Translate

Search This Blog

Sunday, February 28, 2010

S Arabia urges Pak political leadership to collectively fight militancy


Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday he was heavily concerned with growing insecurity in Pakistan and urged Islamabad to collectively fight militancy. Al-Faisal's remarks came after he held talks with an Indian leaders in Riyadh. "Pakistan is a friendly country to us and therefore any time that one sees a dangerous thing in our friendly country, one is not only sorry but worried. We believe it is the duty of all political leaders in Pakistan to unite together, to see that extremism should not find its way to achieve aims in the country. And this can only happen by a united political leadership in Pakistan and we hope that this will be achieved," al-Faisal told a news conference attended the Indian delegation. Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani militants have carried out numerous attacks on members of the security forces over the past couple of years. They stepped up strikes after the army launched an offensive on their main bastion in South Waziristan in October last year. The Pakistani Taliban, allies of the Afghan Taliban, have lost much ground in the army offensives over the past year. Pakistani action against militants on the border is seen as crucial for efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan, where the US forces are spearheading one of NATO's biggest offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Security forces have also carried out several other operations aimed at pushing back militants threatening towns and cities such as Peshawar, the main city in the northwest. Al-Faisal distanced his government from the Taliban insurgents. "There is no relation between Saudi Arabia and Taliban. Relations were abrogated when Taliban gave sanctuary to Al-Qaeda and since that time till today there has been no relationship between Taliban and Saudi Arabia and that indicates the seriousness we give to that issue," he said. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were among the few states, which recognised Taliban government in Afghanistan, but severed ties after 9/11 when Taliban provided safe havens to Al-Qaeda. Saudi Arabia is also worried about growing penetration and increased leverage of Al-Qaeda in adjoining Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.

Chile quake leaves hundreds dead



At least 300 people have been confirmed dead after a devastating earthquake struck Chile and triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific ocean. The 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck early on Saturday 92km northeast of Concepcion, Chile's second largest city, at a depth of 63km at 3:34am local time (06:43 GMT). The quake, which lasted for one minute, damaged buildings and caused blackouts as far away as Santiago, 320km northeast of the epicentre. Michelle Bachelet, the outgoing president, declared a "state of catastrophe" and warned that more deaths were possible. "I want to call on all the people of Chile to remain calm ... There have been some aftershocks, but so far our national organisations are still up and running," she said. Jason Mitchell, a freelance journalist in Santiago, told Al Jazeera: "A new president takes over Chile in about 12 days time, so this was a transitional time. "Sebastian Pinera, the incoming president ... His ministers have all met with the outgoing ministers and they're trying to build a co-ordinated response." He continued: "Chile's a country that has earthquakes before, so it was reasonably well prepared for this. The country has some of the most strictest building laws in the world."

Manmohan urges Karzai to protect Indians


Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed “outrage” over the killing of at least six Indians in the bomb blasts in Kabul aimed at two guest houses favoured by foreigners. In a telephonic conversation with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Dr. Singh appreciated the timely medical assistance to those injured in the blast and requested him to ensure full protection of Indians working there on humanitarian projects. Mr. Karzai had called up Dr. Singh to express his condolences on the death of Indian nationals in the attacks in Kabul. Government sources familiar with the incident said the violence was targeted at “foreigners in general and Indians in particular” at the guest house they were known to frequent.

Danish newspaper provokes uproar with apology over Muhammad cartoon


A Danish newspaper was accused yesterday of betraying the freedom of the press after it apologised to Muslims for offence caused by its reprinting a cartoon showing the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban. Politiken, a leading Danish newspaper, had printed the cartoon as a gesture of solidarity after three people were arrested for planning to kill the cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard. It broke ranks with its rivals to issue the apology after settling with a Saudi lawyer who is representing eight Muslim groups that complained after the cartoon was reprinted by eleven Danish newspapers. Outrage at the move was led by Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, Mr Westergaard — who survived an alleged attempt on his life by an Islamist axeman at his home last month — and by other newspapers including Jyllands-Posten, which first printed the cartoon. The Muslim organisations come from Australia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories and represent 94,923 descendants of the Prophet. They have asked for an apology, a promise not to republish the drawings and for them to be removed from websites.

Underwater Plate Cuts 400-Mile Gash

The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile early Saturday morning occurred along the same fault responsible for the biggest quake ever measured, a 1960 tremor that killed thousands in Chile and hundreds more across the Pacific. Both earthquakes took place along a fault line where the Nazca tectonic plate, the section of the earth’s crust that lies under much of the Eastern Pacific Ocean south of the Equator, is sliding beneath another section, the South American plate. The two are converging at a rate of about three and a half inches per year.  Earthquake experts said the strains built up by that movement, plus the stresses added along the fault line by the 1960 quake and smaller ones in the intervening years, led to the rupture on Saturday along what is estimated to be about 400 miles of the fault. The quake generated a tsunami, with wave heights of about five feet recorded along the Chilean coast and larger waves forecast for Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific. The quake was centered about 140 miles north of the center of the 1960 earthquake, which ruptured more than 650 miles of the fault and was measured at magnitude 9.5. The fault is a thrust fault, in which most of the ground motion during a quake is vertical. Experts said the earthquake appeared to have no connection to a magnitude 6.9 quake that struck off the southern coast of Japan on Saturday. The Chilean event also had no connection to the magnitude 7.0 quake that occurred in Haiti on Jan. 12. That quake, which is believed to have killed more than 200,000 people, occurred along a strike-slip fault, in which most of the ground motion is lateral.

US sees Pakistan 'strategic shift' in war on Taliban


The United States has seen a "strategic shift" by Pakistan in the past months during its fight against Taliban militants, a senior US official said Friday. Under US pressure, Pakistan is waging multiple military offensives against Islamist militant havens. Washington brands the country's northwest tribal belt as the most dangerous place in the world and the chief sanctuary of Al-Qaeda. "In the last nine months we've seen a significant strategic shift in Pakistan," a senior administration official said. "That strategic shift is the decision by the Pakistani security forces to take the fight against the Pakistani Taliban." He highlighted the situation in the Swat valley in the northwest tribal areas of Pakistan, which have served as a rear base for Afghan Taliban militants. "If you go to Swat today, there are two Pakistani (army) divisions. They're doing classic counterinsurgency." Another senior US official told reporters that recent arrests of Afghan Taliban members and leaders in Pakistan was a clear signal of the close cooperation taking place on the ground. "There have been a number of commanders as well as leaders taken off the battlefield in the last several months," the official said. "Based on the recent captures and kills, it demonstrates that there are fewer places to hide... as well as more broadly across the Afghan Pak region." Highlighting the recent capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the official stressed the cooperation with Pakistan against the Taliban. "Cooperation and collaboration of both of those governments and their services, I think continue to improve and strengthen across the board, in terms of thwarting attacks as well as capturing and killing if necessary," he said. "We're working very closely with the Pakistanis on individuals that are of interest to us and are terrorists. The trendline is strong, positive. "We're pleased with the Pakistani ability to move into areas that had been safe havens." Agents from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) reportedly joined US spies in a recent operation that captured Afghan Taliban military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in the Pakistani metropolis of Karachi. And senior US general David Petraeus, who heads the Central Command, visited Islamabad on Tuesday and hailed "important breakthroughs" in Pakistan. President Barack Obama has put a high priority on nuclear-armed Pakistan as he sends thousands more troops to Afghanistan in a bid to root out Islamic extremism. The US media have reported that four senior Taliban leaders have been captured in the past week in Pakistan.

UN commission probing Benazir assassination to submit report on March 31

Islamabad, Feb.27 (ANI): Head of the three member UN Commission probing the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Heraldo Munoz has said that the commission would submit its final report to the Pakistan government on March 31.The commission's findings would be submitted to the US Secretary General Ban ki Moon, and would also be shared with the Pakistan government, a UN spokesperson said. The inquiry commission was to submit its report by 31st December 2009 , but it had sought an extension in its term, as its work was severely affected by the poor law and order situation in Pakistan. Earlier this week, the commission met several high profile persons in Pakistan, including the Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt.Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha. The commission had also grilled former President General Pervez Musharraf, who is currently in London. Pakistan had called for a UN commission to probe the assassination of the two-time Prime Minister who was killed at a campaign rally at Rawalpindi on December 27 2007, after her supporters were angered by conflicting accounts from the then-government of how she died.

India, Pak dialogue: New round, old story


India and Pakistan fell short of bridging the post-Mumbai divide on Thursday. During the first official talks in 14 months, New Delhi said Islamabad needed to do more about terrorism. Islamabad said it could only do more if the two sides resumed full dialogue. While they agreed to keep channels of communication and Pakistan extended an invitation for another round, no dates were announced. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the talk was in line with  “our graduated and step by step approach with modest aims”.  However, she said, Pakistan had not done enough about those behind Mumbai. “Pakistan looks forward to reversing the tide of regression that has taken place in its relationship with India,” said Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir. Declining to specify any new anti-terrorist measures by his country, he noted “Pakistan is not desperate” about holding a dialogue. Though Bashir at one point dismissed India’s dossiers on LeT founder Hafiz Saeed “as literature, not evidence”, he later said he had meant this in a legal sense and he was “sorry” for any confusion the expression had caused. The two held over three hours of talks-including an 80-minute one-on-one discussion between the two foreign secretaries.

Manmohan reaches S Arabia on 3-day visit


Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on the first visit by an Indian premier to the kingdom in 28 years, with an aim to boost economic ties and defence and security cooperation. He was welcomed by Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the official Saudi Press Agency said. Singh was scheduled to hold talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on bilateral relations, and discuss regional and global issues including Afghanistan, according to Lalitha Reddy, secretary in India's External Affairs Ministry. He has said there was great opportunity for opening new frontiers of cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the areas of security, defense, science and technology, space, human resources development and knowledge-based industries. "The Gulf region is an area of vital importance for India's security and prosperity," said Singh, who was accompanied by several ministers and a 25-member delegation of business leaders. The prime minister also planned to address the Shoura Council, an influential body of Saudi intellectuals, and the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He was also expected to meet members of the Indian community. Apart from being the largest supplier of crude oil, Saudi Arabia is also home to an Indian community numbering at least 1.8 million. Bilateral trade between India and Saudi Arabia during 2008-09 was more than $25 billion.

Akmal, Rana under match-fixing scanner


The International Cricket Council (ICC) has provided match fixing proves to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) against alleged involvement of wicket keeper Kamran Akmal and medium pacer Rana Naveed-ul Hasan. PCB chairman Ijaz Butt on Friday made the startling revelation that ICC had provided PCB with the concrete proves of their alleged involvement in match fixing. Despite repeated questions, Ijaz Butt had refused to name the players.  On investigation, a highly placed official in PCB exclusively told Voice of America on the condition of anonymity that “the two players were wicket keeper Kamran Akmal and medium pacer Rana Naveed-ul Hasan.” Wicket keeper Akmal had come under heavy fire for his repeated fumbles on the Australian tour. Its worth mentioning that both players were dropped from the T-20 series against England recently played in Dubai. When asked if the proves were so concrete, why PCB included Akmal and Rana in the initial list of 30 players for the T-20 world cup, the source said that “both will be missing from the final list for the T-20 WC.  The source further insisted that “PCB has announced an additional wicket keeper Zulqarnain Haider along side Kamran Akmal and Sarfaraz Ahmed in 30 initial players which indicates that Akmal would not feature in the final squad for T-20 WC to be played in West Indies in April.

Chile earthquake: tsunami fears as death toll hits 147


At least 147 have been killed and nearly a quarter of the globe put on urgent tsunami alert after one of the most powerful earthquakes of modern times hit South America. A tremor with a magnitude of 8.8 devastated large parts of southern Chile and sent huge waves racing at up to 400 miles an hour across the Pacific. Isolated ocean islands were reported to have suffered severe wave damage, and tsunami warnings were issued across a vast area stretching from Russia and Japan through to the Philippines and New Zealand. In the Chilean capital, Santiago, some five million woke up to "hell" as the earthquake, which struck in the small hours of Saturday morning, collapsed tower blocks and bridges and swallowed cars as it ripped cracks in the roads. Rescue teams worked throughout the day to dig out people buried alive in the rubble. Residents of Santiago's many tower soaring blocks spoke of their terror as the buildings swayed and shook in the middle of the night. "We are lucky to be alive," said Lloyd Edmondson, 27, a British businessman resident in Santiago. "We live on the 19th floor, the top floor of our building, and it was swinging like crazy. All the glasses, cabinets, paintings were smashed to pieces and the lift in the building fell from the 6th floor to the bottom floor and is ruined. Thank goodness nobody was in it. "The noise of the rumbling was the most surreal thing. We could hardly even make it to the emergency stairs because the building was moving so much." The Chilean government, which declared a state of "national catastrophe", put the death toll at 147 people. But with large parts of the country cut off, that figure is expected to rise. There were also unconfirmed reports of tsunami-related deaths on the sparsely-populated Juan Fernandez islands, off Chile's 2,700-mile long coastline. The archipelago, said to be the location that inspired Daniel Defoe's castaway novelRobinson Crusoe, was right in the tsunami's path and had little time to react to warnings.

US unveils Bagram handover plan



Afghan officers will begin to take charge of the prison facility at Bagram, currently run by the US military, from next week. Addressing a news conference at the jail near the capital Kabul on Saturday, US and Afghan officials said the handover of the prison would be gradual over the coming year as Afghan officers still require training. "This is the start of the process," Mohammad Qaseem Hashimzai, Afghanistan's deputy justice minister, told reporters. "As a first step we will soon send a team of judicial officials [and] in three months the Afghan national army will take control of the prison facility," he said. "By January 2011 we'll be in full control of the prison." General Mohammad Akram, the deputy defence minister, said that in two years the facility would pass from army control to the ministry of justice.