MQM chief quits, withdraws resignation within 60 minutes: Altaf offers unconditional friendship to Nawaz

* Criticises lawyers’ movement for provoking violence and MQM leadership for not maintaining peace

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Following immense pressure from within the MQM and demands to review his decision to step down as party chief, MQM founder Altaf Hussain withdrew his resignation about an hour after he announced it, saying that he was prepared to offer unconditional friendship to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

“Even if Nawaz chooses to curse at me, I offer him my unconditional friendship,” he told several hundred MQM supporters, leaders and Rabita Committee members on Friday at the MQM headquarters Nine-Zero, Geo News reported. “I am even prepared to join the PML-N to keep the peace,” he added.

Addressing the meeting by telephone, the MQM chief said that the MQM Legal Aid Committee had been targeted.

Criticises: Altaf said that the committee members had been staging a peaceful demonstration, but opponent lawyers attacked them without provocation. “After the violent riots erupted in Karachi, I asked Rabita Committee members and representatives to quit their work and restore peace in the city,” he said. “This city belongs to all and everybody is responsible for keeping law and order here,” he said.

Earlier, Altaf Hussain had announced that he was stepping down as party chief in protest against his party leadership’s inability to contain the April 9 violence in Karachi.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...2-4-2008_pg1_6

Altaf Hussain steps down…briefly

Posted by Altamash Hussain | Filed Under National, Politics

Altaf Hussain, chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, announced his resignation on Friday. He said his decision to quit was due to the party leadership’s failure to curtail violence in Karachi on April 9. However, a few hours later he chose to withdraw his decision at the insistence of party workers and leaders.

Hussain announced his decision to quit while addressing a party workers’ meeting at MQM headquarters at Nine Zero. According to The News, Farooq Sattar read a letter from Hussain to the General Workers body meeting. In the letter Hussain stated that everyone had the right to protest and that the party should have controlled the violence in the city. “After the violent riots erupted in Karachi, I asked Rabta Committee members and representatives to quit their work and restore peace in the city,” said Hussain. In response to the decision, Sattar warned that all members of MQM Rabita Committee, MNAs, MPAs, District and Town Nazims would also resign from their posts unless Hussain withdrew his decision to step down.

Barely a few hours later, Hussain gave in to his party’s request and withdrew his resignation in a telephone call to Nine Zero. In the call, he asked for a pledge from local MQM leadership that they would fulfill all their obligations in the future. “I want peace in Karachi at every cost,” Hussain declared.

http://blog.dawn.com/?p=890

LAHORE, April 12: The newly elected Chief Minister of Punjab, Dost Mohammad Khosa, on Saturday announced that the new Chief Minister’s House built by his predecessor Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi would be converted into an information technology institute for women.

He accused the former chief minister of spending huge public money in the construction of the new CM Secretariat. “The Rs353 million building was a wastage of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference after taking the oath of office, Mr Khosa said the total strength of CM Secretariat’s staff was 894, but currently 827 officials were working.

He said that the amount spent on salaries and allowances of the staff stood at Rs49.4 million in the current financial year.

He said the official document suggested the CM Secretariat owned a total of 137 vehicles, including nine bullet-proof vehicles. One of the bullet-proof vehicles was still under the use of Pervaiz Elahi, he added.

He alleged that the CM Secretariat had spent over Rs977 million over the past four years. He announced that the secretariat’s annual budget would be reduced by 70 per cent.

“The VIP culture has officially ended. I am, and shall remain, God willing, a servant of people.”

Mr Khosa said that in future no-one would get any entitlement beyond the remit of the law.

Earlier, Governor Khalid Maqbool administered the oath to Mr Khosa at the Governor’s House amid slogans of “Go Musharraf go” and “Nawaz Sharif zindabad”.

No PML-N leader, except Punjab president Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, father of the new chief minister, attended the oath-taking ceremony.


http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/13/top2.htm


WASHINGTON, April 12: President George Bush has said that Pakistan, and not Afghanistan or Iraq, is now the most likely place where a plot could be hatched to carry out any 9/11-type attack in the US.

In an interview with ABC News, Mr Bush described the tribal region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as one of the most dangerous areas in the world today where “Al Qaeda had established safe havens and was plotting attacks against the United States”.

Asked to comment on an assessment of US intelligence reports that if there was another 9/11 plot being hatched, it was probably in Afghanistan and Pakistan and not in Iraq, Mr Bush said: “I would say not in Afghanistan. I would say in... .”

The interviewer interrupted him and asked “Pakistan?”

“Yes. Probably true,” responded Mr Bush. “And, you know, all the more reason to have the capacity to listen to … terrorists making phone calls. That’s why we need to have this Fisa law,” which allows phone tapping.

“We’re still under threat, and we’re still pressuring terrorists. And we’ve been pretty successful at bringing to justice the number-three person in Al Qaeda, with Pakistan’s help, by the way,” he added.

Mr Bush said the threat from Al Qaeda elements hiding in Pakistan also justified his efforts to increase the size of the US army and the Marine Corps.

Asked if he saw the next 9/11 coming from the region which included Afghanistan and Pakistan, why did he not send more troops to Afghanistan, Mr Bush said: “Because they (Al Qaeda) are not in Afghanistan. And if they were in Afghanistan, they’d be routed out of Afghanistan. We’ve got plenty of firepower to take on Al Qaeda cells in Afghanistan.”

“Then why is Admiral Mike Mullen so worried about that area?” he was asked.

“We’re all concerned about the area,” said Mr Bush. “This is the area in which Al Qaeda had had safe havens before. And any time you can find instability or anytime you can find vacuums, we’ve got to worry about it.”

Mr Bush said that in Afghanistan, the US was part of a larger coalition, which included its Nato allies who promised to send more troops to the country at a recent conference in Bucharest, Romania.


http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/13/top1.htm



ISLAMABAD, April 12: The new government made on Saturday changes in the top-level bureaucracy, including the IGP Sindh and Intelligence Bureau director-general.

National Police Bureau’s Director-General Dr Shoaib Suddle was promoted to grade-22 and posted as Inspector-General Sindh, while the Joint Director-General of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Tariq Lodhi, was elevated to the post of the bureau’s DG.

According to sources in the Establishment Division, Islamabad’s Senior Superintendent Police Syed Kaleem Imam has been appointed as Chief Security Officer in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat while adviser to the Finance Division Syed Hassan Abbas Naqvi has been made deputy secretary in the secretariat.

The services of Additional Secretary Finance Mohammad Sami Saeed have been placed at the disposal of the Sindh government, while Atomic Energy Commission’s Nisar Hussain Shamsi has been promoted to grade-22 from grade-21 and asked to report in Faisalabad.

Ahmad Waqar, who was made an OSD by the caretaker government, was appointed as secretary to the Investment Division. He earlier served as the petroleum secretary.

Dr Shoaib Suddle is a senior member of the Police Service of Pakistan and has served at various important positions in the federal and provincial governments. He completed his Masters in Physics and LLB from the University of Punjab. He also obtained a Masters in Criminology from the University of Wales in Britain. Dr Suddle was awarded a doctorate in Criminology in 1988.

He is known in Pakistan and abroad as a researcher on criminal justice issues. He is member of various international organisations and was a member of the focal group on police reforms and consultant with the National Reconstruction Bureau during 1999-2001. He co-drafted the Police Order 2002.

He has also served as the Inspector-General of Police Balochistan and DIG Rawalpindi. He was DIG Karachi when Mir Murtaza Bhutto was assassinated in a police shoot-out in 1996.

The post of Intelligence Bureau chief was vacant since the resignation of Brig (retd) Ejaz Shah.

Brig Ejaz was among the people who were nominated by Benazir Bhutto as people who might kill her.

Tariq Lodhi earlier served on various important posts and is among senior-most officers of the IB. He was a wing commander in the air force who rose to the rank of brigadier in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He also served as chief of research and analysis wing during the second tenure of Ms Bhutto as prime minister.

He was sent to Germany on a diplomatic assignment during President Pervez Musharraf’s rule and appointed as the joint director-general of IB after completion of the three-year assignment. He served on the position for almost four years.

He has also served as the head of the Special Branch of the Pubjab Police.

Officials said Riaz A. Sheikh would replace Tariq Lodhi. Mr Sheikh worked in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) during the PPP government when Naseerullah Babar was interior minister and Rehman Malik was additional DG of the FIA.


http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/13/top7.htm


WASHINGTON, April 12: The new government does not want to indulge in a “blame game” with the previous rulers, says Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, adding that he plans to continue some economic policies of the outgoing government as well.

Talking to Pakistani journalists outside the US State Department, where he met senior US officials, Mr Dar said he does not want to repeat “on American soil” what he said about the previous government in Pakistan.

Before leaving for Washington, the finance minister told the media that the previous government had fudged figures to present a rosy picture while its policies pushed the country into an economic crisis. He also said that today the economy was in a far worse shape than it was in 1999.

But after his meeting with US entrepreneurs and senior officials, he told reporters: “The new government will continue the FDI-linked policies of the previous government.”

Mr Dar claimed that the Sharif government had introduced these policies before it was ousted in 1999 and therefore “there will be continuity in these policies … there will also be a consistency in policies of deregulation and privatisation.”

When reminded that before leaving Islamabad, he had accused the previous government of messing up the economy, the finance minister said: “It is not a blame game.” Asked to compare the economy as it exists now with what it was in 1999, Mr Dar said: “We are not doing comparisons.”

The previous government, he said, should have made fiscal and monetary adjustments where those were necessary to meet both domestically and globally pressure “but due to political expediency in the election year, they did not.”


http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/13/top10.htm

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MQM decides to join opposition

April 13, 2008
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement has decided in principle to sit on the opposition benches.
According to Geo News sources, MQM has decided to join opposition in center and province and MQM Raabta Committee has completed process of consultations in this regard. Sources said the decision to appoint Shoaib Suddle as new IG Police Sindh was one of the reasons for this decision.

Nine killed in Iran mosque attack

April 13, 2008
TEHRAN: Nine people were killed and over 100 were wounded when a bomb ripped through a mosque in Iran's southern city of Shiraz, in an unprecedented strike on a non-frontier Iranian urban centre on Saturday, officials said.

The massive bomb explosion in the men's section of the mosque took place at around 9: 00 pm (1630 GMT) during an evening prayer sermon by a prominent local cleric.

"One hundred and five people were wounded and nine were killed in the bomb attack in Shiraz,” a hospital source said, adding all the city's medical facilities had been mobilised to deal with the casualties.

The death toll was set to rise as many of the victims were in a critical condition. There have been deadly attacks in Iran's border cities with ethnic minority populations in recent years but such a strike in a city such as Shiraz is unprecedented in recent decades.

The normally placid city is not in a border zone, nor is it home to any significant population of ethnic or religious minorities.

"Around 9:15 pm, after the sermon, the sound of an explosion resounded in the section reserved for men and a cloud of dust billowed up to the sky," witness Saideh Ghorbani said.
Deadly attacks in Iran have become extremely rare events in the past two decades, although the first years after the 1979 Islamic revolution were marked by a succession of bomb blasts in Tehran by outlawed opposition groups.

The last major attack in Iran was a February 2007 strike by suspected Sunni rebels in the city of Zahedan in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan border province that killed 13 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

That attack was the deadliest such strike to have hit the Islamic republic in years.
There were also deadly attacks in 2005 and 2006 in the southwestern city of Ahvaz which has an Arab population and Iranian officials blamed them on Britain and Arab separatists. There has also been unrest in northwestern Kurdish-populated provinces.

World Bank meeting today as rising food prices spark unrest

April 13, 2008
WASHINGTON: The World Bank meets here Sunday as rising food prices spark deadly unrest in developing countries, underscoring the urgency of getting food aid to desperate people.

The World Bank meeting comes against a backdrop of a mounting global financial crisis, a US economy teetering on recession, high-energy prices and currency market imbalances.

Policymakers of the anti-poverty bank are due to discuss a massive, coordinated international plan to reduce hunger announced less than two weeks ago by the head of the bank, Robert Zoellick.

The 185-nation bank's sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, issued a dire warning Saturday about the food crisis.

"Food prices, if they go on like they are doing today, the consequences will be terrible," IMF managing director said. Development gains made in the past five or 10 years could be "totally destroyed," he said, warning that social unrest could even lead to war.

Skyrocketing prices on rice, wheat, corn and other staple foods like milk particularly hurt developing nations, where the bulk of income is spent on the bare necessities for survival.

In recent months, rising food costs have lead to violent protests in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries in the past month. Thirty-seven countries currently face food crises, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

India asks Pak to take early decision on concessions under SAFTA

April 13, 2008
NEW DELHI: India has said it may be compelled to withdraw concessions to Pakistan if it does not take an early decision to implement South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).

"We have provided a series of concessions to Pakistan under SAFTA. Pakistan has not provided to India. We are looking at the situation," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of a function on Foreign Trade Policy.

Noting that Pakistan has sought more time on the issue, he said "if they don't take a decision on this, then India may be compelled, we will consider it, to withdraw the concessions."

However, with the new government assuming office in Pakistan, Nath said "we are hopeful. Last six to eight months, there has been inactivity on this front. We understand. But we are hoping, in the next couple of months, to resolve this."

http://www.geo.tv/4-13-2008/16709.htm

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Google tackles child pornography

By Maggie Shiels
BBC News, San Francisco




Google engineers have adapted a software program to help track child sex predators and search for patterns in images of abuse on the web.

Google has created the technology for the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

It was originally developed to block copyrighted videos on the company's YouTube division.

The program uses pattern recognition to enable analysts to sort and identify files containing child sex abuse.

Google says its aim in teaming up with the centre's Technology Coalition Against Child Pornography is to develop solutions that would make it harder for people to use the web to exploit children or traffic in child pornography.

"You always hope that your work will eventually be used to do some good in the world, and this was an amazing chance to make that hope real," said Google research scientist Shumeet Baluja.

Overwhelming task

Mr Baluja, who was also the technical leader of the project, said that as more and more predators use the web to ensnare children, "analysts were getting overwhelmed by all of the data they had to sift through".

Since 2002 the NCMEC has pored over 13 million child sex abuse images and videos in an effort to help police identify and rescue children from harm.

In the last year they have looked at five million pictures.

Google says the new tools will enable the centre's analysts to search their systems more quickly and easily as they try to sort and identify files that contain images of child sex abuse victims.

"The program uses pattern recognition and will work even if the pattern has been modified," explained technology analyst Larry Magid.

"So if police can identify a pattern such as a calendar on the wall or a t-shirt logo, they have a much better chance of finding the exploited child and catching the suspect."

Hi-tech solutions

The technology is an outgrowth of the anti-piracy software Google developed to helps its YouTube division ferret out videos of suspected of being posted without the agreement of copyright holders.

"Criminals are using cutting edge technology to commit their crimes of child sexual exploitation, and in fighting to solve those crimes and keep children safe, we must do the same," said NCMEC President and CEO Ernie Allen.

Google engineers and scientists were able to work on the project on what the company calls "20% time", which allows all employees to dedicate that amount of time to projects they initiate.

Some of those projects benefit stockholders or end users, but in this case the benefit could be to thousands of children

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NEW DELHI (AP) — Pakistan's leg of the Olympic torch relay got underway Wednesday for the country's elite as tight security resulted in an invitation-only event.

Clearly worried about the possibility of protests or even a terror attack on the high-profile ceremony, thousands of police aided by sniffer dogs stood guard as Pakistan's pro-China government ensured a trouble-free stop on the torch's global tour.

Televised live — the only way the general public could watch — the relay looked almost like a practice run as runners carried the flame around the perimeter of Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad's main sports complex.

Most of the sparse crowd, including President Pervez Musharraf, fresh from a six-day trip to China, and a raft of school children sat on review stands.

Protests against China's human rights record have marred the torch's passage through Western cities, and Pakistan has gone to great lengths to avoid any repeat during the Olympic symbol's 22-hour stay en route to Beijing.

The original plans for carrying the torch along a 3-kilometer (nearly 2-mile) route from the white-marble Parliament in Pakistan's capital were scotched.

Col. Baseer Haider, an army official helping organize the event, said the route change was made because of the "overall security environment" and the risk of bad weather. A violent hailstorm hit Islamabad on Tuesday, but weather was fine Wednesday.

Police, many carrying guns, surrounded the stadium, where soldiers manned the main gate and checked vehicles with sniffer dogs. Only guests with invitation cards issued by the Pakistan Olympic Association were being allowed in.

"There is absolutely no chance of any trouble, any protest against it," said event coordinator Mohammed Yahya from the Pakistan Olympic Association.

A plane carrying the torch from Oman landed at the military section of Islamabad airport amid tight security early Wednesday.

About 60 Pakistani athletes took turns carrying the torch on the grounds of the stadium. A display of folk music and dancing were scheduled afterward.

The Pakistan Olympic Association urged broadcasters using state TV coverage of the torch to avoid "negative comments" and make "no mention" of the conflict in Tibet.

Pakistan has strong and long-standing defense and economic links with China. Both are rivals of neighboring India.

There had been no indications that rights groups are planning to repeat in Pakistan their protests against China, which disrupted torch relays in Paris, London and San Francisco.

The torch's stops in Argentina, Tanzania and Oman have been trouble-free.

However, rioting in two Pakistani cities in the past week has raised tension in a country permanently on guard against attacks by Islamic militants based along its border with Afghanistan. Chinese workers were targeted in two deadly attacks last year.

"We have to take care that there is no infiltration by some elements who are bent on disrupting our understanding and great relationship," Musharraf said in China on Monday.

The turmoil over the torch relay and the growing international criticism of China's policies on Tibet and Darfur have turned the Beijing Olympic Games — which begin Aug. 8 — into one of the most contentious in recent history.

The flame travels on Thursday to India, home to nearly 100,000 Tibetan exiles including the Dalai Lama. Thousands of police have been deployed there to avoid chaotic protests.

Pakistani sports stars chosen to carry the torch included Hassan Sardar, a field hockey gold-medalist in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and squash legend Jahangir Khan.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...ic-torch_N.htm

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Suicide bomb kills 24 in Afghanis

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide attack in front of a mosque in southwestern Afghanistan killed 24 people and wounded more than 30 others on Thursday, a provincial governor said.
The attack took place as men were getting ready for the evening prayer at the central mosque in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad said.

Azad said there may have been more than one bomber.

"I'm not sure if it was single attack or a double attack," he said, noting that a district police chief and border reserve police commander were among the dead.

Most of those killed and wounded were civilians, including children and old men, Azad said.

At least two other suicide attacks have hit Nimroz this month, including an attack on April 1 that left two policemen dead in Zaranj, and another on Saturday that killed two Indian road construction engineers and their Afghan driver in Khash Rod district.

Suicide attacks in Afghanistan spiked last year, with the Taliban launching more than 140 such missions — the highest number since the radical Islamist group was ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

In central Ghazni province, militants ambushed a patrol of Afghan and foreign troops Thursday in Gilan district, and the ensuing clash left nine Taliban fighters dead, said district chief Abdul Wali Thofan. There were no casualties among the troops.

A roadside bomb struck a Canadian military vehicle on Thursday near Spin Boldak, a town on the Pakistani border, said Lt. Cmdr Pierre Babinsky, a spokesman for NATO troops in the south. No one died in the blast, but he declined to say whether any soldiers were wounded.

The insurgency has left more than 1,000 people dead so far this year, most of them militants, according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and Western officials.

Meanwhile, NATO acknowledged that a privately contracted helicopter had mistakenly dropped ammunition and other supplies in an area where Afghan officials have said the items were picked up by the Taliban.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Thursday that the helicopter shipment of food, water and ammunition intended for police was mistakenly dropped in southern Zabul province. The head of Afghanistan's intelligence service, Amrullah Saleh, told a parliamentary security committee Sunday that Taliban fighters took the supplies.

The force said in a statement that the helicopter was contracted by ISAF to resupply a police outpost in a remote mountainous location in March.

"Unfortunately, due to a human error in transcribing the latitude and longitude of the location, the load was dropped in another remote area," said the ISAF statement, which did not mention whether the supplies reached the insurgents.

"The mistake was recognized when the helicopter crew was debriefed after returning to their base. Coalition forces sent aircraft for a visual reconnaissance, however, the missing cargo could not be found."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...hanistan_N.htm

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US to curb drone attacks on Pak soil

LAHORE: The United States has promised to curb airstrikes by drones against suspected militants in Pakistan, as part of a joint counter-terrorism strategy agreed with the new civilian government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Islamabad, according to a report published in the Guardian on Thursday.

The British daily reported that the strategy would be supported by an aid package potentially worth more than $7 billion, which is due to go before Congress for approval in the next few months.

The package would triple the amount of American non-military aid to Pakistan, and is aimed at “redefining” the bilateral relationship, US officials say.

Pakistan will also be given a “democracy dividend” of up to $1 billion — a ‘reward’ for holding peaceful elections and forming a coalition government, the Guardian reported. Of that, $200 million could be approved in the next few days, it added.

Aid: The aid package — being put together by Democratic Senator Joseph Biden — will mark a decisive break in US policy on Pakistan, which for much of the past nine years focused on President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistani military as Washington’s primary partners in the “war on terror”. Officials in Washington said on Wednesday that the shift had already been made.e.

“Senator Biden wants to show the relationship is much broader than a military one, and that we are willing to sustain it over time,” one of the senator’s senior aides said.

A US administration official said, “Each day Musharraf’s influence becomes less and less. Civilians are in control. People aren’t meeting with Musharraf anymore . . . we are very pleased with the new civilian government.”

Civilian institutions: Pakistani officials say much of the new counter-terrorism aid will be spent on civilian law enforcement institutions, such as the Interior Ministry, the Intelligence Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency, rather than being channelled almost exclusively through the army and the military-run Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The new understanding on airstrikes by US Predator drones is seen in Islamabad as a critical benchmark for the new relationship.

The subsequent increase in Predator strikes — estimates of the number range up to eight — caused outrage in Pakistan. .

Pakistani officials say they have been given assurances by Washington that there will be close consultation with the civilian government, not with Musharraf, before any future strikes. However, because the use of Predators is held as a closely guarded secret and US intelligence is reluctant to share information about targets, there is some scepticism in Islamabad over whether the deal will stick.

“We’ll have to take them at their word, won’t we,” Information Minister Sherry Rehman said in an interview in Islamabad. She added that Washington’s previous emphasis on ties to Musharraf and the Pakistani military “hasn’t provided the results that were supposed to happen on the ground”.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...8-4-2008_pg1_1

Pakistan wants to sign GSPA on IPI project in May

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has expressed its desire to sign the Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) with Iran in May, regardless of India’s participation in the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, sources said on Thursday.

The sources quoted Pakistani officials as telling Mashallah Shakari, the Iranian ambassador in Pakistan, during his meeting with Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Khawaja Muhammad Asif, that Pakistan wished to finalise the project within a month.

Khawaja Asif said the early implementation of the project would strengthen and expand economic relations between the regional countries. He welcomed India’s participation in the project, and assured that Pakistan would provide all possible transit facilities for the natural gas to reach India.

India: The sources said Indian delegation that visited the petroleum minister on Wednesday had indicated a desire to rejoin the IPI gas project.

The sources quoted the delegation as telling the minister that India’s energy needs were higher than Pakistan’s and that it needed gas to meet its energy needs.

Khawaja Asif told the Iranian ambassador that Pakistan was also pursuing the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, to meet its growing energy demands and reduce dependence on the import of furnace oil. Pakistan and India will hold a round of negotiations on April 25 to resolve the issue of the transit fee that Pakistan will receive from India in return for the passage of gas from Iran to India.

Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora will visit Pakistan to represent his country. India has stayed away from previous talks on the IPI project and wanted first to resolve the issue of transit fee before entering into any agreement. Pakistan and Iran have finalised the draft of the GSPA for the IPI project. Officials said India and Iran could enter into a separate GSPA on the IPI project. Sapar Berdiniyaov, the ambassador of Turkmenistan to Pakistan, also visited Asif.

The minister told the ambassador that the upcoming steering committee meeting on the TAPI project, scheduled for April 22, would produce a positive outcome in the negotiation on the project.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-4-2008_pg7_27

Marri’s son released from London jail

LAHORE: Harabyar Marri, son of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, has been released from a London jail on bail, Geo News reported on Thursday. Harabyar had been arrested in December and detained in London on terrorism charges, the channel said. According to the channel, Harabyar was released on Wednesday and has reached his home.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-4-2008_pg1_10

PAF plane crashes near Faisalabad

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) training aircraft crashed on Thursday in the Dajkot area of Faisalabad, while the pilot ejected safely.

According to a private TV channel, the incident took place some 25 miles west of Faisalabad. Rescue teams have reached the site of the incident and further details are awaited.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-4-2008_pg7_51

World’s oldest living tree discovered

STOCKHOLM: The world’s oldest living tree on record is a nearly 10,000 year-old spruce that has been discovered in central Sweden, Umeaa University said on Thursday.

Researchers had discovered a spruce with genetic material dating back 9,550 years in the Fulu mountain in Dalarna, according to Leif Kullmann, a professor of Physical Geography at the university in northwestern Sweden.

That would mean it had taken root in roughly the year 7,542 BC.

“It was a big surprise because we thought until (now) that this kind of spruce grew much later in those regions,” he said.

Scientists had previously believed the world’s oldest trees were 4,000 to 5,000 year-old pine trees found in North America.

The new record-breaking tree was discovered in Dalarna in 2004 when Swedish researchers were carrying out a census of tree species in the region, Kullman said. The tree’s genetic material age had been calculated using carbon dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida.

Spruces, which according to Kullmann offer rich insight into climate change, had long been regarded as relatively newcomers in the Swedish mountain region. The discovery of the ancient tree had therefore led to “a big change in our way of thinking,” he said.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/18/int10.htm

Father of chaos theory Lorenz dies

NEW YORK: Edward Lorenz, a meteorologist who became the father of the modern field of chaos theory, died on Wednesday of cancer in Massachusetts aged 90.

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lorenz was the first to recognise what is now referred to as chaotic behaviour in the mathematical modelling of weather systems.

He found that small differences in a dynamic system, like the weather, “could trigger vast and often unsuspected results”, an MIT statement said. His studies led him to develop what became known as the “butterfly effect.” The term stemmed from his 1972 academic paper, “Predictability: does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”

The MIT said Lorenz’s early work “marked the beginning of a new field of study that impacted not just the field of mathematics but virtually every branch of science -- biological, physical and social”.

“Some scientists have since asserted that the 20th century will be remembered for three scientific revolutions -- relativity, quantum mechanics and chaos,” the statement said. Lorenz was working as a weather forecaster for the US Army Air Corps during World War II when he decided to pursue further study in meteorology.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/18/int11.htm

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2 MQM workers killed, 3 injured in firing in Landhi Karachi

April 20, 2008
KARACHI: Two MQM workers were killed and three injured in firing by some armed persons in Landhi, an area of Karachi.

Police sources told Geo News that four workers of the MQM – Maqbool Ahmed, Abdul Basit, Asif and Abdul Razzaq – were standing in 89, an area of Landhi where three persons riding on motorcycles came and began firing at them.

According to the MQM press release, one of the four workers, Maqbool Ahmed died on the spot while other three persons were severely injured and were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Abdul Razzaq succumbed to injuries and died.

However, remaining two persons are under treatment at the hospital.

Quaid of the MQM, Altaf Hussain expressed deep sorrow on the death of Abdul Razzaq and maqbool Ahmed and prayed for the deceased.

Strongly condemning the incident, the Rabita Committee of the MQM termed it an open terrorism and blamed that a rival political party is involved in the incident.

This has been said in a statement from the Rabita Committee that the criminals are taking the city again towards terrorism.

British foreign secretary David Miliband is arriving at Islamabad

April 20, 2008
ISLAMABAD: British foreign secretary David Miliband is arriving at Islamabad today. He will hold meetings with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

According to senior journalist Hanif Khalid, British foreign secretary Miliband will head his delegation in the Pak-UK dialogue at the Foreign Office on April 21 and decisions will be taken to extend the bilateral cooperation.

Besides discussing problems faced by Pakistanis residing in Britain, the issue of anti-terrorism will also be discussed in the meeting.

Moreover, a strategy will be prepared for restoration of Pakistan’s membership at the Common Wealth.

The British foreign secretary will also invite prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to visit Britain

http://www.apakistannews.com/british...slamabad-67706

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Time is the longest distance between two places.

Clinton's poll day threat to Iran

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Pennsylvania
Hillary Clinton hopes her poll lead will translate into a big win in Pennsylvania

Hillary Clinton has issued a stark warning to Iran, as Democrats in Pennsylvania vote to choose between her and Barack Obama to run for president.

She said the US would attack, and could "obliterate" Iran, if it launched a nuclear strike on Israel.

Mrs Clinton has been playing up foreign affairs and leadership as she tries to make up ground in the Democratic race.

She leads polls in Pennsylvania, the largest remaining state, but analysts say her hopes depend on a big victory.

A Zogby survey released on Tuesday showed Mrs Clinton leading Mr Obama by 10%, while an InsiderAdvantage poll had her 7% ahead.

Polling stations opened at 0700 (1100 GMT), with results expected soon after they close at 2000 (2400 GMT).

Hillary Clinton's threat to Iran

As the candidates appeared on the US talk show circuit on Tuesday morning, a row erupted when Mrs Clinton was asked how she would respond if Iran launched a nuclear attack on Israel.

She replied that: "If I'm the president, we will attack Iran... we would be able to totally obliterate them.

"That's a terrible thing to say, but those people who run Iran need to understand that, because that perhaps will deter them from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic," she told TV channel ABC.

In response, Mr Obama said: "Using words like 'obliterate' - it doesn't actually produce good results, and so I'm not interested in sabre-rattling."

He said only that Iran should know he would respond "forcefully" to an attack on any US ally.

The US fears Iran is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and could use them against Israel. Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for power generation.

Mrs Clinton's tough talking over Iran is part of her strategy, to emphasise her foreign policy experience as she fights for every last vote available in Pennsylvania, says the BBC's Jack Izzard.

Last big state

With four million registered Democrats, and 158 pledged delegates to the Democratic Party's nominating convention in August, Pennsylvania is the last of the big states to hold a primary.


DEMOCRATIC DELEGATES
Barack Obama:
Pledged delegates: 1,415
Super-delegates: 233
Total: 1,648
Hillary Clinton:
Pledged delegates: 1,251
Super-delegates: 258
Total: 1,509
Source: AP estimates on 22 April



Although Mrs Clinton is behind in the delegate count and in the total votes cast, she has won most of the big state contests.

And the white working class voters who have formed the backbone of her support so far are a significant constituency in the state.

With the delegates split in proportion with the vote, neither candidate is expected to win sufficient pledged delegates to seal the nomination in the remaining primaries, and the two are courting 800 or so unelected "super-delegates".

Pennsylvania provides a key test for Mrs Clinton's argument - which she hopes will sway the super-delegates - that only she will be able to secure wins in critical large states come November's presidential election.

The BBC's North America editor, Justin Webb, says the state's voters have the power to keep Mrs Clinton's White House dream alive by giving her a substantial victory, to do it further damage by delivering a close result, or to destroy it by handing a win to Mr Obama.



On TV on Tuesday, Mrs Clinton predicted victory but insisted that the margin did not matter. Instead, she said, if Mr Obama failed to win it would call into question "his ability to win the big states".

Mr Obama conceded that his rival "has to be heavily favoured to win" in Pennsylvania, but dismissed the big-state argument, saying there was "no chance" of the Democrats losing New York or California in the presidential election, no matter who the candidate was.

'Politics of fear'

Even before the subject of Iran arose, foreign affairs loomed large in the final hours of campaigning, with the Obama camp accusing Mrs Clinton of trading in the "politics of fear".

Her final campaign advert featured shots of historic world events such as Pearl Harbour and the fall of the Berlin Wall, with clips of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and Hurricane Katrina victims.

The advert concluded with the line: "You need to be ready for anything."

Mrs Clinton's chief strategist Geoff Garin said it was a positive advert.

"It states why Hillary Clinton is the right choice to be president," he said. "We're at a moment where we need a president who's got the strength and knowledge to take on very tough challenges."

But Bill Burton, from Mr Obama's team, said: "We already have a president who plays the politics of fear, and we don't need another."

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Devil-may-care

Proffessor Safder Ali Kiyani joined university of balochistan in 1980.he held Ph.D in Botany.Since long he served as a dean of biological sciences.Just three days ago,the former Vice chanceller Agha Gul resigned from his duties and handed them over to kiyani sahib.being his student i knew him better than anyone else except students he was talented,well skilled.most experienced,a man of words,letters and principles.he was a utmost guide for the students of botany department.i pray for him that May God keep his soul in peace and the culprits may ruined to pieces.Ameen