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| June 24, 2008 | Tuesday | Jamadi-us-Sani 19, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (06:00 GMT)
 Pakistani govt to challenge Nawaz Sharif election bar: PM ISLAMABAD, June 24 (AFP) - Pakistani premier Yousuf Razai Gilani said Tuesday his government would challenge a court decision barring Nawaz Sharif, a partner in the ruling coalition, from contesting bye-election on June 26. His announcement came as hundreds of supporters of two-time former premier Sharif protested outside parliament and blamed President Pervez Musharraf for orchestrating their leader's disqualification. The full bench of Lahore High Court ruled late Monday that Sharif was ineligible to stand in the by-election because of previous criminal convictions. “We will file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the ban on Nawaz Sharif standing in the by-election,” Gilani, a senior member of the party of slain ex-PM Benazir Bhutto, told parliament. “We will always take along our coalition partners and we will remain with them in all difficult times,” he said, adding that the government would ask the election commission to postpone the by-election involving Nawaz Sharif. Law minister Farooq Naeq had earlier told the parliament that the appeal against Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification would be filed in the supreme court on Wednesday. MPs from Sharif's party walked out of parliament and held a demonstration outside the building to protest the court decision, where they were joined by supporters. They shouted slogans including “The war will continue till the independence of the judiciary” and “We do not accept the rules of tyranny,” an AFP reporter said. “The judiciary was born from the womb of a dictator and has disqualified the country's most popular leader,” party senior vice president Javed Hashmi told the crowd. Protests also erupted in several cities late Monday. Sharif's party said earlier that it would not appeal because it did not recognise the post-Nov 3 judges, but it was not immediately clear if it would accept any successful challenge by the government following Gilani's announcement. “It is our principled stand that we do not recognise the present supreme court as a constitutional court,” PML-N spokesman Siddqul Farooq told AFP earlier. (First Posted 14:00 @ PST, Updated @ 16:30 PST)  India moves Pakistan fence to free farmlands NEW DELHI, June 24 (Reuters) India has started shifting a border fence closer to Pakistan, ostensibly to free farmlands in the no-man's land between the two rivals, but experts say it will position India better and would surely annoy Pakistan. India began setting up a long fence along the disputed border with Pakistan in the mid-90s on the pretext of stopping illegal immigrants from sneaking into Indian territory. Pakistan objected to the fence, but India hurriedly set it up. “When the fence was being erected, there was lot of firing from the other side, so we put the fence wherever we could,” Ashish Kumar Mitra, chief of the Border Security Force (BSF), said. Mitra said peace talks between the neighbours, which came into effect in 2004, has changed the situation now. “Once we complete moving the fence, farmers should not face any problems in tilling their land,” Mitra said. “We have just started work.” Farmlands across 62 km (38 miles) will be initially freed for cultivation of rice and wheat in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, roughly in a year's time, officials said. (Posted @ 18:10 PST)  US House approves $ 150 million new assistance for Pakistan WASHINGTON, June 24 (APP): The U.S. House of Representatives has approved $150 million in new assistance for Pakistan to address economic needs in the next fiscal year. The assistance is included in the war supplemental budget measure to support efforts into the year 2009, beginning from October 1, 2008. The $150 million will be in addition to allocation Pakistan will receive under regular budget for 2009. The U.S. administration has already requested a total of $901 million for Pakistan in the year 2009. The Senate is going to take up the measure shortly. (Posted @ 23:45 PST) 1 killed, 60 injured in land transfer riots in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, June 24 (AFP) At least 60 people were injured, many seriously, in occupied Kashmir Tuesday in escalating protests about the handing over of land to Hindu pilgrims visiting the Muslim-majority region, officials and witnesses said. The violent clashes in Srinagar came a day after police opened fire on youths, killing one and wounding two others. The news of the death caused more violent protests on Tuesday. Youths carrying sticks and batons forced shops, schools and businesses to shut. They also set fire to abandoned roadside police booths, damaged government property, and overturned cars and three-wheeler taxis. At least 27 people were injured in Gandherbal town, just outside Srinagar, when police fired tear-gas and shots at protesters, witnesses said. Police also used tear-gas and batons in several other parts of Srinagar, with another 33 people, including 20 policemen, receiving injuries. Demonstrations have gripped Srinagar since the local government decided last week to allocate land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, a Hindu trust, so it could build “temporary structures” for tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims who make an annual pilgrimage to a Himalayan cave that sits at an altitude of 12,800 feet. Separatists and politicians say building accommodation for pilgrims at the base of the mountain will ruin the area's fragile ecology and “reinforce India's occupation” of part of the disputed Kashmir region. Two senior separatists, Syed Ali Geelani and Shabbir Shah, were put under house arrest to prevent them from leading protests, police said. (First Posted @ 14:15 PST Updated @ 19:46 PST ) Nawaz Sharif won't challenge disqualification: Siddiqul Farooq ISLAMABAD, June 24 (AFP): Former premier Nawaz Sharif will not appeal against disqualification from elections because he regards all judges appointed by President Musharraf as illegal, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesman Siddiqul Farooq told AFP Tuesday. A court in Lahore Monday barred Sharif, a leading partner in the ruling coalition, from standing in by-elections on Thursday. “Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N are not going to make an appeal before the so-called top court,” Farooq said. “It is our principled stand that we do not recognize the present supreme court as a constitutional court.” On Monday, Lahore High Court accepted challenges by candidates due to stand against Nawaz Sharif in Thursday's by-election which argued that people convicted of criminal charges could not contest elections. Farooq said the PML-N would raise the issue with the senior coalition partner, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). “This makes an immediate case for peaceful protest demonstrations and we will prefer to put this case before 160 million Pakistanis,” Farooq said. He said that just after the “so-called decision, the whole nation rejected it.” A spokesman for the PPP, Farhatullah Babar, said the party was “disappointed” with the verdict. (Posted @ 12:20 PST) Shahbaz not to plead the case before election tribunal ISLAMABAD, June 24 (APP): Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif Tuesday said he will not plead his case before the election tribunal. He said in a TV interview the PML-N would continue its struggle for an independent judiciary and was ready to sacrifice everything to achieve the goal. Regarding disqualification of Mian Nawaz Sharif he said conspiracies are being consistently hatched against genuine representatives of the people to prevent them from serving the nation. (Posted @ 19:30 PST) Cricket-Pakistan beat Hong Kong by 155 runs in Asia Cup KARACHI, June 24, (Reuters): Pakistan beat Hong Kong by 155 runs in the Asia Cup one-day cricket tournament at the National stadium in Karachi on Tuesday. Scores: Pakistan 288-9 for nine off 50 overs (Younis Khan 67, Fawad Alam 63 not out; Nadeem Ahmed 4-51); Hong Kong 133 all out off 37.2 overs. (Posted @ 23:35 PST) Pakistan India agree to continue sharing information to combat terrorism ISLAMABAD, June 24 (APP): Pakistan and India on Tuesday agreed to continue sharing information to combat the menace of terrorism through exchange of specific information. In the third meeting of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism of Pakistan and India the two sides reviewed the follow up steps taken on the information shared during the earlier meetings of the Joint-Anti Terrorism Mechanism. They also shared fresh information on terrorist incidents and they agreed to continue to work to identify counter-terrorism measures, assist in investigations through exchange of specific information and for preventing violence and terrorist acts. (Posted @ 21:30 PST) Musharraf hopes for peaceful Kashmir solution RAWALPINDI, June 24 (APP): President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday expressed his hope for a peaceful solution of the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.Any settlement that does not have the backing of the Kashmiri people will not be durable and sustainable, he said talking to the delegation of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) comprising Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat, and Bilal Ghani Lone. The APHC delegation apprised the President of the situation in occupied Kashmir. They were of the view that elections in occupied Kashmir could not be a substitute for the exercise of right of self-determination by the Kashmiri people. There was agreement on the need for effective implementation of the confidence building measures to facilitate greater interactions between the Kashmiri people. (Posted @ 21:30 PST) Shahbaz's PP-48 seat can't be assumed as vacant: Acting Speaker LAHORE, June 24 (APP): Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif's seat PP-48 Bhakkar cannot be considered as vacant despite issuance of notification of his success on PP-10 Rawalpindi. Acting Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan gave this ruling on the demand of Saeed Akbar Khan Niwani, MPA from Bhakkar, during the assembly session on Tuesday. Niwani had demanded this when a Q-League's MPA Bushra Gardezi raised a point of order during the proceeding on Monday that Shahbaz Sharif's seat PP-48 Bhakkar was considered to be vacant following issuance of notification of his winning on PP-10 Rawalpindi. The Acting Speaker ruled out the opposition member's point of order. (Posted @ 21:10 PST) Cricket: Pakistan 288 vs. Hong Kong in Asia Cup opener KARACHI, Pakistan, June 24 (AP): Pakistan scored 288 for nine wickets in the allotted 50 overs in the Asia Cup Group B match against Hong Kong at National Stadium in Karachi on Tuesday. (Posted @ 21:00 PST) Suicide mars Sarkozy farewell at Israeli airport ceremony JERUSALEM, June 24 (AP) An Israeli policeman committed suicide at an airport farewell ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday. The shooting at Israel's Ben-Gurion airport set off a panic at the ceremony. Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni, ran up the stairs into their airplane, and security guards surrounded the French leader and whisked him aboard as well. Police are denying reports that there was an attempted assassination attempt on Sarkozy. (Posted @ 20:55 PST) Cricket-Bangladesh score 299-8 v UAE in Asia Cup LAHORE, June 24 (Reuters) Bangladesh reached 299 for eight in their 50 overs against United Arab Emirates in their Asia Cup one-day tournament match at Gadaffi stadium on Tuesday. Scores: Bangladesh 299-8 (Mohammad Ashraful 109, Raquibul Hasan 83. Zahid Shah 3-49). (Posted @ 20:50 PST) Pakistani Taliban pulling out of captured town PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 24 (Reuters) Pakistani Taliban militants began withdrawing from the town of Jandola, on the main road into the South Waziristan ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, on Tuesday after capturing it the previous day in a bloody clash with rivals in which at least 12 people, most of them members of the pro-government Bitani tribe, were killed. The militants had also captured 13 of their rivals, a government official said. “The situation has improved. There has been no untoward incident today and they're moving out,” Barkatullah Marwat, the top government officer told Reuters adding that the militants were pulling out after a government threat to launch an offensive against them. Earlier, the militants told their rivals to collect the bodies of their men after Monday's fighting. Khazan Gul, a member of the peace committee the government set up, said nine bodies had been recovered. Separately, violence flared in Swat valley in North West Frontier Province where the militants and provincial government signed a peace pact last month. Militants attacked two army posts and a police patrol and nine militants and one soldier were killed and seven policemen wounded, an army spokesman said. (First Posted @ 13:55 PST Updated @ 20:47 PST) Three police, nearly dozen Taliban killed in Afghan battle KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 24 (AFP) Dozens of Taliban militants attacked a police post in Kandahar province's Shah Wali Kot district overnight, triggering a fierce battle that left three policemen and 11 rebels dead, police said Tuesday. “We launched a counter-attack today. Eleven Taliban have been killed so far and their bodies are on the ground,” Uruzgan police chief Juma Gul Hemat told AFP, adding that the fighting was ongoing. The attack comes after a recent major operation by Afghan and NATO-led troops against hundreds of Taliban militants who had gathered in villages near Kandahar city after a mass jailbreak on June 13 in Kandahar city after rebel fighters blasted it open by launching suicide bombings and rocket attacks. (Posted @ 20:30 PST) Sarkozy speaks out in favour of Palestinian state BETHLEHEM, West Bank, June 24 (AFP) French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday spoke out strongly in favour of a Palestinian state after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem. “The security of Israel is non-negotiable for France, but the creation of a viable, democratic, modern state for the Palestinians is a priority for France,” he said as he wrapped up a three-day visit at a joint news conference with Abbas in the Biblical town. “We will work towards the creation of your state. We will use the same strength, the same commitment we used in ensuring Israel's security,” said Sarkozy, who on Monday had addressed the Israeli parliament. He reiterated his call for Israel to freeze Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank (First Posted @ 18:35 PST Updated @ 20:19 PST) NATO-led soldiers injured in Afghan blast JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 24 (AFP) A land mine struck a NATO-led patrol in Nangarhar province's Khogyani district and injured several soldiers Tuesday, an ISAF spokesman who asked not to be identified told AFP in Kabul. He did not provide an exact number of wounded but a source said four soldiers were wounded and a vehicle was damaged.. (Posted @ 20:00 PST) 242 million dollars pledged at Palestinian security forum: source BERLIN, June 24 (AFP) International donors committed 242 million dollars on Tuesday for security infrastructure in the Palestinian territories, a German government source said on the sidelines of a conference here. The money will be passed to the Palestinian Authority over the next three years and will be spent on grassroots measures like putting more police on the beat and building police stations and courthouses to create conditions for a viable Palestinian state. Delegations from more than 40 countries and international organisations attended the conference, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. It was due to be followed by a meeting of the Middle East Quartet -- the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia -- as a truce between Israel and Hamas entered its sixth day. “Every link in what we call the chain of security must be intact and unbreakable. To ... invest in a future state the Palestinians must have confidence that their police, courts, penal system are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and respecting human rights,” Rice said at the opening of the one-day conference. The funding comes out of 7.4 billion dollars pledged by the international community in Paris in December for improving conditions in the Palestinian territories after peace efforts were relaunched at a conference at Annapolis in the United States in November. (First Posted @ 10:20 PST Updated @ 20:00 PST) Tennis: Sania Mizra defies pain to reach Wimbledon second round LONDON, June 24 (AFP) India's Sania Mirza played through the pain barrier to reach the Wimbledon second round with a 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4 win over Catalina Castano of Colombia on Tuesday. (Posted @ 19:50 PST) PML-N parliamentarians, lawyers protest over LHC's judgment ISLAMABAD, June 24 (APP): The parliamentarians of Pakistan Muslim League (N), lawyers community, and a large number of party workers holding portraits of Nawaz Sharif Tuesday staged a protest outside Parliament over the judgment regarding the candidature of the party chief. Addressing the protesters, Ch. Nisar Ali Khan steps taken before February 18 elections goes into the credit of President Pervez Musharraf, but post elections steps are the responsibility of this government. “ No one should think that PML-N has some constraints as we have the government in Punjab. We are ready to sacrifice each seat for the restoration of the deposed judges,” he said. Ch. Nisar said that meeting of party’s Central Executive Committee would decide the future strategy. Secretary Information PML (N) and MNA Ahsan Iqbal said PML-N will never accept judges who took oath under the PCO. PML-N senior vice-president and MNA Javed Hashmi reiterated that every effort will be made for the restoration of deposed judges. (Posted @ 19:15 PST) Pakistan must stop cross-border attacks-Afghanistan KABUL, June 24 (Reuters) Pakistan must stop militants crossing the border to attack targets in Afghanistan, otherwise the Kabul government will take action, Afghanistan's presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told a news conference Tuesday. “We request Pakistan not to allow terrorist groups to use its soil against Afghanistan, otherwise Afghanistan is obliged to take action in order to defend its nation and people,” he said. “All the evidence indicates Afghanistan is being interfered with and the challenges are very great because foreign countries and their intelligence departments support the terrorist groups,” Hamidzada said. A foreign intelligence agency was also involved in an attempt to assassinate Karzai in April this year, he said. (Posted @ 17:10 PST) Bomb kills 4 Americans, 8 others at Baghdad council meeting BAGHDAD, June 24 (Reuters) A bomb killed 10 people including two U.S. government employees and two U.S. soldiers at a council meeting in Baghdad’s Sadr City on Tuesday, officials said. Police said six Iraqis were also killed and 10 wounded. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said one of the dead American civilians worked for the U.S. State Department and the other for the Department of Defense. She had no further details. Iraqi police said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber. But the U.S. military said a suspect who had tested positive for explosives residue had been caught trying to flee the scene. That suggests a bomb was planted in the building. Mahmud al-Zamili, a member of Sadr City's local council, said the blast occurred inside the office of the deputy head of the council. Police said the deputy was among the wounded. Tuesday's bombing came a day after a gunman killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded three others as they left a council building southeast of Baghdad. (First Posted @ 13:40 PST, Updated @ 17:05 PST) OIC slams Danish court over blasphemous cartoons JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 24 (AFP) The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Monday criticised a Danish court which it said had linked Islam to terrorism and warned its ruling could exacerbate Islamophobia. A spokesman for the 57-nation OIC voiced “disappointment and dismay” at the decision by a Danish appeals court which rejected a suit against newspaper editors who published the blasphemous cartoons in 2005. The Danish court ruled last Thursday that the caricatures, which were reprinted earlier this year by Danish newspapers, did not aim to insult followers of Islam as the plaintiffs, seven Muslim organisations, had charged. “The Danish court ruling came as a surprise to the OIC at a time when almost all Western governments, including the USA, had made categorical statements rejecting any linkage between Islam and terrorism,” the OIC spokesman said. He “reiterated the principled position of the OIC and that of the OIC member states that terrorism has no connection with Islam or with any other religion,” in a statement. “The linkage drawn by the Danish court between Islam with terror to legalise the printing of the offensive cartoons... could create a precedent for (the) exacerbation of Islamophobia,” he added. (Posted @ 16:50 PST) Israeli troops kill two Palestinians in West Bank NABLUS, West Bank, June 24 (AFP) Israeli troops killed two Palestinians at dawn on Tuesday in the West Bank town of Nablus, one of them a senior member of the Islamic Jihad group, the Israeli military said. Hours earlier, a mortar round fired from northern Gaza landed in Israel, the army said. It caused no damage. (First Posted @ 10:45 PST, Updated @ 16:40 PST) Oil prices won't come down: OPEC president BRUSSELS, June 24 (AFP) - OPEC president Chakib Khelil rebuffed on Tuesday calls from oil consuming countries to increase supply. “OPEC has already done what OPEC can do and prices will not come down,” Khelil told journalists as he arrived for a meeting with EU energy officials in Brussels. Even as Saudi Arabia increased production by 200,000 barrels per day “other member countries don't want to increase their production because as they've said many times from our perspective we don't see any shortage in the market,” OPEC secretary general Abdullah al-Badri said. al-Badri insisted that “the market is full of oil,” blaming “other factors” for the high price of crude, including refinery problems and hedge funds piling into the market. (Posted @ 16:20 PST) Kuwaiti court confirms death sentence on royal in drugs case KUWAIT CITY, June 24 (AFP) Kuwait's supreme court on Tuesday upheld a death sentence against a member of the emirate's ruling Al-Sabah family for drug trafficking.The sentence against the royal, named only as Sheikh Talal, was already upheld by an appeals court in December. The final decision can only be carried out after being signed by the emir, who also has the right to commute it. The appeals court also confirmed a life term against three accomplices, a stateless Arab, a Bangladeshi and an Indian. Two others, a Lebanese and an Iraqi, were sentenced to seven years in jail each. (Posted @ 16:10 PST) Airstrikes kill 16 Taliban in Afghan east KHOST, Afghanistan, June 24 (Reuters): International troops killed 16 Taliban insurgents in airstrikes Tuesday after the militants attacked a small town in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial police chief said. Taliban insurgents attacked the district centre of Sayed Karam in Paktia province overnight and international troops responded with airstrikes. “Fifteen insurgents, most of them foreigners, were killed. Four were wounded and arrested and one later died in hospital,” Paktia Police Chief Hashmatullah Alizai told reporters. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed an incident in Paktia, but could not immediately confirm the number of insurgents killed or exactly where the attack took place. “During the night Afghan National Police started receiving small arms fire in a district centre in western Paktia. An unmanned aerial vehicle identified several militants and close airstrikes were called in. Several militants were killed,” said a spokesman ISAF's eastern command. (Posted @ 13:30 PST) Another 26 killed in Sri Lanka fighting COLOMBO, June 24 (AFP): At least 21 Tamil Tiger rebels and five security personnel died in fighting in Sri Lanka's north-east, the island's defence ministry said Tuesday. The members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed during clashes in Vavuniya and Mannar districts, where security forces are trying to push into rebel-held territory, the ministry said. It said three police and two soldiers had also been killed in clashes since Monday. (Posted @ 13:15 PST) Iran condemns 'illegal' new EU nuclear sanctions TEHRAN, June 24 (AFP): Iran Tuesday condemned the European Union's adoption of new sanctions over its controversial nuclear drive which notably banned the country's largest bank, Bank Melli, from operating in Europe. “The illegal and contradictory approach of double standards while packages are being studied is meaningless and is strongly denounced,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement. World powers have presented Iran with a package offering it technological incentives in exchange for it suspending the sensitive process of uranium enrichment. (Posted @ 12:20 PST) Four die, four injured in storm in western Ukraine LVIV, Ukraine, June 24 (Reuters): A storm killed four people Monday in western Ukraine and brought trees and power lines crashing to the ground, officials said. Emergencies Ministry officials in the city of Lviv gave few details of how the four died. Four people were injured. (Posted @ 09: 05 PST) Karachi Stocks up 960.50 points: KARACHI, June 24: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 12122.67, up 960.50 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, June 24: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 68.6 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
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