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| August 21, 2007 | Tuesday | Sha’aban 7, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Musharraf for stable political environment, continuity of policies to achieve ‘Vision 2030’ ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf Tuesday urged the political power holders in the country to maintain a stable political environment for the continuity and sustainability of development policies and to make the Vision 2030 a reality. “We have to have a stable political environment,” the President said at the launching of ‘ Vision 2030’ programme which envisages a roadmap for future development in key areas of national importance. He spoke of the vision that looks at a “developed, industrialised, just and prosperous Pakistan through rapid and sustainable development in a resource constrained economy by deploying knowledge inputs.” He said in the run-up to the election, it is extremely important that “we develop national consensus on issues, challenges and threats. We have to generate political reconciliation to meet those [threats] and finally ensure good governance.” He said it was also vital that “we maintain harmony externally, peace within and peace without.” In this regard he mentioned the efforts being made for peace with India and the approach to ensure that things stabilise in Afghanistan and on the borders within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. “We have to achieve these targets so that our vision 2030 continues moving unimpeded by these centrifugal forces that may harm it and may create obstacles.” (Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Benazir says contacts on with government but no deal yet ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (APP): Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said her party was holding contacts with the government but no deal has so far been made. “If someone says that talks are going on between the government and PPPP, he is right, but if someone says that a deal has been executed between the two, he is wrong”, she told a private tv channel . “We are endeavoring to reach a consensus but the process is still continuing and no decision has so far been made”, she added. Replying to a question, she said that the government sees the election of President Musharraf through the present assemblies as legal while PPPP thinks otherwise, adding that the matter should therefore be settled by the courts. (Posted @ 18:40 PST)
Resignations not to impact presidential election: AG ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (APP): Attorney General of Pakistan, Malik Mohammad Qayyum said the resignation of any member of the assembly would have no impact on the presidential election. He said the president could contest election with or without uniform as constitution permits him to do so. President Musharraf could remain president in uniform, following the 17th Amendment. Resignation of any member of assembly would have no impact on the Electoral College, he said. The presidential election could only be held back, in case of the dissolution the assembly. Supreme Court had already given its decision in favour of the president's uniform and, therefore now, it was unlikely that the SC would take some other decision in this regard, he added. (Posted @ 21:14 PST)
Pakistan says terror cell uncovered, two arrested ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (AFP) - Pakistan said Tuesday it had uncovered a network of extremists involved in planning and carrying out suicide attacks in Islamabad. Interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a press briefing more arrests were expected as the network is now known. The suspects had also planned suicide attacks on Pakistan's Independence Day, he said. (Posted @ 20:18 PST)
Renowned Urdu writer Qurratulain Haider passes away New Delhi, Aug 21 (PPI): Noted Urdu writer Qurratulain Haider, 80, died Tuesday. Born in 1927 at Aligarh, , Qurratulain was one of the greatest of the Urdu fiction writers. A trendsetter in Urdu fiction, she began writing at a time when the novel was yet to take deep roots as a serious genre in the poetry-oriented world of Urdu literature. Starting from the wonderful Aag ka Darya, and the moving 'Aakhre Shab Ke Hamsafar' to the great 'Chandni Begum', she explored the lives of ordinary people at different stages of history. She was prolific, and an extremely outstanding writer. (Posted @ 19:34 PST)
Karachi traffic: SC orders short-term measures KARACHI, Aug 21 (PPI): The Supreme Court Tuesday directed City District Government Karachi and the police to immediately remove all illegal encroachments and unauthorized parking from the entire Karachi city to overcome the worsening traffic problem. “These short term measures should be taken at once without abusing process of law,” a two-member bench comprising Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi ordered in the suo moto reference and adjourned the hearing for August 27. During the hearing on Tuesday the SC also ordered Sindh Chief Secretary to convene periodical meetings of all stakeholders, monitor progress and submit report every Saturday. The court noted that trailers were still seen plying on roads despite SC order to ban entry of heavy duty vehicles in city limits and issuance of notification by CDGK in this regard. “Why traffic police did not intervene. It shows their inefficiency. Where were traffic police? traffic signals in city were not working properly”. (Posted @ 19:26 PST)
‘Vision 2030’ launched ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (APP) - Pakistan Tuesday launched Vision 2030 programme, a roadmap for the development of the key areas of national importance. “Vision 2030 is focused on developed, industrialized, just and prosperous Pakistan through rapid and sustainable development in a resource constrained economy by deploying knowledge inputs,” Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Akram Sheikh told participants at its launching at Aiwan-e-Sadr. He said the programme is aimed at making Pakistan a major regional hub for industry, trade and education. On achieving the economic goals, Dr Sheikh said the objective was to enhance country's GDP around US$ 1,000 billion with per capita income expected to quadruple from US$ 925 in 2007 to about US$ 4,000 in 2030. Reducing population growth from 1.9 to one percentand increasing literacy rate upto hundred percent by 2015 were the other targets. (Posted @ 18:54 PST)
Passenger boat capsizes in Thailand with dozens missing BANGKOK, Aug 21 (APP/AP): Dozens of people were missing after a boat carrying about a hundred passengers and crew capsized and sank Tuesday near a Thai resort island, police said. The boat capsized in the Andaman sea between Krabi province and a resort island of Phi Phi. (Posted @ 18:45 PST)
Five killed in Iraq violence BAGHDAD, Aug 21 (APP/AFP) - Five people were killed in bomb attacks and drive-by shootings in Iraq on Tuesday. In the capital, a roadside bomb ripped through a minibus in the neighbourhood of Jadida, killing two civilians and wounding 13, while the nephew of the governor of Diyala province was killed in a hail of gunfire as he was driving from the provincial capital Baquba. In Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded alongside a police patrol killing one civilian and wounding seven other people, five of them police officers, said Captain Ghazi Abdallah. (Posted @ 18:38 PST)
Japan's defence chief to Pakistan for talks TOKYO, Aug 21AFP): Japan's Defence Minister Yuriko Koike, headed to Pakistan on Tuesday for talks on Tokyo's role in the “war on terror,” which has come under criticism at home. She left as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was due in India. Koike is expected to meet President Pervez Musharraf as well as Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal. She will go on to India, where she will meet her Indian counterpart A.K. Antony on Friday. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Afghanistan violence kills 23 people GHAZNI, Aug 21(AFP) At least 23 people including two police officers were killed in clashes as fresh violence swept insurgency-hit Afghanistan, officials said onTuesday. Eight Taliban militants and two policemen were killed in fighting which erupted late Monday in the southern province of Ghazni where the Taliban have been holding 19 South Korean aid workers hostage for the past month, police said. The fighting in the province's Qara Bagh and Ander districts was still continuing on Tuesday, the provincial police chief told AFP. Two other police were seriously wounded, he said. (Posted @ 15:45 PST)
Hurricane Dean slams into Mexico coast CANCUN, Mexico, Aug 21(AFP): Hurricane Dean, a massive category five strength storm, slammed into the east coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula on Tuesday, the US National Hurricane Center said. The eye of the storm made landfall on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula near Costa Maya or Majahual around 0830 GMT ... about 65 kilometers east-northeast of Chetumal, Mexico, it said. (Posted @ 14:20 PST)
Afghan police kill four suspected Taliban fighters KABUL, Aug 21 (AP) - Taliban fighters attacked a police compound late Monday in Farah province bordering Iran, sparking a two-hour gunbattle that left four insurgents dead and six wounded, a local police chief said Tuesday. (Posted @ 18:26 PST)
Iraqi deputy minister kidnapped Baghdad, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The bodies of another 12 people were found in different districts of Baghdad on Monday, as police reported that gunmen kidnapped Sameer al-Aatar, deputy minister of science and technology, in Aarasat al-Hindiya district in southern Baghdad. Al-Aatar is a member of the secular Iraqi National List headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. (Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Cricket-Indian board sacks Kapil Dev over rebel league MUMBAI, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Former India captain Kapil Dev has been sacked as chairman of the national cricket academy for refusing to give up his involvement with Indian Cricket League, an unapproved Twenty20 tournament, being launched this year. (Posted @ 18:06 PST)
Israeli fire kills three militants in Gaza GAZA CITY, Aug 21(REUTERS): An Israeli strike killed three militants in the central Gaza Strip near the border with Israel on Tuesday, medics said. (First Posted @ 15:45 PST Updated @ 17:58 PST)
Death toll from China storms rises to 29 BEIJING, Aug 21(AFP): The death toll from Typhoon Sepat in southeastern China has risen to 29, with 14 others still missing, the state media reported on Tuesday, as the storm continued to wreak havoc. Although Sepat was downgraded to a tropical depression, it continued to cause damage as it moved inland on Tuesday, with 130,000 people evacuated from their homes in central China's Hunan province, Xinhua news agency said. (Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Five N. Koreans seek asylum at Indonesian embassy in Hanoi JAKARTA, Aug 21(AFP): Five North Koreans entered Indonesia's embassy in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Tuesday and asked for asylum, a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP. “Four women and one man at about 0830 GMT jumped the fence at the embassy,” spokesman Desra Percaya said. (Posted @ 15:15 PST)
Saddam aides on trial over Shiite crackdown BAGHDAD, Aug 21(AFP): The trial of 15 former aides of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity over their alleged role in the crushing of a 1991 rebellion opened in Baghdad on Tuesday. Among those in the dock was Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid -- widely known as Chemical Ali. He has already been sentenced to death in a previous trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. (Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Philippines suspends peace talks with Muslim rebels MANILA, Aug 21(AFP): The Philippine government said on Tuesday it had suspended peace talks with Muslim insurgents, saying it needed more time, and insisting the move was not linked to a military operation in the restive south. The talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF, were to resume in Malaysia on Wednesday. (Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Turkish PM says army should stay out of politics ANKARA, Aug 21(AFP): Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the influential army to keep out of politics, following the start of a presidential election, Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday. The military “should stay in its place... All institutions should act in line with the mandate they are given by the constitution,” Erdogan was quoted as saying overnight. (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Dozens injured in Bangladesh university clash DHAKA, Aug 21 (Reuters) Classes and exams were postponed in Bangladesh's biggest university Tuesday after about 100 students were injured overnight in a campus battle with security forces, officials and witnesses said. The violence erupted Monday evening after the students protested against the presence of army troops at a stadium at Dhaka University during a football match, they said. The troops assaulted some protesters, fuelling the unrest that soon spread across the 40,000-student campus. Hundreds of police rushed in, fired teargas and rubber bullets, the witnesses said. The students hit back with sticks and stones. The students have called for an indefinite strike at the university.(Posted @ 11:10 PST)
Protests at day one of North America summit MONTEBELLO, Canada, Aug 21 (AFP) Thousands of protestors Monday clashed with riot police at this log cabin inn near Ottawa, decrying a summit of North American leaders on bolstering security and economic ties. With bursts of drums and kazoos, demonstrators taunted host Prime Minister Stephen Harper, US President George W. Bush and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, at this third instalment of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit. Dressed as clowns and guerillas, protestors chanted “Bush go home!” and waved “No to Americanada” placards along the shores of the Ottawa River, 80 kilometres east of Ottawa. Riot police, using tear gas, pepper spray and batons, blocked an estimated 5,000 demonstrators at the gates of Chateau Montebello. A Quebec police spokesman, said one protestor was arrested, and two officers were injured in the melee. The summit aims to harmonize North American trade rules and security following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when closed US borders cost all three countries billions of dollars in lost trade.( (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 446.35 points: KARACHI, Aug 21: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 12245.82, down 446.35 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Aug 21: 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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