Pakistan

Islamabad, June 28: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has informed Pakistan that the al Qaeda-linked Al Kini group was behind a series of terrorist attacks in the country, including last year’s suicide car bombing of the Marriott Hotel.

The FBI has asked Pakistan’s Federal Investigating Agency to share its findings on these attacks that were gathered through interrogation of arrested suspects to help hunt down the top members of the Al Kini group.

Karachi, June 28: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military operation in the Swat Valley is nearing end as the top rung militants there have been killed and the government would now focus on the development of the region, the Online News Agency said Saturday.

He made the remarks while inaugurating a Textile City here.

He said the military operation against Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud will continue till he is captured.

The Pakistani leader said the government has formulated the country’s first textile policy that will help create jobs.

—–IANS

Rawalpindi, June 26: A division bench of Lahore High Court Friday acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of wrongdoing in acquiring a helicopter in the mid-1990s, saying he had taken it on rent for an election campaign.

A two-member bench of judges Tariq Shamim and Saeed Ijaz declared as null and void an accountability court’s verdict holding Sharif guilty of acquiring the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter.

The court also condoned Sharif’s delay in filing his appeal.

Islamabad, June 26: The Pakistani military Friday seemed to be winding down its 61-day anti-Taliban operations in Swat and two other districts of the northwest and was focusing on mopping up operations in the areas that have been cleared of the militants.
One indication of this is that no Taliban have been been killed in the 48 hours to Friday afternoon, to go by an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement.

“During the last 24 hours, security forces apprehended two terrorists and also recovered arms and ammunition,” the statement said.

Miramshah, June 25: Wrapped in white bandages and lying on a bed in the dust-bowed district hospital in Miramshah, the capital of North Waziristan, Fazl-e-Rabbi is one of who lucky enough to survive a US deadly missile strike at a funeral ceremony in neighboring South Waziristan a day earlier.

“We had just finished the funeral prayers and I was wearing my shoes when I felt that the sun had exploded on my head,” Fazl-e-Rabbi, who received injuries in his arms, legs and lower abdomen, told.

Islamabad, June 24: Pakistan’s Supreme Court dismissed on Wednesday an appeal by Sarabjit Singh, an Indian man seeking a review of a death sentence imposed on him for spying and carrying out bombings in the 1990s.

The rejection came as relations between old rivals India and Pakistan inched towards improvement following a meeting last week between their leaders, the first since last year’s militant attack on Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.

Islamabad, June 24: Pakistan said today it would not hand over to India its citizens suspected of causing the 26/11 mayhem but would try them under its own laws.

“No Pakistani would be handed over to any other country including India,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Amad Ahmed Khan said during the debate in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, on the budget for fiscal 2009-10, a news agency reported.

Islamabad, June 24: A Taliban leader who had emerged as a potential rival to Pakistan’s most wanted militant has been assassinated by a guard, alleged to have been planted by the feared Baitullah Mehsud.

Qari Zainuddin was shot several times by one of his own guards who had stormed into his office following morning prayers and then fled in a car. Mr Zainuddin was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.

Islamabad, June 24: The Pakistani president has rejected British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s description of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan as the ‘crucible for global terrorism.’

“I think sometimes people say things they don’t understand or mean but I think his concern is genuine and I appreciate the concern,” Asif Ali Zardari told ITV’s News at Ten.

He also denied any knowledge of militant training camps in Pakistan, saying it was an “old thought” among British intelligence that thousands of radicals were arriving in Britain.

Islamabad, June 24: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a review petition filed by Indian national Sarabjit Singh and upheld the death sentence given to him for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990.

A three-member bench led by Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed dismissed Sarabjit’s review petition on merit and upheld the death sentence awarded to him by an anti-terrorism court in 1991. The apex court gave its verdict after his counsel failed to appear in court.

Islamabad, June 24: Two suspected US drone strikes killed at least 52 militants in Pakistan’s tribal district of South Waziristan, where the Pakistani military plans to launch offensive against the chief of local Taliban, intelligence officials said.

The attacks came hours after a militant leader who had defected from Pakistani Taliban head Baitullah Mehsud was assassinated by an “infiltrator” in the adjoining district of North West Frontier Province.

London, June 23: High-ranking Pakistani officials were behind the killing of eleven French ship-building engineers in Karachi seven years ago, two French judges have ruled.

Until now al-Qaida had been blamed for the bomb attack on a bus in 2002 that killed 11 engineers and three Pakistanis.

Islamabad, June 23: Pakistan’s army offensive in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan heated up Monday, with militants attacking three security force bases and military jets responding with airstrikes that killed at least 21 people, intelligence officials said.

The overnight and early morning clashes follow artillery attacks Sunday on suspected militant hideouts in two towns in the northwest that killed 27 fighters, officials said. Elsewhere in the volatile region, a citizens’ militia killed seven suspected militants.

Islamabad, June 23: Pakistan’s Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik says Maunalan Fazalullah a pro-Taliban leader in Swat valley has been surrounded by Pakistani troops.

“By and large we know the location where he [Fazalullah] is hiding,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad.

This is while some other reports suggest that the notorious leader may have been killed during recent offensives against the insurgents in the valley.

Islamabad, June 22 : Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned the Taliban to leave the country, since the government will not rest until the last one was eliminated from the country’s soil.

Talking to reporters here last evening, Mr Malik said Taliban were neither Muslims nor Pakistanis. The nation had already said ‘no’ to the outfit and now they must leave Pakistan, he added.

Islamabad, June 22: The Pakistani army has exceeded expectations in its offensive against Taliban fighters in northwestern Pakistan, effectively marshaling arms, tactics and political support. But the tougher challenge will be preventing the extremists from returning, or from regrouping elsewhere.

“The key question is whether the army can hold the ground afterward,” said Urmila Venugopalan, a South Asia expert with the defense analysis group Jane’s.

Pakistan army says dozens of Taliban…Pakistan’s struggle against militants
U.S. appeals to China to help stabilize Pakistan

Dubai, June 22: Pakistanis residing in the UAE observed the 56th birth anniversary of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) assassinated chairperson Benazir Bhutto at her home in Dubai on Sunday in a simple but dignified manner.

The event was organised by Benazir’s family and attended by her daughters, Bakhtawar and Asifa. The home was decorated with large portraits of Benazir and verses in her admiration.

Hundreds of PPP supporters, including women and children, from all walks of life and from all over the country had gathered at the lawns of the residence at 10am.

Dubai, June 22: If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired on Sunday.

Pakistan has been battling al Qaeda’s Taliban allies in the Swat Valley since April after their thrust into a district 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the capital raised fears the nuclear-armed country could slowly slip into militant hands.

Islamabad, June 22: Military jets and artillery pounded suspected militant hide-outs in two towns in Pakistan’s northwest on Sunday, killing 27 fighters, officials said. Elsewhere in the volatile region, a citizens’ militia killed seven suspected militants.

As the violence raged, President Asif Alil Zardari claimed the entire country backs the battle against the extremists.

The military has stepped up strikes in the past week on suspected militant bases in Bajur, where violence has spiked again almost five months after the military declared victory after a monthslong offensive.

Islamabad, June 21: Just as New Delhi was getting used to the idea that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s next bilateral meeting with Pakistan on the sidelines of the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) summit in Egypt would be with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and not as expected with President Asif Ali Zardari, here is another surprise.

Mr. Gilani has said he is undecided about going to Sharm-al-Shaikh despite an earlier announcement by the government that he would lead the delegation to the summit.

Swat, June 20: The refugees hurried down the deserted road in the searing midday heat, their suitcases clattering on the tank-scarred tarmac. Waving white flags, they crossed one ghostly village after another. Shuttered shops, destroyed buildings, stray dogs panting in the shade were all passed as the group veered around ­craters in the road.

Pakistan, June 20 :The federal government is apparently clueless about the stand taken by the top legal counsel of the Sindh administration against Nawaz Sharif in the Supreme Court, calling for upholding his conviction in the plane hijacking case. Neither Attorney General Latif Khosa nor the presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar has any idea why the Sindh government’s senior lawyers have gone against the federal stand, which seeks undoing of Nawaz Sharif’s sentence.

Chuprial, June 20: Pakistani troops backed by jet fighters and artillery have killed about 50 militants in a volatile northwestern tribal region near Afghanistan where the country’s top Taliban leader is believed to be entrenched with thousands of his fighters, officials said Saturday.

Islamabad, June 20: Pakistani ground troops moved into Taliban-controlled areas and engaged in the first gunbattle of a new offensive in the volatile northwest, as an aerial and artillery bombardment pounded other targets.

Officials said action did not represent the start of a full-scale operation in the tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan, but that most troops were now in place for when the orders came.

New York, June 20: A three-member United Nations panel was set up to investigate the facts and circumstances of the murder of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but not the crime itself, the UN said Friday.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had informed by letter Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that the Commission of Inquiry will begin work July 1 for a period of six months.

But the UN said it will not be a criminal investigation, which is the responsibility of the Pakistani government.