ISLAMABAD - Pakistanâs national legislature on Tuesday witnessed pandemonium after opposition parties took on a federal minister for his pro-military views and dubbed him a political turncoat.
The minister, Sher Afgan Niazi, had attempted to block an opposition resolution demanding the army end its involvement in national politics and return to barracks. Liaqat Baloch, an MP of the religio- political nutwing alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (moveon.org MMA), moved the resolution to coincide it with Pakistanâs Defence Day being observed today to commemorate the 1965 war with India.
Attaboy, commemorate a war you lost.
But the moment Baloch rose to address the house, Niazi stood up out of turn to eulogize President Musharrafâs service for the country. This attracted some shouts of âlota, lotaâ from opposition benches. The term âlotaâ, a pot used in rural areas for watering plants, denotes politicians who switch sides, usually in favour of the ruling party. âYes I am a lota, I am proud of it, I am proud of my work with General Musharraf, who was voted into presidency with MMA votes,â Niazi said in response.
Niaziâs political rivals have been threatening to resign from the legislature, which they say is powerless in the presence of an exceptionally strong President. âWe wanted to send a message on the day from parliament that the military must perform within the parametres defined in the Constitution and return to barracks,â Baloch told DPA.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2005 23:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
Three powerful bombs exploded in Dadu, Sukkur and Nawabshah on Tuesday night, but no casualties were reported. In Dadu, a powerful bomb went off in front of National Bank near New Chowk, shattering windowpanes of nearby buildings and damaging a car. After initial investigations, the police concluded that the blast had occurred due to a firecracker. Another bomb exploded in Nawabshah on Skrind Road near a branch of National Bank, leaving its windows smashed. The police cordoned off the area. No one was arrested.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2005 21:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
Top Khulna terror killed in encounter
Sept 5 : A top terror of Khulna, Md Saifuzzaman alias Shoaib alias Ripon alias Babu, 30, was killed in an encounter between RAB members and his associates in Rupsha upazila of Khulna district early today (Monday). A regional leader of the Janajuddha group of the outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party, Shoaib was one of the most wanted outlaws. He was an accused in at least 16 different cases including 8 cases for murder. He was a charge-sheeted accused in the journalist Humayun Kabir Balu murder case of Khulna thana. He was also a FIR-named accused in the Havilder Akram murder case of Sonadanga thana.
"I'm wanted on 12 systems!"
According to sources, Shoaib was a most dreaded extortionist who used to maintain a gang for collection of illegal toll from different organisations and individuals in Khulna city and adjacent areas. Due to his criminal activities, both his parents and three brothers severed all connections with him by making a declaration before the Notary Public in March, 2003. His father Maulana Abdul Wahab, better known as Bulbuleay Bangladesh, is a well-known Islamic cleric in Khulna and Barisal divisions.
Dad wouldn't have disowned him if he had only persued a career in jihad
According to a press release issued today by RAB-6, a RAB patrol team stationed at Katakhali crossing of Rupsha tried to halt a private car at the designated check-point at about 3-40 am today (Monday) but it sped away towards the Rupsha bridge, defying the signals for stoppage. Immediately, the officer-in-charge of the RAB patrol team sent wireless message to another patrol party of RAB stationed at Jabusha crossing, asking them to halt the car.
"Calling all cars, we got a runner!"
Seeing the obstacles created by the Jabusha patrol, the occupants of the car started firing on the RAB members and their vehicle from their running car.
"Da coppers blocked the road! Open fire!"
Reacting against the firing, the RAB men took cover beyond their own vehicles and other barriers and began to fire back at the car.
"Return aimless fire!"
During this exchange of fire, the car hit the railings of a culvert on the road and came to a halt.
Wow, just like "Wildest Police Videos".
The occupants of the car then got down and began to run away from the scene, firing at random.
"Random fire, don't fail us now!"
When the firing stopped, the RAB men cordoned off the area, conducted a thorough search and found the bulletâhit outlaw lying beside the car. He was sent to Khulna Sadar Hospital where the attending doctors declared him dead.
"He's dead, Jim"
The members of the elite force conducted a search operation at the nearby Jabusha village to nab the fleeing terrorists but none could be traced.
Vanished, into the night. Just like they were never there.
The RAB members recovered one foreign SBBL gun, one country made revolver, eight rounds of ammunition and three spent cartridges from the scene. The car abandoned by the miscreants was seized by the police.
"For Sale, used get-away car. Only shot up once. Needs cleaning"
According to the press release, the elite force strengthened patrolling and checking of the vehicles on key points last night after it had received information from some "secret" sources that some suspicious elements traveling in a private car from Dhaka along the Dhaka-Mawah-Gopalganj road on the night of September 4 would reach Khulna and might carry out some destructive activities there.
That "secret" source wouldn't have been the now deceased Shoaib, would it? Just curious.
The press release says that the patrol microbus of the RAB has been damaged after it was hit by the bullets fired by the miscreants.
"Crap, now I'll have to fill out those vehicle damage reports, in triplicate! Next time, rookie, you're signing for the car"
Film actress Prema held on charge of beating taxi driver
Police arrested the film actress Prema and three others including her brother and sister from the cityâs Ramna area on Sunday. Sources said film actress Tania Shikder Prema along with her brother Sumon, sister Shova and domestic help Nargis were going to meet a friend in a taxicab.
Prema was locked in an altercation with the cab driver Shaheen and beat him mercilessly in front of the High Court under Ramna police station.
Hearing the shouts, a patrol team of police rushed to the spot and arrested all of them on charge of assaulting the driver.
Some things are universal, I guess.
2 snatchers beaten to death in Chittagong
Sept 5: Two alleged snatchers were killed and another was severely injured in mass beating by the mob at Mirjarpole at Moradpur in the city at around 8 pm tonight. The identity of the victims could not be known till filing this report at 8.30 pm tonight.
"Yuck, we're gonna need DNA to ID this lot"
Sources said, a gang of armed miscreants numbering four attacked one person at Mirjarpole at Moradpur in the city at around 8 pm tonight to snatch money from him.
"Yar, we be the Miscreants of Moradpur! Give us yur money!"
The victim started to shout when the snatchers attacked him.
"HELP!"
Hearing the shout of the victim, local people surrounded the snatchers.
"Hey, they're trying to rob Bob! Get them!"
The people caught three of them while another snatcher could manage to escape from the spot. The mob beat the said snatchers severely causing the death of two of them on the spot and injuring another one.
WACK..SLAM..KAPOW..THUD..."rose..bud!"..
Meanwhile, police rushed to the spot and recovered the alleged snatchers. Police sources said, two of them died on the spot and another one was admitted to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital at 8. 30 pm tonight.
"He's still alive, Jim. But, that's gonna leave one hell of a mark"
It may be mentioned that it is the second incident of mass beating in Chittagong within three days. Earlier, six dacoits were killed and five others injured severely in mass beating at Noyahat at Kashias under Potiya upazila in the district on the night of September 2 last. The armed dacoits looted huge household goods, money and gold during the robbery there.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/06/2005 13:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"patrol microbus "?
The mind boggles.
one foreign SBBL gun,
Well, at least it's different from the old J frame revolver or the horrible shutter gun. Now where did I put my copy of "Jane's Small Arms"?
Posted by: N guard ||
09/06/2005 15:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The RAB members recovered three spent cartridges from the scene
They must have that new disappearing brass ammo over there. How else can you have a massive shootout with only three shells being expended?
#6
I *love* the Crossfire Gazette. Tales of Justice and Heroism. Better than Dick Tracy. It cries out to be a web comic. I just hope my mail order copy of "Jane's Small Arms of Southeast Asia" arrives soon.
Russia wants its ambassador here to be allowed to have Russian âarmedâ security personnel. The reason: a threat to his life from certain militant groups having links with extremist organisations in Chechnya. After being warned by Russian agencies of a âhigh threat perceptionâ to Vyacheslav Trubnikov, the embassy recently routed the request through the Foreign Office to the Home Ministry.
Indian intelligence and security agencies too have warned the Home Ministry that militant groups are planning to eliminate Trubnikov. According to a Home Ministry note on the issue, Trubnikov was associated with an intelligence agency in the erstwhile USSR â possibly the KGB, which might explain the threat from Chechen militant outfits. Intelligence sources confirmed that there were reports indicating a possible link between Chechen rebels and militant outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba which operate in the Kashmir Valley.
Following the inputs, security for the Russian ambassador and at the embassy has been beefed up. The Russian Embassy asked for two armed security personnel to guard Trubnikov. âWeâve made security arrangements for the ambassador till a final decision is taken on the issue,â said a ministry official. Though an ambassador can have his own private security personnel, permission is required from the Home Ministry if armed personnel are needed. A similar permission has been granted to the Israeli ambassador, who is also in the âhigh security riskâ category.
Following the input on the Russian ambassador, the Home Ministry has directed the Indian intelligence agencies to do a security review of diplomats, particularly those from the US, the UK, France, Japan and some Islamic countries. Currently, the Delhi Police provide the security cover to most of them.
Providing security to diplomats is the responsibility of the host country. But within the compound of the embassy, the country concerned can have its own security arrangements. The Americans, for instance, have the US Marines guarding the embassy premises.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/06/2005 00:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
U.S. and Afghan forces killed 13 suspected Taliban fighters, and captured dozens more, in a remote area where a political candidate was kidnapped and executed last week, a provincial governor said Monday. U.S. and Afghan troops dropped by parachute from American aircraft in the operation, which began Sunday, Gov. Assadullah Khalid said by telephone from Kandahar, the capital of the province of the same name. None of the allied forces was injured.
This qualifies as a combat drop for the airborne guys, right?
The airborne assault targeted insurgents suspected of killing Khan Mohammed, a candidate for Kandahar's provincial council in the nation's Sept. 18 elections who had been abducted Friday, the governor added.
At least four other candidates have been killed in the weeks before the elections for the lower house of Afghanistan's parliament and provincial councils. It is the first vote for parliament since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban's hard-line Islamic regime in late 2001.
Backed by U.S. attack helicopters, the American and Afghan troops, and local police, landed Sunday in the remote Lal valley, about 50 miles northwest of Kandahar, the governor said. More than 40 suspected insurgents were detained. They are being interrogated, U.S. Col. Jim Yonts, spokesman for the coalition forces, told reporters in Kabul, the Afghan capital. Khalid said some might be released soon, while the rest will be put on trial as Taliban militants.
"I think this was a group that was hiding and getting ready to conduct operations to bring chaos to the process of the elections in Afghanistan, so this (assault) will decrease the danger of the Taliban insurgency," the governor added.
Yonts denied there was any link between the offensive, which is still under way, and Friday's kidnappings and executions.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/06/2005 00:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
Security was tightened at the Lucknow railway stations on Monday after a letter, purportedly from Al-Qaeda, claimed that mines and other explosives have been planted at one of the stations, a top official said. Principal Secretary, Home, Alok Sinha told reporters that bomb disposal squads are on the lookout for any possible explosives at the Charbagh railway station where security was beefed up. He said the letter claiming that explosives have been planted at Charbagh station was received by the Divisional Manager of North-Eastern Railway on Monday. "Security at all railway stations including Charbagh had been tightened as a precautionary measure though the letter appears to be bogus and meant to create panic," he said.
Sinha said bomb disposal squads had been scouring the Charbagh station premises since 1400 hours Monday but no explosives had been recovered till evening. He said that the Special Task Force was entrusted with the responsibility of finding the origin of the letter written on a plain paper and mentioned the name of one Mohammad Ahmed who claimed to be the "area commander" of Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/06/2005 00:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
NEW DELHI - India will cut troop levels in Kashmir if separatist violence and militant infiltration from Pakistan stops, the prime ministerâs office said on Monday after a landmark meeting with moderate Kashmiri separatist leaders. âThe prime minister said that if there is a cessation of violence and end to infiltration, conditions will be created for the reduction of armed forcesâ (in Kashmir), a statement from the prime ministerâs office said.
Another iteration of the famous recipe for rabbit stew: step one -- catch a rabbit ...
The statement came after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held the first-ever official talks between an Indian leader and Kashmiri separatists since an anti-Indian rebellion erupted in 1989. The three-hour meeting included formal talks and dinner followed by cordials and dancing.
âHe agreed to review all cases of those held in detention and ensure that violation of human dignity would not be tolerated and the government would take all necessary measures to safeguard against human rights violations,â the statement from the prime ministerâs office said. The troops are the target of wide resentment among many Kashmiris.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Nice move, sahib. You and the militants can talk for a couple of months; the violence will decrease in November as the mountain passes get snowed in, you declare the talks successful (except for that bothersome sporadic shooting of civilians thingy) and you draw down your troops until Spring, when the snow melts and the hard boyz emerge from their winter dens and come looking for the heathen Hindoo again...
Pakistan opposition parties yesterday decided not to wait for 2007 elections to oust President Pervez Musharraf but go ahead with a mass campaign to get rid of him as soon as possible, sources said.
There's a word for that ... hmmm ... re-, revol-, oh something ...
President of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Qazi Hussain Ahmed in a press conference in Karachi said that people could not expect the present government to hold free and fair elections in the country keeping the alleged malpractices in the recent local polls in mind. âThe situation has pushed the country into a blind alley and made it imperative for all patriotic, democratic and Islamic forces to liberate Pakistan from the shackles of military dictatorship and restore the 1973 constitution,â Qazi said.
Lost the local elections big time, didn't they?
He claimed opposition parties have said they would not accept any military ruler in the country in the future. Qazi said, âWe have started our campaign to end the undemocratic regime of General Pervez Musharraf, the campaign will last till the illegal regime of Musharraf is over. Now we will not wait for 2007 elections but our demand and campaign is to remove Musharraf and his stooges. No elections will be held under Musharraf because it will not be a fair and transparent elections. We have witnessed all elections held in his regime, be it his referendum or a number of previously held local bodies elections, all have proven to be fraudulent.â
He claimed the government had âcommitted blatant riggingâ in the recent local government polls, which they said had worsened the âcrises-likeâ situation in the country. Opposition parties have called for a countrywide strike from Friday to protest Musharrafâs policies.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He must be reading from the Cindy Sheehan playbook.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/06/2005 14:57 Comments ||
Top||
India's prime minister, who has held a landmark meeting with Kashmiri separatists, said he will cut troops in the disputed territory if violence and militant infiltration from Pakistan stops. He also pledged respect for human rights in the Himalayan region where tens of thousands have died. The three-hour meeting, which included formal talks and dinner, came after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to the first-ever official talks between an Indian leader and moderate Kashmiri separatists since an anti-Indian rebellion erupted in 1989. Kashmir is held in part but claimed in full by both India and Pakistan.
"The prime minister said that if there is a cessation of violence and end to infiltration, conditions will be created for the reduction of armed forces" (in Kashmir), a statement from the prime minister's office said. He also pledged to meet again with the separatists to discuss steps to reduce violence in the state, including rights abuses by Indian troops. The troops are the target of wide resentment among many Kashmiris. "He agreed to review all cases of those held in detention and ensure that violation of human dignity would not be tolerated and the government would take all necessary measures to safeguard against human rights violations," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday that instead of calling for strikes the opposition should bring all contentious issues to the National Assembly (NA). "The opposition should discuss political differences in the assembly or highlight them through the press. They should also prefer national interest over politics," he added.
I just squirted wine out my nose...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If our opposition isn't better than that, why should yours?
Around 5000 troops have been deployed in the NWFP and 4,500 in Balochistan to reinforce the Pak-Afghan border and stop the infiltration of miscreants into Afghanistan thereby protecting the September 18 parliamentary elections from sabotage, said Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, the ISPR spokesman. The total number of troops on the border has now increased to 80,000. The spokesman added that the length of the border and its rugged terrain make it impossible to completely seal the frontier.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Don't worry about the miscreants, it's them rabblerousers you want...
SRINAGAR: Suspected rebels hurled a grenade on a busy road in Indian-held Kashmir on Monday, wounding about a dozen people, police said, hours before the start of talks between Kashmiri separatists and the Indian prime minister. The attack took place in Shopian town, south of Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state. No militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, which police said was aimed at an army patrol but exploded on the street instead.
I had a minor accident in my back yard a couple or three weeks ago. My peach tree was struck by lightening, as coincidence would have it when the branches were heavy with fruit not quite ready to be picked. I took the chain saw and cut the remains of the tree down, tossing the big chunks into the woods. That left me with a couple hundred peaches lying around the yard, which brought to mind the Kashmir Krazed Killer Korps.
Since my house backs to the woods, I tried a minor experiment â a random fruit-flavored grenade toss. Pretending each of the peaches in the yard was a grenade, I picked them up one by one and tossed them at the "target area" in the woods, which was a brush pile. To hit the target, the "grenade" had to go through the gate, to the left of the trunk of a willow tree, to the right of the corner of the shed, high enough to clear the back of a bench, and low enough not to be deflected by the willow branches.
Fully 80 percent of my "grenades" landed in the target area, accuracy improving as my arm loosened up, then deteriorating again as antique joints began complaining. Yet in Kashmir, fully 90 percent (possibly more) of grenades miss the "intended" target and shred innocent bystanders. I haven't researched it thoroughly, but I can't recall a grenade incident in Kashmir where there haven't been innocent bystanders.
[Pauses to puff ruminatively on battered, reeking pipe. Burns another hole in smoking jacket. Plays a few bars of "Minnie the Moocher" on saxophone.]
You don't think, do you, that the target in all these grenade attacks might actually be the innocent bystanders?
Naw. That couldn't be it.
Obviously you weren't trained by Hek.
Anyone in Pakistan with a good arm is busy playing international cricket. The rest of them grew up kicking a soccer ball around and haven't grasped the infidel concept of "throwing".
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Were you throwing baseball-style, Fred? You are, after all, an American. How would you do, I wonder, if you threw a peach as if it were a cricket ball, which I imagine is the preferred style in that former British colony.
#5
[Pauses to puff ruminatively on battered, reeking pipe. Burns another hole in smoking jacket. Plays a few bars of "Minnie the Moocher" on saxophone.]
gawd i can picture it. »»:>
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/06/2005 22:37 Comments ||
Top||
Three people died and three were wounded on Monday when a tribesman fired at administration officials trying to confiscate his Kalashnikov rifle in a town near the Afghan border, government sources said. Miranshah political Tehsildar Iftikhar Ahmed Khattak, Moharir Ali Amroz and tribal policeman Dil Muhammad were gunned down in Miranshahâs crowded bazaar, Razmak Adda, a senior administration official told Daily Times. Ali died at the scene while Iftikhar and Dil Muhammad were pronounced dead in hospital. A policeman and two passers-by were also injured, he said. The gunman fled after the incident. After the killings, authorities have ordered to âshoot at sightâ if anyone is seen with weapons in the Miranshah Bazaar, the official said. Political Agent Tariq Hayat and Tochi Scouts Commandant Waheed Bangash declared that armed persons in Miranshah Bazaar would be shot at sight from today onward. âAnnouncements were made by loudspeakers warning tribesmen against carrying weapons in public,â eyewitnesses said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[16 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistanâs national legislature on Tuesday witnessed pandemonium after opposition parties took on a federal minister for his pro-military views and dubbed him a political turncoat.
Three powerful bombs exploded in Dadu, Sukkur and Nawabshah on Tuesday night, but no casualties were reported. In Dadu, a powerful bomb went off in front of National Bank near New Chowk, shattering windowpanes of nearby buildings and damaging a car. After initial investigations, the police concluded that the blast had occurred due to a firecracker. Another bomb exploded in Nawabshah on Skrind Road near a branch of National Bank, leaving its windows smashed. The police cordoned off the area. No one was arrested.
Top Khulna terror killed in encounter
U.S. and Afghan forces killed 13 suspected Taliban fighters, and captured dozens more, in a remote area where a political candidate was kidnapped and executed last week, a provincial governor said Monday. U.S. and Afghan troops dropped by parachute from American aircraft in the operation, which began Sunday, Gov. Assadullah Khalid said by telephone from Kandahar, the capital of the province of the same name. None of the allied forces was injured.
NEW DELHI - India will cut troop levels in Kashmir if separatist violence and militant infiltration from Pakistan stops, the prime ministerâs office said on Monday after a landmark meeting with moderate Kashmiri separatist leaders. âThe prime minister said that if there is a cessation of violence and end to infiltration, conditions will be created for the reduction of armed forcesâ (in Kashmir), a statement from the prime ministerâs office said.
SRINAGAR: Suspected rebels hurled a grenade on a busy road in Indian-held Kashmir on Monday, wounding about a dozen people, police said, hours before the start of talks between Kashmiri separatists and the Indian prime minister. The attack took place in Shopian town, south of Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state. No militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, which police said was aimed at an army patrol but exploded on the street instead. 
Three people died and three were wounded on Monday when a tribesman fired at administration officials trying to confiscate his Kalashnikov rifle in a town near the Afghan border, government sources said. Miranshah political Tehsildar Iftikhar Ahmed Khattak, Moharir Ali Amroz and tribal policeman Dil Muhammad were gunned down in Miranshahâs crowded bazaar, Razmak Adda, a senior administration official told Daily Times. Ali died at the scene while Iftikhar and Dil Muhammad were pronounced dead in hospital. A policeman and two passers-by were also injured, he said. The gunman fled after the incident. After the killings, authorities have ordered to âshoot at sightâ if anyone is seen with weapons in the Miranshah Bazaar, the official said. Political Agent Tariq Hayat and Tochi Scouts Commandant Waheed Bangash declared that armed persons in Miranshah Bazaar would be shot at sight from today onward. âAnnouncements were made by loudspeakers warning tribesmen against carrying weapons in public,â eyewitnesses said.
