Pakistan

Islamabad, Jul 21:) As Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 strikes, confessed to his role and named others involved in it, Pakistan told yesterday his statements are “one-sided” and that it cannot take any action based on the confessions of a person who is “under pressure.”

Reacting to statements made by Ajmal Kasab in a Special Court in Mumbai today, Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhary A Mukhtar said they are “one-sided and I don’t know how much one can value them (statement) in the court of law.”

Islamabad, July 21: Keeping hopes alive for the Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, his new lawyer, Owais Sheikh, will file a fresh mercy petition in the Lahore bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Sarabjit’s lawyer, while talking to a news channel, said that he had also despatched a mercy plea of his client to President Asif Ali Zardari. Sarabjit’s earlier mercy petition was dismissed by ex-Pak President General Musharraf.

Islamabad, July 21: Top US commander in Afghanistan has said that they are facing difficulties in their latest military campaign against the Taliban due to lack of “insufficient cooperation” from Pakistan.

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force and US Forces in Afghanistan, is believed to have pursued this line in his secret visit to Islamabad over the weekend during which he met President Asif Ali Zardari and Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Islamabad, July 21: Pakistani troops have killed over 50 militants in two days of fighting in the Lower Dir district, the military officials said.

The security forces conducted a search and cordon operation in several villages of Lower Dir on July 19 and 20 against militants who had fled a military offensive in the neighbouring Swat valley, the military said in a statement.

“During the operation, over 50 militants were killed and several wounded,” according to the statement issued by the paramilitary Frontier Corps late on Monday.

–Agencies

Islamabad, July 21: Former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf has rejected allegations of his involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Addressing a ceremony in London, the former army chief said the allegations of not providing proper security to Bhutto were “unsubstantiated”, Geo TV reported.

“Getting UN body to probe Benazir Bhutto’s murder is tantamount to no trust on national agencies,” he said, adding that the world body would come out with the same finding, as was unfolded by the Scotland Yard in their probe.

Islamabad, July 21: Former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf has rejected allegations of his involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Addressing a ceremony in London, the former army chief said the allegations of not providing proper security to Bhutto were “unsubstantiated”, Geo TV reported.

“Getting UN body to probe Benazir Bhutto’s murder is tantamount to no trust on national agencies,” he said, adding that the world body would come out with the same finding, as was unfolded by the Scotland Yard in their probe.

Islamabad, July 20: As Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 strikes, confessed to his role and named others involved in it, Pakistan on Monday said his statements are “one-sided” and that it cannot take any action based on the confessions of a person who is “under pressure.”

Reacting to statements made by Ajmal Kasab in a Special Court in Mumbai on Monday, Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhary A Mukhtar said they are “one-sided and I don’t know how much one can value them (statement) in the court of law.”

Islamabad, July 20: Islamic militants killed four police officers in an attack on a patrol unit in Pakistan’s restive North-West Frontier Province Monday, police said.

Around two dozen gunmen ambushed the police vehicle shortly after midnight Sunday on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Peshawar, which borders the Khyber tribal district.

‘Two policemen died on the spot and two more succumbed to their injuries while being moved to the hospital,’ senior police officer Shahid Ahmed said.

Islamabad, July 20:In a gruesome act, Taliban beheaded an employee of the police department in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat valley which the security forces have claimed has been cleared of militants.

Muhammad Iqbal, a civilian employee of the police station in Matta sub-district, was beheaded at his home at Sambat Cham early on Saturday.

The gruesome killing prompted policemen to launch a counterattack against the Taliban for the first time in the past two years, The News daily reported. Policemen killed a militant and demolished seven houses belonging to rebels.

Islamabad, July 20: It would seem that in Pakistan there is nothing you need to watch out for more than making a joke about President Asif Ali Zardari by SMS (Short Messaging Service).

If you mistakenly, or just for fun, share with a friend one of the hundreds of derisory jokes about the leader floating around electronically, you could get a 14-year prison sentence.

Islamabad, July 20: Pakistan’s army is investigating whether the leader of the Taliban in the northwest Swat Valley, said to have been wounded in an airstrike, delivered a recent radio address, a spokesman said.

A local resident said the voice on the recording on Tuesday was definitely Maulana Fazlullah’s, but that he sounded sombre and sick.

Fazlullah long used illegal FM radio transmissions to rally militants and sow fear among residents in the valley, a scenic former tourist haven that largely fell prey to militancy more than two years ago.

Karachi, July 20: Officials say rainfall in Pakistan’s largest city has killed at least 15 people and cut off electricity.

Pakistan’s chief meteorologist Qamaruz Zaman says nearly 15 cm (5.91 inches) of rain was recorded in Karachi.

Karachi is a city of more than 16 million and Pakistan’s commercial capital. It also has an aged infrastructure and a poor drainage system, making it difficult to manage what might be tolerable rainfall elsewhere.

New Delhi, July 19: Suspecting involvement of locals in 26/11, Pakistan has sought from India the interrogation reports of two terrorists Fahim Ansari and

Sabahuddin held in connection with the terror attack while giving details of the probe conducted by it.

In the 36-page dossier, that contains some annexures, Pakistan has informed India about the case details of five terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and “mastermind” Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi, who have been arrested, sources said.

London, July 19: Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said dialogue had to be established with the Taliban and political progress, rather than

military might, would achieve a solution in Afghanistan.

“I think the strategy is right but we need to put in a little more input, more forces required, and maybe we need to concentrate also on the long-term strategy. We are following a short-term military strategy only,” the former general told Britain’s Sky News television.

“The Taliban have done wicked things. But then we have to come to a solution.

Islamabad, July 19: Five LeT operatives arrested in connection with the Mumbai terror strikes, including its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, provided transport, accommodation and financial support to the 26/11 attackers, according to an updated supplementary chargesheet filed before a Pakistani anti-terror court.

Islamabad: The UN inquiry commission probing the assassination of the former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has completed its first round of investigations and left the country.

During its three-day stay in Pakistan, the commission met President Asif Ali Zardari, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Interior Advisor Rehman Malik.

The three-member commission also visited Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide attack in December 2007, The Daily Times reports.

Islamabad, July 19: Arresting federal ministers Babar Awan and Rehman Malik could lead to the masterminds of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Chaudhury Aslam has said.

Aslam said he has already written a letter to the UN Commission probing the assassination asking it to arrest the ministers.

In an interview with an Urdu daily, Aslam said that Awan and Malik had deliberately boarded the vehicle which was meant for escorting Bhutto’s car.

Islamabad, July 19: Pakistan has undergone a dramatic policy shift to recognise Taliban rebels as a major threat, but is more ambivalent on liquidating Islamists trained to fight the ultimate nemesis: India.

Almost from inception, Pakistani spies and soldiers have actively armed, sponsored, encouraged or turned a blind eye as Islamist-inspired militant outfits turned their guns on India to the east and Afghanistan to the west.

Islamabad, July 19: The dossier that Pakistan handed over to India in Sharm-el Sheikh in Egypt has nailed Lashkar-e-Toiba as the agency responsible for carrying out the November 26 Mumbai attacks. This is the first official admission from Pakistan that its citizens were involved in the terror attacks.

According to reports, the dossier names Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi as the mastermind of the attacks and four others as his accomplices. Several others have been proclaimed offenders.

Islamabad, July 18: Pakistani warplanes today destroyed Taliban hideouts in Orakzai Agency in the country”s restive northwest killing 13 rebels, while a militant commander died in a US drone attack in the South Waziristan tribal region. Thirteen militants were killed and several others injured when Pakistani fighter jets pounded militant hideouts at Mamozai in Orakzi.

Islamabad, July 18: Pakistani fighter jets flattened a suspected Taliban hide-out in the northwest early on Saturday, killing six associates of a top local Taliban leader, intelligence officials said.

Pakistan has targeted Baitullah Mehsud and his commanders in recent months in various tribal regions. Mehsud is accused of orchestrating the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and launching a string of suicide attacks across the country.

Islamabad, July18: A militant commander was killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal region while at least 13 rebels died in air strikes by Pakistani warplanes in the nearby Orakzai Agency on Saturday.

Militant commander Abdullah Shah Mehsud was killed when a US drone fired two missiles at his home in the Ladha area of South Waziristan Agency, Geo News channel reported.

A meeting of militants was underway at Mehsud’s home at the time of the attack. Four others were injured in the missile strike.

Islamabad, July 18: A second and supplementary chargesheet against five LeT operatives accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, including its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was Saturday filed before an anti-terror court in the garrison city of Rawalpindi by Pakistani investigators.

The investigators from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which probed the Mumbai attacks, submitted the chargesheet to the court, following which the judge adjourned till July 25 the trial, which is being held in-camera in the high-security Adiala Jail.

Islamabad, July 18: Pakistani warplanes have pounded a “Taliban hideout” in the country’s northwestern tribal region, apparently killing nine militants linked to Baitullah Mehsud.

The airstrike on Saturday hit the house of Mehsud’s deputy Hakim Ullah in Gariwam village in Orakzai, North Waziristan, two Pakistani intelligence officials claimed.

It was unclear whether Hakim Ullah was present at the time, said the intelligence officials who sought anonymity.

Karachi, July 18: In a bid to improve bilateral ties with India, Pakistan Sports Ministry has issued no objection certificates (NOC) to the national squash and table tennis federations to send their teams across the border for the upcoming international events.

Asian junior table tennis championship will be held in Jaipur and Asian squash championship will be orgainsed in Chennai later this month.

Sports minister Aftab Shah Jillani told newsmen on Friday that they were in favour of normalising sporting ties with India.