pakistan: March 2013

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Obama arrives in Israel amid low expectations

TEL AVIV: US President Barack Obama arrived in Israel on Wednesday without any new peace initiative to offer disillusioned Palestinians and facing deep Israeli doubts over his pledge to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.

Making his first official visit here as president, Obama hopes to use the trip to reset his often fraught relations with both the Israelis and Palestinians in a choreographed three-day stay that is high on symbolism but low on expectations.

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday lashed out at netizens who maintained silence over the killing of a teenaged boy by militants in Sopore town yesterday but had showed outrage against killing of a youth in security forces firing last week.

"Militants chase an 18-year-old boy in to a mosque and shoot him. Imagine the outrage if this had been done by security forces," Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.

ISLAMABAD – The general elections will be held on May 11, 2013,

This election will mark an end to the PPP-led government and the only democratic government to finish its term.

On March 17, the National Assembly stood dissolved on completion of its five-year term under Article-52 of the Constitution.

BAGHDAD: Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate said it was behind a wave of attacks that killed 52 people and wounded more than 220, in a statement posted on jihadist Internet forums on Wednesday."What you received on Tuesday is... the first stage that, God willing, will be followed by revenge for those whom you executed," the statement said.

"Things have changed in the last 20 years. Pakistan is no longer our ally and India is no longer an ally of the Soviet Union. What we have now an ally in India and an enemy in Pakistan," Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said.

Two devices have exploded outside Turkey's justice ministry and offices of the ruling AK Party in the capital Ankara, days ahead of an expected ceasefire with Kurdish rebels.

Turkish television stations on Tuesday showed footage of police cordoning off streets and ambulances arriving. CNN Turk said at least two people were wounded.

PESHAWAR: Two suicide blasts carried out by the Ansarul Islam (AI)and bombardment from military jets on Mar 18 claimed the lives of at least 33 militants, including a key-militants commander of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and injured many others, sources told Dawn.com.

ISLAMABAD: The top military brass resolved on Tuesday to continue the fight against terrorism.

The meeting, chaired by Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne, was attended by Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retd) Asif Yasin Malik, Chief of General Staff, Director General Joint Staff, Director General of Inter Services Intelligence, Director General of Strategic Plans Division and other senior military officers from the three services.

Suresh Raina has been brought back into the Indian squad for the fourth and final Test against Australia, starting at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Friday.

The 26-year-old Uttar Pradesh left-hander replaces the Man of the Match from the third Test, Delhi lad Shikhar Dhawan , who jammed his left hand into the ground while fielding in Mohali and has been ruled out due to a fracture.

Lucknow: In a tragic incident late on Tuesday night, eight children were killed and over a dozen injured when a speeding truck overturned at Nagla Patwari near the bypass in Aligarh, 335 km from Lucknow, police said.

The incident happened when the truck, loaded with bricks, got stuck in a pothole. The driver lost control, the truck turned turtle and then hurtled into a roadside slum in the village.

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani on Tuesday constituted a judicial inquiry into the alleged involvement of 11 children in acts of terrorism.

“The judge of the BHC will conduct judicial inquiry into the issue of alleged involvement of 11 children in bomb blasts and other terrorism-related activities,” Mr Raisani said.

The Saudi authorities have arrested 18 suspected spies, including an Iranian and a Lebanese, on charges of espionage for a foreign country, the interior ministry said.

"Sixteen Saudis, an Iranian and a Lebanese were arrested in co-ordinated and simultaneous operations in four regions of the kingdom," including the capital Riyadh and Mecca, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Actress Priyanka Chopra, whose performance in Barfi! was appreciated by the audience, is upset that the film did not get a single National award.

The winners of the 60th National Film Awards were announced on Monday.

Nouakchott, Mali: A French hostage has been executed in Mali, a man claiming to be a spokesman for Al Qaeda in North Africa told Mauritania's ANI news agency late on Tuesday.

A French foreign office spokesman said Paris was trying to verify the report of the killing of Philippe Verdon, who was kidnapped in November 2011, adding that "we don't know at the moment" whether it was reliable.

Malala Yousafzai , the 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education in her country, on Tuesday defied her attackers by returning to a school in Britain where she underwent several surgeries.

"I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school," she said after her first day of classes at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham.

Mumbai: Thirty seven people have been killed and more than 15 injured after a private bus they were travelling in fell off a bridge near Khed in Ratnagiri district on the Mumbai-Goa highway in western Maharashtra. The driver is among the injured. (See pics)

Even as India is reconsidering its relations with Pakistan, the state government is clueless about 107 Pakistan nationals, who went missing after their visa got expired.

Moreover, 60 Pakistan nationals live in the state without any permit or visa, despite the local authorities
being aware of their whereabouts.

KANO : Five explosions at a bus park in northern Nigeria's main city of Kano killed at least 25 people on Monday, a Reuters witness said, in an area where Islamist sect Boko Haram is waging an insurgency against the government.

The coordinated bombing came as an audio tape emerged of a man saying he was the father of a family of seven French tourists kidnapped by Boko Haram militants.

Car bombs and a suicide blast hit Shi'ite districts of Baghdad and south of Iraq's capital today, killing at least 50 people on the 10th anniversary of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Sunni Islamist insurgents tied to al-Qa'ida have stepped up attacks on Shi'ite targets since the start of the year in a campaign to stoke sectarian tension and undermine Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government.

The DMK’s decision to quit the government has shrunk the comfort zone of the Congress-led UPA in the Lok Sabha though it still has support beyond the half-way mark.

The major constituents of the UPA including the Congress (203), Nationalist Congress Party (9), Rashtriya Lok Dal (5) and National Conference (3) add up to 220 members in the 545-member Lok Sabha.

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After the DMK Tuesday announced withdrawal of support from the UPA, the BJP said it will not bring a no confidence motion as it wants the government to fall on its own.

"The Congress led UPA government is in an ICU. It is a lame duck government surviving on the support of two contradictory parties," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Unveiling a five-point formula to improve relations with India, China's newly elected President Xi Jinping today said the resolution of the boundary dispute between the two sides "won't be easy" and pending its final settlement "peace and tranquility" should be maintained on the border without affecting the overall ties.

The police today claimed to have cracked the suicide attack case on a CRPF camp here with the arrest of four persons, including an LeT militant from Pakistan, and recovered huge cache of arms, but said investigations did not prove that the attack was linked to execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

LUCKNOW: Police say that a British woman has been injured after she jumped from the balcony of her hotel room in the tourist city of Agra in order to escape a sexual assault.

Police official Manish Sisodia says woman jumped out of her third floor room early Tuesday after a man forced his way into her room. She fractured her leg. No other details were available.

The attack comes days after a Swiss tourist was gang-raped in central India. Six men have been arrested in that attack. India has seen anger and public protests against rapes and sexual attacks on women since the fatal gang-rape of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi in December.

British woman injured fleeing sexual attack in India

WASHINGTON : Iran and the United States can have "a new relationship," President Obama said, but only if Tehran fully discloses details about its nuclear program.

"Iran's leaders say that their nuclear program is for medical research and electricity," Obama said in a video message to ordinary Iranians.

College principal Sibt-e-Jaffar shot dead in Karachi

KARACHI: Unidentified armed men shot dead college principal within the vicinity of Liaquatabad police station, Geo News reported.

Sources said college principal Sibt-e-Jaffar was on his way from the college to his home on motorcycle, when unidentified armed men intercepted him in Liaquatabad area and opened fire, killing him on the spot.

Fatehgarh Sahib: Six police personnel, including a woman, were on Monday killed and eleven others sustained injuries in a road accident near village Lohari, 10 km from Fatehgarh Sahib, police said.

The mishap occurred when a jeep in which 17 policemen were travelling was hit by a truck near village Lohari, police said.

PESHAWAR: At least four people have been killed and 27 others injured in a suicide attack at the Judicial Complex located on Khyber Road.

According to police terrorists tried to the enter the courtroom of Additional Sessions Judge Kulsoom Azam who was injured along with others as a result of firing which was followed by a suicide bomber detonating himself.

Allow Hindu refugees fleeing from Pak, Bangladesh: RSS

Jaipur :The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha today passed a resolution asking the Centre to formulate policies for allowing Hindu refugees who have fled to India from Pakistan and Bangladesh, and repatriate infiltrators belonging to other religions.

Briefing mediapersons on the Pratinidhi Sabha meet, the RSS general secretary Suresh Sadashiv Joshi alias Bhaiyaji Joshi, said infiltration of people belonging to other religions and nationalities is unacceptable, but if Hindus from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh enter India because of persecution, they should be allowed to stay here as refugees.

“India is ready to accomodate these Hindu refugees and the Cenre should formulate a policy accordingly”, Joshi said.

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ISLAMABAD: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi arrived in Islamabad on Monday.

Morsi, who will be leading a high-powered delegation, is the first civilian, democratically and freely elected president of Egypt to visit Pakistan.

KARACHI: Air Commodore (retd) Mohammad Mahmood Alam passed away in Karachi this morning after a prolonged illness, DawnNews reported.

Alam, 78-years-old at the time of his death, is considered a hero of the 1965 Pakistan-India war.

Fifteen MLAs belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) have been suspended for a day from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Monday as they disrupted proceedings demanding adoption of a resolution on the statehood issue.

Activists in Bangladesh’s capital have detonated several homemade bombs and torched at least one bus during an opposition-sponsored general strike. No injuries have been reported.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its 17 partners were enforcing Monday’s shutdown, which is aimed at securing the release of 154 opposition leaders and activists detained this month.

ISLAMABAD: With only a couple of days remaining for the selection of a caretaker prime minister before the matter goes to an eight-member bipartisan parliamentary committee, backchannel talks between the PPP and PML-N remained bogged down till Sunday night.

Afghan bombing kills 8, including relatives of parliament speaker

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber attacked a popular sporting event Wednesday in northern Afghanistan, killing eight people including relatives of the Afghan parliamentary speaker as a crowd of thousands commemorated the coming Persian new year.

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Spectators said the attacker targeted the family of Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, speaker of the lower house of parliament. Ibrahimi’s brother, father, nephew and cousin were among the dead, said Amanuddin Quraishi, governor of Imam Sahib district in Kunduz province, where the attack took place.

The bomber struck after a match of buzkashi, an Afghan sport that is similar to polo but played with a goat carcass instead of a ball, and was the subject of a short film that was nominated for an Oscar last month, “Buzkashi Boys.” Tournaments are held across northern Afghanistan on the eve of Nowruz, the Persian new year.

Ibrahimi’s family members, who hail from northern Kunduz province, had participated in the match and were heading to their cars when spectators heard a loud explosion. Amanullah Nabizada, a member of the Kunduz provincial council, said he saw several victims laying on the ground, including Ibrahimi’s brother, who was the district police chief.

U.S. General Puts Troops on Security Alert After Karzai Remarks

KABUL, Afghanistan — The American commander in Afghanistan quietly told his forces to intensify security measures on Wednesday, issuing a strongly worded warning that a string of anti-American statements by President Hamid Karzai had put Western troops at greater risk of attack both from rogue Afghan security forces and from militants.

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The order came amid a growing backlash against Mr. Karzai’s public excoriation of the United States, including a speech on Tuesday in which he suggested that the government might unilaterally act to ensure control of the Bagram Prison if the United States delayed its handover.

An array of Afghan political leaders issued a joint statement criticizing Mr. Karzai and saying his comments did not reflect their views. And though American military and diplomatic officials have mostly refrained from replying publicly to Mr. Karzai’s criticism, in private they have expressed concerns that relations between the allies had reached a worrisome low point right at a critical point in the war against the Taliban.

Frustration with Mr. Karzai was clear in the alert, known as a command threat advisory, sent on Wednesday by Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. to his top commanders. “His remarks could be a catalyst for some to lash out against our forces — he may also issue orders that put our forces at risk,” the advisory read.

Gilgit-Baltistan on the verge of bloodshed

ISLAMABAD: After volatile Balochistan, the situation in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB ) has turned into a volcano that could erupt at any time, exposing hundreds of locals to violence, hatred and death, Daily Times has learnt from reliable sources.

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At present a great deal of unrest that is being witnessed among the residents of GB representing various religious sects, including Deobandi, Shia, Sunni and Ismaili, could disrupt the law and order situation, triggering large-scale violence in the northern areas anytime.

Sources said a large amount illegal arms and ammunitions have been dumped in various parts of the GB by various communities under the nose of government while administration had its eyes closed over the issue.

This huge cache of illegal arms and ammunition has reached the GB - where arms and ammunitions are not manufactured unlike FATA - after crossing three-hundred kilometres, passing through various security checkposts and pickets set up by the law enforcement agencies.

11 child ‘bombers’ arrested in Quetta

QUETTA: Police have arrested around a dozen children, some as young as 10, suspected of being used to plant bombs for separatist militants, officers said on Wednesday.

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The arrests were made in raids over the past 24 hours, local police chief Mir Zubair Mahmood said while presenting the children at a news conference in Quetta, the capital of the restive province of Balochistan.

A member of the Baloch militant organisation, United Baloch Army, Abdul Nabi Bungulzai had lured the children, who came from poor families, to leave packages containing home-made bombs in markets, dustbins and on routes used by police and security forces, Mahmood said.

Mahmood said the militants chose the youngsters knowing that police would not suspect small children or garbage collectors.

“Some of the children said they did not know what the packets contained and what they are doing,” he said. “They said they were happy they would get a small amount of money for dropping the packets.”

Waziristan termed Pakistan’s domestic problem: US diplomat hints at policy change

PESHAWAR: Indicating a major shift in American policy, Ambassador Richard Olson has described North Waziristan — once dubbed the hub of Al Qaeda’s central leadership — as Pakistan’s ‘domestic’ security problem.

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The ambassador also said his country did not see any contradiction between fighting and talking to the enemy at the same time.

“North Waziristan is a domestic security issue of Pakistan and the decision whether or not to conduct an operation (there) is entirely up to its government,” he told reporters at a briefing at the US Consulate here on Wednesday.

When it was pointed out that before the Afghan Taliban were allowed to open an office in Doha, the US started pressuring Pakistan to take action against the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan, Mr Olson said that one could talk and fight at the same time.

“There is no contradiction in saying that there will be military pressure on the Taliban and simultaneously there is willingness to sit down and talk to them. We don’t see any reason that these cannot continue at the same time,” he said.

Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project: Officials opposing costly loan agreement removed

ISLAMABAD: Two days before the end of its five-year tenure, the government is likely to sign a $500 million commercial loan agreement with a foreign bank to finance the $2.8 billion Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project of 969MW capacity.

Follow up:

According to an official, the agreement is being finalised at about eight per cent interest that works out to about 15 per cent after accounting for currency exchange despite the government’s sovereign guarantees.

He said two key officers, who had opposed the loan for being expensive and finalised without following proper procedure, had been removed immediately from their posts by the finance ministry. The officers believed that the interest rate should have been lower because of the sovereign guarantees. Masroor Ahmed Qureshi who had served as Director General of the Debt Office for over eight years was sent back on Tuesday to his parent organisation, the National Bank, and the National Savings Organisation’s DG Zafar M. Shaikh was given additional charge of the post.

According to sources, Mr Qureshi declined to process the loan’s term sheet because he felt the proper procedure had not been followed.

Militants torch 10 houses in Tirah

PESHAWAR: Clashes between outlawed militant groups in northwestern Pakistan escalated late Tuesday as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants set ablaze houses of at least 10 civilians, accusing them of being supporters of the rival Ansarul Islam (AI) group.

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According to a private TV channel, eyewitnesses confirmed the burning of the houses in Khyber Agency’s restive Tirah Valley, while other reports say at least 20 militants from both sides have also died in fresh clashes.

Meanwhile, sources say hundreds of tribal families have fled to Afghanistan owing to excessive artillery shelling by Pakistani security forces and aerial bombing in parts of the valley.

Officials confirmed that fresh clashes have escalated in Maidan area of Tirrah Valley though they were uncertain about the exact number of casualties.

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Joseph colony incident : HRCP holds police, admin responsible

Lahore: In its preliminary report after a fact-finding mission to the Joseph Colony in Badami Bagh, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has held the police and the provincial administration squarely responsible for the horrible affair.

Follow up:

The commission in its report said:

The purpose of this preliminary report is to present facts as ascertained regarding the incident of violence on Saturday, 9th March, 2013, in Joseph Colony, Badami Bagh, Lahore, and the events that led up to the incident. The report will also look at the response of the administration before and during the incident and identify those responsible for the lapse. These are the preliminary findings of the HRCP fact-finding mission based on initial investigations conducted over two days. The commission will issue a detailed report and findings within a few days.

Pakistan rejects Indian allegations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan strongly rejected allegations by senior Indian officials about the country’s involvement in an attack on members of India’s Central Reserve Police Force and beheading of two Indian soldiers on the Line of Control, on Wednesday.

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“Pakistan strongly rejects the remarks made by Indian Home Secretary RK Singh alleging “prime facie evidence suggests that the militants who attacked the members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were from across the border, they were probably from Pakistan,” read an FO statement.

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UN chief calls for restraint after IHK clash

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for restraint following reports of a deadly clash near Srinagar, the capital of Indian-occupied Kashmir, on Wednesday.

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“The secretary general is aware of the situation,” UN Deputy Spokesman Eduardo del Buey said in response to a question at the regular noon briefing. “The secretary general calls on all concerned to exercise restraint and to resolve their issues peacefully,” the spokesman said.

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Cross-LoC trade via Poonch resumes after 2 weeks

After remaining suspended for two weeks, the trade across the Line of Control (LoC) resumed via Chakan da Bagh in Poonch district today.

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“Trucks carrying merchandise from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) today reached the Chakan da Bagh Trade Centre. Indian traders would be sending 25 truckloads of merchandise to their PoK counterparts tomorrow,” said Pawan Anand, president of the Chakan da Bagh Cross-LoC Traders’ Association.

To bring an end to the impasse and ensure resumption of the cross-border trade, the Poonch district administration had to reinstate Dewan Traders till March 31.

Poonch-based Dewan Traders was blacklisted early in February after three empty AK cartridges were found in his consignment sent by his PoK counterpart.

Consequently, the Indian traders went on an undeclared strike since February 26 that caused them a loss of Rs 6 crore.

The traders had a meeting with Poonch Deputy Commissioner AK Sahu on March 11 wherein Abdul Gani Dewan, proprietor of Dewan Traders, was reinstated till March 31 so that he could settle his accounts with his PoK counterpart.

Civilian killed as CRPF fires at stone-throwers

A civilian was killed when CRPF personnel opened fire at stone-throwers at Saidpora in Srinagar today.

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Kashmir remained shut in response to a bandh called by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Mushawrat, a council of separatists, spearheading the demand for the return of the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader Maqbool Bhat.

The civilian has been identified as Altaf Ahmad Wani (24), a resident of Saidpora locality of Srinagar.

A police spokesman said Wani was shot when CRPF personnel, who were returning from the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) at Soura, came “under the attack of stone-throwers” at Saidpora.

“This resulted in opening of fire. As a result, Altaf Ahmad Wani, a resident of Saidpora, was seriously injured,” the police spokesman said.

He said the CRPF personnel had gone to the hospital to donate blood for their colleagues who were injured in a militant attack in the Bemina area on the city outskirts today.

Raising pitch over Afzal, PDP boycotts rest of session

The state Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on the second consecutive day on Wednesday on the issue of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru.

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While PDP members reiterated their demand for bringing back the mortal remains of Afzal, the BJP, Panthers Party and Jammu State Morcha (JSM) members strongly opposed discussion on a terrorist in the House.

For the first time, Congress members also entered into a verbal duel with the PDP on the Afzal issue and accused the former of indulging in “cheap” politics.

After creating uproar in the Assembly, PDP members staged a walkout and announced boycott of the entire Budget session as PDP president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the present regime had eroded the credibility of the Assembly.

As the House assembled this morning, PDP members led by Mehbooba raised the issue of the return of Afzal’s body to the family.

However, Speaker Mubarak Gul told them that they could raise the issue in the business advisory committee meeting later in the day.

Suicide attack reignites debate on AFSPA revocation

The killing of five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans in a suicide attack at Bemina Chowk in Srinagar has reignited the debate on revocation of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from Jammu and Kashmir, with Jammu-based political parties terming the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s demand as “senseless and politically motivated”.

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However, leaders of various political parties, barring the Chief Minister, strongly condemned the attack on a CRPF bunker and described it as “unfortunate incident”.

Former Chief Minister and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, while condemning the attack and killing of another civilian in a separate incident, said such senseless violence serves nobody’s interests.

“Every life lost is a tragedy and we have to create an atmosphere of trust, justice and fair play in which such incidents do not take place. Military victory over terror and violence can never last unless people get a sense of justice and of being equal stakeholders in democratic process,” he said.

The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Saifuddin Soz also condemned the killing of five CRPF personnel in a suicide attack on a CRPF camp at Bemina and termed it “a very unfortunate incident”.

Fidayeen terror back in Valley, 5 dead

In the first fidayeen (suicide) attack after nearly three years in the Valley, two militants hiding automatic rifles and grenades in cricket kits opened fire on CRPF personnel near a school in Bemina area in the heart of Srinagar on Wednesday, killing five paramilitary men.

Follow up:

The two militants, who entered the J-K Police Public School ground on the pretext of playing cricket, were also eliminated during a gunbattle which lasted about 20 minutes, officials said.

Five CRPF men and four youngsters who were playing cricket were also injured in the attack, which occurred on the day when Kashmir was observing a shutdown demanding return of the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to the Valley.

"Prima facie, the terrorists don't appear to be local but from across the border and the first impression is that they are possibly from Pakistan," Union Home Secretary R K Singh said in New Delhi.

Pro-Pakistan militant group Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attack. Hizb spokesman told a local news agency over phone that two guerillas of the outfit carried out the attack. “It was a guerilla attack and Hizb militants will carry out more such attacks in the future too,” he told the news agency. The J-K Police said the attack bears Lashkar-e-Toiba’s signature too. “It looks that the attack was carried out by Lashkar. The attack had their signature,” said DIG (Kashmir) Ahfad-ul-Mujtaba.

Iran, al-Qaeda relationship is showing cracks, U.S. officials and analysts say

Iran’s expulsion of a senior al-Qaeda official appears to signal a crackdown on the terrorist group that has long been granted safe haven within its borders, U.S. officials say.

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Iran’s ouster of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a former al-Qaeda spokesman and the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, marked at least the third time in the past year that a prominent al-Qaeda figure has left the country after living for years in a limbo between houseguest and home detainee.

U.S. officials and terrorism experts say the tougher stance appears to reflect growing tensions between Iran’s Shiite clerics and the Sunni Muslim terrorist group, particularly over the civil war in Syria, where they are backing opposing sides.

At the same time, Western intelligence agencies see steps by Iran to preserve ties with al-Qaeda by allowing the group to use Iranian territory as a transit route to and from Afghanistan, U.S. officials and analysts say.

Al Qaeda likely unable to launch major attacks: US

WASHINGTON: The core of al Qaeda has been severely weakened and likely is unable to launch “large-scale” attacks on Western targets, the US national intelligence director said Tuesday.

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Al Qaeda has suffered steady losses among its senior ranks since 2008, diminishing the network’s central leadership “to a point that the group is probably unable to carry out complex, large-scale attacks in the West,” James Clapper said in an annual assessment presented to lawmakers.

But the group has not abandoned its declaration of war against the United States, and its affiliates, particularly in Yemen, are plotting to attack America and its allies, Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

US spy agencies more pessimistic on Afghan war

WASHINGTON: After 12 long years of war in Afghanistan the best US intelligence can say is that a reslient Taliban is “diminished in some areas,” spy agencies said Tuesday in a notably pessimistic report.

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The US military habitually issues positive assessments of its progress in pushing back the Taliban and building up Afghan forces, but an annual report to Congress from the intelligence community was downbeat.

The agencies warned that the Afghan economy is headed for a downturn when Western aid declines after most Nato troops leave next year, while battlefield progress is tentative and fragile in areas due to be handed to Afghan forces.

Bombs kill 3 after politician targeted

PESHAWAR: A remote-controlled bomb targeting police killed two people in northwest Pakistan Tuesday, police said, hours after a blast near the home of a prominent provincial minister.

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The device exploded near a police van carrying six officers outside the main police station in the town of Bannu, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, district police chief Nisar Ahmed Tanoli told AFP.

Bannu is close to the lawless tribal area along the Afghan border where Taliban and other militants have hideouts. An earlier blast in the town of Pabbi, just 60 metres from the home of Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, wounded six people. In a third blast on Tuesday, a bomb disposal officer was killed on the outskirts of Peshawar while defusing a roadside bomb, officials said.

Pakistan is due to hold a general election some time in May but concerns about poll security have grown amid a series of attacks, particularly after a series of bombings targeting minority Shia Muslims killed at least 250 people.

Quetta election chief shot dead

QUETTA: Gunmen shot dead a senior local election official in Quetta on Tuesday, police said, days before parliament is due to dissolve ahead of national polls.

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The shooting took place in Chandni Chowk, a congested neighbourhood of Quetta, the capital of volatile Balochistan province, which has been hit by two major sectarian bombings this year that have killed more than 180 people.

Pakistan’s government will reach the end of its five-year mandate at the weekend and a general election is expected in May, but concerns about poll security have grown following a spate of sectarian attacks. Gunmen on a motorbike shot Ziaullah Qasmi, the district election commissioner for Quetta, as he went by car to his office, city police chief Mir Zubair Mahmood told AFP.

Settlers who won’t be missed

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recently published a booklet titled ‘The Baloch Who is Not Missing and Others Who Are’.

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It contains stories of Baloch missing persons and what their families are going through, vividly explained by renowned author Mohammed Hanif. The stories are very powerful and brought a whole auditorium to tears during a session at the Lahore Literary Festival recently.

Mr Hanif lamented the lack of coverage of this important issue in the media and related an anecdote of the time when Tahirul Qadri’s march was dominating the headlines while the Hazara community of Quetta was mourning the death of family members lost in an act of terrorism.

The debate on missing persons is complicated, to start with. Court cases of missing persons have been heard by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and protesters have staged sit-ins in Islamabad and other cities of Pakistan.

Waziristan termed Pakistan’s domestic problem: US diplomat hints at policy change

Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project: Officials opposing costly loan agreement removed

Militants torch 10 houses in Tirah

Afghan bombing kills 8, including relatives of parliament speaker

U.S. General Puts Troops on Security Alert After Karzai Remarks

11 child ‘bombers’ arrested in Quetta

Waziristan termed Pakistan’s domestic problem: US diplomat hints at policy change

Militants torch 10 houses in Tirah

Pakistan rejects Indian allegations

UN chief calls for restraint after IHK clash

Civilian killed as CRPF fires at stone-throwers

Raising pitch over Afzal, PDP boycotts rest of session

Suicide attack reignites debate on AFSPA revocation

Fidayeen terror back in Valley, 5 dead

Iran, al-Qaeda relationship is showing cracks, U.S. officials and analysts say

Al Qaeda likely unable to launch major attacks: US

US spy agencies more pessimistic on Afghan war

Bombs kill 3 after politician targeted

Quetta election chief shot dead

Amid Afzal uproar, demand for Jammu state

The demand of separate state for the Jammu region echoed in the Assembly today.

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When National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members were competing with each other in the Assembly on the return of Afzal Guru’s mortal remains, Jammu State Morcha (JSM) legislator Ashwani Sharma shouted, “This House is wasting time on a person who had masterminded killing of nearly 20 people. The Assembly has virtually been hijacked by sympathisers of militants.”

“This House has no time for discussing issues relating to people of the Jammu region so we demand separate state for Jammu to get rid of those people who waste time discussing such terrorists,” he said.

Pointing towards Congress MLA from Bhaderwah Mohammad Sharief Niaz, who was silently watching the sloganeering members of the PDP, Ashwani said, “When Jammu would be a separate state, Niaz sahib would be our first Chief Minister.”

PDP legislator questions integration of J-K with India

Virtually challenging the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with the Indian Union, PDP member Nizamuddin Bhat today said people of Kashmir had yet to take a decision on living with India.

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Bhat, who was reacting to a statement by Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on return of Afzal’s body, said if this policy of the Centre continued people of Kashmir would be forced to think whether to remain with India or not.

Shinde yesterday ruled out handing over Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s body to his family and said, “The body has been buried according to the jail manual and there is no way it can be handed over.”

Bhat said the Home Minister had rubbed salt on the wounds of the people of Kashmir.

To placate Cong, NC decides not to bring resolution on Afzal

With the coalition partner Congress objecting to the use of honorific “sahib” for Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru by legislators in the Assembly, the ruling National Conference today got into damage-control mode. To placate annoyed Congress leaders, the National Conference ruled out bringing any resolution in the Assembly to bring back the mortal remains of Guru.

“There’s no question of bringing a resolution in the Assembly on the issue,” senior National Conference leader Ali Mohammad Sagar, who is holding Rural Development Department portfolio told reporters outside the Assembly.

“It is just politics and we know how to counter this politics,” Sagar said while referring to the main opposition PDP. “As far as the National Conference is concerned, the stand of the party is clear”.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mir Saifullah also tried to downplay the issue. “Actually I always add the suffix “sahib” while addressing people, so it should not be an issue,” he said.

Seven killed as militants attack CRPF camp in Srinagar

Two militants and five Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in a suicide attack on a CRPF camp close to Police Public School in Bemina area of Srinagar in Kashmir valley on Wednesday.

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Two fidayeen (suicide squads) and five CRPF men were killed in the terror attack, official sources confirmed The Hindu and said that at least six more persons were believed to have sustained injuries.

This is the first suicide attack in Kashmir in three years. In January 2010, three militants and five others were killed in a 48-hour operation at the Srinagar's major business nerve centre of Lalchowk.

Afghan Taliban may replace top negotiator;

ISLAMABAD: The current top Taliban peace negotiator may be too inexperienced to get the job done and could be replaced.

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Syed Tayyeb Agha and his team are not expected to achieve the desired results in the negotiations, a former Taliban minister told The Express Tribune. “Tayyeb Agha and all other Taliban negotiators are not seniors and lack the ability to smoothly take the dialogue process forward and deal with all sides and important players in the Afghan conflict,” he said.

Growing international pressure to come to the table has also played a part in this development as the perception is that Agha is ‘too junior’ to effectively interact with national and international stakeholders.

On the surface, though, Agha is not entirely without experience. He has served as a spokesperson to Taliban chief Mullah Omar. Last year, he acted as negotiator during the inconclusive Afghan Taliban talks with the US in Qatar. He was also involved in negotiations with the Germans and his Pakistani experience came from serving as first secretary in the Afghan embassy in Islamabad during the Taliban regime.

Insider Attack Kills Several in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan ¯ An Afghan police officer fired on American Special Operations troops and Afghan forces Monday morning, killing two coalition soldiers in the second insider attack in three days, Afghan officials said.

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The shooting, at a joint military base in Wardak Province, happened shortly after a security meeting between the police and American and Afghan forces, the officials said. The gunman, who fired from a truck-mounted machine gun, was killed, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman.

Afghan officials also said that three Afghan police officers died in the firefight, and that the district police chief was seriously wounded. The death toll for other Afghan security forces, including the commandos who shared the base with the Special Operations soldiers, was unclear. It was also not clear whether the attacker was a Taliban infiltrator.

The violence in Wardak Province, a Taliban stronghold southwest of Kabul that is often used as a staging ground for attacks on the capital, comes at a sensitive time for both the Americans and the Afghans.

Angry over detentions, Afghan villagers threaten uprising if US special forces don’t leave

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan ¯ An Afghan policeman gunned down two U.S. special forces on Monday in Wardak province, less than 24 hours after President Hamid Karzai’s deadline expired for them to leave the area where residents have grown increasingly hostile toward the Americans.

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Despite Karzai’s orders, the American special operations forces remain in the province where dozens of villagers accuse them and their Afghan partners of intimidation through unprovoked beatings, mass arrests and forced detentions. The shootout, which also killed two Afghan policemen, only deepens the distrust.

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says it has found no evidence to support the claims of abuse. But infuriated by the villagers’ allegations, Karzai two weeks ago ordered U.S. special operations forces to withdraw by midnight Sunday from Wardak province, 45 kilometers (27 miles) south of the capital, Kabul.

Most international forces are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Wardak, like the rest of the country, is slated to be eventually handed over to Afghan forces, but U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, indicated on Sunday that the troops were not leaving Wardak province just yet.

Fazl declares anti-terrorism war a failure

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday said the so-called war against terrorism launched by the US 10 years ago had failed to deliver the goods.

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He said this while addressing a meeting of tribal elders here.

Mr Rehman alleged that instead of winding up the soc-called war against terrorism after its failure, the US had paced up drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas killing innocent people, including women and children.

He said the US had entered Afghanistan in the name of fighting terrorism 10 years ago but wanted to pull out of the country after suffering a humiliating defeat.

The JUI-F chief urged tribesmen to get united under the banner of his party to help its leadership resolve the current security crisis.

SC rejects Punjab Police report on Badami Bagh attack

ISLAMABAD: While rejecting the Punjab Police report on the Badami Bagh attack, the Supreme Court has declared it complete failure of the police, saying it could not find out the root cause of the incident.

The court has directed the Punjab government through its advocate general to file comments in the case on Wednesday (tomorrow) so that it could pass an appropriate order against all the police officers, including Punjab acting inspector general, because they are equally responsible for the incident. It also asked the provincial government why Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman’s report on the Gojra incident was not made public and why had the government not implemented the recommendations in it.

The court asked why had the government constituted commissions on different matters if it was not interested in making their findings public. It also questioned why was the Christian colony evacuated by the police before the incident and why were measures not taken to protect the Christian community if there were fears of an attack. The court observed that prima facie it appears that this was a land dispute because of which houses in the locality were evacuated.

Valley schools counsel boys not to take part in protests

Morning assemblies, which were held today at private and government schools of the Valley after 100 days of winter vacations, imparted moral lessons to boys for not indulging in stone-throwing incidents.

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As the Kashmir valley is limping back to normalcy amid fears of the return of the street violence, school teachers arranged for some counselling sessions with students.

Teachers say imparting moral “gyaan” to students is part of their job, although there aren’t any strict orders from the higher authorities for organising such sessions.

“We think it is necessary to conduct morning assemblies and give some moral lessons to students apart from academics so that no untoward incidents happen in the vicinity of schools,” said Bashir Ahmad Darzi, Principal, Sri Pratap School, Srinagar, where 3,000 boys are enrolled in the +2 level.

Omar govt grants amnesty to 1,811 stone-throwers

The state government has granted amnesty to 1,811 persons involved in stone-throwing cases in the Valley during 2010 summer unrest “to facilitate youth to pursue their higher education and get job opportunities”.

It, however, said the amnesty would not be extended to all those who were involved in arson and damage to public property during the unrest.

“In the aftermath of announcement of amnesty scheme on April 12 last, the government has granted amnesty to 1,811 persons involved in 230 cases of stone-throwing incidents of 2010 and 2011,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a written reply in the Assembly here today.

The amnesty policy was announced in the run-up to the Eid festival during the holy month of Ramadan. “The scheme envisages amnesty to all those involved in stone-throwing incidents during the summer unrest in the Kashmir valley from March 2010,” Omar said.

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