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| July 11, 2007 | Wednesday | Jamadi-us-Sani 25, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Maulana Aziz to attend funeral of Ghazi ISLAMABAD, July 11 (PPI) - Without giving the time for the burial of Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi, ISPR chief Maj- Gen Waheed Arshad said Wednesday that Ghazi's detained brother Maulana Abdul Aziz will attend the funeral at his native town. He told a press conference that the post mortem of Maulana Ghazi has been conducted and the relatives of the deceased have been contacted. The body will be taken to his native town. About the dead body of the mother of Maulana Rashid Ghazi, he said it has not been identified as yet. About the wife of Maulana Abdul Aziz, Umme-Hassan, he said that she was with the authorities. Giving details of the operation, General Waheed Arshad said that 164 troops from the Special Services Group (SSG) took part in the operation and no other troops from Pak Army or the Rangers were engaged in the operation which will come to an end within a few hours. He said 10 army men including Colonel Haroon embraced martyrdom while 33 sustained injuries. About causalities in the compound, he said he would be able to give a firm count once the combing and clearing operation is over. About the presence of foreign elements or members of banned religious groups in the Lal Masjid complex, he said the bodies were still lying in the compound and once these are collected only then they will be identified. He said no incident of suicide attack took place during the whole operation.(Posted @ 21:05 PST)
SC to conclude CJ's petition hearing next week : Ramday ISLAMABAD, July 11 (PPI)- Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday who heads the 13-member full court of the Supreme Court hearing the petition of Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry against the presidential reference, made it clear on Wednesday that the court will conclude the hearing of the CJ's petition by the end of next week.He directed the lawyers of the federation during the hearing to conclude their arguments by Wednesday next and give opportunity of reply to the lawyer of the Chief Justice Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday next week. Earlier, lawyer of the federation Malik Mohammad Qayyum in his arguments on the restraint order issued by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on March 09, argued that it was a valid order as the SJC being the highest judicial tribunal has inherent and implied powers to pass restraint order especially when it issues code of conduct. He said the SJC is the final authority deciding the question of guilt of a judge and it can restrain the judge to perform his functions during the inquiry. Elaborating the powers of the President for sending a judge on leave Malik Qayyum submitted that the President has the power to suspend a judge under Article 209 of the constitution during inquiry against him. He argued that the person having the power to remove a judge has also the power to suspend him during inquiry. He said similarly the person who has the power to appoint a judge also have the power to remove him according to constitution. The hearing will continue tomorrow (Thursday).(Posted @ 20:35 PST)
People other than students were present in Lal Masjid: PM ISLAMABAD, July 11 (PPI)- Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday said the Government had credible information about presence of people other than students and weapons at Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa complex. Giving government's perspective of the Lal Masjid events at a briefing session with foreign media he said Operation Silence had now ended and mopping up operation was in progress. When the complex is cleared, media-persons would be taken there. He said the government has nothing against Madressahs. The gvernment is encouraging them, he said but made it clear that no one will be allowed to promote militancy.(Posted @ 21:00 PST)
Troops battle last Lal Masjid militants ISLAMABAD, July 11 (AFP) Troops Wednesday battled to flush out militants making a last stand inside Islamabad's Lal Masjid after fighting that left at least 62 people dead. Heavy blasts and gunfire rocked the sprawling complex in central Islamabad as soldiers moved to clear the residence of Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was shot dead Tuesday night. The army said the operation was in its final phase. Soldiers killed three more militants overnight. The rebels, some allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, are using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns against the security forces and even firing from the minarets. “The final stage is underway in which the residential complex of Ghazi and his associates was to be cleared,” chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. The final death toll would not be available until the complex, which includes a warren of rooms inside a multi-storey madrassa, had been cleared, he said. “There are still bodies lying there,” Arshad said. Arshad said at least 53 militants were killed while a soldier died overnight from injuries, taking the army toll to nine. (First Posted @ 10:06 PST, Updated @ 12:12 PST)
Bush reaffirms support for Pervez Musharraf CLEVELAND, July 11 (AP) President George W. Bush reaffirmed his confidence Tuesday in Pervez Musharraf as a strong ally in the war against extremists. ''I like him and I appreciate him,'' Bush said in Cleveland. Bush also called Musharraf a partner in promoting democracy and gave his unqualified support to Musharraf as ''a strong ally in the war against these extremists.'' ''I am, of course, constantly working with him to make sure that democracy continues to advance in Pakistan,'' Bush said. (Posted @ 09:15 PST)
US think tank report faults Pakistani military WASHINGTON, July 11 Pakistan bears responsibility for worsening security in South Asia, and its powerful military is the core of the problem, according to study released Tuesday by a U.S. think tank. Frederic Grare of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a leading scholar on South Asia and former French diplomat in Pakistan, recommended that in addition to providing billions of dollars in aid, the United States should also be willing to impose sanctions when Islamabad fails to meet its commitments, as he said it has done in key areas. “This report makes the case that the Pakistani state bears responsibility for the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban, terrorism in Kashmir and the growth of jihadi ideology and capabilities internationally,” Grare wrote. “At the core of the problem is the Pakistani military...,” the study said. Grare called for a new U.S. strategy designed to encourage Pakistanis, and especially the military, to restore civilian government according to the country's constitution. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
20 Al-Qaeda militants killed in Iraq: military BAGHDAD, July 11 (AFP) - US and Iraqi forces killed 20 Al-Qaeda in Iraq militants on Wednesday and detained another 20 in Diyala province, the military said Wednesday. The operation near the town of Sherween was backed by close air support and warplanes dropped eight 2,000 pound bombs and 14 500-pound bombs on three river crossings and a bridge to cut off the militants. “The locations were used by Al-Qaeda to conduct their attacks,” it said.(Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Three cops among 13 killed in Afghan violence KANDAHAR, July 11 (AFP) - More than a dozen people including three policemen were killed in a spate of violence across Afghanistan, authorities said Wednesday. Three policemen and a truck driver were killed when Taliban attacked the officers' vehicle with machine guns in the Paktia province on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, security forces backed by US-led troops killed eight Taliban fighters and captured three others, two of them wounded in the province of Helmand, the interior ministry said in a statement. Another Taliban guerrilla was killed in Ghazni, while a suicide bomb blast aimed at NATO-led troops in Uruzgan province killed 17 Afghan civilians on Tuesday. Dozens more including seven NATO soldiers were injured in the explosion.(Posted @ 18:55 PST)
Ship carrying 70 people missing in eastern Indonesia JAKARTA, July 11 (AP) - A passenger ship carrying 70 people disappeared in eastern Indonesia just before midnight Tuesday after reporting engine failure in stormy seas, a port official said Wednesday. An oil tanker plucked the bodies of two children from the sea and rescued 23 other people, A search was under way involving some ships, but huge waves were hampering those efforts, he said.(Posted @ 18:05 PST)
Train runs over, kills 9 people in Bangladesh DHAKA, July 11 (AP) - Nine members of a family were killed Wednesday when they were run over by an express train in a town near Bangladesh's capital, a news agency reported. It was not immediately clear how the family came to be on the unfenced tracks in front of their home in Mymensingh district, but a private television network quoted neighbours as saying the family may have intentionally jumped in front of the speeding train in a mass suicide. It gave no further details. Train services were disrupted on the northern lines following the accident.AP-TK-11-07-07 1220GMT(Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Cricket-Bangladesh 72-4 v Sri Lanka on rain-hit first day KANDY, July 11 (Reuters) - Bangladesh slumped to 72 for four at the close on a rain-affected opening day of the third and final test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.(Posted @ 17:45 PST)
Four killed as Thai PM visits troubled south NARATHIWAT, Thailand, July 11(AFP): Suspected separatists shot dead four people including a government official in Thailand's restive south, police said on Wednesday, as the Thai premier began a two-day visit to the region. A 33-year-old Muslim village chief was killed on Tuesday evening in Narathiwat province. In nearby Yala province the same evening, a 48-year-old Buddhist man, a provincial official from the environment ministry, was shot dead. On Wednesday, a 42-year-old Muslim man was shot dead at his rubber plantation in Narathiwat province while a Buddhist man, also 42, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the same province.The attacks came as Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont flew into Narathiwat early Wednesday for his latest trip to the turbulent Muslim-majority region, where more than 2,300 people have been killed in three years of unrest.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
UN cartographer finds Shebaa Farms 'Lebanese': Israeli official JERUSALEM, July 11(AFP): A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that a UN cartographer has determined for the first time that the Israeli-held Shebaa Farms, long the centre of a territorial dispute, belong to Lebanon. The official, on condition of anonymity, said the United Nations had asked Israel to hand control of the flashpoint territory to the world body, adding that this had been rejected by the Jewish state.(Posted @ 17:00 PST)
London suicide bomb plotters jailed for life LONDON, July 11(Reuters): A British court sentenced four men on Wednesday to 40 years in jail each for an al-Qaeda directed attempt to carry out suicide bomb attacks on London's transport system on July 21, 2005. Muktah Said Ibrahim, Yassin Hassan Omar, Ramzi Mohammed, and Hussein Osman, were found guilty on Monday of conspiracy to murder in connection with the botched attacks which occurred two weeks after the deadly July 7 bombings. (Posted @ 15:07 PST)
Bomb attack kills eight in Algeria ALGIERS, July 11(Reuters): A bomb explosion killed eight people near an Algerian military barracks on Wednesday in Kabylie east of Algiers, residents said. The explosion occurred in Lakhdaria village near Bouira town 120 km east of the capital, Algiers. Several other people were wounded. (Posted @ 14:55 PST)
27 Afghan civilians killed in NATO strikes, local officials say ASADABAD, Afghanistan, July 11(AFP): A local investigation has found 27 civilians were killed in NATO-led air strikes in northeast Afghanistan, a provincial governor said Wednesday. The villagers were killed during last week's strikes in Kunar province that targeted suspected militants at a funeral and a house, Governor Shalizai Didar said. He said 37 Taliban-led militants were also killed in the strikes on Thursday and Friday in the restive province's Watapour district. “We investigated the incident and found out that 27 civilians and 37 Taliban were killed,” the governor told AFP. (Posted @ 14:52 PST)
Sri Lanka says captures last rebel stronghold in east COLOMBO, July 11 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's military said Wednesday it had taken the last rebel stronghold in the island's east within days after troops captured a strategic plateau. The military has taken vast swathes of territory from the Tigers in the east in recent months and says it has also killed hundreds of rebel fighters since the operation to capture the landlocked area called Thoppigala began in early February. “Commandos and soldiers reached the Baron's Cap in Thoppigala a few hours ago,” said a spokesman for the media centre for national security. (Posted @ 12:10 PST)
Militants kill 14 Philippine marines, behead 10 BASILAN, Philippines, July 11 (AFP) Militants killed 14 Philippine marines searching for a kidnapped Italian priest during a gunbattle, and later beheaded 10 of them, marine spokesman Ariel Caculitan said Wednesday. “All 10 marines earlier reported missing have been found dead,” Lieutenant Colonel Caculitan told reporters. “All were beheaded,” he added. (First Posted @ 09:27 PST, Updated @ 10:58 PST)
Bush's counterterrorism envoy meets top Saudi leaders RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, July 11 (AP) The highest raking U.S. counterterrorism official Frances Fragos Townsend met Tuesday with King Abdullah and several other top Saudi leaders, the Saudi news agency reported. Townsend held talks with Crown Prince Sultan and Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, the SPA agency said. Details on their discussion were not made public. Townsend, Bush's counterterrorism adviser, is on a tour to the Middle East and North Africa to review cooperation on fighting terrorism. She has made stops in Morocco, Algeria and Libya. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
China flood toll hits 360 BEIJING, July 11 (Reuters) Floods and landslides have killed at least 360 people across China this summer and destroyed more than 4 million hectares of crops, the Xinhua news agency said Wednesday. Direct economic losses were $3.21 billion, according to latest figures from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. “Apart from 217,000 houses wholly or partially destroyed, more than 4.28 million hectares of grain crops have been hit, with 2.03 million hectares totally destroyed,” headquarters deputy director Cheng Dianlong was quoted as saying. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 49.97 points: KARACHI, July 11: At the close of tradting the KSE-100 index was at 13967.40, up 49.97 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, July 11: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 61 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
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