LAHORE: If Pakistan refuses to reopen the Nato supply routes, it will have to face international sanctions, said Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar on Sunday. ….
Read more » The Express Tribune » BBC urdu
Category Archives: News
‘Pakistani’ driving truck bomb arrested in Afghanistan
By: AP
KABUL: Afghanistan’s intelligence agency on Thursday said it had prevented a large terrorist attack in the capital, arresting a Pakistani national driving a truck packed with explosives in Kabul.
The agency said in a statement that the man was arrested Thursday on a major road in the east of the city. It said the man was going to use the truck bomb in a suicide attack.
The agency did not say what the suspected target was. It said it would release more details as they became available.
The arrest comes a day after a suicide attack on the same road killed seven people. In that attack one militant detonated his car bomb outside a compound where foreigners live, while two other attackers fought their way inside before being killed.
Courtesy: DAWN.COM
Sindh cities rocked by more than 16 blasts
Bombs target ATMs, bank branches across Sindh
By Web Desk / Sarfaraz Memon
KARACHI: At least four people were injured as a series of bombs went off outside various bank branches and Automated Teller Machines (ATM) in different cities of Sindh early Wednesday morning, Express News reported.
The bombs had targeted bank branches and ATMs in Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sukkur, Dadu, Larkano, Kotri, and Badin.
Unknown assailants targeted seven branches of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in Sukkur, Ranipur, Dadu, Dokri, Nawabshah and two branches in Larkano.
The two branches in Larkano located on Bakrani Road and VIP Road — were attacked by low-intensity bombs.
Senior Superintendent of Police Hyderabad Haseeb Afzal Baig said that at least 500gms of explosives were used in the bombs.
A watchman named Sammo sustained injuries when assailants hurled cracker bombs outside a local bank in Dokri.
Express News reported saying that at least 11 blasts occurred in Hyderabad.
The first blast was heard between 5:30-5:45am. ….
Read more » The Express Tribune
Khalil Dale – the courageous aid worker who was gunned down in Pakistan
The courageous aid workers who fear no evil
He’d already been kidnapped and tortured – so what drove murdered aid worker Khalil Dale back to the danger zone?
By Sarah Rainey
Asked to describe his job as an aid worker for the Red Cross in some of the world’s most dangerous locations, Khalil Rasjed Dale compared it to a Mad Max film. “You’ve got people driving around in cars with machine guns,” he said in an interview in 1998. “There’s no government infrastructure, no law and order and we were trying to help vulnerable people nobody else seemed to care for… You just didn’t know what was going to happen next.”
Two days ago, Dale was found dead. Stationed abroad for more than 30 years, he had been taken hostage by suspected pro-Taliban terrorists on January 5. His decapitated body, wrapped in a plastic bag, was dumped by the side of a road in Quetta, the capital of the Baluchistan province, one of the most troubled regions of Pakistan.
Dale’s murder left many stunned by the brutality inflicted on such a gentle-mannered man. But as his family grieves, his death has brought into the spotlight the role of British aid workers, stationed in some of the world’s most volatile countries. His loss is not the first, nor will it be the last.
Read more » telegraph.co.uk
Pakistani Army chief’s speech at Shuhda function, in support of democracy
The language of the speech is urdu (Hindi).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4pAXwh9XBc&feature=player_embedded
Courtesy: Geo Tv News
Pakistani officials: Suspected U.S. drone strike kills militants hiding in high school
From Shaan Khan, CNN
Islamabad (CNN) — A suspected U.S. drone strike killed three people Sunday at a high school in northern Pakistan where militants were hiding, intelligence officials said.
Rehman Malik provided proves against PMLn Chief Nawaz Sharif was involved in money laundering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR_SFCxhhDs&feature=player_embedded
Mehran Bank Scandal: Rehman malik provided proves to media
Interior Minister Rehman Malik proved that PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif was involved in money laundering.
He gave evidence against Nawaz Sharif would be placed before the Supreme Court and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for alleged corruption of $32 million.
Federal Rehman Malik said a commission may be formed to investigate alleged involvement of Nawaz Sharif in money laundering.
He appealed to the Supreme Court to call him and he would present all evidence. He further alleged that Nawaz Sharif made an NRO with former President Farooq Ahmed Leghari and as a result, Benazir Bhutto’s elected government was unconstitutionally dismissed in November 1996.
Federal Rehman Malik said that Nawaz Sharif made a second NRO with dictator Pervez Musharraf and went abroad after signing an agreement and violated the Charter of Democracy (COD) he signed with Benazir Bhutto in 2006. …
Courtesy: Duniya Tv News » Read more » LUBP
Civil Society of Sindh deeply concerned over the operation against the whole community and unavailability of water, food, medicines, electricity and nonexistent of basic necessities of life due to the unofficial curfew in Lyari.
Punhal Sario, Mustafa Baloch, Zulfiqar Shah, Amar Sindhu, Kashif Bajeer, Dr. Ashothama, Rizwan Abbassi, Rabail Aziz, Jabbar Bhatti of the Civil Society of Sindh shows deep concerns over the operation against children, women, and common citizens in Lyari-Karachi, Sindh in the context of confined innocent citizen of the area. The Civil Society of Sindh deeply concerned over the unavailability of water, food, medicines, electricity and natural gas supply for thousands of innocent citizens of the area since couple of the days due to ongoing operation in the lyari and fear deaths and health damages of the innocent citizens due to nonexistent of basic necessities of life. Therefore, civil society of Sindh demands to stop the operation against the citizens of Lyari and government should ensure all basic necessities of living specially water, food, emergency medical support and gas supply as well as securities in the area where it plans to take law and order measures, it also demands immediate water, food and medical rescue to the residents of Lyari confined due to curfew in the area.
Courtesy: News adopted from Facebook
Gilani challenges the leader of the opposition – Bring vote of no confidence if you have courage
Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that he could only be removed by the Parliament and would accept the decision of the house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWlZNyhHMc&feature=youtu.be
Mr Gilani seemed confident during his speech in the National Assembly on Friday in the absence of Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who on Saturday announced that he would not let the prime minister to enter the house.
Gilani criticized Nawaz-League leadership for what he said their ego and said that Nawaz Sharif could not run the parliament as it was not an easy job.
“I challenge you to bring vote of no confidence against me if you have the courage,” Gilani said.
He said that he was punished for protecting the Constitution of Pakistan. He said that nobody other than National Assembly speaker could de-notify him.
The prime minister said that he would honour the decision of the house but would not accept conspiracies and would not let anyone to derail democracy in the country.
Gilanis said that the PML-N should look into results of Multan by-election in which the PPP won.
Courtesy: Geo TV News » TheNewsTribe
More details » BBC urdu
India-Pakistan Trade: Making Borders Irrelevant
By: Tara Beteille, co-authors: Kalpana Kochhar
In our blog post last November, we discussed Pakistan’s decision to grant India most favored nation (MFN) status. We were hopeful about the gains from easier trade between the two, but noted the many stumbling blocks in between. In the past 20 weeks, both countries have made serious efforts to address these blocks. Things are looking good. Here is an update.
Both countries mean business
In addition to the goodwill gesture of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visiting India this April and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh considering visiting Pakistan, important issues addressed include:
- Pakistan issued an order in March 2012 to move from a positive list of 2,000 items for India to a negative list of 1,209 banned items. Pakistan intends to phase out the negative list altogether and formally give India MFN status by the end of 2012.
- India, which formally granted Pakistan MFN status in 1996 (but maintained barriers) has agreed to reduce its sensitive list of 865 items by 30% within four months. India has also agreed in principle to allow Pakistani foreign direct investment in the country.
- Both countries recently agreed to allow yearlong multiple-entry visas for business visitors, with visitors allowed to enter and exit through different cities.
- The two countries have agreed to allow each other’s central banks – the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of Pakistan – to open bank branches across borders to facilitate financial transactions and ensure smooth trade.
- A second checkpost gate was inaugurated this March at the Attari-Wagah border to ease road traffic between the two countries. The checkpost, with elaborate security features and capable of accommodating 600 trucks at a time, will provide upgraded infrastructure, including new storage go-downs, wide roads, and a luxurious passenger terminal.
Opportunities and gains
Making borders irrelevant can have far-reaching effects for economic prosperity across sectors in Pakistan and India. Consider a key driver of growth: electricity. South Asia’s recent More and Better Jobs flagship report estimated that industrial load shedding in Pakistan has resulted in the loss of 400,000 jobs. Trade between energy surplus and deficit regions could counter such losses — indeed, Pakistan is already in negotiations with India to import up to 500 MW of electricity.
Continue reading India-Pakistan Trade: Making Borders Irrelevant
Today, Imran Khan asked for PM’s resignation for the implementation under Article 63 but what he was saying about the same article before, watch this!
The language of the video clip is urdu (Hindi).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JE75V0oOM5w
» YouTube
Why don’t the Pakistani Judiciary/ Memo Commission believe Mansoor Ijaz on Hafiz Saeed
WASHINGTON, Nov 3: A senior US official responsible for counter- terrorism on Tuesday directly accused Pakistan of supporting training of militant groups in Afghanistan as well as providing “material support” to some of the Kashmiri militants. “There are numerous Kashmiri separatist groups and sectarian groups involved in terrorism which use Pakistan as a base…We have repeatedly asked Islamabad to end support of terrorist training in Afghanistan,” Michael Sheehan, State Department’s coordinator for counter-terrorism, told a Senate Foreign Relations sub-committee. The sub-committee hearing was called and presided over by Senator Sam Brownback and the list of experts who testified included a former CIA officer in Pakistan Milt Bearden, president of Stimson Centre Michael Krepon, John Hopkins University Central Asia Institute chairman Dr Fredrick Starr and a Pakistani- American businessman and columnist Mansoor Ijaz. …..
Read more » ChagataiKhan
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.ca/2012/02/hafiz-saeeds-memory-loss-on-osama.html
PM not convicted according to charge: Aitzaz
ISLAMABAD: The counsel for Prime Minister in the contempt of court case Aitzaz Ahsan said Thursday that the Supreme Court charged Gilani for scandalizing the court which was not in the charges framed.
“The prime minister was not convicted according to charges,” Aitzaz told reporters during a news conference alongside Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. ….
Read more » Geo Tv
India & Pakistan will sign a “liberalized visa agreement” next month in Islamabad
Soft Pak-India visa policy to be signed in May: Krishna
NEW DELHI: Indian’s Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna Wednesday said India and Pakistan will sign a “liberalized visa agreement” in May this year when secretaries of the two countries meet in Islamabad.
Speaking at the Lok Sabha on the April 8 daylong visit of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to India during which he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over lunch, he said Pak-Indian secretary level talks are set in May in Islamabad, where liberalized visa policy will be given a go-ahead.
According to India media, the traders from the two sides of the border will be entitled to receive multiple visas for one year.
Also under the fresh policy, the traders from the two countries may receive visa of ten cities in the respective countries.
Courtesy: SAMAA TV
Via – twitter
No laughing matter: Entertainer who poked fun at militants kidnapped
By Riaz Ahmad
PESHAWAR: “Shave my head, paint my face black; Mount me on a donkey and make fun of me.”
Either militants didn’t take kindly to Nisar Khan’s comedic song referring to an incident where Taliban insurgents seized thieves, shaved their heads and mounted them on donkeys; or they took it a bit too seriously.
Nisar, a comedian, was kidnapped by militants mid-show in Peshawar’s suburban town of Matani on Monday, telling the shocked audience that they ‘needed an entertainer urgently’.
He was entertaining guests at a wedding party when around 20 militants entered the hujra where he was performing and abducted him, residents said. The event was taking place near a police check-point.
“The militants took Nisar away, saying they too needed an entertainer on an urgent basis,” a resident told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. “They told people not to panic and that Nisar is being taken away only for a few days. They said he will not be harmed.”
Continue reading No laughing matter: Entertainer who poked fun at militants kidnapped
US government says terrorists could be in last stages of planning an attack in Kenya
By Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya — The U.S. government is warning that a terror attack on prominent government buildings and hotels in Kenya’s capital could be imminent.
The U.S. Embassy in Kenya said Monday the timing of the attack is not known but they believe it to be in its final planning stages. They did not give further details.
The embassy urged Americans to be vigilant.
Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants from neighboring Somalia have vowed to carry out an attack on Kenya for sending troops into Somalia.
Kenya sent hundreds of troops into Somalia in October last year following a wave of kidnappings, including those of four Europeans on Kenyan soil, blamed on al-Shabab.
Courtesy: The Washington Post
Rotting From Within – Investigating the massive corruption of the Chinese military.
BY JOHN GARNAUT
In many fields of international competition, China is less sanguine about its abilities than outsiders. Chinese leaders often remind Westerners that China is a developing country, with hundreds of millions of people living in poverty, an unbalanced economy, and high social tensions. What should most worry Beijing, and provide some comfort to those who fear Chinese military expansionism, is the state of corruption in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
True, the world underestimated how quickly a four-fold jump in Chinese military spending in the past decade would deliver an array of new weaponry to prevent the United States from interfering in a regional military conflict. Top American generals have worried publicly about “carrier-killer” ballistic missiles designed to destroy U.S. battle groups as far afield as the Philippines, Japan, and beyond. Last year, China tested a prototype stealth fighter and launched its maiden aircraft carrier, to augment new destroyers and nuclear submarines. What is unknown, however, is whether the Chinese military, an intensely secretive organisation only nominally accountable to civilian leaders, can develop the human software to effectively operate and integrate its new hardware. ….
Read more » Foreign Policy (FP)
Dawn magazine editor found choked to death in apartment
KARACHI: Murtaza Razvi, Editor of a Magazine at Dawn, was found dead in an apartment cum studio in the Defence area of Karachi on Thursday morning. Reports suggest that the deceased was choked to death. His dead body was found by his wife and artist Shahid Rissam. ….
Read more » Business Recorder
Nationalist Leader of Sindh Bashir Qureshi was poisoned to death: medical board
Bashir Qureshi was poisoned to death: medical board
By: Khurshid Abbasi
KARACHI: Late chairman of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) Bashir Khan Qureshi was poisoned to death, the medical board set up by the Sindh government has declared, The News learnt on Wednesday.
The medical board has handed over its detailed report to the Sindh government. Dr Qayyum Rajpar, member of the 15-member medical board, told The News that it had been verified that JSQM chief Bashir Khan Khan Qureshi was poisoned to death.
According to sources, provincial Interior Minister Manzoor Wassan would give details about the report in a press conference today (Thursday). The government has started further investigations after this report.
Courtesy: The News
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-14025-Bashir-Qureshi-was-poisoned-to-death-medical-board
Apex Court of Pakistan Judges or Islamic Clerics in enforcedly converted Hindu and Christian girls’ case
Islamabad: April 18, 2012. (PCP) Eyes of Human right activists around globe were on Supreme Court of Pakistan hearing of a case today of forced conversion of Hindu girl Rinkle Kumari and others to Islam but unfortunately Division Bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan not bothered to listen victimized girls and ordered police to present them before Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan to record their statement and to go with parents or with Muslim husbands.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvezhad ordered to send Hindu women Rinkle Kumari, Dr. Lata and Asha Kumari to Shelter in last hearing on March 26, 2012, when they were crying “We want to go with our parents and begged that their life is in danger”
It surprised Human Right activists that why Judges ordered to send Hindu women in Shelter when in camera session and later in open court hearing of March 26, 2012, they begged Division Bench Judges to allow them to go with their parents?
It was already feared that in Shelters the Hindu girls will be threatened and blocked to unite with their families.
In today’s hearing by SC Bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary not permitted to speak victim Hindu girls but gave them in police custody to record their statement with registrar.
The Three Hindu women in police custody who were all Muslim women and men police officer walked to the Registrar office of Supreme Court of Pakistan and under police presence expressed their consent to go with their Muslim husbands.
The forced converted Hindu girls were in Shelter for three weeks where all staff was Muslim, the officer who escorted them from Shelter to Supreme Court building were all Muslims and to office of Registrar escorting officers were also all Muslims.
How a Muslim cannot put pressure on a convert to Islam who has openly demanded to go with her Hindu Parents when a Muslim has religious faith that to convert to infidels is their ticket to heaven? The Supreme Court of Pakistan Judges as a Muslim also were aware of such belief of Muslims as citizens of Islamic Republic of Pakistan but not bothered to hold open court hearing or camera session on hearing of April 18, 2012, and ordered a Muslim Registrar of Supreme Court of Pakistan to record their statements.
A Ray of hope – the New Enlightenment of SINDHIYAT
By: Ibrahim Saleh Mohammad
As a Sindhi, we are not Hopeless, like our ancestors were before 1947. In Today’s Sindh, a new phase of Sindhiyat (Humanity) has been evolved, which is above then the Hindu, Muslim and other Religions. During these days, we have seen a new Generation of Sindhi youth demonstrating peacefully in the streets of Sindh, and confronting with the Radical Fundamentalists with bare hands. This is a Ray of hope, which is the New Enlightenment of SINDHIYAT.
Courtesy: Ibrahim Saleh Mohammad’s facebook wall
Gen. Kayani rules out Pakistan’s unilateral withdrawal from Siachen
Should discuss all disputes including Siachen with India: COAS Kayani
Excerpts;
…. Talking to media, after reviewing search operation underway to bring out 139 martyred troops in Gayari sector buried under tons of snow, he said Pakistan was open to talks with India to de-militarize Siachen. ….
… COAS also made it clear that army was protecting country’s borders on Siachen. ….
…. To a question, he said Siachen was an enormous burden on the taxpayers of both the neighbours.
“Siachen consumes a mammoth amount of national exchequer, which must be diverted to the people of both countries respectively”, said Gen Kayani. ….
…. To a question, he refused to comment on PML-N’s Mian Nawaz Sharif’s statement on Siahcen.
Sharif in a statement on Tuesday had exhorted Pakistan and Indian governments to withdraw their troops from Siachen sector and resolve the issue through dialogues.
Read more » Geo Tv
Forced conversions: As leftists protest, ST takes offence
By Sameer Mandhro / Z Ali
KARACHI / HYDERABAD: Supporters of the leftist coalition group, the Sindh Progressive Committee, had a run-in with the Barelvi religious-political party Sunni Tehreek at the Hyderabad Press Club on Tuesday, resulting in the police hauling in almost two dozen activists.
The Sunni Tehreek had been protesting the recent spate of violence in Karachi and had wrapped up the event. The Sindh Progressive Committee (SPC), which comprises the Workers Party, Labour Party, Communist Party, Jeay Sindh Mahaz, National Party, Awami Party and Watan Dost Inquilaabi Party, held a protest outside the press club against forced conversions and religious extremism.
The fight reportedly started as the Sunni Tehreek supporters alleged that attendees at the SPC’s event had beaten up a man who had stopped them from chanting slogans that they alleged were against religion.
Sunni Tehreek’s protestors went back to the press club and the fight forced SPC event attendees to hide inside the club as the Sunni Tehreek men threw stones and chanted slogans against them. While some female SPC leaders including Professor Arfana Mallah and Sindh University lecturer and activist Amar Sindhu managed to escape, the police cordoned off the area around the press club and rescued the rest. While they had assumed the police would release them, they were sent to the Cantonment Police Station.
The Sunni Tehreek’s Abid Qadri alleged that the SPC had “attacked our man first” and “used abusive language”. Arfana Mallah said their protest was peaceful but they had been attacked by the Sunni Tehreek, who brought “weapons, stones and sticks” and “forced us not to chant slogans”.
According to the police, 23 men from the Sindh Progressive Committee were arrested. The Sunni Tehreek’s Hyderabad General Secretary Muhammad Yaseen Qadri registered a First Information Report (FIR) under sections 148, 147 and 149. Even though the FIR mentions 60 people, only three are mentioned by name – Comrade Iqbal, Allah Bux and Bakhshal Thallo. The Sunni Tehreek and SPC have both claimed their supporters were injured.
At the SPC’s protest in Karachi, activists demanded that Rinkle Kumari and Asha Kumari, the two women who have drawn attention to the rise of Hindu conversions in Sindh, be handed over to their parents. They chanted slogans against landlords, clerics, army generals and extremists and asked that the government separate religion from matters of the state.
Speakers included Yousuf Masti Khan, Nasir Mansoor, Jan Muhammad Buledi, Usman Baloch, Mehnaz Rehman, Comrade Iqbal and Abdul Khaliq Junejo. “We don’t support a state that promotes religious extremism and stifles the environment for other religions. Every man is free in this country and has the right to move freely and perform his religious rituals,” said Usman Baloch.
Courtesy: The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2012.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/366193/forced-conversions-as-leftists-protest-st-takes-offence/
ATTACK ON SINDH PROGRESSIVE COMMITTEE (SPC) DEMO AGAINST RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM
Hyderabad: The religious extremists show up to throw stones and beat peaceful protestors including children and women and the police arrests the peaceful progressive demonstrators of civil society demanding basic rights for women and Hindus as citizens of Pakistan. They are charging the civil society activists with blasphemy to terrorize them! Sindh is indeed suffering a brutal occupation that turns more tragic and farcical by the day. The following report of the rally to protests forced conversion and kidnapping of Hindu girls by an alliance of Sindhi civil society.
According to the reports, Sunni Tehreek’s extremists came with pick up’s loaded with Stones and attacked the peaceful Rally. Some of the injured were Girls & children. Police arrested civil society leaders Taj Marri, along with his Daughter Paras, renowned leftist intellectual, thinker, writer and activists Bakhshal Thalou and many other activists of civil society . Religious fundamentalists tried to put Hyderabad Press club on fire, and latter GOR Colony police Station was attacked by them. Several hundreds Students of Sindh University came to defend the civil society rally against the religious fundamentalism. Women Action Forum Leaders Arfana Mallah and Amar Sindhu who were in rally tried to dissuade the fanatics, but they insisted on registering charges of TOHEEN-E-RISALAT [blasphemy, a capital offense in Pakistan] against arrested leaders of Sindhi civil society.
According to some informed journalists a secret service agency is working on to create a rift between the People of Sindh and wants to start Hindu- Muslim riots and force the Sindhi Hindu’s to leave Sindh and to put Sindhis in minority in their own motherland. After the pressure of civil society, Women Action Forum’s leader Arfana Mallah and Taj Marri were freed from the lockup of GOR Colony Police Station, Hyderabad, Pakistan.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups 17 April 2012 + facebook
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More » BBC urdu
Karachi: a Tower of Babel? By Roland DeSouza
Excerpt;
…. Over the next three censuses, the proportion of Urdu speakers in the city peaked at over 50 per cent but the Pashto speakers slowly began to increase. In the 1998 census, in a population of 9.8 million, the Urdu speakers showed a declining trend of around 45 per cent while the Pashto speakers moved upwards to ten per cent.
Projecting these trend lines into the future, in less than thirty years the number of Pashto speakers will exceed the number of Urdu speakers. ….
Read more » The Express Tribune
http://tribune.com.pk/story/365643/karachi-a-tower-of-babel/
Afghan schoolgirls poisoned in anti-education attack
By Mohammad Hamid, KUNDUZ, Afghanistan
(Reuters) – About 150 Afghan schoolgirls were poisoned on Tuesday after drinking contaminated water at a high school in the country’s north, officials said, blaming it on conservative radicals opposed to female education.
Since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban, which banned education for women and girls, females have returned to schools, especially in Kabul.
But periodic attacks still occur against girls, teachers and their school buildings, usually in the more conservative south and east of the country, from where the Taliban insurgency draws most support.
“We are 100 percent sure that the water they drunk inside their classes was poisoned. This is either the work of those who are against girls’ education or irresponsible armed individuals,” said Jan Mohammad Nabizada, a spokesman for education department in northern Takhar province.
Some of the 150 girls, who suffered from headaches and vomiting, were in critical condition, while others were able to go home after treatment in hospital, the officials said.
They said they knew the water had been poisoned because a larger tank used to fill the affected water jugs was not contaminated.
“This is not a natural illness. It’s an intentional act to poison schoolgirls,” said Haffizullah Safi, head of Takhar’s public health department. ….
Read more » Reuters
via – Twitter
Pentagon says Pakistan-based Taliban of the Haqqani group were behind attack on Kabul & other Afghan cities.
Haqqani network behind Afghan attack: Pentagon
By: AFP
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said Monday a major attack on Afghan government buildings, military bases and foreign embassies was likely carried out by Haqqani militants who operate from sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan.
“Initial indications are that the Haqqani network was involved in this set of attacks that occurred yesterday in Kabul,” press secretary George Little said of Sunday’s assault.
The 18-hour attack was “well-coordinated,” but Afghan security forces “did a very effective job” in quelling the onslaught, Little told reporters. ….
Read more » DAWN.COM
Via – Twitter
Was brazen Pakistan jail break an inside job?
By Saud Mehsud, BANNU, Pakistan
(Reuters) – An Islamist militant commander who helped plan an assault on a Pakistani jail on Sunday which freed nearly 400 prisoners said his group had inside information.
Pakistan’s Taliban movement, which is close to al Qaeda, said it was behind the brazen assault by militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles.
A police official said most of those who escaped from the jail in the northwestern town of Bannu were militants, including one on death row for trying to assassinate former president Pervez Musharraf.
“We had maps of the area and we had complete maps and plans of the jail as well,” the commander, a senior member of the Taliban, told Reuters.
“All I have to say is we have people who support us in Bannu. It was with their support that this operation was successful.” ….
Read more » Reuters
Former DG ISI and Chief of Difa-e-Pakistan Council Gen. (R) Hameed Gul fall from chair in leadership row
The language of the news is in urdu (Hindi).
Courtesy: Express News Tv » YouTube
Pakistan: the continuing saga of a fat, lazy and incompetent ‘security state.’ Militants attack Bannu jail, nearly 400 inmates escape
Militants attack Bannu jail, nearly 400 inmates escape
By: AFP
PESHAWAR: Nearly 400 prisoners including militants escaped early Sunday from a jail in northwestern Pakistan after an attack by insurgents armed with guns, grenades and rockets, officials said.
More than 150 heavily-armed militants stormed the central prison outside the restive northwestern town of Bannu bordering the lawless tribal regions where Taliban and al Qaeda linked militants are known to operate.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We attacked the Bannu prison and got our special members freed,” Ehsan told AFP.
“In a couple of days when all of them have reached their designated places we will issue details about them. At the moment I cannot give you exact numbers.”
The attack started at around 1:00 am (2000 GMT Saturday) and continued for two hours, with militants in cars and pick-up trucks shooting and lobbing grenades to force their way into the prison, a security official told AFP.
“Some 384 prisoners, including some hardcore militants, have escaped during the attack,” the official said, asking not to be named. ….
Read more : DAWN.COM
via – Twitter
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