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Saturday, April 4, 2009

Bhutto hanged In Pindi jail

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.-Whitestar
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

RAWALPINDIApril 4, 1979: Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged to death at two o clock this morning in the Rawalpindi district jail.An official handout released nine hours later in the day said his ‘dead foody was flown in a special aircraft from Rawalpindi and handed over to the elders of his family who buried him, after Namaz-i-Janaza in the ancestral graveyard at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh near Nau Dero, Larkana, at 10.30 a.m. in accordance with the wishes of the family.The funeral was attended by relatives, including his two uncles, Nawab Nabi Bakhsh Bhutto and Sanlar Peer Bakhsh Bhutto, his first wife Shirin Ameer Begum, friends and residents of the area’.Begum Nusrat Bhutto and their daughter Miss Benazir, who are detained at Sihala, about 16 miles from Rawalpindi, had been informed that all the mercy petitions, which had been made to President Genera) Mohammad Zia-ul-Han, had been rejected. They had a three-hour meeting with him yesterday in jail.Mian Monanimad Abbas and three other federal security force officials, who were also awarded death sentence in the Nawab Mohammad Ahmed Khan murder case, are still awaiting decision on their mercy petitions.Mr Mumtaz Bhutto, Mr Z.A. Bhjutto's cousin, told newsmen this morning that he met him last on April 1, Mr Bhutto was sure a that a decision to hang him had been taken. He told him he knew that his life was going to be over but be did not know what awaited the people of Pakistan. He did not want the people to come out on the streets and litter them with their blood.He asked Mumtaz not to give a call to the people because that would ‘reopen River Indus’. He said he was ready to die but wished that the people should live.According to one of the officials, who was present at the hanging, Mr Bhutto was approached in his cell about an hour before the execution and told to prepare for the final act. He was told to have a bath if he wished. He replied in the negative and said that he had already had bath during the day.However, he wanted to shave his face. Permission was granted and he shaved his face by himself.Then he was told to recite some Quranic verses. The Superintendent, and Deputy Superintendent of Jail came to his cell where the Superintendent read out to him his death warrant.A senior Army officer and Magistrate were also present on the occasion. Thereafter the Superintendent went away to supervise the gallows while the Deputy Superintendent stayed on to see his two hands tied together at his back.He was then told that his cell was about a furlong and half from he gallows, a distance which may be difficult for him to walk, and he should, therefore, lie down in a waiting stretcher to be carried by the jail warders. He protested and said that he would like to walk the distance himself. But he was made to lie down on the stretcher and carried to the gallows by the warders.Mr Bhutto was unloaded from the stretcher and he climbed up the stairs himself.Several prisoners were reciting Quran in their cell.Earlier in the evening he was contacted by a jail official with a query if he wanted to make a will. He said that he would like to write it down. Writing material was supplied to him and he busied himself in writing. But later before the hanging when a magistrate came and asked him to hand over his will so that it could be counter-signed by the Magistrate, Mr Bhutto said he had no will in writing and that he had already conveyed his wish to his wife.Perhaps he had destroyed the will that he had been writing in the evening.Before being taken to the gallows he had a 'Tasbih' in his hand and he was turning its beads reciting something quietly. The Tasbih had not been seen with him before. It was either hidden in his luggage or handed over to him by Begum Nusrat Bhutto yesterday.When contacted by the jail authorities he still had the Tasbih in his hand. He was completely calm and quiet thereafter.He did not misbehave or talk loudly till the end. He placed his Tasbih round his neck when his hands were tied at his back.The Superintendent of Jail, a Magistrate and Medical Officers were present near the gallow. The Superintendent registered his formal recognition of Mr Bhutto and then Mr Bhutto was handed over to the hangman who tied his legs with a cord, placed the traditional veil on his face and fixed the hanging cord round his neck. His body remained hanging for half an hour.Before it was removed the Medical Officer checked it and certified that it was lifeless.One of the jail officials contacted this correspondent; later in the day and said Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Miss Benazir were informed of the rejection of the mercy petitions when they came to meet Mr .Bhutto at 11 in the morning yesterday. A Jail official, who accompanied them to Mr Bhutto's cell was asked by Mr Bhutto what was being done to him. Mr Bhutto was told that the mercy petitions had  been rejected.Hs asked when the hanging was planned. He was informed that it would take place on Wednesday morning. Thereupon, he said he would like to get longer time than the usual half an hour with his wife and daughter which was allowed.Then they remained together upto 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Since last evening the jail was heavily guarded on all sides by armed police which continued to be on duty today also. Parties of police were also guarding vantage points in the city.The news of the hanging spread the city like wild fire early in the morning. People switched on their radios. The Voice of America was the first to broadcast it.The BBC had nothing in its morning Urdu bulletin or in the 7 o'clock English broadcast. RadioPakistan came out with the news in the city like wild fire early in that time two local Urdu dailies had already sold thousands of their special supplements.Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Miss Benazir were the last to see Mr Bhuttp among his family members or friends. Mr Mumtaz Bhutto was called by him through the jail authorities yesterday but the meeting could not take place.Mumtaz Bhutto and Abdul Hafeek Pirzada left for the airport to catch the morning flight forKarachi after hearing the news. Before the flight they were told that instructions had been received not to let them leave.They came back to the Paracha House in Islamabad — the bungalow where Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir were detained before being shifted to Sihala and where Pirzada has been staying since his arrival here last week.Foreign diplomatic circles were taken by surprise. Many of them had believed that some last minute development would save Mr Bhutto's life. The British Prime Minister's third appeal for mercy which was relayed by the BBC in its Urdu broadcast in the morning and the official spokesman's statement last evening that the mercy petitions were still under consideration did not make them feel that the hanging had already been scheduled for this morning.However, several local newsmen got, the clue later in the night, three pf them who got too near the jail to see the atmosphere were caught by the guards and detained for the night.Later in the day about 40 persons gathered in the house of ‘Dr Niazi, family friend of Bhutto, and offered Namaa-i-Janaza, They included Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Mumtaz Bhutto.Our Correspondent adds from Sukkur: The dead body of Mr Bhutto was brought to Jacobahad airport in an official plane. Mr Mumtaz Bhutto's father, Nabi Bukhsh Bhutto and the first wife of Mr Bhutto came with the body. The body was given a bath and wrapped in a coffin at Rawalpindi. From Jacobabad the body was taken to Garni Khuda Bakhsh by a helicopter. The body was taken to a corner where arrangements had been made for showing the face to the male and female members of the family separately. Afterwards Namiaz-i-Janaza was offered. It was led by Maulvi Mahinud in the old mosque at Janazgabr Mr Nabi Bakhsh Bhutto, Sardar Peer Bakhsh Bhutto, Mr Ali Gauhar Bhutto and Muzaffar Bhutto were prominent members of tile Bhutto family who attended the Janaza prayer.In the family graveyard where Mr Z A. Bhutto has been buried, are also buried his father, Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, his two stepbrothers Sikandar Bhutto and Imadad Ali Bhutto and his mother. The situation in Larkana is quiet and peaceful. Agency reports add; As, a mark of respect all the shops in the village remained closed but life was normal in the rest of the Larkana district. There was no reaction over the execution of Mr Bhutto throughout the district. The situation was reported to be normal. After the burial a number of people came to Naudero to sympathise with the family of Mr Bhutto. At the time of burial strict precautionary measures were taken in and around Garhi Khuda Bakhsh by the administration. A Press note issued by the Interior Ministry said the mercy petitions filed on behalf of Mr Bhutto were rejected by the President of Pakistan ‘after they had been processed in accordance with the normal procedure’.  Mr Bhutto, last arrested on Sept 17, 1977, remained confined in Rawalpindi Jail's death cell since April 1978 when the Supreme Court started hearing of the appeals filed by him and from former officials of the disbanded Federal Security Force who were also sentenced to death in the case by the Lahore High Court. After a seven-month-long hearing, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals on Feb 6 last. Mr Bhutto filed a review petition which was also dismissed by the Supreme Court on March 24 last. The other four sentenced to death were Mian Mohammad Abbas, Mr Ghulam Mustafa, Mr Arshad Iqbal and Rana Iftikhar Ahmad. Former FSF Director-General Masood Mahmud and another FSF official Ghulam Hussain were also accused in the case but they were pardoned on becoming approvers. Mr Bhutto was charged with conspiring with the FSF officials to assassinate former National Assembly member Ahmad Rasa Kasuri. But in the shooting on Mr Kasurt's car in Lahore on the night of Nov 10, 1974, Mr Kasuri escaped unhurt while his father, Nawab Mohamad Ahmad Khan, was killed.

Pakistani Militant Behind US Gun Rampage

The leader of the Taliban in Pakistan claims he was behind the attack on an immigration cente in the US which left 13 people dead."I accept resonsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to US drone attacks," Baituallah Mehsud told a news agency.A gunman armed with two pistols injured dozens more in the attack in Binghamton, New York state, before turning the gun on himself.The killer, believed to be a 42-year-old Vietnamese, blocked the rear exit of the centre with his car before entering and opening fire.Police chief Joe Zikuski said the man went into the building at around 10.30am local time (3.30pm UK time) on Friday.Congressman Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, said the gunman had recently lost his job at IBM in Johnson City.

Is Google in talks to take over Twitter?

A report published on the influential Silicon Valley blog TechCrunch claims that Google is in 'advanced talks' to acquire micro-blogging site Twitter, but other IT blogs say the talks are merely 'product-related' informal discussions.Google chief executive Eric Schmidt recently dismissed Twitter as a "poor man's email" and shot down speculation the Web search giant was interested in buying the micro-blogging sensation.That may no longer be the case.Influential technology blogger Michael Arrington reported on his blog TechCrunch on Friday that the Mountain View, California-based Internet powerhouse is in talks to acquire the hot San Francisco-based startup.Citing two sources familiar with the matter, TechCrunch said the price was unknown but it was likely to be "well, well north" of the 250-million-dollar valuation placed on Twitter in a recent round of venture capital funding.Arrington said Google would pay cash or publicly valued stock for Twitter, which turned down a 500-million-dollar takeover offer from social network colossus Facebook just a few months ago.Arrington initially reported that Google and Twitter were in "late-stage negotiations" but he backed off that assertion slightly in a later post in which he said the acquisition talks were "still fairly early stage."But Kara Swisher, another respected Silicon Valley blogger, writing on her blog Boomtown, dismissed the report by rival TechCrunch."While the 'news' that Google was in 'late-stage' talks to acquire Twitter, which TechCrunch reported last night, certainly sounds exciting, it isn’t accurate in any way," Swisher said.

Massive Ice Shelf About to Break Away From Antarctic Coast

PARIS A massive ice shelf anchored to the Antarctic coast by a narrow and quickly deteriorating ice bridge could break away soon, the European Space Agency warned Friday.The Paris-based agency said satellite images show the bridge that connects the Wilkins Ice Shelf to Charcot and Latady Islands "looks set to collapse.""The beginning of what appears to be the demise of the ice bridge began this week when new rifts" appeared and a large block of ice broke away, it said.The Wilkins Ice Shelf — which like the rest of Antarctic's ice sheet "was formed by thousands of years of accumulated and compacted snow" — had been stable for most of the last century before it began retreating in the 1990s, the statement said.The shelf, which was originally of Jamaica or the U.S. state of Connecticut, is located on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, which thrusts up from the continent toward the southern tip of South America.Originally covering about 5,000 square miles, the ice shelf lost 14 percent of its mass last year alone, the statement quotes a scientist Angelika Humbert of Germany's Munster University as saying.In two 2008 incidents, large chunks of the ice bridge fell away, shaving it down to just 985 yards across at its narrowest, the statement said.As a result, "In the past months, we have observed the ice bridge deforming and its narrowest location acting as a kind of hinge," Humbert is quoted as saying.Scientist are examining whether global warming is behind the shelf's breakup, the statement said. Average temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have risen by 3.8 degrees Farenheit over the past half century, the statement said — higher than the average global rise.

Flintoff hat-trick claims series

England ended their ragged tour of the West Indies on a high when an Andrew Flintoff hat-trick blitzed the hosts and claimed the one-day series 3-2.Flintoff took five for 19 in his five overs, including the hat-trick in his final over, as England claimed their first one-day series victory in the Caribbean by 26 runs.It was a well-deserved win on Friday as England bowled with accuracy and discipline after an earlier batting collapse meant they managed only 172 for five from their allotted 29 overs."It has been a long hard tour and to come out at the end with something is pretty special," England captain Andrew Strauss told Sky Sports in St Lucia."I'm delighted. We played really well and handled the pressure well. We're very happy tonight."It has been a tough tour."We would have liked to have won the Test series – we played some good cricket but kept coming out with nothing."England lost that series 1-0.Put in to bat, the tourists started well as they overcame the early loss of Strauss to reach 88-2 after 15 overs on a difficult pitch.But an all-too-familiar middle-order collapse took the steam out of the innings.
Fifth ODI scorecard

England innings
A Strauss c Bravo b Rampaul 3
R Bopara c Ramdin b Pollard 44
K Pietersen c Sammy b Benn 48
O Shah c Simmons b Benn 6
P Collingwood not out 35
A Flintoff c Chanderpaul b Pollard 3
M Prior not out 25
Extras 8

Total (5 wickets; 29 overs) 172
FOW: 1-8 2-88 3-104 4-107 5-112

West Indies innings
C Gayle c Flintoff b Anderson 0
L Simmons c Broad b Flintoff 17
R Sarwan c Prior b Flintoff 23
S Chanderpaul c Bell b Collingwood 13
D Bravo c Flintoff b Broad 33
K Pollard c Collingwood b Anderson 30
D Ramdin b Flintoff 12
D Sammy run out 7
R Rampaul lbw b Flintoff 0
S Benn b Flintoff 0
F Edwards not out 2
Extras 9

Total (all out; 28 overs) 146
FOW: 1-1 2-40 3-45 4-69 5-124 6-124 7-140 8-140 9-140 10-146

England win by 26 runs

US dollar eases Zimbabwe inflation

Zimbabweans have seen a slight fall in the price of everyday items since the government allowed shops to abandon the local currency in favour of the US dollar, government figures indicated.The data showed consumer prices fell in the first two months of the year, media reports on Friday said, raising hopes that there could be an end to the country's rampant hyper-inflation.Data from the Central Statistical Office showed inflation at -3.1 per cent on a monthly basis in February and -2.3 per cent in January.The last time official figures showed a month on month fall in inflation was in mid-2005.The 2009 figures were the first using US dollars so there was no annual comparison and analysts remain cautious."Things are slow, we are really struggling to get started," John Makumbe, a political analyst, said.

Gunman Kills 13, Himself at Upstate New York Immigrant Center

A gunman blocked the rear door of an upstate New York immigration center, then walked through the front door and opened fire Friday, killing 14 people, likely including himself, police said at a news conference in the massacre's aftermath.Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said the rampage "obviously was premeditated" and began with the shooting of two receptionists. One died. The other was critically wounded, but she pretended to be dead and was able to crawl to a desk and call 911 when the gunman walked down a hallway.Immigrants were preparing for citizenship testing at the time. Zikuski said 37 people were rescued from the building, and four of them were wounded and in critical condition. More than two dozen had hid in a boiler room until police said it was safe to come out.The gunman reportedly was a 41-year-old man of Asian descent and lived in the Binghamton suburb of Johnson City. The man was carrying identification with the name Jiverly Voong, a local law enforcement official told The Associated Press — though there were conflicting reports of his age, and officials would not identify the shooter during the news conference.Later Friday, authorities searched the home of the suspected gunman and carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags.

Suspected US missile strike kills at least 13

At least eight people were killed in a suspected US missile strike in a Pakistani tribal region and al Qaeda strongholdnear the Afghan border, local security officials and residents said.A pilotless U.S. drone aircraft fired a missile in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 8 people including some foreign militants, security officials and residents said.The attack was in the North Waziristan region, a stronghold of al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border, in an area 35 km (20 miles) west of the region's main town of Miranshah at about 3 a.m. (2200 GMT on Friday), they said."The missile hit a house where some guests were staying," one intelligence agency official said, referring to foreign militants."We have information that 13 people were killed including some guests," said the official, who declined to be identified.One resident, Amir Shah, said drones were still flying over the area several hours after the attack.Many al Qaeda and Taliban militants fled to northwestern Pakistani border regions such as North Waziristan after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001.From the remote ethnic Pashtun tribal lands that have never been governed by any Pakistani government, the militants have orchestrated the Afghan war and plotted violence beyond.With the Afghan insurgency intensifying, the United States began launching more drone attacks on the Pakistani side of the border last year.Since then, about 35 U.S. strikes have killed about 350 people, including mid-level al Qaeda members, according to reports from Pakistani officials, residents and militants.

Pyongyang says rocket launch is 'imminent'

North Korea state media announced that preparations for the imminent launch of a controversial rocket have been completed. The launch is widely viewed as a disguised test of a long-range missile that violates U.N. resolutions.North Korea said Saturday it has finished its preparations for a satellite launch which would go ahead "soon" -- keeping the world guessing on the timing of what critics see as a disguised missile test.In a sign of frayed nerves, Japan's government at one point said the rocket launch was thought to have gone ahead, only later to retract its statement as incorrect.The nuclear-armed communist North says it is planning a peaceful satellite launch, and has defied demands from the United States and its regional allies to cancel the exercise.Its state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said preparations for launching the communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 "have been completed" at a site in the northeast."The satellite will be launched soon," it said, citing information from the Korean Committee of Space Technology.KCNA said the satellite would be carried by an Unha-2 (Galaxy-2) rocket -- known in the West as the Taepodong-2 which could theoretically reach Alaska or Hawaii at maximum range.Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have vowed to refer a launch to the UN Security Council as a breach of a resolution passed after the North's 2006 missile and nuclear tests.The North says that even a Council debate about its launch would lead to a breakdown of long-running six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.It has announcd the launch for April 4-8, and between the hours of 11:00am and 4:00pm (0200-0700 GMT).

Obama seeks EU help on Afghan war

Barack Obama, the US president, has urged Europe to do more to help his country win the war in Afghanistan, but European leaders have stopped short of promising an increase in troop numbers.Speaking against the backdrop of a Nato summit, which continues for a second day on Saturday, Obama tried to use his popularity among the European public to wring concessions from US allies."Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone," Obama said on Friday in the French city of Strasbourg, referring to Afghanistan."This is a joint problem that requires a joint effort," he said.Obama also warned Europe's leaders and students at a meeting that, for geographical reasons, Europe faced a bigger threat than the US from al-Qaeda.

Pakistan to probe girl's flogging "shameful" act

Pakistan's top judge has called for a court hearing into the public flogging of a teenage girl, which was captured on video and shown around the world.Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has ordered police and government officials from the north-western Swat Valley to bring the girl to court next week.The film shows apparent Taleban members holding her down and hitting her with a strap as she cries out in pain.Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has condemned the incident as "shameful".Local sources said the girl had been accused of illicit relations with a man and that the flogging took place about a month and a half ago.Since then, the provincial government in the North West Frontier Province agreed to implement Sharia law as part of a peace deal with militants there.A press release quoted Chief Justice Chaudhry - who was only recently restored to office - as saying the action was a cruel violation of fundamental rights that gave Pakistan a bad name.Pakistan ordered an investigation Friday into a video of a woman being flogged in the former resort of Swat, where the government signed an agreement with a pro-Taliban cleric to allow sharia law.Apparently filmed on a mobile phone, the video shows two men pinning down a burka-clad woman by her feet and shoulders, while a bearded man in a turban flogs her 34 times with a whip as she screams in agony."Hold her," shouts the man with the whip. "Hold her legs," he shouts, as he thrashes the woman's buttocks with the crack of the whip.The February deal to make Islamic law the only justice system in the former ski resort triggered alarm around the world among those fearful it would embolden militants throughout the northwest, a hotbed for Taliban and Al-Qaeda.Thousands of Taliban followers had spent nearly two years waging a terrifying campaign to enforce sharia law in Swat, beheading opponents, bombing girls' schools, outlawing entertainment and fighting government forces.Samar Minallah, who works for a Pakistan human rights organisation, said she was given the tape by people in Swat which she distributed to the Western media to highlight the cruelties endured by women in the region."This girl was flogged on the basis of suspicious and false evidence. She is 17 years old. She comes from the Kala Killey village of Kabal district in Swat. The entire village knows she is innocent," Minallah told AFP.There was no independent confirmation of the woman's age, nor the reason for the flogging -- a common punishment handed down by Taliban hardliners for a variety of misdemeanours in Swat and other parts of northwest Pakistan.President Asif Ali Zardari, who has yet to finally endorse the peace deal, condemned the flogging and called for the arrest of those responsible, although at least one member of cabinet hinted that the footage might not be credible."The president was shocked over this act of barbarism and had asked for a report from the government and local administration," his spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement released by state media."We are investigating the matter," interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters in the southern city of Sukkur."But sometimes anti-state elements make fake or artificial footage or images to bring disrepute onto Pakistan," said Malik.Swat residents and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government said the tape was filmed on January 3 -- before the controversial agreement to enforce Islamic law was signed with pro-Taliban cleric Soofi Mohammad.Muslim Khan, the Taliban spokesman in Swat, claimed the video was old."This is a one-year-old video. It happened when the people of Swat were in a state of war. It was done by local Taliban and the central leadership was not aware of it," he told AFP."The woman had illicit relations with her father-in-law. Both confessed before the sentence was carried out. The punishment for such crime is correct but we don't agree with the procedure they adopted," he said."The flogging of a woman has to be carried out in a closed room."Releasing the video one year later is clearly an attempt to sabotage the peace deal. No such incident has happened since the deal was signed on February 16. The video is a conspiracy against sharia law," he said."There has been no such incident since the signing of the peace agreement," NWFP information minister Iftikhar Hussain told a news conference.Local officials and residents differed as to why the woman had been flogged.Some said she left home without a blood relative or husband -- which is strictly banned by the Taliban so they punished her in deterrence.Others said people told the Taliban that a boy and a girl were involved in illicit relations. They captured both from different houses and both denied the charges, the residents said.

17-Year-Old Girl Beaten By Holy Warriors in Pakistan - Sharia Law(SO-CALLED)

Uproar over Talibani closing of girls' schools in Swat Valley

The Taliban have destroyed or closed all schools for girls in Pakistan's Swat Valley, deeming that their education need not continue after the age of eight. The Pakistani government is powerless in the matter.In front of the presidential palace in Islamabad, 300 protesters against the destruction of Swat Valley schools defy the government. “[President] Asif Ali Zardari, where were you when we needed you? What have you done for us?” they shout.In less than a year, over 100 schools have been destroyed by Taliban insurgents in the region. Schools for girls were the main target, but boys’ schools were attacked as well. And, as for those still standing, many parents have become too afraid to send their children there.The Pakistani government is powerless to help, which many Pakistanis find scandalous. “Islamabad says they’re aware of the situation, but this does not explain why they allow this continue,”  Kamila Hyat, a columnist for the Pakistani daily 'The News', has said. “We wonder whether the Pakistani People’s Party [of which President Zardari is a member] considers the denial of education for 80,000 girls to be a minor problem.”The state’s passivity benefits insurgents, whose tactic is simple: destroy static structures to be replaced by others that are more in keeping with Islamic law. Muslim Khan, spokesperson for the Talibani in the Swat Valley, told FRANCE 24 a few weeks ago, “We destroy schools because the teaching does not correspond to that which children should learn.”According to Sufi Mohammad, leader of TNSM (the movement for enforcing Mohammed’s law) and father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah (local Taliban head), girls need no education after the age of eight.According to 'The News', parents received visits from Islamists insisting that they keep their daughters at home. In addition, some girls claim to have received threats aimed at dissuading them from working or from studying. Finally, on December 27, 2008, the Taliban threatened to destroy schools for girls unless they close by January 15, 2009. This dashed hopes for young girls hoping to train for careers later.But these closures also serve to impoverish all the women who were working at the schools. Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir told the story of one such teacher. A widowed mother of three who taught at one school was threatened by the Taliban, who forbade her from teaching. She then turned to a religious figure to plead on her behalf. This resulted disastrously, with the religious figure being forced to leave his village, and the teacher being executed.Taliban militants announced a ceasefire and Pakistani forces halted military operations in Swat last month after a cleric, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, struck a pact with the government of North West Frontier Province to enforce Islamic law in the valley.

Pakistan Officials Probe Flogging Video of Screaming Woman

ISLAMABAD Pakistani authorities ordered inquiries Friday into a video showing the public flogging of a screaming woman in a northwestern valley where officials have yielded to Taliban demands for Islamic law.A militant spokesman defended the punishment, fueling a furor that cast more doubt on a creaking peace deal in the Swat valley that U.S. officials fear has created another haven for allies of al-Qaida.Officials vowed to introduce impose Islamic law, or Shariah, in Swat in February to halt 18 months of terror and bloody fighting between militants and security forces that killed hundreds of people.Shariah has not yet formally been introduced and provincial officials say that, in any case, they would not condone such whippings or the harsh brand of Islamic law practiced under Afghanistan's former Taliban rule. But the video provided a reminder of how hardliners in control of much of valley intrepret Islamic strictures.The embattled government of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province struck the deal with a hardline cleric who helped secure a cease-fire. However, President Asif Ali Zardari's office says he won't sign the bill introducing Islamic law there unless he is satisfied that peace has been restored — a prospect that seemed to recede Friday after a sharp outcry by rights groups."It is not a peace accord in Swat, instead it is a surrender by the government of Pakistan," said Asma Jehangir, head of Pakistan's main human rights organization. The flogging "is against all the women of Pakistan."Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government remained committed to reconciliation in Swat but warned that it would restart the military operation if its authority was challenged.The two-minute video, widely aired on local television Friday, shows the woman face down on the ground with two men holding her arms and feet. Her all-enveloping burqa has been hitched up to expose a pair of pink trousers.A third man in a black turban with a long beard whips her backside more than a dozen times, causing her to scream repeatedly and shout "Stop it, stop it! It is painful!"A crowd of men watches silently in the background, and a voice can be heard saying "hold her hands tightly" as the woman squirmed on the bare earth.It was unclear who ordered the lashing and when it occurred.Muslim Khan, spokesman for the Swat Taliban, said the militants publicly flogged a woman nine months ago over allegations that she had an illicit relationship with her father-in-law, but he was not sure if the video showed that incident.He defended the punishment, although he said it should not have been done in public and should have been carried out by a boy who had not yet reached puberty.Provincial government spokesman Mian Iftikhar Hussein said the incident occurred Jan. 3 — before the peace agreement was signed. Some regional officials and the Taliban spokesman suggested the release of the video, apparently shot using a mobile phone, was an attempt to sabotage the agreement."The Shariah regulation in no way is going to allow this thing to happen at all," provincial Law Minister Arshad Abdullah said. "Let's not judge our deal by this video."A spokesman for Zardari, the widower of slain former leader and women's rights torch bearer Benazir Bhutto, described the flogging as "barbarism" that should not be tolerated.Militants want to impose "a medieval and obscurantist agenda in the name of religion on the people through gun and bullets but they will not be allowed," spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement.He said Zardari had ordered authorities to apprehend those responsible — a near-impossible task in a zone from which the police and moderate tribal leaders have fled in fear.Pakistan's recently restored chief justice also opened an inquiry, saying the case represented "a serious violation" of the law and fundamental rights.Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who had been removed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in part for pursuing human rights cases, ordered security officials to produce the victim in the Supreme Court in time for a hearing on April 6.U.S. officials have criticized Pakistan for striking a series of usually short-lived peace deals with militants, arguing that they give extremists time to regroup and focus on launching cross-border attacks against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.They have expressed concern about the accord in Swat, but are also pressing Pakistan's army to switch its focus to al-Qaida strongholds closer to the Afghan border.

New Malaysian PM sworn in

Malaysia's king has sworn in Najib Abdul Razak as the country's sixth prime minister, a day after Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resigned to take responsibility for the ruling party's worst election showing in four decades.Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, the country's constitutional monarch who accepted Abdullah's resignation on Thursday, swore Najib in on Friday at the palace in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.Najib, the son of a former prime minister, swore to "fulfil the obligations of this post with honesty" and "pour my full loyalty into Malaysia and preserve, protect and defend the constitution".He faces a myriad of challenges, including an economy badly hit by the global downturn and racial divisions in the country.

Rajoelina's regime sets 2010 date for presidential poll

Madagascar's army-backed transitional authority, led by Andry Rajoelina (photo), has called for the organisation of a presidential election in October 2010 during a reconciliation conference held in the capital Antananarivo. Fresh presidential elections in Madagascar are to be held in October 2010, a reconciliation conference organised by the island's new army-backed regime recommended Friday.This conference "kicks off a democratic renewal and foreshadows the strength of the democracy we want to preserve in Madagascar," the island's new leader Andry Rajoelina said in the conference's closing speech.Rajoelina, who ousted Marc Ravalomanana last month with the army's support, had pledged upon being sworn in that fresh presidential elections would be organised within 24 months."We acknowledge that we will stay (in power) only for 19 months," Rajoelina said at the forum, held in the capital Madagascar.On the second and last day of a conference involving Rajoelina's movement as well as other political parties, religious and military leaders, resolutions were adopted offering a timeline for the country's transition.Although Rajoelina's takeover at the helm of the Indian Ocean nation was described as a coup by the international community, the 34-year-old was sworn in last month as the president of a transitional authority.Friday's forum -- which gathered some 1,200 participants -- said a national conference tasked with revising the electoral law and the constitution should be launched by June 26 this year.

Militants destroy nine Nato vehicles in Peshawar

Destroyed NATO vehicles are parked at the Port World
 Logistic terminal targeted by militants on the outskirts of Peshawar, 
April 3, 2009

PESHAWAR Suspected Taliban militants in Pakistan destroyed nine parked Nato force vehicles after attacking a terminal, officials said Friday.Rebels targeted the Port World Logistic terminal on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar with petrol bombs and rockets, the latest in a series of strikes against supplies for foreign forces across the border.‘There were no casualties in the attack early Friday, but the fire destroyed nine Nato vehicles, including firefighting vans and four-by-four jeeps,’ local police official Fazal Wahid Khan told AFP.He said militants traded fire with police until the attack was repulsed and rebels fled into the darkness.Another police official Anwar Khan confirmed the assault and said nine vehicles had been destroyed; he added the number of militants was not known.‘We are also in the process of assessing the damage (from) the fire that broke out after militants threw hand grenades and fired rockets on the terminal,’ he said.The bulk of supplies and equipment required by Nato and US-led forces battling a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan. The fabled Khyber pass through the northwest is the principal land route.US officials say northwest Pakistan has degenerated into a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and have regrouped to launch attacks on foreign troops across the border.

NY State gunman dead, hostages free after shooting rampage

A gunman suspected of killing up to 13 people and taking dozens captive at an immigration centre in New York State has been reported dead, according to local television, while the remaining hostages were set free.A gunman who killed up to 13 people and took up to 40 hostages in the New York town of Binghamton has been reported dead.The suspected shooter's captives were set free from the American Civic Association building, which provides services to immigrants.Earlier news reports said that at least six people were taken to medical centers in nearby Johnson City, one in critical and two in a serious condition.“The man burst into the building with a long firearm around 10:30am local time,”.“He shot some people and took maybe up to 40 people hostage.”Some US media sources reported that up to 13 people had been killed. Several hours into the terrifying standoff, police brought out two men with their hands secured behind their backs, local television and newspapers reported.The Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin reported on their website that sharp shooters from the Binghamton SWAT team as well as a police bomb squad had been mobilized to the crime scene.The same news source said two people were taken from the center with their hands cuffed behind their back.The American Civic Association building is used to teach English and provide other services to recently immigrants to the United States who are preparing for U.S. citizenship.The building is near downtown Binghamton, and according to King, is a well known landmark, surrounded by a lot of businesses and a local high-school.Binghamton is about 240 km northwest of New York City with a population of about 45,000 and hosts one of the State University of New York’s largest campuses.Bob Joseph, the news director for local WNBF radio, said in an interview with CNN that shooter had been described as a young man of Asian origins.In March a man killed 10 people in a shooting rampage in Alabama.On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, became the site of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history when a student gunman killed 32 people and himself.

Sarkozy rejects Obama's Afghan plea

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has rejected a plea from Barack Obama, the US president, for his country to send extra troops to Afghanistan.Speaking at a news conference with Obama, in Strasbourg on Friday, Sarkozy gave his support to "the new American strategy in Afghanistan", but added there would be "no strengthening of French troops" in the country.He said France was ready to do more in the field of police training and economic aid.The two leaders addressed the media hours before the beginning of a Nato summit, which is likely to focus on Afghanistan.