pakistan

Monday, 28 October 2013

Talks with Taliban soon, says adviser

WASHINGTON: The dialogue with Taliban militants may start in the next few days, says Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

In an interview to Dawn, Mr Aziz said the government had already covered a lot of grounds and "talks with the Taliban is likely to start in the next few days."

The adviser said he hoped that Mr Sharif's four-day visit to Washington this week would lead to a better understanding between the two countries on all major issues, including the drones.

Heavy rains continued to lash Andhra Pradesh on Friday, leaving 17 people dead and forcing the evacuation of 67,419 others from low-lying areas.

Seventeen people were killed in various rain-related incidents as the downpour continued for the fourth consecutive day on Friday even as two others were also missing, official sources said in Hyderabad.

KARACHI: Police claim to have arrested a senior member of Al Qaeda who was allegedly supplying explosives for terrorist activities in Karachi.

"Baloch Colony police have arrested Adil Azeem Sheikh and found a Kalashnikov and two hand-grenades in his possession," SSP South Munir Ahmed Sheikh said on Friday.

The flood situation in India's east coast turned grim on Saturday with at least 45 people having lost their lives and thousands evacuated in the last four days in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. After Cyclone Phailin, now a cyclonic storm that turned into a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has caused incessant rains, inundated hundreds of villages and damaged houses and crops.

TEHRAN: Iran's official news agency says armed men have killed 14 border guards in clashes near the frontier with Pakistan.

IRNA said authorities were investigating to determine whether the attackers were drug smugglers or armed opposition groups, both of which have occasionally ambushed Iranian troops.

Bomb targeting Shia pilgrims kills two FC personnel in Mastung

MASTUNG: At least two soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit a paramilitary van escorting a bus of Shia Muslim pilgrims in the Mastung district of Balochistan on Saturday, officials said.

The incident took place in Dringhar area, on the main Quetta-Taftan Highway in Mastung district, some 50 kilometres southwest of Quetta.

“The bomb exploded after a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle stopped to check a parked car,” Sayed Mehrab Shah, a senior government official in Mastung told AFP.

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities on Saturday hanged 16 “rebels” following overnight clashes between alleged rebel groups and Iranian border forces in which 14 border guards were killed on the frontier with Pakistan, a judicial official said.

“Sixteen rebels linked to groups hostile to the regime were hanged this morning in the prison of Zahedan in response to the death of border guards in Saravan,” Mohammad Marzieh, the attorney general of Sistan-Balochistan province, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

Ten killed in Iraq violence

BAGHDAD: Attacks in Iraq killed 10 people on Saturday, seven of them from the same family, security and medical officials said.

In the Dura area of southern Baghdad, gunmen armed with silenced weapons shot dead a father, mother, four sons and the wife of one of them at their home, the officials said.

The father was a member of the Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda militia, who joined forces with the United States from late 2006 and are frequently targeted by Sunni militants, who view them as traitors.

CHENNAI: With a defiant Sahara group refusing to furnish the requisite bank guarantee, the BCCI on Saturday decided to terminate Pune warriors from the IPL after a meeting of its all-powerful working committee.

The decision to terminate Pune, owned by Sahara, would leave the IPL an eight-team affair for the time being.

Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday telephoned her arch-rival Khaleda Zia to invite her for talks to resolve a standoff on holding the next general election but failed to reach her, even as Bangladesh braced for a shutdown called by the main opposition BNP.

"The Prime Minister called the opposition leader at her official phone at 1:15 pm (local time) but nobody picked it for half an hour," Abul Kalam Azad, press secretary to the premier, told reporters here.

KABUL: Afghanistan will demand an explanation from Pakistan on the whereabouts of former Taliban second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar when the leaders of both countries meet next week to discuss how to end years of insurgency, an Afghan official said on Saturday.

Ceasefire violation by Pakistan: One BSF jawan killed in firing, four injured

JAMMU: One Indian paramilitary trooper was killed and four people, including three Border Security Force (BSF) troopers and one civilian, were injured in firing by Pakistan Rangers in the RS Pura sector of the Jammu region overnight.

A senior police officer told IANS that the BSF trooper and the injured came under heavy shelling by the Pakistan Rangers on Indian positions on the international border in the RS Pura sector of Jammu district in the state.

JAMMU: Intelligence reports suggest Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed could be visiting areas along the line of control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir to facilitate infiltration into the state, said union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday.

"It is true that information suggests Hafiz Saeed could be visiting areas of LoC to abet infiltration," Shinde told reporters in Samba town on the sidelines of a Border Security Force (BSF) Sainik Sammelan.

The Maldives will hold a new presidential election on November 9, the election commission said, two days after the police stopped the vote taking place.

The archipelago nation has been in turmoil since February 2012 when former president Mohamed Nasheed was removed in what his supporters called a coup.

A female suicide bomber has blown herself up on a bus in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, killing at least six people and injuring 30 others, officials said.

The suspected bomber was from Dagestan, one of the predominantly Muslim republics in the North Caucasus, said Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the Investigative Committee, Russia's main investigative agency.

BILIN: Israeli forces on Tuesday killed an armed Palestinian militant, wanted for his alleged involvement in a Tel Aviv bus bombing last year, Israel's Shin Bet security service said.

The Islamic Jihad group said Mohammed Assi, 28, was one of its members.

The Shin Bet, which is in charge of Israeli internal security, said the Palestinian was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces who had come to arrest him near the village of Bilin in the occupied West Bank.

Islamabad: Pakistan expressed disappointment over Indian leadership referring Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of the country as "unfortunate" and said the Kashmir dispute remained a "core issue" with India.

Pakistan's Foreign Office, in a statement, criticised External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's remarks on the status of Jammu and Kashmir.

A 30-year-old man coming from the southeastern province of Diyarbakir was shot to death at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport by a man he allegedly had a dispute with.

The 19-year-old suspect of the homicide, E.G., was detained by the police right after the incident at the murder site.

According to witnesses, the victim of the armed attack, Ilyas Ugar, just got off Diyarbakir plane late at night on Oct. 21 encountered E.G., who claimed to have bad blood with Ugar, right outside the terminal building.

QUETTA: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta Monday reissued arrest warrants against former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former Balochistan governor Owais Ahmed Ghani and former District Coordination Officer (DCO) for Dera Bugti Abdul Samad Lasi in a case pertaining to the murder of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Khan Bugti and ordered authorities to produce the accused persons at its next hearing on Nov 26, DawnNews reported.

QUETTA: One Levies man was killed on Tuesday when the convoy of an Arab prince was attacked in southwestern Pakistan's Kech district, DawnNews reported.

According to sources, an Arab prince and his convoy were on a hunting trip in Buleda, an area near Kech district's administrative centre Turbat, under security provided by Levies forces when armed men opened fire at them.

American going to Pakistan planned to aid Al Qaeda: prosecutor

LOS ANGELES: A 24-year-old American charged with trying to join Al Qaeda was intercepted by the FBI after using the Internet and Facebook to connect with the terrorist group, a prosecutor said Monday.

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen confessed to federal agents that he had planned to offer himself as a trainer of some 30 Al Qaeda forces to ambush troops in Syria, where he had already spent five months fighting with rebels, Assistant United States (US) Attorney Judith Heinz said.

New Delhi: Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde visits the flashpoint areas along India's border with Pakistan in the backdrop of a series of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops, the latest reported early this morning from the Abdullian sector in RS Pura. The visit also comes as a war of words between India and Pakistan over Kashmir is on, with Islamabad lashing out at India for calling the disputed region an integral part of the country.

Balochistan doctors threaten en masse resignation

QUETTA: The Chairman of the Core Committee of Pakistan Medical Association, Balochistan chapter, Dr Haqdad Tareen, said on Monday that 84 doctors had moved to other cities from the province because of threats to their lives and property.

Addressing a press conference at the hunger strikers’ camp at the Civil Hospital, he threatened that doctors serving in various hospitals would resign en masse if protection was not provided to them.

Two separate reports on U.S. missile strikes, including armed drone attacks, released Tuesday by two separate human rights organizations claim that the strikes have killed more civilians than the U.S. government has acknowledged and may be violations of international law.

One report, released by Amnesty International, investigated drone attacks in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan, a region dominated by the Pakistani Taliban, and far from the central authority of that country's Islamabad government, as well as the site of the more intensive U.S. drone campaign.

Turkey continues to exert effort to secure the release of two Syrian bishops who were kidnapped in April.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials told Hürriyet Daily News the negotiation process continued during the talks to free two Turkish pilots and Lebanese pilgrims.

CAIRO: Gunmen on a motorcycle fired on Egyptian wedding guests outside a Coptic Christian church in a Cairo suburb on Sunday night, killing three people, security sources said.

The masked assailants shot randomly at the people as they left the church, the sources said. It was not immediately clear if those killed were Christians, they said.

At least 16 dead in Nainital bus accident

NAINITAL/LUCKNOW: At least 16 people were killed when a bus in which they were travelling rolled down a gorge in Nainital, police said on Monday.

The incident took place near Kaladungi town Sunday evening. Around 50 people were in the ill-fated bus, which was returning from a marriage held in Barapatthar area.

The driver lost control of the bus while negotiating a turn and the bus skidded off the road and fell down in the gorge after breaking the divider.

New Delhi: Congress MP Rashid Masood was on Monday disqualified from the Rajya Sabha after he was convicted in a corruption case recently.

Masood was sentenced to four years in jail by a Delhi court in a corruption case.

He has become the first Member of Parliament to lose his seat after a July 10 Supreme Court judgment had removed the immunity for convicted lawmakers.
Masood, 67, was immediately taken into custody by the court.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday asked the Centre to explore other options if Pakistan continues to violate ceasefire.

Questioning the role of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Omar said that either the Sharif was involved in the ceasefire violations or he was not in control of the situation.

"I don't understand whether Pak Prime Minister is involved (in the violations) or he is not in control of the situation. But whatever it is, we must strive to defeat these forces, who are trying to destroy the lives of our people living close to the borders," he said.

NRI couple arrested in Saudi Arabia on charges of practicing black magic

Kendrapara: An NRI couple were arrested in Saudi Arabia on charges of practising black magic, official sources said today.

Seikh Nizam and Noor Jehan, from Odisha's Kendrapara township, had shifted to Turba city of Saudi Arabia few years ago where they claimed to be a healer and mystic.

The couple was arrested last month after authorities reportedly found a variety of occult items in their possession, including herbs, Consulate general office of India office in Jeddah said.

Juba League worker killed in AL-BNP clash in Laxmipu

LAXMIPUR: A serious clash between the leaders and workers of ruling Awami League and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party left at least one person dead at Ramganj upazila in the district.

The deceased has been identified as Faridul Islam, 27, a Jubo League member of Bholacot union. At least seven people were also injured in the clash. The injured people were rushed to the hospital.

JUBA, South Sudan : Rebels in South Sudan killed at least 41 people and wounded scores in a gun attack in a remote part of the country’s restive Jonglei state, a regional official said Sunday.

The attack on Sunday morning is believed to have been carried out by rebels loyal to militia leader David Yau Yau helped by youth from his Murle tribe, according to Hussein Maar, the acting governor of Jonglei.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to suspend the membership of 70 legislators, including 23 members of the National Assembly and Senate, for their failure to submit statements of their assets and liabilities as required under the law, Dawn has learnt.

Sources in the ECP said a notification in this regard was likely to be issued on Monday (today).

DHAKA: Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad termed Syed Ashraful Islam’s Sunday’s speech false and baseless.

On Sunday night, in a joint press briefing with JP Secretary General, Syed Ashraf said that Awami League and Jatiya Party would participate separately in the election under interim government next, if BNP did not participate.

BAGHDAD: Twin bomb attacks on Sunday on a Baghdad cafe killed dozens of people in one of nine suicide attacks across Iraq, which is suffering its worst violence in five years.

Nationwide a total of 49 people were killed across Iraq, where a surge of violence this year, including sectarian attacks, has raised fears of a relapse into bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007.

NASEERABAD: Balochistan’s Naseerabad district on Monday, killing 7 passengers and injuring at least 17 otherA blast hit Jaffar Express in s besides damaging five coaches, SAMAA reported.

According to SAMAA correspondent the explosion took place inside the train when it reached near Shori railway station in Balochistan’s Naseerabad district.

The train was going to Quetta from Rawalpindi.

MOSCOW: Signaling a strong convergence to protect their strategic stakes in Afghanistan, India and Russia are set to emphasize that Pakistan's bid to rehabilitate Taliban is not an acceptable outcome post the US drawdown.

MANILA (AFP) - A self-proclaimed Philippine sultan whose followers launched a bloody incursion into the Malaysian state of Sabah earlier this year died of organ failure in a Manila hospital on Sunday, his wife said.

Jamalul Kiram III, 75 - who described himself as the "Sultan of Sulu" after a group of islands in the southern Philippines - passed away at a government hospital but remained defiant to the end, his wife, Fatima Kiram said.

Islam strictly forbids terrorism, says Grand Mufti in Hajj sermon

MOUNT ARAFAT: Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims thronged Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia on Monday for the high point of the annual Hajj, praying for an end to disputes and bloodshed.

Hell is the final abode for those who spill the blood of an innocent human, said Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of the Ka'aba.

BAGHDAD: A string of bombings Sunday across Iraq, many in Shiite-majority cities, killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens, officials said, a grim reminder of the government’s failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks, but waves of bombings are frequently used by Al-Qaeda’s Iraq branch.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has appointed as its ambassador to the United States an envoy who was once expelled from New Delhi for "indulging in activities incompatible with his official status."

Typically, that's officialese for spying, but in that 2003 episode, Jalil Abbas Jilani was packed off from New Delhi for allegedly supplying cash to the Hurriyat leadership.

BAGHDAD: Violence in Iraq killed 21 people on Thursday, among them four anti-al Qaeda fighters and an AFP journalist's brother, officials said.

In Samarra, north of Baghdad, gunmen killed two Sahwa anti-al Qaeda fighters in an attack on a checkpoint, while two more died in a similar attack near Baquba, also north of the capital.

The Sahwa, who joined forces with the United States from late 2006 and helped bring about a sharp reduction in violence in Iraq, are frequently targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them to be traitors.

An explosion in an Afghan mosque during the Eid prayer has left the local governor dead and 20 other people injured.

"This morning, governor Arsala Jamal was delivering a speech after Eid prayers when he was killed by a bomb planted in the microphone," Logar provincial governor spokesman Din Mohammad Darwish told AFP.

MANILA: A 7.2-magnitude earthquake collapsed buildings, cracked roads and toppled the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church Tuesday morning, killing at least 70 people across the central region.

The quake sent people rushing out of homes and buildings, including hospitals, as aftershocks continued.

At least five died in a stampede in Cebu, said Neil Sanchez, provincial disaster management officer.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif met with Chief of Army Staff general Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday.

Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam also attended the meeting during which the prime minister's upcoming trip to the United States and the process of peace talks with militants were also discussed.

Moscow authorities have closed a vegetable warehouse and detained 1,200 people after a violent Sunday protest in Moscow’s residential area of Biryulyovo, where a young Russian was allegedly stabbed to death by a migrant last week.

A car with money and weapons has been found as Moscow police raided a warehouse which locals call the main attraction for migrants. On Sunday it turned into the scene of a mass anti-migrant protest, which ended with nearly 400 arrests.

BEIRUT :At least 40 people, including three children, were killed when a car bomb exploded in the town of Darkush in northwestern Syria, near the Turkish border, an NGO said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which had earlier reported a toll of 20, said the number of casualties was expected to rise due to the large number of people who suffered serious injuries.

Tuticorin: Indian investigators are trying to determine whether an American ship, detained for illegally entering Indian waters and carrying guns and ammunition without permission, was involved in arms trafficking.31 assault rifles and around 5,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the ship that was detained at the Tuticorin coast in Tamil Nadu early on Saturday morning, 600 kms south of Chennai.

An Air India flier got the shock of his life when he found worms in the sandwich served to him on a New York-Delhi flight.

The incident occurred on Air India flight (AI102) with a Rajouri Garden resident who asked for a sandwich and was served an infested one, sources said.

AHMEDABAD: Growing terrorist unrest and a hostile attitude towards minorities in Pakistan forced over 20 doctors to migrate to Gujarat last year. This is the largest migration of medical professionals to the state - the highest so far being nine (1999) after the Kargil war and eight in 1970. The number could go up this year.

Over the past over four decades, 64 doctors have migrated to the safe haven of Gujarat from Pakistan, mostly from the Sindh province, and registered with the Gujarat Medical Council. Sources say the number of doctors who have migrated but not yet registered could be much higher.

Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will host India's two Tests against West Indies in November, which will mark the end of Sachin Tendulkar's 24-year career. While Eden Gardens will host the first Test from November 6 to 10, Tendulkar's farewell Test will be played at his home ground from November 14 to 18. The decision was taken during the BCCI's tour programme and fixtures committee meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday.

JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday urged the world to avoid a partial deal with Iran, which could see a relaxing of sanctions, just hours before a new round of nuclear talks.

Following a meeting late on Monday, the security cabinet warned the international community against any “partial agreement that would fail to bring about the full dismantling of the Iranian military nuclear programme...(which) could lead to the collapse of the sanctions regime.

GHALLANAI: Though Eidul Azha will be celebrated across the country on Wednesday (tomorrow), some people in Mohmand Agency have decided to ignore the call and observe Eid today as per the advice of local clerics.

Some are observing Eid a day earlier as a symbol of Muslim unity since Saudi Arabia will also observe it on Tuesday. On the other hand, many Afghan refugees living in the country since 1979 choose to observe it with their native country.

Pakistan's new envoy to US was once expelled from India

ISLAMABAD: US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan James Dobbins arrived in Islamabad Monday to finalise the agenda of a meeting scheduled to take place between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US president Barack Obama, DawnNews reported.

The US envoy is scheduled to hold special talks with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz. During the discussion, the two diplomats will finalise the agenda of the meeting to be held between Sharif and Obama in Washington on Oct 23.

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