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| October 02, 2007 | Tuesday | Ramazan 19, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
General Tariq Majid appointed as CJCSC, General Ashfaq Kayani as VCOAS ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (APP) The Government Tuesday announced promotion of Lt. General Tariq Majid and Lt. Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as Generals. Both the newly promoted Generals have been appointed as Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee and Vice Chief of Army Staff respectively. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would take over as Chief of Army Staff after vacation of the office, according to media reports. President Pervez Musharraf has already pledged that he would doff his uniform after re-election as president and before taking oath as president for the next five year term. (First Posted @ 14:19 PST, Updated @ 16:05 PST)
Pakistan to grant amnesty to Benazir ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct 2 (AP) - Pakistan government agreed Tuesday to quash corruption cases against ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto. President Pervez Musharraf will issue an ordinance as early as Wednesday granting amnesty in cases up to 1999 in which politicians had not been convicted, Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem said _ meeting one of Benazir’s key demands in long-running talks with Musharraf on a possible power-sharing deal. Azeem also said that talks between representatives of Benazir and the government had been held in London and Islamabad on Tuesday. There was no confirmation from Bhutto's party. (Posted @ 20:15 PST)
CJ constitutes 9-member larger bench to hear petitions of Wajih, Amin Fahim ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (APP): Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry Tuesday constituted a nine-member larger bench to hear from Wednesday constitutional petitions filed by presidential candidates Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed and Makhdoom Amin Fahim against the forthcoming presidential election on October 6. The bench headed by Justice Javed Iqbal comprises Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali Shah and Justice Ghulam Muhammad Rabbani. Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who are also candidates in the October 6 presidential election, have filed separate petitions under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, praying for court to postponement of the election. Wasim Rehan, another petitioner has also filed an identical constitutional petition under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution. Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed filed his petition through his lawyers Munir A.Malik, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Justice (Retd) Tariq Mehmood and Hamid Khan. Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Chairman Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), filed his petition through lawyers Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa and Farooq H.Naik. Wasim Rehan a resident of Dera Ismail Khan, moved his petition through Barrister Dr.Farooq Hassan. (Posted @ 19:25 PST)
Pakistan opposition MPs resign over Musharraf vote ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (AFP) -Pakistani opposition MPs staged a mass resignation on Tuesday in a bid to wreck the credibility of President Pervez Musharraf's expected re-election for another five-year term. Musharraf's two rivals in Saturday's crunch presidential vote meanwhile filed new petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the military ruler's eligibility to stand for re-election.Eighty-five opposition MPs backed by flag-waving supporters chanting “Go, Musharraf Go!” marched to parliament, where they submitted their resignations to the speaker of the national assembly, or lower house. Two female lawmakers from the ruling party also quit, state media said. “This is a historic day. The presidential election holds no constitutional legitimacy now,” parliamentary opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman told reporters. The alliance includes the parties of former premier Nawaz Sharif , cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, plus a clutch of fundamentalist groups. Ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party is not part of the coalition, having held talks with Musharraf on a power-sharing deal which have since apparently stalled. The MPs and 600 supporters marched from a parliamentary apartment building in Islamabad to the nearby national assembly, shouting “This is the end of your show -- Go Musharraf, Go!” and “A friend of America is a traitor”. “This is the first step to discredit the election process,” said Imran Khan as the MPs quit the 342-seat national assembly. Around 125 provincial legislators were also in the process of submitting their resignations in the assemblies of Pakistan's four provinces, alliance officials said. The two candidates standing against Musharraf in the election earlier lodged their court appeals against his re-election, saying that the nomination papers he filed last week were invalid. Former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmad, who quit rather than swear allegiance to Musharraf after his 1999 coup, and Bhutto party vice chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim both called for the vote to be halted. (First Posted @11:24 PST Updated @ 13:10 PST)
46 Punjab MPAs submit resignations to Secretary PA LAHORE, Oct 2 (APP) Forty six members of the Punjab Assembly submitted their resignations to Secretary Punjab Assembly here Tuesday. The party-wise break up of the members who tendered their resignations is as follows: PML-N (32), MMA (8) and PML-Q (6), parliamentary leader PML-N, Rana Sana Ullah Khan told newsmen at provincial Assembly chambers. (Posted @ 16:05 PST)
Twenty-five Balochistan APDM MPAs resign QUETTA, Pakistan, Oct 2 (PPI) Twenty-five MPAs belonging to the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) submitted resignations from Balochistan Assembly to the Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar Tuesday. According to sources, 16 MPAs represent MMA, five National Party and four PMAP. Two MMA MPAs, provincial minister Agha Faisal Daud and Ms. Amna Khanum, filed applications with the Speaker requesting him not to accept their resignation as these were filed under pressure. Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar however denied receiving their applications. (Posted @ 17:05 PST)
Seven APDM members submit their resignations to Speaker Sindh Assembly KARACHI, Oct 2 (APP) Seven members of opposition All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) submitted their resignations to Speaker of Sindh Assembly Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah in Karachi on Tuesday. He said that the Sindh Assembly session has been summoned by the Governor for October 4 while he will himself summon the Assembly on October 6 for Presidential poll. (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
No-confidence motion: Speaker calls NWFP Assembly meeting Peshawar, Pakistan, Oct 2(PPI) - Speaker of NWFP Assembly on the requisition of All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) has called the NWFP Assembly session on Wednesday at 10 pm. In response to PML (Q) sponsored no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, APDM provincial leadership under article 54 submited the requisition which was signed by 39 members of the frontier Assembly, officials said.. The APDM members presented three-point agenda viz. ADP, net hydle profit and Tameer-e-Sarhad Program. “ We have informed our central leadership about the legal position that Assembly could not be dissolved before October 7, because legally no-confidence motion could not be disposed off before October 5,” parliamentary leaders of ANP and PML (N) told media at speaker’s chamber. (Posted @ 19:20 PST)
SC orders reopening of Lal Masjid ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct 2 (AP) Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered authorities to reopen Lal Masjid in Islamabad that was closed following a military raid against suspected militants there, an official said. A two-judge Supreme Court panel also ordered authorities to construct, within a year, a new building for Jamia Hafsa, a madrassah next to Lal Masjid, said Raja Mohammed Irshad, deputy attorney general. Lal Masjid was closed and Jamia Hafsa was razed following a July siege and raid by army commandos and paramilitary troops. The mosque, led by its prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz, had launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in Islamabad. Aziz was arrested but his brother, who also was his deputy, was among those killed in the operation. Authorities reopened the mosque in late July but closed it again after hundreds of Aziz's supporters chased away a government-appointed prayer leader and demanded Aziz's release and reinstatement. On Tuesday, Supreme Court appointed a new cleric as a temporary imam and ordered authorities to reopen the mosque for regular prayers Wednesday, Irshad said. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
India, Pakistan, S. Arabia leading buyers of weapons: Congressional report NEW YORK, Oct 2 (APP):- India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were the top buyers of weapons in 2006, while the United States was the leading supplier of arms to the developing world, a Congressional study has revealed. The study by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said that nearly 36 percent of the weapons bought last year in developing countries were sold by the US, the New York Times reported Monday. The value of the arms was $ 10.3 billion. Next was Russia with more than 28 percent of the market, worth $8.1 billion, and Britain at $3.1 billion, or nearly 11 percent. More than 60 percent of the global arms market, about $28.8 billion, was in sales to developing countries, a decline of about nine percent from 2005's $31.8 billion. On the buyers' side, Pakistan concluded $5.1 billion in agreements to buy arms last year, followed by India and Saudi Arabia with $3.5 billion and $3.2 billion in agreements respectively. The announcement of major new arms agreements with Pakistan last year renewed debate over whether the Bush administration was elevating its counterterrorism priorities above other things. Pakistan was a major recipient of American arms sales in 2006, including the $1.4 billion purchase of 36 new F-16C/D fighter aircraft and $640 million in missiles and bombs. The deal included a package for $890 million in upgrades for Pakistan's older ersions of the F-16. Meanwhile, China also plays an interesting role as a buyer as well as a seller. While it buys advanced air and naval weapons from Russia, it sells less expensive arms to developing nations, the report noted. (Posted @ 19:05 PST)
Militants kill three police in northwest Pakistan PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 2 (AFP) - Militants raided a police checkpost in the town of Hangu in northwest Pakistan Tuesday, killing three policemen and injuring two others, officials said. “Assailants got out of a car and entered the police post where they sprayed bullets at the policemen sitting there, killing three of them and injuring two others,” local police chief Ghulam Mohammad said.The attackers fled the scene and a hunt for them was under way, he said. (Posted @ 20:18 PST)
NA: 5 MPs of ruling party tender resignations ISLAMABAD, Oct 02 (PPI)- Five MPs from the ruling party, the PML-Q. are among the 86 Members of National Assembly belonging to All Parties Democratic Alliance (APDM) who submitted their resignation to Speaker National Assembly Tuesday. They are: Dr.Saira Tariq, Akhtar Kanju, Ali Hassan Gillani, Bilal Virk and Shahzadi Umarzadi Tiwana. All these five MPs have joined PML-N. (Posted @ 18:30 PST)
1 soldier, 2 militants killed in battles in northwestern Pakistan PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 2 (AP) - Militants with rockets and assault rifles attacked two military posts in northwestern Pakistan before dawn Tuesday, triggering gunbattles that left at least two militants and one soldier dead, officials said. The first attack happened near the village of Data Khel, about 25 kilometers south of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal region. One soldier died and three were wounded, while authorities later found the bodies of two militants, a local intelligence official said. Militants also attacked paramilitary forces in Swat, a scenic valley in North West Frontier Province. Six security personnel were wounded, said two other officials who also requested anonymity. (First Posted @ 11:02 PST Updated @ 14:57 PST)
Pakistan turmoil won't slow quake recovery: ERRA chief ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (AFP) - Pakistan's present political situation will not hinder efforts to rebuild after the 2005 earthquake that killed 73,000 people, even if the government is toppled, Lt- Genl Nadeem Ahmad, deputy chairman of Pakistan's Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority, told AFP in an interview. “For any government to come, whether it is PML-N or PPP or the present government, to withdraw its support from the reconstruction process would be ethically, morally deficient,” he said. The disaster, the deadliest in Pakistan's history, left 3.5 million people homeless, destroyed more than 600,000 homes, 6,000 schools and dozens of healthcare centres in Azad Kashmir and northwest Pakistan. “Amid this (political) mess we recently made a presentation to the prime minister and then, just three days after, we made one to the president... they are fully committed,” he said. But he added that his “safety wall” was the continuing monitoring by international donors, who supply around 75 percent of the eight billion cost of reconstruction. “The donors know what we are doing, so if the government even tries to vacillate on this subject I think they can be wrapped on the knuckles,” he said. Gen Ahmad said the biggest progress was in housing the homeless. Around 6,600 people were now living in tents, compared with 300,000 immediately after the disaster, he said. About a third of the homes destroyed had been rebuilt and most of the rest were “in advanced stages of completion.” Nearly a third of all health facilities have been rebuilt, most to a far higher standard before, the general said. On schools, however, he admitted that work has been far slower with less than 100 schools out of 6,000 completed and 300 being built, although two universities have risen from the rubble. (Posted @ 13:28 PST)
Explosion in Lakki Marwat PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 02 (APP): A low intensity bomb planted close to the main gate of a house at Tajazai area in Lakki Marwat district detonated with big bang, partially damaging the house. (Posted @ 19:10 PST)
Cricket: Pakistan struggle in Karachi Test KARACHI, Oct 2 (AFP) - At the close of play on the second day of the first Test in Karachi on Tuesday, Pakistan were 127-5 in reply to South Africa's first innings total of 450, still needing 124 to avoid the follow-on. Shoaib Malik was unbeaten on nine and Abdul Rehman one not out. (Posted @ 18:50 PST)
Wajihuddin addresses Balochistan Bar QUETTA, Oct 2 (PPI):- Presidential candidate Justice (R) Wajihuddin Ahmed Tusday said the present assemblies were completing their five-year term and were not therefore entitled to re-elect Musharraf for another term of five years. Addressing members of Balochistan Bar Association he said he was not in the contest to win but to block a dictator from becoming president unconstitutionally. He said it should not have taken the nine-member bench weeks to reach the conclusion that the petitions were not maintainable. He said the 6-3 majority decision was not a decision but a way out to escape a decision. (Posted @ 18:25 PST)
Karachi bomb blast damages electricity pylon ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (APP): A High Tension Tower of Wapda near the Northern Bypass in Karachi was severely damaged by a bomb blast on Tuesday, while another bomb was defused on Tuesday. Police said two bombs were planted with HT Tower at Deh Mai Gari area, of which, one exploded blowing off one of the pillars of the Tower, while another bomb strapped with the other pillar was defused. (Posted @ 18:10 PST)
Suicide bomber kills 6 north of Iraqi capital; roadside bombs kill 3 in Baghdad BAGHDAD, Oct 2 (AP) - A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle Tuesday at a police checkpoint near the town of Khalis, killing six people and wounding 10, police said Those killed included two policemen and four civilians. Earlier Tuesday, two roadside bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing three people and wounding nine others, according to police. The first device targeted an Iraqi police patrol and killed one police officer and injured five others. A second bomb left at a garbage collection site killed two people and wounded four others. (Posted @ 18:00 PST)
27 killed after bus catches fire in southwest China BEIJING, Oct 2 (AP) - At least 27 people were burned to death Tuesday in a bus fire in Chongqing city in southwest China, Xinhua News Agency said adding that another 11 people were rushed to hospital. (Posted @ 17:50 PST)
6 killed in fire at Moscow institute MOSCOW, Oct 2 (AP) - Fire broke out at a five-story Moscow State Institute of State and Corporate Management Tuesday, killing at least six people and injuring more than two dozen, officials said. The blaze forced some students and teachers to jump four or five stories into firefighting rescue nets below or climb onto tree branches. (Posted @ 17:50 PST)
UN envoy leaves Myanmar after Suu Kyi meeting YANGON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari flew out of army-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday after meeting junta chief Than Shwe and a second session of talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Gambari cancelled a last-minute briefing for Yangon-based diplomats at the end of a four-day visit meant to persuade the generals to end their crackdown on the biggest democracy protests in 20 years and to talk to Suu Kyi's political opposition. (Posted @ 17:40 PST)
US backs Karzai's talk offer to Taliban BERLIN, Oct 2 (AFP) - The United States backs Kabul's offer to hold peace talks with the Taliban but believes negotiations with the radical “hard core” in Afghanistan would be hopeless, a senior US official said Tuesday. The deputy head of the European and Eurasian Affairs office at the State Department, Kurt Volker, said Washington welcomed President Hamid Karzai's bid to sit down with radical Afghan groups, as long as they rejected violence. “Those who formerly were fighters who want to return to society ought to be able to do so,” Volker told reporters during a visit to Berlin. (Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Cricket: Australia thrash India in second one-dayer KOCHI, India, Oct 2 (AFP) -Australia defeated India by 84 runs in the second one-day international here on Tuesday to gain a 1-0 lead in the seven-match series.The opening one-dayer was abandoned due to rain at Bangalore on Saturday. Brief scores: Australia 306-6 in 50 overs; India 222 in 47.3 overs. (Posted @ 17:15 PST)
NA session to commence from October 4: NA Speaker ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (APP) The National Assembly session will commence from October 4, Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain told APP Tuesday. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Continuity, consistency of policies must for country's prosperity: PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (APP) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Tuesday said continuity and consistency of policies was vital for ensuring economic growth and prosperity of the country. He was addressing a function at the PM House, following an agreement signed between First MicroFinance Bank Ltd (FMFB) and the Pakistan Post to reach out to the poor living in the remotest areas of the country. The agreement will help the FMFB to utilize over 12,000 post office network across the country to facilitate disbursement of Rs 15 billion to millions of clients over a period of three to five years. (Posted @ 16:08 PST)
1,000 British troops could be home by Christmas: Brown BAGHDAD, Oct 2 (AFP) - Up to 1,000 British troops could be withdrawn from Iraq by Christmas, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters in Baghdad on Tuesday. “I believe that by the end of the year the British forces which have been 5,500 can be reduced to 4,500 and by Christmas 1,000 of our troops can be brought back to the UK for other purposes,” Brown said. (Posted @ 14:29 PST)
12 killed as suicide bomber attacks police bus in Kabul KABUL, Oct 2(AP): A suicide bomber set off a blast in a bus carrying police officers in Kabul on Tuesday, killing 12 police men and wounding at least 7 others in the second such attack on a police bus in four days, police said. The attacker entered from the back of the bus and blew himself up there, said an official from Afghanistan's intelligence service who asked not to be identified. The bus, full of police on their way to work, was completely destroyed in the attack. (First Posted @ 08:55 PST Updated @10:50 PST)
Two blasts in Turkish city kill one, injure four ANKARA, Oct 2 (AFP) - Two explosions Tuesday in the western Turkish city of Izmir killed one person and injured four others, media reports said. One person was killed and two wounded in the second blast, Anatolia news agency reported. Hours earlier, a bag exploded outside a shopping mall in the same area, injuring two street cleaners. (Posted @ 14:21 PST)
Israel begins release of 29 prisoners to Gaza JERUSALEM, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Israel began releasing 29 Palestinian prisoners to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The Gazan prisoners were expected to be sent home on Monday, together with 57 prisoners who live in the occupied West Bank, but the Gazans were held in jail an extra day after Israeli President Shimon Peres delayed signing their pardons. (Posted @ 13:41 PST)
US Senate passes mammoth defence bill WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (AFP) - The US Senate Monday passed a mammoth 648 billion dollar defense policy bill, shorn of attempts by disappointed anti-war Democrats to dictate President George W. Bush's Iraq strategy. The bill included around 128 billion dollars for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. (Posted @ 13:37 PST)
Rice assails idea of partitioning Iraq WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (AFP) -US Secretary of State Condoleezza said in an interview Monday that partitioning Iraq, as suggested by a resolution last week in the US Senate, would be “a real mistake.” ”You know, decentralization and federalism is in their (the Iraqis') constitution. But you can't partition; this isn't kind of ethnic enclaves,” Rice said in an interview with the New York Post. “That would be a real mistake. And by the way, the first and most important reason that you can't do it is that Iraqis don't want to do that and reacted extremely badly to the idea of partitioning the country into ethnically governed enclaves.” (Posted @ 13:17 PST)
Ten dead in clash in southern Philippines MANILA, Oct 2(AFP): Four naval commandos and six militants were killed in fresh fighting in the southern Philippines, the military said on Tuesday. Two other members of a naval special operations group were wounded in the fighting early Tuesday on the island of Lanhil, said a navy spokesman. The troops had gone to the island off Basilan after receiving information that an armed group was there, he said. (Posted @ 10:37 PST)
Kim greets Roh in Pyongyang before historic summit NORTH-SOUTH KOREA BORDER, Oct 2(Reuters): South Korean Presiden Roh Moo-Hyun arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday to the cheers of North Koreans and a handhsake from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for a summit aimed at ending a half century of animosity born in the Cold War. North Koreans waved pink and red plastic flowers when Kim arrived and broke into cheers when Roh stepped out of his open car supplied by North Korea. Kim then shook hands with Roh. Roh is the first South Korean president to step across the heavily armed border and leading perhaps the largest civilian motorcade between the two capitals. “I am crossing this forbidden line of division,” Roh said as he became the first South Korean leader to walk into North Korea, stepping across an 80 cm-wide yellow strip with the words “peace and prosperity” written on it. (Posted @ 09:18 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 183.61, points: KARACHI, Oct 02:At the close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 13921.08, up 183.61, points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:00 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Oct 02: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.7, to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:00 PST)
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