News

Non-state actors behind Karachi blast: President

2010-01-01T01:20:00.000-08:00

The president also said some forces wanted the ISI to be under civilian control but the government put a stop to the move. — File Photo

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the non-state actors mentioned by him in his speech on the second death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto were behind the attack on Monday’s Ashura procession in Karachi.

In an interview with a TV channel, the president said some forces wanted the ISI to be under civilian control but the government put a stop to the move. He said the late Benazir Bhutto had criticised the operation in Balochistan.

Replying to a question, the president said ‘establishment’ was the name of a state of mind which worked in different ways, -- sometimes in the shape of (former president Farooq) Leghari and sometimes as Roedad Khan. However, the factor of military establishment had been given prominence.

President Zardari said there was complete harmony between the military and the civilian government on the ongoing army operation.

Replying to a question, he reiterated that ‘political actors’ were hatching conspiracies against the democratic government. He said the conspiracies were not against the government, but against Pakistan. He said he had political weapons which would be used at an appropriate time to foil the conspiracies.

President Zardari said one could not ignore the fact that several heads of state had been assassinated. “I am getting security and protocol as the head of state.”

He said the Pakistan People’s Party considered slain Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was the mastermind of the plot to assassinate Ms Bhutto.

The president said the government would hold local bodies’ elections within 90 days.—Agencies

Nazims’ reign ends in three provinces

2010-01-01T01:18:00.000-08:00

President Zardari, on the advice of Prime Minister Gilani, deleted laws concerning local governments from the sixth schedule of the Constitution.—Photo by AP

ISLAMABAD: The local government system became a provincial subject after midnight on Thursday.

Provinces have decided to retain the system after making some amendments required in their jurisdictions.

Except in Sindh, all district Nazims will stop functioning from Jan 1 and administrators from the bureaucracy will be appointed to serve in their place till fresh LB elections are held.

President Asif Ali Zardari, on the advice of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, deleted laws concerning local governments from the sixth schedule of the Constitution.

Deletion of Balochistan Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XVIII of 2001), North West Frontier Province Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XIV of 2001), Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XIII of 2001) and Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XXVI of 2001) allowed the provinces to make changes in the local government laws.

The president’s spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, said Mr Zardari described it as a new year gift to the nation which would promote provincial harmony.

“As the clock strikes midnight heralding the advent of 2010, the provinces are free to make their own laws relating to the local bodies either through legislation or ordinances. They are free to hold fresh elections or appoint administrators.”

A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s House said Mr Gilani observed that the provinces, according to their need and circumstances, may make laws and hold local bodies’ elections.

He further observed that omission of laws from the sixth schedule was a valuable dividend of democracy.

It is believed that there would be no uniformity in the LG system in the provinces because some will retain it while some will scrap it.

It has been learnt that except for Sindh, administrators would be appointed soon in provinces till the holding of fresh elections.

President Zardari has expressed the desire that the provinces should hold fresh LG polls within 90 days.

However, Punjab and NWFP governments have decided to hold elections in three and six months respectively.

“Our party has prepared a bill concerning amendments in the LG system and it is likely to be passed soon,” PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn.

He advocated non-uniformity in the LG system, saying the provinces should have autonomy to take a decision according to their conditions and requirements.

“Actually the uniformity in the system was desired by former president Pervez Musharraf who wanted to control the provinces through the LG ordinance,” Mr Ahsan alleged.

ANP’s senior leader Haji Adeel said his party had also prepared a draft bill containing proposed amendments in the LG system. Fresh election would be held within six months, he added.

Former chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau Daniyal Aziz, who along with his predecessor Gen (retd) Tanvir Hussain Naqvi, gave a new concept of LG system, told Dawn that the system should not be wrapped up and if required amendments should be made.

He said he had been urging the provincial governments not to scrap the system because it was made for the betterment of people and to delegate powers to the grassroots level.

Mr Aziz recalled Article 140-A of the Constitution, which says: “Each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the ‘elected representatives’ of the local governments.”

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has rejected the proposal to appoint administrators and said the Sindh government should hold LG elections in three months.

When the term of LGs lapsed in October, the Punjab government had sent a resolution, or draft amendment, to the president with three main points: appointment of administrators, revival of magistracy and postponing of LG polls.

Not only Punjab but the NWFP and Balochistan have also demanded that the local governments’ mandate should be restricted to municipal functions. Uplift projects and tax functions should be reviewed and assigned accordingly, the suggested.

They pleaded that law and order should be purely a provincial subject and executive magistracy should be introduced.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the ministry of local government said the provinces did not want wrapping up of the whole LG system, but demanded some amendments to put it under provincial set-up.

Hyderabad Dawn reporter brutally assaulted

2010-01-01T01:16:00.000-08:00

M.H Khan received several head injuries and one of his fingers was fractured when he was attacked with iron rods by two workers of SNF. — Dawn

HYDERABAD: M.H. Khan, the staff correspondent of ‘Dawn’ in Hyderabad, was brutally assaulted by workers of the Sindh National Front (SNF) on the Radio Pakistan road here on Thursday afternoon while he was on his way to the press club.

He received several head injuries and one of his fingers was fractured. He was rushed to the Liaquat University Hospital, where he received three stitches on his head.

He was later admitted to the Naseem Medical Centre and was stated to be in stable condition.

The cantonment police have registered a case against two unidentified persons on the complaint of Mr Khan.

According to the correspondent, he was attacked with iron rods by two workers of SNF who had been waiting for him on the Radio Pakistan road. “They hurled abuses and started beating me.”

Mr Khan said that one of the assailants specifically rebuked him for putting tough questions to SNF chief Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto last week while the veteran leader was making a statement on the 1997 NFC award. “One of the attackers said to me: ‘How dare you grill Sardar Mumtaz Bhutto’.”

Journalists here were of the view that Mr Khan was assaulted simply because the SNF did not like Mr Khan’s handling of the statement Mr Bhutto had made at the residence of former provincial minister Dr Irfan Gul Magsi.

Mr Bhutto had claimed that he had not signed the sixth NFC award. The report on the statement was published in ‘Dawn’ on Dec 24.According to Mr Khan, the general secretary of SNF, Ayoub Shar, later asked him over telephone to get a clarification published. Mr Shar was told that the clarification should come from the SNF in writing and on the party’s letterhead.

Once such a statement was issued, the clarification would be published, he was told. The SNF leader refused to issue any clarification, adding that Mr Khan must write one on his own. However, a clarification on behalf of Mr Bhutto was published on Dec 26.
According to this clarification, Mr Bhutto’s “caretaker regime had wound up (the process of preparation of) the sixth NFC award. It was announced in 1997 when Liaquat Jatoi was the Sindh chief minister”.

Journalists here said the SNF leadership might be unaware that the clarification had already been published in ‘Dawn’.

SNF activists torched Dawn’s offices in Hyderabad and other towns of Sindh last year after they took ‘offence’ to a story about Mumtaz Bhutto.

CONDEMNATION: The attack on Mr Khan was condemned by the national as well as provincial bodies representing journalists.

The Dawn unit of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) and the CBA for employees of the Dawn Group of Newspapers expressed concern and anger over the assault.

In a statement, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists said the attack showed society was becoming intolerant. It urged the government to “take action against the culprits who should be proceeded against in accordance with law”.

The KUJ said that an inquiry should be launched to ascertain the facts of the case. It said exemplary punishment should be given to perpetrators of the assault. The KUJ’s unit in Dawn urged the authorities to take note of the maltreatment of journalists.

The Pakistan Herald Workers Union, the labour union of the Dawn group, said that attacks like the one on Mr Khan would not stop journalists from stating the facts.

A general body meeting of the Hyderabad Press Club, presided over by Aziz Malik, resolved that all SNF statements and events would be boycotted by journalists until an apology was tendered by the party’s leadership and the two workers involved in the attack were handed over to police.

Mr Malik said journalists “would never bow to the Kalashnikov”. If a party had differences of opinion with a journalist, it should use civilised ways of putting across its point of view, he added.

Mahesh Kumar, the president of the club, Hameedur Rehman, Ali Hassan, Lala Rehman Samoon, Mohammad Shahid Shaikh, Hamid Shaikh, Abdul Hafeez Abid and Ayoub Leghari also condemned the attack. Later the journalists held a demonstration outside the club.

The attack was widely condemned by bodies representing journalists across Sindh. Rallies and demonstrations were held in all major cities and towns of the province.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, in a statement, said he had directed the administration to take action against those involved in the assault.

Provincial Fisheries Minister Zahid Ali Bhurgari, District Nazim of Hyderabad Kanwar Naveed Jamil, JSQM chairman Basheer Khan Qureshi and Mohammad Sharif of the MQM were prominent among the leaders and legislators who visited Mr Khan in hospital.

Gas tariff increased by 18 per cent

2010-01-01T01:14:00.000-08:00

Gas rates for commercial consumers have gone up from Rs393.48 to Rs463.76 per unit.—File photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: An across-the-board increase of 18 per cent in prices of natural gas for all categories of consumers — domestic, industrial, commercial and CNG stations — with immediate effect from Friday was notified by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority on Thursday night.

According to the notification, the increase will yield an additional revenue of about Rs21 billion to the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Rs11 billion to the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) during the current fiscal year.

The notification was earlier approved by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

An increase of about Rs64.02 per million British Thermal Unit (mmbtu) has been allowed in the average sale rate of SNGPL to Rs296 per unit, up by about 18 per cent.

The average sale rate for SSGCL has been allowed to go up by Rs38.06 per mmbtu -- about nine per cent.

The average sale rate for all consumers of natural gas, bought either from SSGC or SNGPL, has been increased by 18 per cent to ensure uniform gas tariff across the country.

SNGPL and SSGCL had a couple of weeks ago sought an average increase in gas prices by about Rs80 per unit and Rs57 per mmbtu, respectively, through separate petitions to Ogra to meet their estimated revenue shortfalls during the current financial year. They said the increase was necessitated by a much

higher cost of gas because of rise in international oil prices and depreciation in the value of rupee against the US dollar.

The cost of domestic gas production is linked to international oil prices that have registered a substantial increase over the past six months.

Added to this is the impact of depreciation of the rupee against dollar because international gas producers are paid in foreign currency for whatever gas they produce from domestic gas fields.

Besides, the government is required under covenants with international lending agencies to ensure a minimum of 17 to 17.5 per cent guaranteed rate of return to SNGPL and SSGCL.

DOMESTIC CONSUMERS

According to the notification, gas rates for the lowest slab (50 cubic metres per month) of domestic consumers have gone up from Rs80.65 to Rs95.01 per mmbtu and that of the second slab (50-100 cubic metres) from Rs84.45 to Rs99.48.

Likewise, rates for the third slab (100-200 cubic metres) have been increased from Rs153.73 to Rs181.10 per unit and that of the fourth slab (200-300 cubic metres) from Rs325.48 to Rs383.42.

Gas rates for fifth slab (300-400 cubic metres) have been increased from Rs423.42 to Rs498.80 per unit, followed by the sixth slab (400-500 per cubic metres) from Rs550.44 to Rs648.43 per unit and the last slab (over 500 cubic metres) from Rs730.17 to Rs860.15.

Rates for non-profit consumers like places of worship, educational institutions and armed forces’ mess, along with tandoors have been increased equal to the first four slabs of domestic consumers.

Gas rates for commercial consumers and ice factories have gone up from Rs393.48 to Rs463.76 per unit.

Rates for industrial consumers and fuel for fertiliser factories have been increased from Rs324.30 to Rs382.37 per unit. Rates for CNG stations have been increased from Rs427.15 to Rs503.64 per unit.

POWER STATIONS

Rates for Wapda’s power stations have gone up from Rs333.98 to Rs394 per unit and that of Liberty Power Project from Rs1060.4 to Rs860.

Gas tariff for independent power producers (IPPs) has gone up from Rs282.88 to Rs332.36 and that of captive power plants (CPPs) from Rs324.30 to Rs382.37.

According to the notification, CNG rates for the Potohar region have been increased from Rs49.73 per kg to Rs55.30 per kg and those for Sindh and Punjab from Rs48.54 per kg to Rs53.63 per kg.

Petroleum prices cut by 1.34 per cent

2010-01-01T01:13:00.000-08:00

The price of petrol has been reduced by 89 paisa per litre and that of light diesel oil by Rs2.12 per litre.—Photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) reduced on Thursday petroleum prices by 1.34 per cent to 3.5 per cent with immediate effect in line with a decline in international market.

According to a notification, the price of petrol has been reduced by 89 paisa to Rs65.11 per litre, down by 1.34 per cent and that of High Octane Blending Component (HOBC) has come down to Rs79.43 per litre, down by Rs1.09 or 1.35 per cent.

Likewise, the ex-depot sale price of kerosene has been reduced by Rs1.88 per litre to Rs60.75, down by about 3 per cent and that of light diesel oil by Rs2.12 per litre to Rs58.10, down by 3.5 per cent.

The prices of jet fuels have also been reduced by 1.3 per cent to 3 per cent, and those of JP-1, JP-4 and JP-8 by 3 per cent, 1.3 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively.

Benazir Bhutto probe to be extended to March: UN

2010-01-01T01:10:00.001-08:00

The three-member panel is headed by Chilean ambassador to the UN Heraldo Munoz and includes Indonesian ex-attorney general Marzuki Darusman and Peter Fitzgerald, an Irish former police official. —Reuters/File Photo

UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon plans to give the panel probing the 2007 assassination of Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto until late March to complete its work, his spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.

The UN panel, which began its investigation last July 1 and was to have submitted its report Thursday, will now be given until March 31 to do so, the statement said.

“Because of the substantial amount of information collected by the commission in Pakistan and further follow-up work that remains, the commissioners requested additional time to complete their report,” spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

He added that Ban notified both the Pakistani government and the UN Security Council about the decision.

The three-member panel is headed by Chilean ambassador to the UN Heraldo Munoz and includes Indonesian ex-attorney general Marzuki Darusman and Peter Fitzgerald, an Irish former police official.

Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed on December 27, 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad.

Her supporters have cast doubt on an initial Pakistani probe into her death, questioning whether she was killed by a gunshot or the blast and criticizing authorities for hosing down the scene of the attack within minutes.

An investigation by British detectives also said that Bhutto was killed by the force of a suicide bomb and not gunfire, backing the Pakistani government’s controversial account of how the opposition leader died. —AFP

Pakistan asks coalition not to leave Afghanistan in haste

2010-01-01T01:07:00.000-08:00

Islamabad is also concerned that Obama’s plans to send 30,000 more US troops into Afghanistan might see militants flee into Pakistan’s troubled northwest and southern border regions. —AFP/File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan warned the US-led coalition on Thursday against a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, expressing renewed concern about growing instability on its militant-infested border.

“The decision to leave Afghanistan should be taken when it is able to look after itself effectively,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told a press briefing.

“Coalition forces should not leave Afghanistan in haste,” Basit said.

Islamabad is also concerned that Obama’s plans to send 30,000 more US troops into Afghanistan might see militants flee into Pakistan’s troubled northwest and southern border regions.

Pakistan saw a flood of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants enter its lawless borderlands after a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2001 and security has drastically deteriorated in the last eight years. —AFP

Drone strike kills three militants in N Waziristan

2010-01-01T01:05:00.000-08:00

The bombing comes the morning after a similar US drone attack killed four militants Machikhel village, about 25 kilometres east of Miranshah. —File Photo

MIRANSHAH: At least three militants were killed on Friday in the second US missile strike in as many days targeting Pakistan's wild tribal region of North Waziristan, officials said.

The morning attack by a drone aircraft struck a suspected militant hideout in Ghundikala village, 15 kilometres east of Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan and close to the Afghan border.

“A US drone fired two missiles, targeting a vehicle and killing three militants,” a senior security official in the area told AFP.

“The identity of militants is not known yet. It is also not clear whether any high value target was present in the area when the attack took place.”

Another security official confirmed the strike and the casualties. Both officials requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the US strikes in Pakistan, which have inflamed anti-American sentiment.

The bombing comes the morning after a similar US drone attack killed four militants Machikhel village, about 25 kilometres east of Miranshah.

Nato tankers attacked in Quetta

2010-01-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

Police rushed the site and placed a cordon around the area. An investigation was underway. — Photo by Reuters

QUETTA: Unknown assailants damaged two Nato tankers in Quetta by opening fire on one of them and torching the other. However, no casualty has so far been reported.

According to police, the incident took place on the city’s outskirts, in Kuchlak, early Friday. The tankers were on their way to the border town of Chaman carrying fuel from Karachi for Nato forces in Afghanistan.

The assailants opened fire on one of the tankers smashing its windscreen. They torched the other truck causing serious damage to the vehicle’s front. Loaded fuel, however, remained safe.

Police rushed the site and placed a cordon around the area. An investigation was underway. — DawnNews

Afghan forces kill three Pakistanis

2010-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Afghan workers setup a barbwire fence over the protective earth barrier around the forward operating base of the US Army's 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, 8-1 Cavalry Squadron under the Nato-led ISAF on October 4, 2009 in Spinboldak in southern Afghanistan, close to Pakistan border. — AFP

QUETTA: Afghan border security personnel shot dead three Pakistani nationals for illegally crossing into their soil from the Pakistani border town of Zhob, DawnNews reported.

According to official sources, three Pakistani nationals, who were shepherds by profession, had crossed over into Afghan territory on Thursday without any legal documents.

The three had entered Afghanistan from a point in between the Qamar Din Karez and Badini areas of the Pakistani border town of Zhob when they were shot dead by Afghan forces.

Their bodies were later brought to Pakistan by Afghan authorities and were handed over to their families. — DawnNews

Karachi on strike to mourn Ashura attack

2010-01-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

Police have arrested 18 people since riots triggered by the bombing destroyed hundreds of shops, costing Pakistan’s biggest city an estimated 30 billion rupees in damages. —

KARACHI: Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi nearly shut down on Friday as religious and political leaders called for a strike to protest against violence after a suicide bomber killed 43 people at a religious procession this week.

Karachi’s streets were nearly empty. The stock exchange, which normally operates on the first day of the year, was closed.

Police have arrested 18 people since riots triggered by the bombing destroyed hundreds of shops, costing Pakistan’s biggest city an estimated 30 billion rupees in damages.

“We have no information of any specific threats for today,” Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmed told Reuters. Nevertheless, police and paramilitary forces carried out patrols.

Residents were not taking any chances, fearful of new attacks by militants who have killed hundreds of people since October, despite a security offensive in one of their main strongholds.

“We are already losing business and can’t take the risk of going out today and opening our shops,” said Saleem Ahmed, who sells electronics at one of the city’s main markets.

“If something happens or anyone comes and damages, say, one refrigerator or deep freezer, I will lose more money than what I would have earned the whole day, so I better stay home,” he said.

The bloodshed is also frustrating many Pakistanis.

Hundreds of shops were torched in the rampage that followed the bombing that hit Karachi, a teeming city of 18 million.

According to officials, Karachi generates 68 percent of government revenue and 25 percent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product. It is also home to two of the country’s main ports.

Opposition head Mousavi says Iran in “serious crisis”

2010-01-01T00:54:00.000-08:00

Former Iranian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi (R) and his wife Zahra Rahnavard (L) cast their vote at a polling station at the Ershad mosque on June 12, 2009 in Tehran. — AFP

TEHRAN: Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said Iran was in “serious crisis” and called for the immediate release of supporters arrested after the June presidential vote, an opposition website reported on Friday.

“Arresting or killing Mousavi, (another opposition leader Mehdi) Karoubi...will not calm the situation. I am not afraid to die for people's demands...Iran is in serious crisis...Harsh remarks...will create internal uprising...the election law should be changed...political prisoners should be freed,” Jaras website quoted a statement issued by Mousavi as saying.

Karachi:Bomb Blast at M.A Jinnah Road 28 Dec 2009

2010-01-01T00:50:00.000-08:00

Sheikhupura police foil terror bid

2010-01-01T00:42:00.000-08:00

According to police, the bombs – weighing two kilograms each – were recovered after locals in the villager pointed out that some suspicious plastic bags were tied with pylons of main electricity cable. –APP/ File photo

LAHORE: Police recovered twelve bombs tied with twelve pylons of the main power cable near Kala Shah Kaku Grid Station in District Sheikhupura on Friday.

A bomb disposal squad was immediately called in, who took the bombs in their custody after defusing them.

No arrests have been made in this regard by the police so far.

Seven killed, 11 injured in Myanmar bombing

2009-12-18T13:12:00.001-08:00

BANGKOK: Seven people were killed and 11 injured when a bomb exploded in southeastern Myanmar, official media reported on Friday, blaming ethnic Karen separatists for the attack.

The bomb went off late on Wednesday during New Year celebrations in Phapon, a town in Kayin State, which is predominantly Karen and is about 190 km northeast of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon.

‘It is learnt that the time bomb was planted by KNU (Karen National Union) terrorist insurgent group,’ state-controlled newspapers said.

The reports did not give details or evidence to show the KNU was responsible. Small blasts in public places, including markets and Buddhist temples, are fairly common in Myanmar and the ruling military government often blames KNU guerrillas.

The KNU is one of the biggest of the ethnic groups that have been fighting against the government for greater autonomy since independence from Britain in 1948.

The current junta has reached ceasefire agreements with 17 ethnic groups and at least six splinter groups of the KNU since it came to power in 1988. However, peace talks with the mainstream KNU have so far failed.

Accountability Court issues notice to Jahangir Badar

2009-12-18T13:10:00.001-08:00

LAHORE: The Accountability Court of Lahore on Friday issued notices to three NRO beneficiaries for December 23, 2009.

Notices were served after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a petition with the Accountability Court against 32 beneficiaries.

According to NAB sources, initially the notices have been served to PPP Secretary General Jahangir Badar, former Acquisition Controller Amjad Hussain Sundle and Customs Officer Qazi Afzal.

NAB sources further revealed that notices to the remaining 29 beneficiaries included in the list were under process.

Ahmad Mukhtar and Nusrat Bhutto are also amongst the 32 to whom the notices are to be served, sources said.

The NAB has opened cases of the 44 NRO beneficiaries from Punjab province. — DawnNews

Half of Karzai’s Cabinet to stay: officials

2009-12-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

KABUL: Two officials in the Afghan government say President Hamid Karzai will keep half of his current Cabinet in place as he begins his second five-year term, AP reports.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the list will not be sent to the Afghan parliament until Saturday. They told The Associated Press on Friday that the president wants 12 of his 25 ministers to remain in their jobs for now. The officials say the key ministers of defense, interior, foreign affairs, finance and agriculture are on the list of Karzai’s Cabinet picks.

Karzai’s decision to keep these key ministers in their posts is expected to be welcome news for members of the international community. The Afghan parliament must confirm the Cabinet nominees.

Ajmal Kasab retracts confession, claims torture

2009-12-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

MUMBAI: The man accused of being the lone surviving gunman from last year's Mumbai attacks retracted his statement in court on Friday, saying he was tortured by the police to sign a confessional statement.

Pakistani citizen Mohammad Ajmal Kasab had been charged with 86 separate offences including murder and waging war against India in the November attacks when militants killed 166 people in a shooting spree across the financial hub.

‘He (Kasab) has told the court that he was arrested a few days ... before the attacks and kept in jail,’ public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told Reuters by telephone. Kasab is among 38 charged by India in the attacks. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

The attacks raised tensions between India and Pakistan. New Delhi says Islamabad has not done enough to bring the Pakistani-based masterminds of the attack to justice.

Nikam said the retraction would have no bearing as the prosecution has sufficient proof against Kasab.

‘We have clinching evidence against him,’ Nikam said.

Kasab, smiling while speaking inside a packed courtroom, said he never met Pakistani militant leaders who planned the attacks against India.

The 21-year-old said he had come to Mumbai to work in films and was not involved in the shootings.

The trial, which has gripped the country for months, has seen several twists and turns, with two defence attorneys also dismissed for unprofessional conduct.

Last week, a Pakistani court indicted seven Pakistani suspects in connection with the attacks.

SC cancels Army Welfare Trust’s land lease

2009-12-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Friday cancelled the lease of the Army Welfare Trust stating that the allotment of land in the name of Army Welfare Trust was illegal.

Soon after the lease’s cancellation by the chief justice, the Army Welfare Trust was asked to transfer the land back to the City District Government of Karachi (CDGK) within three months.

The chief justice said former president Pervez Musharraf had no right to award the lease to the Army Welfare Trust.

According to the Supreme Court, Army Welfare Trust and Macro Habib signed an agreement to transfer five acres of the Children Football Ground near Lines Area in Karachi on lease during 2002.

India pulls out 30,000 troops from Kashmir

2009-12-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: India has pulled out 30,000 troops from Kashmir following a fall in militant attacks in the Himalayan region bordering Pakistan, the Indian army announced Friday.

An army spokesman said the ground forces were withdrawn from Kashmir’s southern Rajouri and Poonch sectors two months ago.

The pullout was one of the biggest since 1999, when India and Pakistan fought a six-week undeclared war in the Himalayan peaks in which some 1,000 soldiers on both sides died.

The Indian troops’ presence in the revolt-hit Kashmir region has been a major irritant for many among its Muslim-majority population.

The soldiers who were withdrawn had been responsible for internal security in the scenic region where militants have been waging a battle against New Delhi’s rule for two decades, the army spokesman said.

‘We have moved out two divisions of infantry formations who were on internal security duties in Rajouri and Poonch and approximately the number of soldiers pulled out is 30,000 men,’ spokesman Colonel Om Singh said in New Delhi.

The spokesman said the number of soldiers deployed along the Line of Control — the de facto border that divides the territory into India- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir— had not been reduced.

‘They cannot be moved from there because that is a permanent deployment,’ he said, declining to disclose the number of troops holding ground along the 746-kilometre control line.

Experts and independent sources estimate the number of Indian troops along the Line of Control at around 120,000. The total number of Indian forces in Kashmir is unknown but it is believed to number in the hundreds of thousands.

The government has been promising since June to reduce the military presence as part of a bid to reduce tensions in the region, where fighting has claimed tens of thousands of lives. —AFP

Militants destroy college in Bara Tehsil

2009-12-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

KHYBER: Unidentified militants have blown up the Government Technical College in Dogra area of Bara Tehsil on Friday.

According to official sources, militants planted two powerful bombs, which exploded one after another destroying the college completely. However, no casualty had been reported so far.

Security forces surrounded the area after the blast and launched a search operation in the region.

Three killed in suspected US drone strike

2009-12-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

MIRAMSHAH: Three suspected militants were killed Friday in the third US drone missile strike on Pakistan's tribal district of North Waziristan in two days, security officials said.

The strike hit a village in the Dattakhel region close to North Waziristan's main town Miramshah - the same northwestern area where two strikes hours apart on Thursday killed at least 14 militants and destroyed their hideouts.

Islamabad is under growing US pressure to dismantle Islamist extremist networks along its lawless and porous border with Afghanistan.

'The US drone missiles hit a house in the mountains. We have reports of three militants killed and five injured. The house was completely destroyed,' said an intelligence service official based in Miramshah.

A security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar confirmed the drone attack. Officials refused to be named because of the sensitivity of the US strikes in Pakistan, which have inflamed anti-American sentiment.

It was not clear which groups were targeted, with North Waziristan rife with Taliban militants, al Qaeda fighters and members of the Haqqani network, a powerful group known for staging attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Rs120 mln from Allied Bank heist recovered: CCPO

2009-12-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

KARACHI: Less than a week after the biggest bank heist in Karachi, the police have recovered a large portion of the money that was stolen from the Allied Bank on I.I. Chundrigar Road.

The CCPO of Karachi, Waseem Ahmed, has said that 120 million rupees have been recovered from the three main suspects in Sunday’s bank heist in Karachi.

Earlier, police had arrested three major suspects in the case. Two of the accused who have been detained belong to the Khyber Agency, while a third suspect was arrested from the Gulistan-e-Johar area of Karachi.

The CCPO said that in all exits out of Karachi were blocked to prevent the robbers from fleeing the city.

Waseem Ahmed urged banks across the city to upgrade their security systems as soon as possible.

He added that the prime suspect of the robbery, a man going by the alias Shahid, has also been apprehended. The CCPO informed reporters that the suspect’s real name is Hamid.

Some sources believe that the robbery was the result of an inside job and that the alarm systems inside the bank were sabotaged. Investigators are also reviewing new footage that has emerged.

Mosque suicide blast kills 11 in Lower Dir

2009-12-18T12:50:00.000-08:00

PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber rammed a car into a mosque during Friday prayers, killing 11 people in the town of Timergara in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), police said.

The explosion struck a mosque next to local police headquarters in Lower Dir district, the focus of a spring military offensive to oust militants advancing closer towards the capital Islamabad.

Muhammad Idrees Khan, deputy inspector general of police in Lower Dir, told AFP that the blast hit a mosque next to local police headquarters.

‘Now it has been confirmed that it was a suicide attack. The bomber was riding a car and he rammed his car into the outer gate of the mosque,’ he said.

Local television showed images of a huge plume of smoke rising from a small town in the mountains, while charred cars smoldered beside the blast site.

‘We have received three more dead bodies taking the death toll to 11. There are 29 injured people with us, some of them in a critical condition,’ said Doctor Wakeel Mohammad Khan, head of main hospital in Lower Dir.

‘The local residents told me that some more dead bodies are laying in the houses — we have declared an emergency in the hospital.’

The injured included children, he added, but officials were unable to say how many police were killed or wounded in the attack.

More than 2,700 people have been killed in attacks in Pakistan since July 2007, with the past three months seeing a surge in suicide bombings targeting civilian and security targets by militants avenging the army onslaught.—AFP

PM suspends secretary of interior

2009-12-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has suspended the secretary ministry of interior along with additional DG FIA immigration and two FIA inpectors for barring Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar from leaving for China last night.

The prime minister took the decsion after a meeting with President Asif Zardari.

Later a notification was issued about the suspension of these officials and an inquiry was ordered into the incident.

Both the president and the prime minister took serious notice of the incident when at Benazir Bhutto Airport FIA staff told the officials of Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar that his name is on the Exit Control List and he cannot leave for China.

Credible sources told DawnNews that it was also decided that no sitting minister would resign on the prevailing situation. A minister who suggested resignations was snubbed by the top leadership.

It was decided that a formal strategy would be adopted on Saturday in a CEC meeting of the PPP with President Zardari in the Chair. -DawnNews