[B][CENTER][SIZE="5"]Four killed, several injured in Dir blast[/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]

[B]Monday, 05 Apr, 2010[/B]

ISLAMABAD: A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up on Monday at a political party's meeting in northwest Pakistan, killing four people and injuring several others, police said.

“It was apparently a suicide attack. The bomber wanted to enter the ground where the ANP meeting was taking place but was stopped at the gate and blew himself up,” said police official Sarzamin Khan, referring to the Awami National Party.

A large number of people are still trapped in the house and rescue teams are trying to pull people out of the rubble.


[url]http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-four-killed-several-injured-in-dir-blast-ss-02[/url]

3 blasts near US Consulate in Peshawar: 2 dead
 

PESHAWAR: A series of powerful explosions and gunfire rocked Peshawar area of Saddar on Monday as heavy grey smoke spewed into the sky, witnesses and a security official said.

The causes of the blasts were not immediately clear, said the security official and local residents.

At least two people were killed and two others injured in the blast; the bodies and the injured have been shifted to Lady Reading Hospital. Some other injured have been moved to the CMH as well.

Khyber Road where the US Consulate building is situated, is being air-monitored by the helicopters.

Television footage showed a heavy mushroom cloud and smoke rising into the air over the garrison part of the city, close to the US consulate and the Peshawar headquarters of Pakistan's top spy agency, bombed last November.

Bursts of heavy gunfire could also be heard in the wake of blasts which a foreign news agency puts at five in number.

The Khyber Road, where the US Consulate is situated, has been closed.

The cameras of news channels were live covering the incident with security personnel on their positions, when two consecutive blasts occurred.

The series of these three blasts occurred within 20 minutes and shook the city followed by extreme firing. The second and third blasts occurred in vehicles.

The blasts were so intense that the mobile phones services were closed for some time.

Emergency has been declared in Peshawar Hospital.

The US Consulate official said the Consulate is garnering information about the blasts.

Scores dead as Polish president’s plane crashes
 

[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Black"][B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkGreen"][CENTER]Scores dead as Polish president’s plane crashes [/CENTER][/COLOR][/SIZE][/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]


MOSCOW: Polish President Lech Kaczynski and scores of other people were killed Saturday when the president’s plane crashed on landing in the western Russian city of Smolensk, officials said.

The Smolensk regional governor, Sergei Antufiev, said the plane clipped treetops as it approached to land at an airport outside Smolensk and crashed, breaking into several pieces.

Russian television broadcast live footage showing the plane’s wreckage scattered in a forest with parts of it still on fire.

Russian news agencies reported there were at least 80 people aboard the plane – some reports said there were as many as 132 people on board – and Antufiev said no one had survived.

“It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces,” the governor of the Smolensk region, Sergei Antufiev, told Russia-24 television news network by telephone from Smolensk.

“There were no survivors.”

Officials in Warsaw confirmed that Kaczynski was aboard the plane that crashed and Russian television broadcast video shot earlier Saturday of the president and his wife boarding the plane in Warsaw.

Polish foreign ministry spokesman Piotr Pszkowski said that the army chief of staff and Deputy Foreign Minsiter Andrzej Kremer were also on board the plane.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev immediately appointed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the head of a commission to investigate the crash and sent Russia’s emergency situations minister, Sergei Shoigu, to the site.

The aircraft crashed a few hundred metres short of the runway at the Severny airport outside Smolensk, ITAR-TASS news agency reported, quoting rescuers at the site.

The flight data recorders of the plane had not yet been located but experts were on the scene and the search for them was under way, ITAR-TASS said.

Kaczynski, the identical twin brother of former prime minister Jaroslaw, was on his way to attend commemorative ceremonies at the forest of Katyn in western Russia where 22,000 Poles were killed by Soviet troops 70 years ago.

The crash of his plane occurred three days after Putin and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, together attended a memorial for the victims of the massacre at Katyn.

The Putin-Tusk meeting there was seen as a huge symbolic advance in Russia’s often thorny relations with Poland.


source:[url]www.dawn.com[/url]

[RIGHT][B]Monday, April 12, 2010, Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1431 A.H [/B][/RIGHT]

[U][CENTER][SIZE="4"]India to get access to Headley: Obama[/SIZE][/CENTER][/U]
[B]WASHINGTON[/B]: The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and US President Barack Obama had a 50-minute meeting at Blair House here on Sunday afternoon, during which the American President assured the Indian side that it would get access to David Headley, one of suspects involved in scouting potential targets for Pakistan-based terrorists prior to the26/11 attack in Mumbai.

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said: "They (the US) were working through the legal system on the issue of provision of access to Headley."

Describing the summit meeting as "extremely positive and constructive", Ms. Rao said that President Obama was sensitive to India's concerns.

"President Obama understood India's deep concerns in this regard as also the situation in Afghanistan. He said India's interests were consistently on the minds of the United States. The president said there was no country in the world where opportunities for a strong and strategic partnership are greater and more important to him personally or to the United States than that with India," Ms. Rao said.

Surprisingly the Prime Minister went into specifics, naming Ilyas Kashmiri, Hafeez Sayeed and the Lashkar e Taiba, and, expressed India's disappointment over Pakistan not cracking down on them and other perpetrators of the 26/11 attack on India.

Foreign Secretary Rao said: "The Prime Minister mentioned David Headley and the rise in infiltration, the activities of LET, Hafiz Sayeed and Ilyas Kashmiri. He said there was no will on the part of Pakistan to punish those responsible for the terror crimes of 26/11.

This was where the partnership between the US and India could make a difference."

The Prime Minister said that for peace and prosperity in South Asia, it was important that Pakistan reign in terrorist elements within its border, or else, all well laid out plans could go awry. And, this included Afghanistan and its future President Obama responded by saying: "India has the goodwill and understanding in this regard."

He said he shared the Prime Minister's vision of South Asia. He also said that "the US appreciated India's role in Afghanistan and recognised the enormous sacrifice that India has made in helping to stabilize that country."

He said "the United States and the world would like India to continue playing a positive role in helping in Afghanistan's development."

President Obama also said that he favoured a lowering of tensions between India and Pakistan.

"The US was engaging Pakistan on these (terror-related) issues. He (Obama) said the US would be sensitive to issues that we (India) have raised in the context of security assistance that has been given to Pakistan" said the Indian foreign secretary President Obama and Prime Minister Singh said that "they were looking forward to the strategic dialogue between the two foreign ministers --Hillary Clinton and S.M.Krishna-to be held in Washington on June 3.he two leaders also "expressed satisfaction over the completion of arrangements and procedures relating to the nuclear deal," said Ms. Rao.

President Obama stressed on improving ties between " the two great democracies that shared common values and people to people relationships."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India is looking forward to the visit of President Obama and US First Lady Michelle Obama to India later this year.

He said "President Obama had caught the imagination of millions around the world, including the people of India who were anxious to see him soon in India."

Subjects of food security, energy security and economy also came up briefly for discussion between the two leaders, as also did the topic of Iran, where there was a difference of opinion, it seems.
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[U][SIZE="4"][CENTER]utin vows objective probe into Polish plane tragedy[/CENTER][/SIZE][/U]

[B]MOSCOW[/B]: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday promised a "full and thorough" investigation into the causes of the plane crash on Russian soil that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski.
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[CENTER][SIZE="4"]Abbottabad violence toll rises to five[/SIZE][/CENTER]

[B]ABBOTABAD[/B]: The number of deaths in the rampant violence in Abbottabad against the name of Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw, rose to five with over 100 injured, Geo News reported Monday.

These people were injured in the firing incidents by the riot police during the protests demonstrations by the workers of Tehreek Sooba Hazara.

Police resorted to aerial firing outside the District Hospital as well.

According to hospital sources, several injured have been brought to the hospitals where state of emergency has been declared, as the protest is raging across the city.

Out of these injured, five critically hurt people lost their lives, the hospital sources said.

The protesters demanding new Hazarah province, set on fire a police mobile at Fawwarah Chawk. Various other vehicles have been torched in the city.

It should be mentioned that the protests broke up this morning against the new name of Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw. The protesters, who are workers of Hazarah Province Movement, took bodies of those who recently were killed in the violence, out from the hospital.

At least three people were killed and 60 others injured during protests today. (Last updated at 1505 PST)

Wednesday, 14 Apr, 2010
 

[CENTER][SIZE=4]Renowned religious scholar Dr Israr Ahmad passes away[/SIZE]
[LEFT]
[B]LAHORE[/B]: Renowned Muslim scholar and founder of Tehreek-e-Islami Dr Israr Ahmad passed away on Tuesday nigt in Lahore after a prolonged illness.

His funeral will be held today after Asar prayers.

Dr Israr had spent the last four decades in reviving Quran centered Islamic philosophy and staunchly believed in the establishment of an Islamic political system in the country.

Dr Israr has to his credit over 60 books on different aspects of Islam and religion, nine of which have been translated in English. He was also bestowed with a Sitara-e-eImtiaz in 1981 for his services in the field of religion.

His followers are found all across the world particularly in the sub-continent, Middle East and North America. He also delieverd lectures in a program on an international 24 religious television channel.

------------------------
[/LEFT]
[SIZE=4]
Giant scanners used in struggle against truck bombs
[/SIZE][/CENTER]


[B]ISLAMABAD[/B]: Police in Pakistan have deployed two giant bomb detectors on roads into Islamabad in their latest efforts to stop suicide truck bombers striking the capital.

This is the first time Pakistani authorities have used the Chinese-built devices to protect a city since Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked groups went on a bombing campaign, killing more than 3,200 people in nearly three years.

Looking for a bomb in a country with a population of 167 million and an under-equipped police force can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Checkpoints have mushroomed over the last year in the capital, where a suicide truck bomb demolished part of the five-star Marriott Hotel in September 2008 killing 60 people, and there are frequent alerts about possible attacks.

Police say 1,000 officers are manning more than 90 checkpoints at entry points, along main roads, outside sensitive targets and in residential areas.

But now they hail huge scanners bought from China for nearly three million dollars on a soft loan - a further sign of growing economic and security cooperation with Beijing.

The scanners resemble giant airport security arches, mounted on wheels so they can pass back and forth over stationary vehicles.

On a dusty road outside the capital, the pale grey arch of one scanner, standing more than 4.5 metres (15 feet) high, checked a brightly painted truck.

Inside the control booth, Muhammad Afzal, the officer in charge, kept a close eye on a bank of computers analysing the image.

“The scanners have a 100-per cent accuracy rate,” he told AFP.

“We detected 20,000 bullets in a private vehicle yesterday,” he added.

It turned out the ammunition belonged to the paramilitary and was being legally transported.

Trucks coming off the motorway from Peshawar, capital of the northwest and gateway to the lawless tribal belt seen as the fountain of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militancy in Pakistan, can now pass through the scanner.

Vehicles are also scanned as they come from Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, where the southern rural belt has been increasingly linked to militant attacks and which is seen as a recruiting ground for the Taliban.

Current capacity is 30 to 35 trucks per day per scanner - a drop in the ocean of 250,000 cars and 3,000 trucks that stream into Islamabad each day, according to traffic police.

Only large trucks picked out by monitoring police officers are checked by the devices.

Even so, tempers are fraying among truckers who consider the whole thing a waste of time and money which causes tailbacks on the approach from Peshawar.

“It may be beneficial for some people but it's nothing but a waste of time for us. We have to wait for hours in long queues to pass through the scanning process,” said truck driver Fazal Karim.

Karim, who supplies bricks to construction companies in Islamabad, claimed he was losing at least 1,500 rupees (15 dollars) per day.

Farkhand Iqbal, project director of the National Police Bureau, told AFP that Pakistan acquired the scanners for 2.96 million dollars on a soft loan payable over 25 years.

At the moment, Pakistani officials acknowledge they still need more time before they are able to operate the machines with ease and confidence.

Chinese experts are due in the capital to give more training to a team of at least 10 Pakistani scanner operators.

China says it wants to boost trade with Pakistan in coming years.

“We are helping Pakistan to overcome its security problems. We will assist them in anything they want to do to improve security and bring peace in the country,” Yao Jing, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Pakistan, told AFP.

“The volume of trade between China and Pakistan at the moment is 6.8 billion dollars and China wishes to enhance it much. We expect to enhance our mutual trade more than 10 billion dollars in next few years,” Yao added.

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[CENTER][SIZE=4] Cut line losses, heads of power firms told
[/SIZE][/CENTER]
[RIGHT]By Khaleeq Kiani
[/RIGHT]

[B]ISLAMABAD[/B]: A meeting between federal ministers and international creditors held here on Tuesday warned the heads of public sector power companies to reduce their system losses by 2 per cent by June this year and speed up recovery of huge receivables to minimise energy crisis or be ready to face consequences.

Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf told journalists after the meeting with representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank that a plan had been prepared to minimise difficulties being faced by people, businessmen and industrialists.

He said the ministry of petroleum and natural resources had been asked to provide about 350 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) for power generation to curtail the cost of generation by one third and improve efficiency by 25 per cent.

The ministry will respond on Wednesday when the entire plan would be presented to the president and the prime minister for approval and implementation.

Responding to a question about a 6 per cent increase in electricity tariff this month in accordance with a commitment made by the government to creditors, Mr Ashraf said the tariff could not be increased unless electricity supplies were improved.He claimed that about 1000MW of generation capacity would be added to the system by June this year and better hydrological conditions would minimise loadshedding by next month.

He said the heads of distribution companies had been told to reduce their losses by 2 per cent by June this year; otherwise they would lose their jobs. Likewise, he said, Pepco and its companies had been asked to recover over Rs95 billion receivables from public and private consumers under a tight schedule, adding that their performance would be assessed on the basis of recoveries made by the deadline set for them. He said the Sindh government owed Rs21 billion to Pepco and Punjab owned Rs4 billion, NWFP Rs14 billion, the KESC Rs39 billion and the AJK and federal governments Rs3.5 billion each.

Replying to a question about import of electricity from Iran, the minister said that Iran was yet to set up the plants which would produce 1000MW of electricity for export to Pakistan. Besides, the two countries need to lay a 450-kilometre transmission line for the project.

Referring to a statement made by the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan that Iran wanted to provide 1000 MW electricity to Pakistan but the government did not take steps towards that direction, Mr Ashraf said that the impression was incorrect.

--------------------------

[CENTER] [SIZE=4]No differences with cabinet members, says Qaim
[/SIZE][/CENTER]
[RIGHT]By Habib Khan Ghori
[/RIGHT]

[B]KARACHI[/B]: At pains to paper over the reported cracks in the cabinet, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has denied any altercation having taken place during the Monday meeting of the cabinet, advising the media not to make it an issue since it was “not in the interest of the province”.

However, he conceded that some ‘friends’ did not attend the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. He refused to name them.

The news of verbal skirmishes involving the CM and some ministers, particularly Pir Mazharul Haq, at the Monday meeting of the Sindh cabinet, which was adjourned for Tuesday, compelled the CM to address a news conference to deny a rift.

The CM clarified that during the Monday meeting some questions were asked after the presentation on the annual development programme (ADP) and the additional chief secretary (development) and he himself answered them.

He said that asking questions was a routine matter during cabinet meetings, but reporting them as an issue was in the interest neither of the province nor of the cabinet, which represents not only the entire province but also a constitutional institution.

Referring to the Tuesday meeting, he said that the meeting went off smoothly although some friends did not turn up and they would have their reasons.

In reply to a question, he ruled out any change in the cabinet and observed that it was functioning smoothly.

In response to another question, he said that although corruption still existed in government departments, it was far less compared to what it was three years back.

When asked about his party’s stand on the general sales tax (GST) on services and the value added tax, he said that it was a provincial subject and its collection should be made by the province itself.

Earlier, the CM said that the cabinet was briefed in detail on the financial position of the province and development.

He said that he would give details about the financial health during the upcoming assembly session.

Mr Shah said that the Sindh ADP for 2009-2010 was Rs75 billion while for the district government it was Rs15 billion.

He claimed that the Sindh government had met its all targets. However, there was a shortfall of Rs45 billion from the federal government because of the economic crunch. The federal government applied a 30-per cent cut in the public sector development programme and indicated that it could pay only Rs10 to Rs11 billion more, he added.

He said that Sindh used to get 80 per cent funds from the federal government but after the NFC award, the situation would change from next year.

He also referred to the approval given by the cabinet for the installation of a 300-megawatt coal-fired power generation plant in Badin coal field as a joint venture on private and public partnership basis with the Al-Abbas Group.

He defended the cabinet decision and said that the approval was given in view of the past experience when a Chinese firm abandoned the coal exploration and power generation plant over a minor difference in tariff with Wapda.

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[B]World[/B]

[CENTER][SIZE=4]Quake in western China kills 400, buries more
[/SIZE][/CENTER]

BEIJING: A series of strong earthquakes struck a far western Tibetan area of China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, trapping many more, officials said.

The largest quake was recorded by the US Geological Survey as magnitude 6.9. In the aftermath, panicked people, many bleeding from their wounds, flooded the streets of a Qinghai province township where most of the homes had been flattened.

Paramilitary police used shovels to dig through the rubble in the town, footage on state television showed. Officials said excavators were not available and with most of the roads leading to the nearest airport damaged, equipment and rescuers would have a hard time reaching the area.

Downed phone lines, strong winds and frequent aftershocks also hindered rescue efforts, said Wu Yong, a local military chief.

Workers were racing to release water from a reservoir in the disaster area where a crack had formed after the quake to prevent a flood, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

The Wednesday morning quake was centered on Yushu county, in the southern part of Qinghai, near Tibet, with a population of about 100,000, mostly herders and farmers.

The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registered 5.0 or higher. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the largest quake’s magnitude at 7.1.

The main quake sent residents fleeing as it toppled houses made of mud and wood, said Karsum Nyima, the Yushu county television station’s deputy head of news, speaking by phone with broadcaster CCTV.

“In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake,” he said. “In a small park, there is a Buddhist pagoda and the top of the pagoda fell off...Everybody is out on the streets, standing in front of their houses, trying to find their family members.”

The death toll rose to about 400 by afternoon, according to CCTV. Emergency official Pubucairen, who goes by only one name, was quoted as saying that the number of injured has risen to more than 10,000.

The earthquake comes a little less than two years after a magnitude-7.9 quake in neighboring Sichuan province left almost 90,000 people dead or missing.

That quake flattened several schools, killing thousands of students. Poor design, shoddy construction and the lax enforcement of building codes were found to be rampant.

In Jiegu, a township 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the epicenter that appeared to be one of the worst hit, the local fire brigade was trying to rescue 20 students stuck inside a school, Kang Zifu, head of the rescue team, told state television. They were also working to pull out 40 to 50 people trapped in a toppled four-story building, according to CCTV. It did not say what type of school it was.

More than 85 percent of houses had collapsed in Jiegu, while large cracks have appeared on buildings still standing, the official Xinhua News Agency cited Zhuohuaxia, a local publicity official, as saying.

“The streets in Jiegu are thronged with panic and full of injured people, with many of them bleeding from their injuries,” said Zhuohuaxia, who goes by one name.

The provincial emergency office told Xinhua that 700 soldiers were trying to clear the rubble and rescue buried people and that 1,000 more troops would be dispatched.

A local military official, Shi Huajie, told CCTV rescuers were working with limited equipment.

“The difficulty we face is that we don’t have any excavators. Many of the people have been buried and our soldiers are trying to pull them out with human labor,” Shi said. “It is very difficult to save people with our bare hands.”

Five thousand tents and 100,000 thick, cotton coats and heavy blankets were being sent to help survivors cope with strong winds and temperatures of around 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius), the Qinghai provincial government said in a statement.

The epicenter of the first quake was 235 miles (380 kilometers) south-southeast of Golmud, a large city in Qinghai, at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), the USGS said.

Xinhua cited officials at the China Earthquake Networks Center as saying at least 18 aftershocks have been reported and that more temblors exceeding magnitude 6 were likely to occur in the coming days. – AP
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[CENTER][SIZE=4] Iran complains to UN over US nuclear “threat”
[/SIZE][/CENTER]

UNITED NATIONS: Iran complained to the United Nations on Tuesday over what it called a US threat to attack it with atomic weapons, accusing Washington of nuclear blackmail in violation of the UN charter, reports Reuters.

US President Barack Obama made clear last week that Iran and North Korea, both involved in nuclear disputes with the West, were excluded from new limits on the use of US atomic weapons.

A letter from Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council and General Assembly presidents called on the United Nations to “strongly oppose the threat of use of nuclear weapons and to reject it.”

Statements by Obama and other US officials were “tantamount to nuclear blackmail against a non-nuclear-weapon state” and breached US obligations under the UN charter to refrain from the threat or use of force, Khazaee said.

“Such remarks by the US officials display once again the reliance of the US government on militarized approach to various issues, to which the threats of use of nuclear weapons are not a solution at all,” he added.

They also posed “a real threat to international peace and security and undermine the credibility” of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the envoy said.

Obama is urging other global powers to agree to a fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Iran denies.

He pressed the case for sanctions at a 47-nation nuclear summit in Washington on Tuesday, at which he won pledges from world leaders to take joint action to prevent terrorist groups from getting nuclear weapons.

But Khazaee said that Iran, as a victim of weapons of mass destruction — a reference to Iraq's use of poison gas against it in a 1980-88 war — was firmly committed to a world free from such weapons.

The United States, the only country to have used nuclear weapons — against Japan in World War Two —- “continues to illegitimately designate a non-nuclear weapon state as target of its nuclear weapons and contemplates military plans accordingly,” he said.

UN members “should not condone or tolerate such nuclear blackmail in (the) 21st century,” the Iranian envoy said.

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[CENTER][SIZE=4] Karzai to meet UN Commission probing Benazir murder[/SIZE]
[/CENTER]

[LEFT]Tuesday, 13 Apr, 2010
[/LEFT]


KABUL: On the request of President Asif Ali Zardari Afghan President Hamid Karzai has shown willingness to meet the UN Commission probing the assassination of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Karzai has agreed to meet the commission on any day before April 25 in Kabul.

Pakistan Permanent Representative in New York, Ambassador Hussain Haroon has been advised by the Foreign office to convey the willingness of the Afghan president to the Chairman of the Commission.

Diplomatic sources informed that President Zardari has written a letter to former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice requesting her to meet the Commission for providing a perspective on the back ground and context of the assassination.

Sources told that the president wants the senior officials of Afghanistan, US, UAE and Saudi Arabia to cooperate with the UN Commission in preparing its report.

Officials of UAE and Saudi Arabia have already provided their information in this regard.—DawnNews

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Purple"] Cameraman among four dead in Quetta blast[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
Updated at: 1050 PST, Friday, April 16, 2010

QUETTA: A cameraman of a private Television channel and three others killed in a blast in Civil Hospital here on Friday.

According to reports, a bank official Arshad Zaidi was severely shot and wounded at Mannan chowk who was brought to Civil Hospital at Jinnah Road where he was succumbed to injuries. Large number of people was gathered at this occasion when the blast occurred. The blast damaged the emergency department and nearby buildings. Emergency has been imposed in the hospital and FC have cordoned off the area after the blast.

Two policemen, two correspondents and a cameraman Malik Arif of private channels sustained injuries in the explosion. Malik Arif later succumbed to injuries. The Geo News correspondent Salman Ashraf also received light injuries in the incident. Firing also took place after the blast. Some sources said that it was a suicide blast.


Regards,

SCB challenges judges commission
 

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in Supreme Court has challenged the judicial commission on judges’ appointment.

Talking to media outside Supreme Court, President SCBA Qazi Anwar said that Hamid Khan, Rashid A Rizvi and he himself will appear before the court. He said the present assembly is not constitutional making body but a legislation making institution.

Qazi Anwar said the Indian Supreme Court had also declared constitutional amendments as void.

Replying to a question about Aitizaz Ahsan and Ali Ahmad Kurd, he denied to give the reply and said lawyers community from Chitral to Karachi stands behind them.

LNG case: court surprised as uninvited company contracted
 

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry voiced surprise in LNG import contract case, saying how a company not included in the bid, has been awarded the contract, Geo News reported Wednesday.

A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, heard the suo motu case regarding giving short-term import contract of Liquefied Natural Gas on exorbitant rates.

Special Secretary Petroleum GA Sabri told the court that Paris-based utility GDF Suez and Shell Pakistan (SPL) did not attend the Expression of Interest for short-term LNG project.

Sabri told the court that Sui Southern Gas wrote a letter on May 4, 2009 to the Petroleum Minister to confer the LNG contract on Shell.

Sabri said Fauji/VITOL informed via fax about the offer of 2 mliion tonnes of gas at 9am in January 2010, in which the price was cut.

The offer of Fauji/VITOL was not included in the meeting of Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC).

The court said in its remarks that the negotiations could be held only with those who participated in the EoI, asking Sabri weather Fauji/VITOL was apprised of the fact that their offer was not taken up.

Sabri responded negatively.

The Chief Justice said in his remarks how the negotiations could be held with those who did not attend the bidding.

The CJ said five companies were given notices for Mashal Project.

The court said when a sixth company was included for the project, an advertisement should have been published for the purpose.

According to the report published in The News, on which the court took suo motu notice, senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources awarded the $25 billion contract to the highest bidder, ignoring the lowest bid jointly offered by Fauji Foundation and multinational energy firm Vitol.

The hearing was adjourned till tomorrow.

BB’s protocol officer seeks joint team to unmask killers
 

ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, who was chief protocol officer of Ms Benazir Bhutto, has urged the government to form a joint investigation team comprising personnel of all law-enforcement agencies to unveil the conspiracy behind her murder.

Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club here on Wednesday, he said that Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan should step down and present themselves before the investigation team and provide all information about the assassination of the former prime minister.

“They (Rehman Malik and Babar Awan) consider themselves to be stalwarts of the PPP and it is their duty to provide all information to a joint investigation team to help them arrest perpetrators of the crime,” he said.

Chaudhry Aslam said he had already mentioned in his petition that the back-up Mercedez-Benz car had left earlier than Ms Bhutto’s convoy.

He said that after receiving the UN Commission report, it was the duty of the government to start an investigation.

He was accompanied by Advocate Asad Rajput who said he had already filed a petition before the Lahore High Court seeking registration of a second FIR against former president Pervez Musharraf, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, former IB chief Syed Ijaz Hussain Shah, two serving ministers and eight high-ranking police and administration officers for their alleged involvement in the assassination.

Chaudhry Aslam accused the then interior minister Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz, Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema, then Rawalpindi DCO Irfan Ellahi, CPO Saud Aziz, SSP (Operation) Yaseen Farooq and Rawal Town SP Khurram Shahzad, of being directly or indirectly involved in the conspiracy against Ms Bhutto.

Advocate Asad Rajput said the government could arrest former president Pervez Musharraf through Interpol or under extradition treaties with different countries.

He said that Chaudhry Aslam, being a victim of the incident, could lodge an FIR of the incident, because it was not necessary for a legal heir to do it.

Alamzeb of PPP(Sherpao) killed in Charsadda
 

CHARSADDA: At least five people including Alamzeb Omarzai, a former MPA of the Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw assembly were killed in an attack this morning, Geo News reported Thursday.

Alamzeb belonged to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of Sherpao group.

It should be mentioned that he worked as district nazim as well.

According to details, some unidentified miscreants opened fire at his vehicle near Charsadda Chawk in the limits of the Thana City, killing Alamzeb on the spot; while, four other people succumbed to injuries at hospital.

It is pertinent to note here that he was twice attacked earlier as well; however, this time, the saboteurs succeeded in killing him.