Shahbaz rules out talks with Musharraf

LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shahbaz Sharif on Friday ruled out talks with President Pervez Musharraf, saying that his party does not believe in back-door diplomacy. The PML-N president said he would be leaving London within the next three days, while President Musharraf was arriving here on January 25, and there was, therefore, no chance of meeting him. online

No change in election date: Musharraf


RAWALPINDI, Jan 18: President Pervez Musharraf on Friday said that the general election would be held on February 18 as planned and there was no possibility of rigging.

Talking to editors of national newspapers at his camp office here, he said that army troops and paramilitary forces would ensure law and order before, during and after the elections.

The president rejected reports that he was going to meet Shahbaz Sharif in London during his forthcoming foreign visit.

He said he was open to the idea of a national government after the elections. He warned that political instability would distract the country from the war against extremism and terrorism and scare away foreign investors.

The present expressed the hope that political parties would respect the verdict of people on Feb 18 and work for full transition to democracy.

He said the Election Commission was independent, adding that every citizen should put “Pakistan first” in his priorities.

The president ruled out any possibility of Pakistan’s nuclear assets going into the hands of terrorists and said that a foolproof system of command and control under the National Command Authority had been put in place.

Information Minister Senator Nisar A. Memon, Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood, President’s Secretariat Secretary Mohsin Hafeez and President’s Media Adviser Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi attended the meeting.—APP

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

Top Bush aide Nicholas Burns quits


DAWN

WASHINGTON, Jan 18: US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, who played a key role in negotiating America’s nuclear deal with India, has decided to quit the Bush administration in the last year of its eight-year reign.

“He’s decided it’s the right moment to go back to family concerns, and while it is a sad thing for us, it is certainly something I understand and respect,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington on Friday.

“This is a very bittersweet time for us,” said Ms Rice with Mr Burns, a 26-year veteran of the Foreign Service, standing next to her. “He has simply had a stellar career as a diplomat.”

Mr Burns, 51, said he intends to pursue other opportunities outside of government.

William Burns, US ambassador to Russia, will replace Nicholas Burns as America’s third most senior diplomat. William Burns, among America’s most low-profile diplomats, is a former assistant secretary of state for the Middle East and ambassador to Jordan. The two men aren’t related.

While Ms Rice quoted “family reasons” for Mr Burns’ departure, diplomatic sources in Washington say this could also be a strategic move.

Several key officials left the Bush administration in 2007, the last year of its two-term rule. The winner of the 2008 presidential election will officially begin his tenure on Jan 20, 2009.

It is not unusual in America for senior officials to quit the administration in its last year as it gives them enough time to look for a job before everybody else also joins the queue.

With 26 years of experience with both Republican and Democratic administrations, Mr Burns will be an asset for a private firm. Staying out of the Bush administration for an entire year will also make him more acceptable to the new administration.

The new administration, whether Democrat or Republican, will need the services of seasoned diplomats like Mr Burns to deal with the issues the outgoing administration leaves behind.

Mr Burns will leave in March but will continue to assist the administration’s effort to conclude the US-India nuclear agreement that he helped negotiate, Ms Rice said.

As undersecretary of state for political affairs, Mr Burns has dealt with many controversial issues facing the Bush administration, including the current US effort to mobilise international support behind a new UN resolution on Iran.

Mr Burns joined the Foreign Service in 1983. He served as US ambassador to Greece and

Nato and as State Department spokesman.

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

Israeli air Strike flattens Hamas ministry


GAZA, Jan 18: Israel bombed the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza and closed border crossings with the strip on Friday.

The four-storey ministry complex in Gaza City was empty at the time but one woman was killed and at least 30 others nearby were wounded in the air strike, medical officials said.A second air strike minutes later damaged Hamas naval headquarters in the central Gaza Strip.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the air strikes, calling the targets “Hamas terrorist” positions. “This is part of our response to Qassam (rocket) fire against Israel,” she said.

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli defence ministry closed all border crossings with Gaza and prevented the delivery of a UN aid shipment.

Only “humanitarian cases” given Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s personal approval would be allowed through, the ministry said.

“If milk is low in Gaza, the minister will be asked to approve a milk shipment, and it will enter,” a spokesman said.

“Gaza is completely shut down. This will only add to an already dire situation,” said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose aid shipment was blocked.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops killed a militant linked to Fatah movement.

—Reuters

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

UN rights council to meet on Israeli actions


GENEVA, Jan 18: The UN Human Rights Council will hold an emergency meeting next week to examine whether Israel is committing abuses in the Palestinian territories, officials said on Friday.

The special session of the 47-member council was called after a petition was submitted by Syria and Pakistan, on behalf of Arab and Islamic countries, according to a UN memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The move, which was supported by 20 other countries, came as Israel blocked vital supplies from entering the Gaza Strip and launched air strikes against militant positions and Hamas government sites, killing one militant and two civilians.

The council session, scheduled for Wednesday, will “consider and take action on human rights violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the recent ones in occupied Gaza and the West Bank town of Nablus,” the memo said.—AP

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

UAE president lands in Nawabshah

DAWN

NAWABSHAH, Jan 18: UAE President Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahiyan arrived here on Friday. He was received at the airport by caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Abdul Qadir Halepoto.

Mr Halepoto exchanged views with the UAE president and said the two countries enjoyed good relations.

Shaikh Khalifa said he considered Pakistan as a brotherly nation.

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

ADB says lending to poor states failed


MANILA, Jan 18: The Asian Development Bank admitted in an internal study released on Friday that some of its loans to poor countries over the last few years had failed to achieve all their goals.

The release of the study comes after reports that disillusioned major donor nations such as the US and Britain want big changes at the Manila-based international lender.

The study said the administration of some $5.4 billion worth of cheap loans approved between 2001 and 2004 was “less than efficient,” adding that “effectiveness” declined over the period.

The report assessed the result of loans extended by the bank’s Asian Development Fund, which accounts for a quarter of the bank’s total lending.The bank’s wealthy western members contribute to the fund, which charges little or no interest on the loans it extends to poor nations for a range of development projects.

The study added that efficiency had improved since 2005, which should ensure some $7 billion of cheap loans allotted for 2005-2008 are “likely sustainable in terms of effective poverty reduction”. But it urged the bank to avoid “congestion” in its operations because supervision and resources may be spread too thinly.

“Some country programmes spread resources thinly, and the operations in some sectors have little critical mass,” it said.

The study said the bank had to be willing to suspend the disbursement of loans if reforms, like improving governance in developing member nations, failed to make sufficient progress.

It said the bank should work with the IMF and the World Bank “to require that all developing member countries, within five years, have a legal framework regarding public debt” in a bid to ensure it is kept under control.

The bank said it had revised the Asian Development Fund’s focus in 2006 to devote more support to agriculture, social infrastructure and transport and communications.

Concerns about the bank have prompted Britain to withdraw a commitment to provide more funds because of a “lack of significant progress on the reform agenda,” the Financial Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

Twenty-eight member countries can receive loans from the fund. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are the main borrowers.—AFP

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

Teen suspect in Benazir’s murder arrested in DIK

* 15-year-old says he was part of 5-man squad deployed to kill Benazir
* Claims he was to carry out a suicide attack in a mosque on Ashura

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Security officials in the NWFP said on Saturday they had arrested a teenager allegedly involved in last month’s assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, reported AP.

Aitezaz Shah, 15, told investigators that he had been part of a five-man squad deployed that day in Rawalpindi, a senior intelligence official, asking not to be named, said.

Aitezaz was arrested on Thursday in Dera Ismail Khan with another militant identified as Sher Zaman, according to the officials.

The two terrorists have confessed their involvement in the plot to kill Benazir, ARY television quoted Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah as saying.

Shah, however, said the two terrorists had no involvement in the October 18 tragedy in Karachi. The intelligence official said Aitezaz had told investigators that the team of assassins had been dispatched by militant leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Maulvi Muhammad Umar, a purported spokesman for Mehsud, denied his group had links with Aitezaz, and said he had not been dispatched by Mehsud to kill Benazir.

“It is just a government propaganda,” he said. “We have already clarified that we are not involved in the attack on Benazir.”

Benazir died on December 27 when one member of the squad, whom Aitezaz allegedly identified as Bilal, fired at her and detonated an explosive vest as she was leaving an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

A senior district police officer in Dera Ismail Khan confirmed Aitezaz’s arrest and said the suspect made “a sensational disclosure”.

‘Plan’ foiled: The intelligence official said that Aitezaz had told investigators he was supposed to carry out a suicide attack on a Shia mosque there on Sunday during the feast of Ashura, and that Zaman was going to provide him with an explosive vest.

Aitezaz named the man who assisted Bilal in Benazir’s attack as Ikram, the official said.

On Friday, the military said that up to 90 Islamic militants aligned with Mehsud had died in clashes with troops in South Waziristan.

On Saturday, Mehsud’s spokesman denied that the army had killed 90 of their people.“The army is killing innocent people in our area, and we will avenge it,” he told AP. ap/daily times monitor

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

BB wanted to be alone in car on Oct 18’

KARACHI: Benazir Bhutto did not want the company of party leaders in the vehicle she was to use in Karachi after her arrival on October 18, disclosed central PPP leader Nisar Ahmed Khuhro in an article published in Sindhi daily, Kawish, on Friday. “At a meeting held in Dubai before her arrival, Benazir had asked the party leaders not to accompany her in the same vehicle in Karachi because of a possible attack on her life,” Khuhro writes. She had said that other party leaders should be saved in case of an attack on her, he added. Khuhro said none of the party leaders had agreed with the suggestion. He said Benazir had then proposed that party leaders should be divided into different groups of five members to accompany her in the vehicle on rotation. On this, Khuhro writes, all the participants fell silent. “She then said that those who accompanied her would then have to become unfortunate victims along with her.” Khuhro told Daily Times that, however, the second proposal was not implemented either upon her arrival. razzak abro

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

Pakistan to give two Al Qaeda suspects to US’

LAHORE: Pakistan has decided to hand over two Al Qaeda suspects to the US on the latter’s demand, SAMAA TV reported on Saturday.

The channel quoted official sources as saying that the accused, Khan Baba Abdur Rasool and Noor Rab Khan, were arrested in 2005 for having links with Al Qaeda. The channel said that the Interior Ministry, after getting approval from the government, had directed the additional deputy commissioner (General) to complete all formalities to hand over the suspects to the US. US had demanded suspects custody three weeks ago. daily times monitor

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.