives counterpart Muhammad Shoaib in Islamabad, the Online news agency reported.

Other bilateral issues were also discussed at the meeting.

The Pakistani leader said Maldives had requested Islamabad to train its police force.

Mallik said Pakistan wants to extend all cooperation to Maldives.

–IANS–

Islamabad, September 10: President Asif Ali Zardari said Thursday India should trust Pakistan on its investigations into the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

He expressed the views during a briefing by the foreign office at the Aiwan-e-Sadr here on relations with India and Afghanistan and the president’s forthcoming US tour.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and senior foreign ministry officials were present on the occasion, Online news agency reported.

Islamabad, September 10: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is dead, but has sought more international aid to expand military operations against Taliban, in areas where Americans believe he may be hiding.

Asserting that his government was fighting the militants with determination, Zardari said these efforts were hampered by what he called lack of resources.

Islamabad, September 10: Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has said that critics of President Asif Ali Zardari, should keep in mind the situation facing the country a year earlier, adding that Zardari not only saved the country, but also remains the integrated.

He was addressing a seminar organized by the parliamentary group of the PPP Buenos Aires to celebrate the achievements of a year of President Asif Ali Zardari as head of state in Al-Hamra village on Wednesday.

Islamabad, September 10: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is dead, but has sought more international aid to expand military operations against Taliban, in areas where Americans believe he may be hiding.

Asserting that his government was fighting the militants with determination, Zardari said these efforts were hampered by what he called lack of resources.

Islamabad, September 10: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said he expects to meet Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna in New York during which discussion will take place on the Mumbai terror attack.

At an Iftar dinner here Wednesday, Qureshi said he expected to meet his Indian counterpart in New York during which talks will be held on the Mumbai attacks, Geo TV reported Thursday.

Islamabad, September 10: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said he is ready to meet his Indian counterpart as part of efforts to improve relations between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Relations between the south Asian neighbours worsened dramatically when 166 people were killed in India’s financial capital last November in attacks New Delhi blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Islamabad, September 10: Nawaz Sharif, a two-time former prime minister of Pakistan and current head of one of the country’s major political parties, has met with Osama bin Laden on numerous occasions, and it was in fact the al Qaeda leader who developed the relationship between Sharif and the Saudi royal family, says a former Pakistani intelligence official.

Islamabad, September 10: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has denied the reports that the US plans to expand its embassy compound in the country.

“There is no mini Pentagon in the making in Islamabad, it is neither essential nor the Pakistani government will allow its construction,” Qureshi told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the Americans were acquiring land for their diplomatic mission, and added that they should approach the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for the purpose, the Press TV correspondent reported.

Karachi, September 10: Security of federal ministers, religious scholars, foreign missions and important government installations has been beefed up following reports that scores of suicide bombers have reached Karachi and other parts of the province to carry out terror attacks later this month.

The Sindh Home Ministry has been alerted by the intelligence agencies that a good number of suicide bombers belonging to the banned Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan have targeted Karachi to cripple the engine of country’s economy.

Karachi, September 10: A confrontation between judiciary and the present government seems likely after Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday issued notices to 17 federal ministers, state ministers and advisers in a constitutional petition filed against federal ministries set up on provincial subjects.

The petition was filed by Sindh Dost Rabta Council Secretary Muneer Ahmed and three other individuals through Barrister Zameer Ghumro and accepted by the court.

Islamabad, September 10: The Pakistani cabinet has approved a new education policy Wednesday after deliberating on the subject for four years, the Online agency reported.

Education Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani said all federal and provincial educational institutions were consulted before finalising the policy.

The new policy sets the minimum age for primary education from 5-10 years and every district will have an educational board. More schools will be created by 2015 and more funds will be allocated for literacy programmes.

Islamabad, September 09: The Punjab Sugar Mills Owners Association Wednesday moved the Pakistan Supreme Court challenging a Lahore High Court ruling which fixed the price of sugar at Rs.40 per kg, Online news agency reported.
Farooq Amjad Mir, an advocate, filed an application citing that fixing sugar price is not in the jurisdiction of the Lahore High Court.

The mill owners said that when dealers were purchasing sugar at Rs.45 per kg, how could they sell it at Rs.40 per kg.

London, September 09: Britain has been accused of treating Pakistan like a “whipping boy” while failing to do enough to check home-grown British terrorism.

A senior Pakistani diplomat was Wednesday quoted saying terrorists convicted Monday of planning to blow up transatlantic airliners were “born and brought up” in Britain, not Pakistan.

“Sometimes for our British friends the truth is bitter. We have somehow turned out to be a whipping boy,” the Pakistani diplomat said.

Islamabad, September 09: Pakistani security forces have reportedly killed at least 24 pro-Taliban guerillas in the Khyber district in the country’s insurgency-plagued northwest.

“Security forces killed at least 24 militants and destroyed two militant headquarters and two hideouts in Bara town of Khyber,” a statement from the paramilitary Frontier Corps said on September 8.

Islamabad, September 09: One of the deadliest insurgent groups in Afghanistan is in contact with Western officials and politicians “to find a solution to the Afghan problem”, one of its senior leaders said in an exclusive interview.

The Hizbi Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is led by Afghan warlord and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has been in hiding for the last seven years.

Washington, September 09: Rogue Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan, who is the father of the Islamic nation’s nuclear weapons programme, has now admitted the Pakistani hand in the Iranian nuclear programme.

In an interview with Pakistan’s Aaj television network recently, Khan said he and other senior Pakistani officials guided Iran to a network of suppliers to advance its covert nuclear programme years ago.

He said they were instrumental in Tehran’s covert purchases of equipment through Pakistan’s ‘reliable’ suppliers based in Dubai.

Islamabad, September 09:Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has met Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden five times, says a former official of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), a claim hotly denied by Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Karachi, September 09: A Hindu nurse working at a hospital in this southern Pakistani port city went missing last month, sparking protests by the minority Hindu community.

Dozens of people from the Hindu Maheshwari community gathered outside the Karachi Press Club yesterday to demand the safe return of Bano, the young nurse who works at a private hospital.

Bano went missing three weeks ago.

Carrying placards and banners, the protesters said they feared that Bano might have been killed or forced to convert her religion, the Daily Times reported today.