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Old Sunday, August 31, 2008
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Default Sunday, August 31, 2008

Zardari very friendly to India: Narayanan


* Indian security adviser says Gen Ashfaq Kayani ‘widely respected soldier’

LAHORE: Presidential frontrunner Asif Zardari “is very friendly to India” but may not be able to deliver on his promise of good ties with it, Indian National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said on Saturday, in his first comments on Pakistan since General (r) Musharraf’s resignation.

Talking to the CNBC TV18 channel in its programme India Tonight, he said the rift between Zardari and Nawaz Sharif was not likely to narrow and expressed doubts the PPP government would be stable.

He said Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani was “a widely respected professional soldier”, but questioned whether he had the power to control the ISI. “General Kayani ... is not interested in running Pakistan other than in defending Pakistan . . . The question is will General Kayani work against our interests? I don’t think we’ve seen any evidence that he will.”

Nawaz, Ifitkhar will be left alone, says Fazl


LAHORE: The sacked judges were being reinstated one after the other and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif and sacked chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry would eventually be left alone, ARY One World quoted Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as saying on Saturday. The channel quoted Rehman as saying that all the demands by his party made to the government had been accepted, adding that his party had decided to back Asif Zardari.

Four sacked LHC judges take oath

* Strength of LHC judges increased to 60

LAHORE: The government reappointed four sacked judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday and increased the strength of LHC judges from 50 to 60.

The judges took oath at the LHC Judges’ Lounge at about 2pm after the government notified the two measures separately.

LHC Chief Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain administered the oath to Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Umar Ata Bandial. Punjab Advocate General Khawaja Haris attended the event, but LHCBA officials did not.

The reappointment notice contained a clause that the judges will retain the seniority at which they were sacked.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Hamid Farooq and Justice Akhtar Shabbir met the LHC chief justice before the new judges took oath.

Zardari, Nawaz to decide on alliance in Punjab: Sherry


ISLAMABAD: Party leaders will decide the fate of the alliance between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which is continuing at the Centre and in the provinces, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said on Saturday. She told reporters that the PPP wanted politics of reconciliation and not that of confrontation. She called reports about the withdrawal of PPP ministers from the Punjab government as baseless and mere speculations. “Protests and sit-ins are democratic rights of all political parties,” she said, but added that sit-ins would not help in the prevailing situation.

Zardari support resolution in BA deferred


QUETTA: The coalition partners in the Balochistan government on Saturday agreed to defer a resolution in the Balochistan Assembly supporting PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as president of Pakistan until Monday due to “unavoidable circumstances”. PPP Minister Sadiq Umrani informed the speaker that he could not table the resolution as some members and ministers were absent, and requested more time. JUI-F Parliamentary Leader Maulana Abdul Wasey objected to the speaker deferring the resolution. He said his party, a major coalition partner in the province, had not been consulted on the deferral.

Sherpao to back Zardari in presidential election


* PPP-S chief says his party won’t join government

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) on Saturday announced it would support Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in the September 6 presidential election.

“We have decided to vote for PPP presidential candidate Asif Ali Zardari. We believe there should be a complete harmony among the offices of the prime minister and the president,” PPP-S chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said at a news conference at his residence.

Sherpao said Pakistan was facing serious challenges, especially security threats, which should be countered by taking all stakeholders on board.

“I have telephoned Zardari asking him to resolve the security issue by taking all political parties on board,” he said, urging political parties to unite in the prevailing political situation.

Sherpao said his party had sided with ‘democratic forces’ when the PPP announced its intention to impeach former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf. He urged the PPP-led government to resolve the issue of provincial autonomy, settle the displaced people in the NWFP and improve Pak-Afghan relations.

Won’t join government: To a question, the PPP-S chief said his party would not join the government despite its support for Zardari in the presidential election.

He also denied any role in the political victimisation of former premier Benazir Bhutto and Zardari during Musharraf’s rule, saying he had nothing to do with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Fazlullah commanders among 40 militants killed in Swat airstrike


MINGORA: Forty militants were killed in an air strike targetting a rebel stronghold in Swat, a military spokesman said on Saturday. Fighter jets bombed hideouts in Peochar valley, a stronghold of top Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah, on Friday. Army spokesman Major Nasir Ali said the dead included two senior Fazlullah commanders. Local officials said Fazlullah escaped Saturday’s attack but his group suffered ‘massive damage’. Ali said the group’s ‘core militants’ were killed and its communication network destroyed in the operation, one of the bloodiest raids since the army launched the offensive. Meanwhile, Taliban killed a police constable and a civilian in different areas of Swat on Saturday. In Manglor area of Swat, militants bombed the houses of union council nazim Jamshed Ali Khan and his two brothers, locals said.

‘Terrorism has left psychological scars on military, civilians alike’


ISLAMABAD: The government will support setting up of a modern psychotrauma research centre to deal with the psychological effects of terrorist attacks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday. Inaugurating the first international conference on psychotrauma, the premier said “we will ensure the implementation of the Plan of Action as proposed by the conference to deal with the serious issue”. The people of Pakistan have been traumatised by some of the worst terrorist attacks in the history. “However the nation has the resilience and the courage to stand up to such challenges,” Gilani told the participants of the conference titled, “Trauma in the changing world; challenges and opportunities”. Gilani said the Pakistan Army was at the forefront in the war against terrorism and was confronting this trauma daily

FATA operation suspended


* Rehman Malik says step taken in honour of Ramazan
* Military will respond ‘with full force’ if attacked
* Displaced people should ‘return home and fast’
* Govt using satellites to monitor militant activities

LAHORE: The military operation in the Tribal Areas will be suspended on August 31 in the honour of the holy month of Ramazan, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said on Saturday.

But he said the military would respond ‘with full force’ if it were attacked.

“It is not a ceasefire,” he said while talking to reporters after a seminar titled ‘Secure Pakistan’ organised by the Federal Investigation Agency. “If they fire a single bullet we will respond with 10 bullets.”

Return home and fast: The people who had to leave their homes because of violence should return home and fast, Malik said, assuring them that the security forces would look after their lives and property.

To a question, he said 23,000 of the displaced people had already returned to their homes.

He said locals had started playing a role against militants, stopping them from entering their areas and fighting them if they resisted.

He said 77 of the 811 ‘missing persons’ had been recovered and the government had formed a committee to probe the remaining cases.

To a question, he said the government would give full support to Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

Satellites: Malik said the government was using satellites to monitor militant activities and had arrested 562 people belonging to militant organisations ‘in the recent past’.

He said the government was pursuing a ‘no-leniency policy’ towards militants and would not hold talks with them.

He asked the media to help the government counter militancy and asked reporters not to portray militants as heroes.

Earlier, addressing the seminar, Malik said the government would set up courts ‘in a few months’ to deal with cyber crime.

He also said the Balochistan Assembly would pass a resolution in support of Asif Zardari as a presidential candidate after legislators returned from a foreign tour.


Source: Daily Times.


Bahrain deports top terrorist to Philippines

MANAMA: The founder of a group blamed for a ferry bombing in the Philippines that killed 116 people four years ago was arrested here and deported to the Philippines.

Ruben Pestano Lavilla Jr., also known as Sheik Omar Lavilla, was deported to Manila yesterday, more than a month after he was arrested in Bahrain.

Marcelino Libanan, head of the immigration commission in Manila, said the 35-year-old militant leader was working as an editor of a local magazine and was also hired as an interpreter at the Philippine Embassy in Bahrain.

Officials at the embassy confirmed reports about Lavilla’s deportation, but Consul General Jose Burgos could not confirm claims he had been working as an interpreter at the embassy. “I cannot confirm or comment on the issue as I am not aware of it,” Burgos said.

Officials from the Bahraini Ministry of Interior were not available for comment, when contacted by Arab News.

Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said in Manila that Bahraini authorities arrested Lavilla on July 24 after a Philippine Embassy security check on job applicants found he had outstanding warrants for murder and rebellion in the Philippines.

It took a month for the deportation process to be completed, including a confirmation by the Bahraini government of the existence of the Philippine arrest warrants, the creation of a team to bring Lavilla back to Manila and other preparations that “conform with the international law on human rights,” Blancaflor said.

Fernando Mesa, executive director of the Philippine government’s Anti-terrorism Council, said Lavilla was wanted for the country’s worst militant attack, the bombing of a ferry near Manila Bay in 2004.


Source
: Arab News.
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Last edited by Princess Royal; Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 10:06 AM.
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