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| May 16, 2007 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Pakistan government opposes top judge's petition ISLAMABAD, May 16 (AFP) - Lawyers for Pakistan government asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to throw out a petition by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry against his suspension by President Pervez Musharraf on March 9 on misconduct charges. “This petition is not competent and the Supreme Judicial Council cannot be questioned in a court,” chief government lawyer Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, who is representing Musharraf, told the court. Pirzada said that Musharraf is immune from legal action under the Pakistani constitution. Therefore he cannot be named as a respondent in Chaudhry's legal application. “The president cannot be sued. His name should be deleted from the petition and the reference (charges referred by Musharraf to the Supreme Judicial Council) cannot be challenged,” Pirzada told the 13-member bench. Pakistan attorney general Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the petition to the Supreme Court is redundant because it raises issues that are already pending in the Supreme Judicial Council. The court later adjourned until Thursday when more government lawyers were due to speak. Justice Chaudhry's lawyers contend that it is unconstitutional for Musharraf to suspend a chief justice. They have also raised objections that three of the five judges on the Supreme Judicial Council are biased against him. The Supreme Court suspended the SJC inquiry on May 7 after Chaudhry filed his petition challenging the legality of his suspension and the composition of the body. (Posted @ 16:10 PST)
Five killed in clashes in NWFP’s Tank town PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 16 (AFP) –Pro-Taliban militants fought running battles with security forces Wednesday in Tank, a town of 100,000 population, in North West Frontier Province, killing five civilians in a rocket blast at a bus stop, officials said. A further 17 people, including five security officials, were injured in the fighting. “The militants fired several rockets from three directions and one of them hit a group of people waiting at the bus stand, killing five civilians,” local district police chief Zulfiqar Cheema said. “Three policemen were injured when they were fired at by militants near district courts. Police have located a group of about 15 armed militants and we are trying to nab them,” he said. The clashes began when assailants hurled hand grenades at a police station and fired mortars and rockets at police and paramilitary units, drawing fire in return, witnesses said. The situation was tense and markets were closed as heavy gunfire continued in the town until late afternoon, residents said. The fighting also damaged power and telephone lines. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Four killed as Pakistan evicts Afghan refugees CHAMAN, Pakistan, May 16 (AFP) - Pakistani forces shot dead four Afghans Wednesday in clashes triggered by attempts to evict refugees from a huge camp near the southwestern border with Afghanistan, officials said. Fighting erupted after police and paramilitaries stormed the Jungle Pir Alizai camp near Chaman town in Balochistan province , on the border with Afghanistan's insurgency-plagued Kandahar province. “Four Afghan refugees were killed when they attacked security forces to stop them from carrying out the clean-up operation,” local police officer Naseebullah Khilzai said. “The security forces fired in self-defence. Sixteen people were injured including four paramilitary troops.” Pakistan announced in February it would close down four Afghan refugee camps containing hundreds of thousands of people by May 16, citing security reasons. More than 2.8 million Afghans who fled a quarter-century of instability in their homeland have returned since 2002 under a UN-assisted voluntary scheme, but almost the same number remain in Pakistan. (Posted @ 14:40 PST)
Nawaz Sharif says President Musharraf a 'gone man' LONDON, May 16 (AFP) Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif said in an interview Wednesday he had “every intention” of returning home. According to Sharif, Pervez Musharraf's time in power is limited. He described him to The Times newspaper as a “gone man” whose “options are totally exhausted and starting from today, (his fall) is simply a matter of time.” Speaking from his exiled central London home, he added: “Protests are in every nook and cranny of the country ... it is a positive development that people are realizing that the dictator is destroying institutions.” He is “hoodwinking the international community, telling them that he is the only option except extremists, and that is absolute rubbish,” Sharif said adding that he felt “personally let down” by US President George W. Bush, who is “alienating 160 million Pakistanis” for Pervez Musharraf. He also said that Benazir Bhutto's approaches to Pervez Musharraf to allow her back into the country on the condition that her political party support his government were not helpful. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
61 killed, over 130 injured in Iraq; 15 bodies found Baghdad, May 16 (Reuters) More than 60 persons were killed and at least 135 injured in series of clashes and bomb blasts across Iraq during the last 24 hours. A truck bomb laden with chlorine gas exploded in a market area in the town of Abu Sayda, north of Baghdad, on Tuesday, killing 45 people and wounding 60, police said on Wednesday. Clashes between militias loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr and Iraqi forces killed eight people and wounded 40 in the southern city of Nasiriya, 375 km southeast of Baghdad. Four more people were killed and 20 others were wounded after clashes erupted between militias loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr and police in the town of al-Shatra, near Nasiriya. Similar clashes injured eight civilians, a policeman and an Iraqi soldier, hospital and Iraqi military sources said. A curfew was imposed until further notice. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and three wounded when gunmen attacked an Iraqi army patrol in Falluja, while gunmen attacked police Brigadier-General Najib al-Hiyali, the head of the Iraqi-U.S. Joint Coordination Centre of Diyala Province, killing two of his guards and wounding another, police said. Hiyali was not harmed in the attack. Meanwhile, bodies of 15 people were found in different districts of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. (Posted @ 17:40 PST)
CBMs aimed to resolve Kashmir dispute: Kasuri ISLAMABAD, May 16 (PPI)- Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri Wednesday said Pakistan has been engaged in the confidence building measures with India to resolve the outstanding Kashmir dispute. Addressing the OIC Contact Group meeting on Jammu and Kashmir on the second day of the 34th session of Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers he mentioned the four-point proposal of President Pervez Musharraf, which focused on identifying the regions, demilitarization, self-governance and a joint mechanism which aimed at alleviating the sufferings of Kashmiris and bringing lasting peace in South Asia. Kasuri thanked the Islamic countries for their invaluable support to Kashmiri cause and hoped that they, along with international community, would continue to back efforts in finding a just and peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue.(Posted @ 19:15 PST)
Deadly gunbattles rage in Gaza as Israel strikes GAZA CITY, May 16 (AFP) – Fourteen more Palestinans were killed in Gaza on Wednesday as an Israeli aircraft bombed a Hamas training camp in Gaza, killing two people, after a barrage of militant rockets were fired from the territory, medics and witnesses said. In the worsening situation Palestinian Abbas and Hamas exiled leader Meshaal agreed in a telephone call “on the necessity to put an end to the bloody events between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza.” Palestinian information minister Mustafa Barghuti told AFP. In the clashes five Fatah men were killed in a brazen attack by Hamas on the Gaza home of the pro-Fatah Palestinian security supremo, Rashid Abu Shbak.. Shbak himself was not in the house and escaped unscathed. Later, eight people, including one civilian, were killed when Hamas fighters fired anti-tank shells on a Fatah vehicle carrying Islamic Resistance Movement detainees, they said. Thirty-eight people have been killed since a new bout of violence on Sunday. The toll has included two civilians. About 100 people have been wounded.(Posted @ 18:45 PST)
Mortar rounds slam into Baghdad’s Green Zone BAGHDAD, May 16 (AP) - At least nine apparent mortar rounds slammed into the U.S.-controlled Green Zone on Wednesday, wounding at least six people, the second such attack in as many days, an official said. “Preliminary information indicates they were mortars, but that hasn't been confirmed,” U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor told The Associated Press. He said at least six people were reported injured but their nationalities had not been confirmed. (Posted @ 17:55 PST)
Abbas, Hamas chief agree to halt violence RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 16 (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal agreed on Wednesday to try to end factional violence that has killed 37 people in four days, Palestinian information minister Mustafa Barghuti said. “There was today, on Wednesday, a telephone conversation between president Abbas and the Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal. “They agreed on the necessity to put an end to the bloody events between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza.” (Posted @ 16:25 PST)
Experts comb aftermath of suicide bombing that killed 25 at Peshawar PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 16 (AP) - Experts on Wednesday sifted the debris from a suicide explosion that killed 25 people in a Peshawar yesterday. Investigators brought a mobile laboratory from Islamabad to analyze fragments recovered from the restaurant and “explosives experts are collecting evidence from the scene,” said Mohammad Tabbassum, a senior police official. (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
20 killed in bus, truck collision in India LUCKNOW, India, May 16 (AP) - A passenger bus collided head- on with a truck near Budaun, a town 300 kilometers southwest of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and injuring another 25, a government official said. (Posted @ 15:20 PST)
Sarkozy becomes French president PARIS, May 16 Reuters) - Nicolas Sarkozy became president of France on Wednesday, officially taking over from his conservative predecessor Jacques Chirac. (Posted @ 14:55 PST)
Afghan tribesmen protest against Pakistan KABUL, May 16 (AFP) - More than 1,000 Afghan tribesmen rallied outside the Pakistani embassy in Kabul Wednesday after deadly clashes between the two countries' border guardsat the weekend left 14 people dead. The demonstrators blocked a road leading to the embassy for several hours. They later dispersed peacefully. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Powerful quake hits Laos, Thailand BANGKOK, May 16 (AFP) - A powerful earthquake measuring 6.1 struck eastern Laos near the border with Thailand on Wednesday, according to the US Geological Survey, rocking buildings as far away as Bangkok. (Posted @ 14:45 PST)
15 injured in Kotli road accident KOTLI, Azad Kashmir May 16 (APP) At least 15 persons were injured, two of them seriously in a head-on collision between two vehicles in Kotli City Wednesday. According to SHO, Police Station Kotli City, Ansar Chaudhry, a bus of University College Kotli campus carrying students to the university collided head-on with a Toyota Hiace coming from the opposite direction. As a result 15 people of both the vehicles sustained injuries. The injured were rushed to DHQ Hospital, Kotli while two seriously injured were shifted to a hospital in Rawalpindi. SHO, Ansar Chaudhry said that the accident was occurred due to overspeeding and negligence of the wagon driver. (Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Pakistan tightens security after Taliban-linked blast PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) Pakistan beefed up security amid fears of further suicide attacks Wednesday after a bomber with a bag of explosives on his head and chilling notes taped to his legs killed 25 people Tuesday. “Security has been further tightened across the country,” interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said. Provincial law minister Malik Zafar Azam said investigators were “examining the possibility that the hotel was used as a place to spy on Taliban activities and gather information about them.” (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Rampaging elephants kill villager in Bangladesh COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, May 16 (Reuters) Wild elephants straying into a village trampled a man to death and destroyed 30 bamboo-made houses in Bangladesh Wednesday, police and forestry officials said. The attack by the elephants occurred at Eidgaon, near Cox's Bazar town, 400 km southeast of Dhaka. Crops were damaged and trees uprooted as the herd of some 10 elephants strayed into the village from a nearby forest. (Posted @ 13:55 PST)
Five dead, 19 injured in Philippines bus accident MANILA, May 16, (APP/AFP) Five people were killed and 19 others injured when two buses collided south of the Philippine capital Manila, police said Wednesday. The buses collided in a Lucena City suburb late Tuesday. (Posted @ 12:25 PST)
Communist rebels kill seven soldiers in Philippines MANILA, May 16 (Reuters) Communist rebels killed seven Philippine soldiers Wednesday in a dawn ambush in a remote town in the northern Abra province. Senior police inspector Dennis Agno said 100 NPA (New People's Army) guerrillas attacked a team of troops at around 6:30 a.m. (Posted @ 10:35 PST)
Republican 2008 hopefuls hammer Democrats on Iraq COLUMBIA, South Carolina, May 16 (AFP) Republican 2008 presidential hopefuls opened their second campaign debate Tuesday, savaging Democrats over Iraq and demanding urgent action from the government in Baghdad. Senator John McCain opened the quick-fire showdown between 10 candidates, warning that the Democratic Party bid to force President Bush to bring troops home was critically dangerous to US security. “We must succeed and we cannot fail, and I will be the last man standing if necessary,” said McCain. “If we fail in Iraq, we will see Iraq become a centre for Al-Qaeda, chaos, genocide in the region, and they'll follow us home,” he said. (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Bush picks general as 'war czar' WASHINGTON, May 16 (AFP) President George W. Bush said Tuesday he has chosen a three star army general as his point man for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, ending the search for a “war czar.” “I have chosen Lieutenant General Douglas Lute to serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan,” Bush said in a statement. Lute will “be the full-time manager for the implementation and execution of our strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan,” Bush said. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 112.14 points: KARACHI, May 16: At the close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 12258.85, down 112.14 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, May 16: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.7 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
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