|
|
| April 06, 2007 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
India, Pakistan hold talks on Kashmir glacier standoff RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, April 6 (AFP) - Top Indian and Pakistani defence officials held talks here Friday on demilitarising a glacier in disputed Kashmir where freezing temperatures have claimed more lives than actual combat. A Pakistani defence ministry statement said the first day's talks were “cordial and friendly”. “Both sides presented their respective point of view on the subject and stressed the need for moving ahead,” it added. The two sides are trying to arrive at some consensus on indicating present positions held by troops of each (side) on the glacier before withdrawal of forces,” a senior Pakistani foreign ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “If an agreement is reached in the meeting it will be formally announced when leaders of Pakistan and India (President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) meet sometime later this year.” (Posted @ 19:04 PST)
Pakistan troops secure area seized from Al-Qaeda WANA, Pakistan, April 6 (AFP) - Pakistan Friday moved its army into a tribal area cleared of foreign Al-Qaeda militants by tribal fighters, an official said, the first troop movement in the district since a peace agreement was signed with local tribesmen in 2005.Troops entered the mountainous Sheen Warsak area near Wana, the main town in volatile South Waziristan, the official said, after the last three days of fighting between tribal forces and foreign Al-Qaeda-linked fighters left more than 60 militants dead. “Army troops are now in Sheen Warsak to secure the area,” the security official said. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said more than 200 foreign militants and more than 50 tribesmen had been killed since the start of clashes on March 19. Early Friday pro-government tribesmen stormed key bunkers occupied by foreign militants, leaving around 20 militants dead, bringing the total in recent days to more than 60. Tribal fighters celebrated the capture of the bunkers by firing tracer rounds in the air that illuminated the sky over Wana, residents said. The tribesmen overran several bunkers held by Central Asian rebels. “They were very strong bunkers and Uzbek fighters were well entrenched there. But the tribesmen managed to flush them out,” local administration chief Mohammad Hassanzada told AFP. “Some 20 bodies were found lying there before dawn and more casualties were feared as the fighting continued throughout the night,” a security official said. Sporadic gunfire continued on Friday morning. Residents said the dead in the clashes overnight included seven tribesmen, one of whom was the driver of their main commander, Mullah Nazir, the former local Taliban leader. (First Posted @ 16:18 PST Updated @ 21:14 PST)
Suicide bomb threat rings out in Pakistani capital ISLAMABAD, April 6 (Reuters) The chief cleric of a radical mosque in Pakistan's capital trumpeted plans on Friday to set up vigilante Islamic courts and exhorted followers to become suicide bombers if their movement was forcibly suppressed. “Our youths will shake their palaces with their suicide attacks,” Maulana Abdul Aziz warned the government in a fiery sermon delivered to thousands of followers at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in central Islamabad. “They should not take the law into their own hands; this will create lawlessness in the country. We will not allow them, I will not allow this,” Musharraf told a convention for women's health being held barely a kilometre away There were no police around the mosque and militant literature was sold openly, while chants of jihad rang out from loudspeakers. “The government has been saying that an operation against us is the last option, I want to tell the government that suicide attacks are our last option,” Aziz said. Aziz also set a one-month deadline for the government to close down video and music shops, and bordellos. “If the government fails to do this by the deadline, then our students will take action themselves,” he said amid more shouts of “Allah-o-Akbar”. Outside the packed mosque, hundreds more worshippers offered prayers on the roads, protected by youths carrying batons and some covering their faces with scarfs, while burqa-clad women stood on the rooftops of an adjacent Madressah. A bonfire of thousands of video and audio cassettes and CDs was set alight by a contrite shopkeeper outside the mosque. Aziz said shariat courts would be set up and presided over by 10 clerics to stamp out vice in the capital. (Posted @ 16:44 PST)
Curfew in Pakistani town after three die in clashes DERA ISMAIL KHAN, April 6 (AFP) - Pakistani authorities Friday imposed an indefinite curfew in the mountainous tribal town of Parachinar bordering Afghanistan after three people died in fighting between rival Muslim sects, local officials said. Soldiers were called out after gunbattles between groups of rival sects, local administration official Nasim Khan said. “Troops have taken up positions in the area and a curfew has been imposed in the town,” he said. “Fighting is still going on in different parts of the town.” Three people died and 13 others were injured in the violence Friday, hospital sources said. Rival groups went on the rampage in the main bazaar and torched a commercial building and several shops, Khan said. (Posted @ 19:48 PST)
Musharraf emphasizes achieve health targets ISLAMABAD, April 06 (PPI) President General Parvez Musharraf Friday emphasized that the healthcare targets under millennium development goals would be achieved ahead of the 2015 deadline set by the United Nations. Addressing the National Lady Health Visitors' Convention to celebrate World Health Day he said lady health visitors' role would be vital in achieving the targets by reducing the mother infant mortality rate especially in the rural areas. He said the immunization drive should be made a success and polio totally eradicated from the country. He said the focus of the government is to improve healthcare especially at the grass roots level and provision of safe drinking water across the country. About the situation at the Hafsa Madrasa in Islamabad, the President cautioned the radicals that they must not resort to taking law into their own hands and affirmed that government would not tolerate this. He urged them to abandon these obscurantist activities and called for converting the mosques and madressahs into centres of excellence. The President announced increase in the monthly remuneration of Lady Health Workers from Rs 2200 to 2500 rupees. (Posted @ 17:30 PST)
Cricket-Mir says Pakistan more focussed on religion than cricket KARACHI, April 6 (Reuters) - Pakistan's media manager at the World Cup told an inquiry committee of Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday that there had been more focus on religion than cricket in the team. “I told the committee that the players were not focussed on cricket in the World Cup. They were more into religion,” Pervez Mir told Reuters adding that he was disturbed to see focus on cricket missing in the team in such an important tournament. “I told the committee that Pakistani players, rather than pray privately, tried to make it a public spectacle,” he said. To highlight his point he said some players, led by captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, even made it a point to pray in the galley of aircrafts on flights rather than privately in their seats. (Posted @ 20:48 PST)
Palestinian President Abbas says captured Israeli soldier to be freed shortly PARIS, April 6 (AP) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview with French television Friday that a captured Israeli soldier who has been held by Palestinian militants for 10 months will soon be released. Abbas told France-24 television that efforts were under way to secure the liberation of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, seized by militants linked with the Islamist Hamas movement in a cross-border raid in June, 2006. “He will be freed shortly,” Abbas said. “He cannot remain imprisoned all this time.” Abbas also said he hoped Israeli authorities would release hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. But he said Shalit's release should not be tied to that of the Palestinian prisoners. “One thing does not depend on the other,” Abbas said. “I am convinced Shalit must be freed.” This was not the first time that Abbas has said a deal was imminent. He has often made such claims in the past. (Posted @ 20:50 PST)
Occupied Kashmir: Five freedom-fighters, soldier die in fresh fighting SRINAGAR, April 6 (AFP) - Five suspected militants and an Indian army soldier were killed in three separate gunbattles in revolt-hit occupied Kashmir on Friday, police said. Three of the suspects were shot dead during a shootout with police and troops in Srinagar, police officer Pervez Ahmed said. “Two policemen were also hurt during the gunbattle,” he said. The fighting raged near the shores of Lake Dal as thousands of Muslims gathered across the water in Hazratbal to offer Friday prayers. Meanwhile, an army soldier and a militant were killed in a three-hour gunbattle in southern Anantnag district early Friday, police said, adding another freedom-fighter l was shot dead during a gunbattle in Doda district further south. (Posted @ 16:24 PST)
Two more US soldiers killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, April 6 (AFP) - The US military Friday announced the deaths of two more soldiers in Iraq in separate attacks. One soldier was killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, on Thursday, while a second soldier was killed and another wounded in a gun attack in Kirkuk. (Posted @ 19:06 PST)
Taliban burns music, video shops in east Afghanistan KHOST, April 6 (AFP) - Taliban extremists torched or damaged nearly two dozen music and video shops selling “un-Islamic” materials in the small town of Alisher in eastern Khost province, an official said Friday. They also left leaflets warning that merchants will be “badly punished” if they do not stop selling CDs and DVDs, police official Wazir Badshah said. (Posted @ 19:02 PST)
Taliban seize southern Afghan district KABUL, April 6 (AFP) - Taliban seized control of a district in the south of Afghanistan Friday, officials said, as a suicide bomber in a taxi killed four people near parliament building in Kabul. About 100 militants overrun Khak Afghan district in Zabul province. Police made a “tactical” withdrawal after the rebels attacked from several directions simultaneously, said Ghulam Shah Alikhil, a spokesmen for the provincial governor. There were no immediate plans in place to retake the area, he said. ISAF said it was checking the information. Meanwhile, in Kabul, a suicide bomber struck a few hundred metres from the parliament building, killing three civilians and one policeman, police chief General Alishah Paktiawal said. “The bomber was driving a yellow and white taxi. IT was unclear if the attacker was targeting parliament, he said but added that the device may have exploded prematurely. (Posted @ 15:49 PST)
Suicide bomber near Afghan parliament kills 6 KABUL, April 6 Reuters) A suicide bomber killed six Afghans, including a policeman, in a blast near Afghanistan's parliament in Kabul on Friday, President Hamid Karzai told reporters at his heavily fortified presidential palace. Police had stopped the bomber in his car and then he blew himself up, a policeman at the scene said. (Posted @ 16:56 PST)
Suicide chlorine truck bomber kills more than two dozen in Ramadi BAGHDAD, April 6 (AP) A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi on Friday, killing at least 27 people _ two of them policemen _ and wounding dozens, police in the Anbar provincial capital said. The bombing in Anbar province marked the ninth use of suicide chlorine bombs in the region. Meanwhile, south of Baghdad, Iraqi forces backed by American paratroopers swept into a troubled Diwaniyah city before dawn, and the U.S. military said as many as six militia fighters had been killed, eight others were wounded and five detained. There were no reports of civilian casualties. Residents reported heavy fighting between the U.S. and Iraqi forces and gunmen of the Mahdi Army militia in the city. Dr. Hameed Jaafi, the director of Diwaniyah Health Directorate, said an American helicopter fired on a house in the Askari neighbourhood, seriously wounding 12 people as the early morning assault began. (Posted @ 17:26 PST)
US to call up 12,000 Guard soldiers for Iraq: report WASHINGTON, April 6 (AFP) -The Pentagon will call up 12,000 National Guard soldiers for service in Iraq to fill gaps in the overworked army, a report said Thursday. The National Guard is a volunteer militia, but, said NBC News, they will receive an involuntary call-up to report for duty in Iraq. Guard units are based in each US state. Four states will provide the troops from four brigades, the television network said, citing unnamed Defence Department sources. Pentagon sources told NBC that the orders for the deployment awaited Defence Secretary Robert Gates's approval. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Curfew on Iraq town, as militia, US forces clash DIWANIYAH, Iraq, April 6 (AFP) Security forces imposed a curfew on the central Iraqi city of Diwaniyah Friday amid ongoing Iraqi-US military raids and clashes with Mahdi Army militiamen. The curfew began at 5:00 am, with only security forces and militia fighters visible on the streets after daybreak, an AFP correspondent said. An official in the local office of the movement of Moqtada al-Sadr confirmed militiamen and US troops were clashing around Salim Street and the Al-Askari neighbourhood. “The clashes started this morning. At least 30 civilians were killed and three (US) Humvees were burnt,” the official said requesting anonymity. (Posted @ 14:45 PST)
Congressional plan to exit Iraq would encourage Iran: Dick Cheney WASHINGTON, April 6 (AFP) Plans for a US military withdrawal from Iraq by 2008 as proposed by Democrats in Congress would only encourage enemy Iran and demoralize friendly governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan, US Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday. Cheney, speaking in a telephone interview on a popular conservative US radio show, said he believed “that a significant portion of the Democrats…are adamantly opposed to the war and prepared to pack it in and come home in defeat, rather than put in place or support a policy that will lead to victory.” Cheney told the show's host that a withdrawal was “not just about Iraq; it's about our efforts in the global war on terror and that entire part of the world. “It affects what's going on in Iran, where we're trying to make sure they don't develop a nuclear weapon. You can imagine the extent to which the Iranians would be heartened in that effort if they see us withdraw from Iraq, next door,” Cheney said. “We've got (President Pervez) Musharraf in Pakistan and (President Hamid) Karzai in Afghanistan who put their lives on the line every day, in effect, supporting our efforts to deal with the extremists and the terrorists in that part of world. “If they see us bail out in Iraq, they clearly would lose confidence in our capacity to carry through and get the job done,” Cheney said. (Posted @ 11:57 PST)
Twenty-one dead, seven wounded in Iraq BAGHDAD, April 6 (Reuters) A shepherd was wounded by a landmine in a rural area south of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said. Sheikh Karim Omran al-Shafi, a tribal leader, was seriously wounded when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in Hilla city, 100 km south of Baghdad, police said. In another incident, two people were killed and five were wounded when three mortar bombs landed in Baghdad's northern Shaab district, police said. Eleven bodies were found in different parts of Baghdad city, police said. Also, in northwestern Baghdad’s Talibiya district, a mortar bomb killed one person, police said. A sniper killed two people in the Amil district in southwestern Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said. Four bodies, including that of a child, were found in Tal Afar, about 420 km northwest of Baghdad, police said. (Posted @ 11:27 PST)
US missile defence plans risk new arms race: Russian Duma MOSCOW, April 6 (AFP) - US plans to deploy elements of a missile defence system in eastern Europe risk triggering a new international arms race, the lower house of the Russian parliament said on Friday in a resolution.“Such decisions, which are useless in terms of preventing potential or imaginary threats from countries of the Middle and Far East, are already bringing about a new split in Europe and unleashing another arms race,” read the declaration, which was approved unanimously by deputies in the State Duma. The United States is also demonstrating a “confrontational attitude” by building up its forces in the Persian Gulf, the declaration said. (Posted @ 16:22 PST)
Four killed in Thai south NARATHIWAT, Thailand, April 6 (AFP) Four men were killed in shooting attacks by insurgents in southern Thailand, police said Friday. Two men, aged 26 and 35, were gunned down in a drive-by shooting late Thursday in Narathiwat. Two other men were killed in separate attacks in Narathiwat, police said. (Posted @ 09:46 PST)
Five South Koreans killed in bridge collapse SEOUL, April 6 (AFP) Five South Korean workers were killed and seven others injured after the collapse of parts of a bridge being built between two southern islands Thursday, police said Friday. The roadbed of the bridge collapsed while being hoisted onto supports. The bridge is intended to link the island of Sorok to the nearby island of Geogum, off the south coast of the peninsula. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
Israeli soldiers kill man in West Bank JERUSALEM, April 6 (Reuters) Israeli troops shot a man dead in the West Bank Thursday, an army spokeswoman said, adding that a military investigation has been launched. Israeli media said the man was a Palestinian. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
Twenty-seven killed in Colombia road accident BOGOTA, April 6 (AFP) At least 27 people were killed and 14 injured when a vehicle modified to take passengers and cargo blew a tire, flipped into a creek and caught fire in northern Colombia, police said Thursday. The accident occurred on the highway linking the cities of Santa Marta and Riohacha, police said. (Posted @ 09:09 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 59.56 points: KARACHI, April 06: At close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 11655.64, up 59.56 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:04 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, April 06: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.75 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:04 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
The DAWN Group of Newspapers
Haroon House, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi 74200, Pakistan.
Phone:+92 (21) 111-444-777 Fax: +92 (21) 569-3995
webmaster@dawn.com
Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version.
|
|
|
Contributions |