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| September 24, 2007 | Monday | Ramazan 11, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Pakistan ex-judge to stand against Musharraf: lawyers ISLAMABAD, Sept 24 (AFP) Pakistani lawyers announced Monday that they would field Wajih-udin Ahmad, a former Supreme Court judge, as a candidate against Pervez Musharraf in presidential elections due on October 6. “We have nominated Wajih-udin Ahmad. He is a very respected judge and he will be our candidate for president,” Supreme Court bar association president Munir Malik told reporters outside the court. He said Ahmad would be proposed and seconded by other lawyers. Ahmad would likely file his nomination papers Thursday, the deadline for doing so, he added. (Posted @ 12:10 PST)
Supreme court dismisses three petitions; hears seven others against Musharraf ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept 24 (AP) - The Supreme Court dismissed three challenges to the re-election bid of President Pervez Musharraf on Monday. However, the nine-member bench was still weighing seven other petitions arguing that Musharraf's dual role as army chief and president makes him ineligible to seek another five-year term. Presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas dismissed three petitions, one because it was filed too late, another because the attorney who filed it didn't show up, and a third without explanation. During the hearing, Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum defended President Musharraf's plans to run for yet another term, saying he was an eligible candidate. The court is expected to rule on the other petitions, which include complaints from opposition parties and a lawyers' organization, later this week. As he was entering the court building, Musharraf's lawyer, Ahmed Raza Qasuri, was sprayed in the face with a black substance by an agitated attorney. Raza Qasuri, complaining that his eyes had been affected, said the incident was a sign that Musharraf's opponents were losing their case. “When such elements sense their defeat, they resort to such provocative acts,” he told reporters. “They are a black spot on the legal profession.” (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
May 12 case adjourned till Oct 22 amid tight security KARACHI, Sept 24 (APP) The 7-Member Bench of the High Court of Sindh, Monday adjourned the hearing of May 12 case till October 22. The hearing was adjourned at the request of Advocate General Sindh who submitted that since over 2000 affidavits have been furnished he could not see the contents and is not in a position to argue. The Bench observed that these affidavits have not come on the record and are still on objection. It said when these will come on the record then concerned parties would be provided with the copies. However, later with consensus of both sides the court adjourned further hearing till Oct 22. (Posted @ 13:37 PST)
US embassy says Pakistan arrests 'extremely disturbing' ISLAMABAD, Sept 24 (AFP) -The US embassy in Pakistan on Monday said the arrest of several opposition leaders was “extremely disturbing” and urged authorities to release them. The expression of concern is a rare step from the United States, which normally limits criticism of Pakistan and its president Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the “war on terror” .“The reports of arrests of the leadership of several major Pakistani political parties are extremely disturbing and confusing for the friends of Pakistan,” the embassy statement said. “We wish to express our serious concern about these developments. These detainees should be released as soon as possible.” Dozens of people were arrested over the weekend to prevent further protests against Musharraf's plans for re-election, including Javed Hashmi, the acting chief of exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party. Other key figures seized were Raja Zafar ul-Haq, from the same party and Hafiz Hussain Ahmad and Mian Aslam of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam party of Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The embassy statement said the US wanted Pakistan to succeed as a “moderate, modern democratic country led by the choice of the Pakistani people.””We do not endorse particular candidates or parties,” it said. It reiterated the desire of the US for a “free, fair and transparent process” in elections. (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
Pakistan police break up anti-Musharraf rally ISLAMABAD, Sept 24 (AFP) -Riot police arrested dozens of stone-throwing protesters outside the Supreme Court on Monday as it resumed hearing challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's quest for re-election. Scores of flag-waving opposition demonstrators hurled stones at police who tried to stop them reaching the court building and shouted anti-Musharraf slogans. Police on horseback charged at the protesters to disperse them after a series of clashes. Officers wearing helmets and carrying shields and batons dragged at least two dozen of them into vans. Hundreds more police sealed off the marble Supreme Court building. Most of the demonstrators were from Pakistan's main coalition of religious parties, the Muttahida-Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Police arrested several opposition leaders at the weekend. The government says the “preventative detentions” were to stop protests and ensure security following rallies on Friday. The Supreme Court is currently hearing a string of legal petitions. The appeals argue that Musharraf is ineligible to stand in the poll, that his dual role as president and army chief is illegal and that he should be chosen by a new parliament that is due to be elected by early 2008. Musharraf has vowed to quit the army by November 15 if he is elected, but his opponents say he should hang up his uniform first. (Posted @ 16:45 PST)
India absent as Iran, Pakistan resume gas pipeline talks TEHRAN, Sept 24 (AFP) - Iran and Pakistan on Monday started a new round of talks over finalising a long-delayed multi-billion dollar gas pipeline project, but in the absence of Indian officials. “Iranian and Pakistani experts are going to finalise the terms of the agreement which will then be signed by the presidents of the two countries,” the state news agency IRNA reported. “The Indian side is not taking part in these discussions as India and Pakistan have still not come to an agreement on the price for the transit of gas through Pakistan,” the agency quoted an Iranian official as saying. The negotiations are going ahead at “expert” level over the next days and on Thursday the deputy oil ministers of the two countries are to meet in Tehran to examine the results of the discussions, IRNA said. Caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari had warned last week Iran was prepared to sign with Pakistan alone if India did not speed up. “If we believe that a serious delay has occurred with the Indians, we will go ahead with the Pakistanis,” he said. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Cricket: India win T20 final against Pakistan JOHANNESBURG, Sept 24 (AFP) - India won the inaugural World Twenty20 championship on Monday after beating arch rivals Pakistan by five runs in the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Brief scores: India 157 for five in 20 overs, Pakistan 152 all out in 19.3 overs. (Posted @ 20:33 PST)
Ten killed in Iraq attacks BAGHDAD, Sept 24 (AFP) - Insurgents killed at least 10 people in Iraq on Monday, including six in a suicide truck bomb attack in the northern town of Tal Afar, officials said.A bomber slammed his explosives-laden truck against a joint Iraqi police and army checkpoint in the centre of Tal Afar. Those killed included two policeman, a soldier and three civilians, while 17 civilians were wounded in the attack. In Baghdad, two children were killed and their mother and a brother were wounded when a mortar hit their home,a security official said. Separately, a woman was killed and another wounded when gunmen sprayed bullets on a minibus in the western Yarmukh neighbourhood of Baghdad, a security official said. The bus was carrying employees of Al-Rafidayin Bank, he said. An Iraqi soldier was killed and three others wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol in the northern oil city of Kikruk, city police chief Brigadier General Borhan Habibi said. A car bomb in the city also wounded six people, he said. Police also found the bodies of three men west of Baquba, the capital of the restive Diyala province. (Posted @ 20:40 PST)
PM Aziz approves Marine Disaster Contingency Plan ISLAMABAD, Sep 24 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Monday approved in principle the proposed National Marine Disaster Contingency Plan (NMDCP) that will comprehensively cover all aspects of marine disasters, oil spills and search, rescue and salvage operations. (Posted @ 20:25 PST)
Solution of Kashmir issue inevitable for economic stability in SA: APHC ISLAMABAD, Sep 24 (APP): Senior APHC leader, Professor Abdul Ghani Butt in unequivocal term said that solution of Kashmir issue was inevitable for economic stability of South Asia. Talking to Kashmir Media Service on telephone from Srinagar, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader said peace and prosperity in the region would not be possible without resolving the long-standing dispute. Professor Butt also urged India to make the composite dialogue process more purposeful by considering the ground realities of occupied Kashmir for the solution of this longstanding dispute. Dialogue process has to be made result oriented for finding a permanent solution of Kashmir issue, he added. The APHC leader also stressed the need of adopting the four-pronged strategy proposed by President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf for the solution of Kashmir issue and inclusion of Kashmiri leadership in talks between India and Pakistan. He also urged International community to play its part in resolving the Kashmir issue. (Posted @ 20:20 PST)
British High Commission to set up its Visa Office at Sialkot SIALKOT, Sept 24 (APP): The British High Commission in Pakistan is actively considering to set up its Visa Office at Sialkot, Deputy High Commissioner Simon Butt said while addressing the members of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday. (Posted @ 18:15 PST)
India's Rahul Gandhi promoted in ruling party NEW DELHI, Sept 24 (Reuters) - India's ruling Congress party named Rahul Gandhi, heir of the Nehru-Gandhi family, as one of its general-secretaries on Monday, in an apparent indication it was gearing for possible early polls. He will be in-charge of the youth and students' wing. (Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Two Italian soldiers freed after Afghan kidnapping HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept 24 (AFP) - NATO freed two kidnapped Italian soldiers in Farah province Monday in an operation which left both troops wounded and up to nine of their captors dead, officials said. Separately, two Spanish soldiers were killed in a bomb blast hours later in the same western province. The Italian troopers were rescued two days after going missing in Herat province when an Italian-led contingent of troops from ISAF intercepted the hostages and their kidnappers early on Monday. Meanwhile , two Spanish soldiers were killed and another two were badly injured on Monday when their convoy was hit by an explosion in Farah province's Shewan district, the Spanish defence ministry said. An Iranian interpreter working with them may have also been killed, the ministry added. (Posted @ 17:45 PST)
Shujaat, Durrani welcome lawyers nominee for presidential poll Islamabad Sept 24 (PPI) - PML President Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain Monday welcomed the announcement of lawyers community for accepting the present assemblies as electoral college for the Presidential election. In a statement he said the opposition should also compete in the contest instead of tendering resignations.,Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani welcoming the announcment of Lawyers community for nominating their candidate for the upcoming Presidential election said it indicated that the lawyers community has distanced itself from the resignation and boycott calls given by the opposition parties. (Posted @ 17:21 PST)
US-Pak sign amendments to current $1.5 billion development assistance ISLAMABAD, Sep 24 (APP): Pakistan and United States here on Monday signed five amendments for additional funding of US $ 169,938,713 to their ongoing five year US $ 1.5 billion bilateral agreement of development assistance to Pakistan. The bilateral agreement was signed by US Agency for International Development (USAID) Pakistan Mission Director Anne Aarnes and Secretary for Economic Affairs Division, M. Akram Malik. The funding would be utilized for education, health, good governance, economic growth and reconstruction of earthquake-hit areas of north Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, she said. (Posted @ 17:05 PST)
Pakistan protests India-Britain military exercise ISLAMABAD, Sept 24 (AFP) Pakistan said Monday it had lodged protests with Britain and India over a joint military exercise in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Britain's Royal Marines last week kicked off 25 days of joint high-altitude exercises with the Indian army in the northern Ladakh region in occupied Kashmir. “We have sent demarches to both the British government and the Indian government,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told a weekly briefing. A demarche is a formal diplomatic representation. “This is not a legitimate activity because Jammu and Kashmir is internationally recognized disputed territory,” she said, adding “More than anybody else the British should be aware of it.” Pakistan last week protested to India over a plan to allow trekkers to visit the disputed 6,300-metre Siachen glacier in Kashmir, where thousands of troops from both countries are stationed. Aslam said Monday the Indian presence in Siachen violated a 1972 accord. “The Indian military's aggression into Siachen, its presence there and any activity that it sponsors in this area is illegal,” she said. (Posted @ 15:43 PST)
Israel arrests 20 in West Bank raids NABLUS, West Bank, Sept 24 (AFP) - Israeli army arrested more than 20 Palestinians overnight in operations across the occupied West Bank, officials on both sides said on Monday. According to Palestinian security sources, 20 people were arrested around the northern city of Nablus. Among those detained were eight members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a Hamas member and a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, loosely linked with president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party. An army spokesman said 22 Palestinians were arrested “in routine operations” overnight in the West Bank, including nine around Nablus. According to UNRWA, seven homes in Ein Beit Elma refugee camp inside the city were demolished and at least 50 more were damaged during last week's raids. (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
Sri Lanka battles claim 27 lives COLOMBO, Sept 24 (AFP) - Heavy fighting between security forces and Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka has left at least 27 people dead, military officials said Monday. The LTTE lost at least 20 men in pre-dawn clashes Monday on the Jaffna peninsula, and another three in the Wanni region further south. The fighting also left two security personnel, including an officer, dead and 30 soldiers wounded on Sunday. Another two were killed and 15 wounded in Jaffna early Monday, officials said. (Posted @ 16:35 PST)
More than 100,000 protest on Myanmar streets YANGON, Sept 24 (AFP) More than 100,000 people flooded the streets of Myanmar's biggest city Monday, joining Buddhist monks in the strongest show of dissent against the ruling generals in nearly two decades. In swelling tides of humanity, two major marches snaked their way through the nation's commercial capital led by robed monks chanting prayers of peace and compassion, witnesses said. (First Posted @ 11:25 PST, Updated @ 15:50 PST)
'EU committed to Kashmir resolution' Srinagar, occupied Kashmir, Sep 24 (APP): The visiting European Union (EU) delegation has said that they were committed to work for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue and hoped that peace process between India and Pakistan will reach its logical conclusion soon. “We hope that peace process between India and Pakistan will reach its logical conclusion soon,”. “The International community wants the issue to be resolved peacefully. We are committed for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue,” Luis Filipe Castro Mendes, ambassador of Portugal to India and head of five members EU delegation, said. (Posted @ 15:25 PST)
Iran shuts border with Iraq's Kurdish region SULAMIANIYAH, Iraq, Sept 24 (AFP) Iran on Monday closed all entry points on the border with Iraq's northern Kurdish region in protest at the arrest of an Iranian by the US military, a Kurdish official told AFP. “All five entry points on the border between Iran and the Kurdish region have been closed by the Iranian authorities from today,” said Jamal Abdallah, spokesman for the Kurdish Regional Government. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran. (Posted @ 14:13 PST)
Indian troops kill key Kashmir militant SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Sept 24 (AFP) Indian troops shot dead a top militant in occupied Kashmir, police said Monday. Abu Haider Ali, operational commander of al Barq militant group, died in a gunfight late Sunday near the northern town of Sopore, deputy inspector general of police B. Srinivas said. (Posted @ 14:07 PST)
U.S. troops target suspected militiamen in Baghdad; one killed, four detained BAGHDAD, Sept 24 (AP) U.S. troops killed one suspected militant and detained four others said to be involved in kidnapping operations run by militias during a raid Monday in eastern Baghdad’s Sadr City neighbourhood, the military said. (Posted @ 12:51 PST)
Kurd rebels derail train in Turkey DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Sept 24 (AFP) Kurdish separatists derailed a freight train in an attack late Sunday in Elazig in eastern Turkey that wounded four engineers, a security source said Monday. The rebels laid a mine under the track that derailed the train and then opened fire with high-powered rifles, the source said. The four wounded were all in the locomotive or the wagons that were being pulled. (Posted @ 12:21 PST)
Ahmadinejad arrives in New York for U.N. General Assembly NEW YORK, Sept 24 (AP) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York Sunday to protests ahead of an appearance Monday at Columbia University and an address to the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday. A group of elected officials and civic leaders demonstrated outside Columbia University Sunday. Protests were to follow Monday near Columbia and the U.N. (Posted @ 11:40 PST)
U.S. security firm ambushed in Afghanistan, three dead HERAT, Sept 24(Reuters): Three Afghan guards of a U.S. private security firm were killed in an ambush by Taliban in western Afghanistan and 10 were missing, officials said on Monday. The attack on the convoy in Farah province on Sunday night was followed by a clash between the militants and the guards, officials said. “The Taliban attacked the convoy, killed three guards of the company and ten of them are missing,” Farah's police chief told reporters. The police chief said 21 Taliban fighters were killed in the clash A provincial official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that 13 guards had died in the attack. (Posted @ 11:11 PST)
Seven policemen, five govt employees killed in northeastern Afghanistan KABUL, Sept 24(AP): Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying police and government employees, killing 12 in northeastern Afghanistan, police said on Monday. The attack on Sunday left seven policemen and five government employees dead, and one policeman wounded. They were traveling from Badakhshan province to Kabul, said the Badakhshan police chief. (Posted @ 10:09 PST)
Delays hit rebel cricket league in India NEW DELHI, Sept 24(AFP): The launch of the multi-million-dollar breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL) has been delayed until November 17 due to “teething problems.” Kapil Dev, who spearheads the ICL, said the tournament would now start when more international cricketers are available. “We all felt mid-November is the right date, because at that time international cricketers should also be free to play,” Dev told CNN-IBN television. “November 17 is the target date, but still let us wait till it is officially announced,” he added. (Posted @ 09:48 PST)
Explosion in Kosovo capital kills two people PRISTINA, Serbia, Sept 24(Reuters): An explosion killed two people and injured 11 when it tore through shops early on Monday in the capital of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province. The explosion scattered glass and debris from a dozen shops on Pristina's Bill Clinton Boulevard. Part of a building collapsed. “Two people died,” said a police spokesman. He said another 11 were in hospital. The blast, the cause of which was not known, comes at a time of rising tension within Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority over its stalled bid for independence from Serbia. (Posted @ 08:40 PST)
Clashes at demo protesting high food prices in Morocco RABAT, Sept 24(AFP): Police and demonstrators protesting high food prices clashed on Sunday in the central Moroccan city of Sefrou, leaving 50 people injured, officials and witnesses said. Witnesses said the demonstrators, threw rocks at police, ransacked a bank branch, several shops and a local administration office. Police arrested about 30 people. (Posted @ 08:35 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 155.12, points: KARACHI, Sept 24: At the close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 13220.29, up 155.12, points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:00 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Sept 24:The Pakistani Rupee was traded 2t Rs 60.7 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:00 PST)
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