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| March 20, 2007 | Tuesday | Safar 30, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
More than 50 killed in Pakistan militant clashes WANA, Pakistan, March 20 (AFP) A second day of heavy rocket and mortar fire exchanges between Uzbek militants and tribesmen around Kalusha town in South Waziristan tribal region left at least 51 people dead including four children, officials said Tuesday. The fighting started after ex-Taliban commander Mullah Nazir ordered followers of Uzbek militant Tahir Yuldashev to disarm. A mortar round hit a group of private school students who had been left outside the town by a bus driver because of the violence. Four were killed and 27 were wounded, the security officials said. Thirty-eight of Yuldashev's supporters were killed and 22 were detained, the officials said, while nine local tribesmen including some of Nazir's men also died and 64 others were wounded, the officials said. Twelve seriously wounded civilians, all women and children, were evacuated by helicopter to hospital in Peshawar city, they said. Meanwhile hundreds of Uzbek militants and their supporters blocked the road from Wana to the town of Angoor Adda. The local administration gave them a 48-hour ultimatum to end the blockade otherwise military action would be started against them, the officials said. Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said the army did not intend to step in. (First Posted @ 14:45 PST Updated @ 23:02 PST)
SJC adjourns hearing to April 3 ISLAMABAD, Mar 20 (Agencies) The Supreme Judicial Council(SJC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the application filed by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the reference against him to April 3, 2007 at 9.30 a.m., the Acting Registrar/Secretary SJC said in a press release. In his application, Justice Chaudhry had challenged the constitutionality of the SJC. But lawyers and political parties pledged to hold nationwide protests on Wednesday. “The adjournment of the hearing is aimed at sabotaging our movement,” Munir A.Malik, a junior counsel for the suspended Chief Justice Chaudhry, told reporters. He said lawyers would boycott courts across the country on Wednesday and hold protest rallies. The suspended chief justice's senior counsel said Tuesday he intended to move an application before the council, when it sits again, to call Musharraf as a witness. “I will take the final decision after consulting Justice Chaudhry, but I want to cross-examine the president for his remarks about my client,” counsel Aitzaz Ahsan said. (First Posted @ 17:22 PST Updated @ 23:22 PST)
Pakistani court gives chief justice inquiry a week ISLAMABAD, March 20 (Reuter) A Pakistan judge has been given a week to get to the bottom of allegations the country's suspended chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was manhandled by police after refusing to attend a hearing on his conduct, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday. Judge Javed Iqbal, who was made acting chief justice after Chaudhry's suspension, ordered a senior high court judge to investigate reports that Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was manhandled on March 13 after he refused to get into an official car to be taken to the Supreme Court for a hearing. Justice Javed Iqbal, stressing the importance of the case for the judiciary, said he wanted to hear the judge's findings in a week. “It's not a question of an individual, it's about the dignity of the Supreme Court,” he said. He said he wanted the inquiry to also look into police action against protesters and reporters during demonstrations in Islamabad and Lahore, when many people -- including some government officials -- said the police over-reacted. Meanwhile, lawyers across the country stopped work for an hour on Tuesday in a show of protest while many also staged token hunger strikes, a Pakistan Bar Council official said. Six judges resigned on Monday in protest over the government's move to sack Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was kept under virtual house arrest with his family for the week after his suspension. His lawyers say he is now free to meet who he wants, although he is not giving media interviews. (Posted @ 13:50 PST)
Sixteen killed in Baghdad attacks BAGHDAD, March 20 (AFP) Four car bombs and a mortar attack killed 16 people and wounded dozens in Baghdad on Tuesday, security officials said. Seven people were killed and 20 wounded when several mortar rounds slammed into southwest Baghdad's Al-Shuhada district. Four people were killed and 21 wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Sheikh Omar industrial area of central Baghdad. Another three people were killed and seven wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Karrada district. A third car bomb attack killed one person and wounded six in Mujamma al-Misham market in south Baghdad. A suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi military checkpoint in Baghdad's western Jamiyah district killed one soldier. (First Posted @ 12:35 PST, Updated @ 23:16 PST)
Iraqi forces kill 39 'terrorists' BAGHDAD, March 20 (AFP) Iraqi security forces killed 39 “terrorists” in a battle in the western province of Al-Anbar on Tuesday, a top Iraqi official said. Seven other militants were arrested, including some Arab nationals, the official added. (Posted @ 23:10 PST)
Landslide kills 10 in Azad Kashmir MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, March 20 (AFP) Ten people in Azad Kashmir were killed Tuesday when a landslide triggered by torrential rain buried their house at Jabar Daray village, some 12 kilometres north of mountainous Bagh district. police said. Two others were pulled out of the debris alive, a local police official said. Most of the victims were relatives and rescue teams were searching the rubble to ensure there were no other people in it, he said. (Posted @ 23:06 PST)
Cricket: Resigned Pakistan chief selector blasts Inzamam KARACHI, March 20 (AFP) Pakistan's former chief cricket selector Wasim Bari Tuesday criticised captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for not leading the side from the front and making wrong selections which led to their World Cup failure. “Inzamam led without commitment and the team looked like an army without a general,” Bari, who resigned over team's first round exit from the World Cup, said. Two other selectors -- former left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim and ex-paceman Ehteshamuddin also tendered their resignations. Bari agreed Pakistan cricket was at a crossroads after the Cup debacle. “We need to run our cricket with a broad vision, like they do in Australia and South Africa and not in a manner we do. We need consistent policies and run the board like a commercial company.” (First Posted @ 20:12 PST Updated @ 22:08 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan says team not detained over Woolmer probe KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 20 (AFP) Pakistan denied on Tuesday that the World Cup team had been ordered to stay in Jamaica until the investigation into coach Bob Woolmer's death was completed. “We hope to get an autopsy report later Tuesday and see all the investigation complete by Wednesday. All such reports of detaining the team are baseless,” Pakistan team media manager Pervez Mir said. “Initially we thought a family member of Woolmer would come to take the body but none of them will be coming. So this is our responsibility to take the body to South Africa. Some of the players are also keen to attend the funeral,” said Mir. (Posted @ 22:04 PST)
President Musharraf inaugurates Gwadar port ISLAMABAD, March 20 (AFP) President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday inaugurated the multi-million-dollar Chinese-funded Gwadar deep sea port in Balochistan province, officials said. “Gwadar will become an industrial hub and this port will become the centre of containers, inshallah (God willing),” Musharraf told a ceremony after the formal inauguration. Musharraf said that Gwadar will also have a modern new airport to be built with Chinese assistance. China's communication minister Li Shenglin also attended the inauguration ceremony. Musharraf warned that militants would be eliminated if they tried to disrupt the development work in Balochistan. “Those saboteurs who are bowing up (gas) pipelines, who are they? They are the people who do not want development of Balochistan because they want to maintain their subjugation of poor people,” he said. (First Posted @ 16:40 PST Updated @ 22:00 PST)
Top Pakistan government lawyer quits over judge crisis ISLAMABAD, March 20 (AFP) A Pakistani deputy attorney general resigned on Tuesday in protest at President Pervez Musharraf's removal of the chief justice. Nasir Saeed Sheikh, one of three deputy attorney generals in Pakistan, became on Tuesday the most senior state lawyer to quit. “Under the prevailing constitutional position it is not possible for me to work,” Sheikh said. Separately Javed Memon, a senior civil judge in the town of Kotri in southern Sindh province also resigned in protest, a Sindh High Court official said. (First Posted @ 15:15 PST Updated @ 21:56 PST)
Pakistan rejects EU concerns over judge row ISLAMABAD, March 20 (AFP) Pakistan on Tuesday said concerns expressed by the European Union over the removal of the country's top judge were “out of place” and “highly inappropriate.” The EU Troika of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia said in a statement that ambassadors had told Pakistani foreign ministry officials on Monday of the importance placed by the EU on the independence of the judiciary, and the freedom of the media. The ministry hit back saying ”the EU Troika representatives were reminded that their concern was out of place as the government was fully committed to the freedom of expression, civil rights and respect for the judiciary”. (Posted @ 21:54 PST)
Sixty-three dead in Russian retirement home fire MOSCOW, March 20 (AFP) At least 63 people died early Tuesday when a fire ripped through a retirement home in southern Russia, the Interfax news agency reported quoting local officials. Some 27 more were injured in the fire that broke out in Kamyshevatskaya village in the Kuban region, officials said, adding that a total of 93 people were staying at the facility. (First Posted @ 09:10 PST, Updated @ 10:20 PST)
Iraq hangs top Saddam aide BAGHDAD, March 20 (AFP) Iraq sent another of Saddam Hussein's former henchmen to the gallows Tuesday. Before dawn broke, Iraq executed Saddam's former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan for crimes against humanity. “Ramadan was hanged at 3:05 am today,” an official from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said. Ramadan was the fourth former regime official to be executed for his role in the killings of 148 people from the village of Dujail. (Posted @ 09:05 PST)
Most Britons think Iraq war a mistake: poll LONDON, March 20 (AFP) A majority of Britons think the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a mistake which has Britain less safe, according to a poll published Tuesday. Some 55 percent feel Britain is less safe now, with only five percent feeling safer since the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein, according to the survey by the BBC and polling institute ICM. Overall 29 percent backed the decision to go to war, with 60 percent saying it was a mistake. (Posted @ 18:14 PST)
Six militants, two Indian soldiers killed in occupied Kashmir gunbattles SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, March 20 (AFP) Six suspected militants and two Indian army soldiers, including a captain, were killed during two gunbattles in occupied Kashmir, police said Tuesday. In the first firefight in Kupwara district late Monday, four militants and two soldiers were killed. Indian troops shot dead two more militants in the southern district of Pulwama late Monday, police said. (First Posted @ 12:40 PST, Updated @ 15:00 PST)
Pakistani sentenced to death for killing female minister LAHORE, Pakistan, March 20 (AFP) Ani anti-terrorism court Tuesday sentenced cleric Mohammad Sarwar to death for shooting dead a female minister because she was not wearing a veil, officials said. He was convicted a month after he gunned down at a public meeting Zilla Huma Usman, the social welfare minister for Punjab province, in Gujranwala town. “Judge Tariq Iftikhar sentenced Sarwar to death on two counts, one for the murder of Zilla Huma and the other for spreading terrorism by the action,” court official Amjad Ali said. Sarwar was also ordered to pay a fine of 200,000 rupees (3,333 dollars), he said. The bearded 40-year-old cleric did not react when the judge read out the sentence. The cleric had told police after the murder on February 20 that he killed Zille Huma because she was not wearing Islamic dress including a veil and that he opposed the involvement of women in politics. (Posted @ 14:05 PST)
Gwadar Port to usher in era of prosperity for entire country: PM Aziz GWADAR, March 20 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Tuesday said the opening of country's first deep-sea port at Gwadar will usher in an era of economic prosperity not only for Balochistan but for the entire country. Handing over appointment letters to the local youth for jobs in Gwadar Port Authority, the Prime Minister said the youth of Balochistan deserve the most to get a share in the economic activity generated by the opening up of country's third sea port. Aziz said the Coastal Highway was being extended up to Iranian border and added that the government had ambitious plans for Gwadar to become a regional hub for trade and energy. He said the incentives for setting up industrial zone in Gwadar were unprecedented. Minister for Ports and Shipping Babur Ghouri said skilled youth from Quetta, Kalat, Gwadar, Turbat, Mastung, Chagi and Nasirabad had been provided jobs at Gwadar Port after being imparted necessary skills. (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
4 Tamil Tiger boats destroyed by artillery fire: Sri Lankan military COLOMBO, March 20 (AP) Sri Lankan army artillery fire destroyed four Tamil rebel boats off the country's northern coast, a senior military official said Tuesday. The number of casualties was not immediately known. (Posted @ 13:55 PST)
North Korea refuses to take part in international nuclear talks BEIJING, March 20 (AP) A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday that North Korea was refusing to take part in six-party nuclear talks until US$25 million in frozen funds are released. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that a meeting of the six delegation heads at the talks was cancelled Tuesday afternoon because Pyongyang refused to take part. (Posted @ 13:50 PST)
Troops kill three 'extremists' in Afghanistan KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, March 20 (AFP) US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed three “suspected extremists” Tuesday in a hunt for a militant said to have ordered assassinations and suicide bombings, the military said. In other violence in southern Afghanistan, a bomb hidden in a handcart hit a bus transporting trainee policemen in the southern city of Kandahar Tuesday, wounding three students, police said. (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
Rescuers struggle on after Russian coal mine blast kills 97 ULYANOVSKAYA MINE, Russia, March 20 (AFP) Russian rescuers raced Tuesday to find 13 miners still missing after a devastating gas explosion tore through a Siberian coal mine, killing at least 97 people, officials said. The blast happened at the Ulyanovskaya mine near the town of Novokuznetsk in Kemerovo region, some 3,000 kilometres east of Moscow. (Posted @ 11:25 PST)
Vietnam, U.S. sign nuclear conversion agreement HANOI, March 20 (Reuters) Vietnam has agreed to work with the United States to begin converting a nuclear research reactor to using low-enriched uranium fuel from highly-enriched uranium, state media said Tuesday. Vietnam's Atomic Energy Commission also signed an agreement with the UN’s IAEA to send any highly-enriched uranium back to Russia, where it was originally imported from, the reports and a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said. (Posted @ 11:25 PST)
Yemeni military battles rebels, seizing bases; 2,500 flee their homes SAN'A, Yemen, March 20 (AP) Government forces seized a number of bases belonging to rebels in northern Yemen in fierce fighting that drove some 2,500 civilians from their homes, military officials said Monday. Battles that included aerial bombardment and artillery were continuing in the remote region where the military has been fighting the rebels for more than two months. (Posted @ 11:00 PST)
More than 100 arrested in U.S. Iraq protests SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 (Reuters) Police arrested more than 100 Iraq war protesters in San Francisco and New York City Monday as the nation marked the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. (Posted @ 10:20 PST)
Iran stops inspectors visiting nuclear site: diplomats VIENNA, March 20 (AFP) Iran stopped UN inspectors from visiting an underground bunker where it is building an industrial-scale plant to make enriched uranium but the inspectors will try again, diplomats said Monday. (Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Fifteen people killed in car crash in southern Egypt CAIRO, Egypt, March 20 (AP) A minibus and a truck collided, then a taxi rammed into the vehicles in a three-vehicle accident Monday that killed 15 people and injured three others in southern Egypt, police said. The vehicles were speeding on a highway near the southern city of Assiut when the accident occurred, the head of Assiut's security department said. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Greenpeace places Canada's PM under 'house arrest' OTTAWA, March 20 (AFP) Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the gates of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's official residence, in an attempt to put him under “house arrest for climate crimes.” Five protesters padlocked themselves to the gates of 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa to try to keep Harper from leaving, lamenting that his government's environmental policies are inadequate. “The refusal of the Harper government to honour Kyoto violates Canada's commitment to the world, and is a crime against the planet,” Dave Martin, Greenpeace Canada energy coordinator, said in a statement. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Two Chinese kidnapped in Nigeria BEIJING, March 20 (AFP) Unidentified gunmen kidnapped two Chinese workers in Nigeria, the Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 190.50 points: KARACHI, March 20: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 11331.79, up 190.50 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, March 20: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.8 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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