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Nawaz arrested!
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday:

Andrew Jackson - died 1845 (78) "Old Hickory - 7th President" (Now)

Eduard Strauss - died 1916 (81) " Austrian composer - polka-schnell" (Now)

Jim Lightbody - died 1953 (70) "US Olympic Runner - 6 Gold Medals" (Now?)

Harry James - died 1983 (67) "Band Leader - Mr. Betty Grable" (Now)

Norm Van Brocklin - died 1983 (57) "The Dutchman - Quarterback, Oregon Ducks, LA Rams" (Now?)

Ruth Buzzi Bader Ginsburg = 76 "US Supreme Court Socialist" (Now)

Phil Lesh - 69 "Bass guitar, Grateful Dead" (Now)

Mike Love - 68 "Beach Boys" (Now)

Sly Stone - 66 "Sly & the Family Stone" (Now)

Kim Raver - 40 "Lipstick Jungle." (Now)

Penny Lancaster - 38 "6'1" English Model - Rod Stewart's latest wife." (Now)

This Day in History:
44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus.
1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
1906 - Rolls-Royce Limited is incorporated.
1944 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb the German-held monastery and stage an assault.
1952 - In Cilaos, Réunion, 1870 mm (73 inches) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record. (Global Warming Alert)
1985 - The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/15/2009 0:19 Comments || Top||



Africa Horn
Kidnappers free Darfur aid workers: Official
Four aid workers with the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who were kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region were released and are safe, a Sudanese government official said on Saturday. "It is confirmed," Ali Youssef Ahmed, head of protocol at the foreign ministry, told Reuters. "They have been released. They are safe. They are all right. They are still in Darfur but will be transferred to Khartoum."

The workers -- an Italian doctor, a Canadian nurse, French administrator and a Sudanese staffer -- were kidnapped on Wednesday in Saraf Umra, in North Darfur.

Armed men seized the staff from the Belgian arm of MSF from their base in north Darfur on Wednesday, sending shockwaves through the region's humanitarian community.

According to a source close to the dealings with the kidnappers, the freed aid workers have reached the main Darfur city of El-Fasher. "They will be taken to Khartoum later in the day or on Sunday," Yussef said.

The abductions came at a time of rising tension in Sudan, following the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to face charges of orchestrating war crimes in Darfur.

Sudan expelled 13 international aid groups from the north of the country after the warrant was issued, accusing them of passing information to the court, an accusation the groups deny. MSF's Dutch and French arms were ordered to leave but its Belgian operation was not expelled. Aid groups have said they have faced growing antagonism in Darfur since the arrest warrant was issued.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Arabia
South Korean tourists blown up as they admire sunset in Shibam, Yemen
FOUR South Korean tourists have been killed and four wounded by an explosion in the historic city of Shibam in southeast Yemen. The group had been photographing the sunset when a bomb went off.

"According to a preliminary toll, the explosion killed four South Korean tourists and wounded four more, as well as a Yemeni man," a security official in Hadramawt province said. "We think the blast was caused by a bomb that had been planted there."
Oustanding, Legume, how do you do it?
Earlier another local official said the explosion "may have been a suicide attack, but this has not yet been confirmed".

"The explosion happened as they were gathered on a hill called Khazzan that overlooks the city. They were on foot and taking pictures of the buildings in Shibam at the moment the sun went down," he said.

Shibam, about 800km southeast of Sanaa, is a UNESCO world heritage site well known for its high-rise mud-brick buildings. "Its impressive tower-like structures rise out of the cliff and have given the city the nickname of the Manhattan of the desert'," the UNESCO World Heritage website says.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2009 18:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What on earth would cause somebody to be a tourist in Yemen?

Its like the a'hole of the earth...

Seriously...
Posted by: 3dc || 03/15/2009 18:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Why the f__k do you think they call it "Shibam"?
Posted by: Awaz Mussolini7589 || 03/15/2009 19:14 Comments || Top||

#3  To take advantage of this exciting new horizon in tourist realism, the name will immediately be changed to ShiBOOM*!

*A subsidiary of AraboDisney.
Posted by: ed || 03/15/2009 19:56 Comments || Top||


Britain
Minister beaten after clashing with Muslims on his TV show
Christian minister who has had heated arguments with Muslims on his TV Gospel show has been brutally attacked by three men who ripped off his cross and warned: 'If you go back to the studio, we'll break your legs.'

The Reverend Noble Samuel was driving to the studio when a car pulled over in front of him. A man got out and came over to ask him directions in Urdu. Mr Samuel, based at Heston United Reformed Church, West London, said: "He put his hand into my window, which was half open, and grabbed my hair and opened the door.

"He started slapping my face and punching my neck. He was trying to smash my head on the steering wheel. Then he grabbed my cross and pulled it off and it fell on the floor. He was swearing. The other two men came from the car and took my laptop and Bible."

The Metropolitan Police are treating it as a 'faith hate' assault and are hunting three Asian men.

In spite of the attack, Mr Samuel went ahead with his hour-long live Asian Gospel Show on the Venus satellite channel from studios in Wembley, North London. During the show the Muslim station owner Tahir Ali came on air to condemn the attack.

Pakistan-born Mr Samuel, 48, who was educated by Christian missionaries and moved to Britain 15 years ago, said that over the past few weeks he has received phone-in calls from people identifying themselves as Muslims who challenged his views. 'They were having an argument with me,' he said. 'They were very aggressive in saying they did not agree with me. I said those are your views and these are my views.'

He said that he, his wife Louisa, 48, and his son Naveed, 19, now fear for their safety, and police have given them panic alarms. 'I am frightened and depressed,' he said. 'My show is not confrontational.'
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2009 09:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Minister beaten after clashing with Muslims on his TV show will be charges with inciting hatred in 5..4..3
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2009 10:17 Comments || Top||

#2  "Police have given them panic alarms."

Because hey, if your attacker knows you are panicked, he'll stop attacking, right?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/15/2009 10:17 Comments || Top||

#3  There will be charges of inciting hatred. Against the Christian minister. Johnny Bull can't have some mean ol' christer stirring up the perpetually aggrieved muzz...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/15/2009 13:00 Comments || Top||


Government adviser on Islamic terror arrested after man is stabbed at his home
A Muslim who advised the Government following the July 7 London bombings has been arrested after an alleged stabbing. Inayat Bunglawala, 39, was held on suspicion of attacking another man at his £300,000 home.

Mr Bunglawala, who also briefed former Security Minister Tony McNulty on the threat posed by Islamic radicals in the UK, was arrested two weeks before Christmas last year. The identity of the alleged victim is unknown and it is not clear what circumstances led to the alleged attack in the early hours of December 13 last year. Mr Bunglawala has been released on bail while the Crown Prosecution Service considers bringing charges.

Mr Bunglawala is one of the most prominent members of the Muslim Council of Britain, an organisation which advises the Government on extremism and counter-terrorism. After the July 7 London bombings in 2005, he was one of seven Muslims appointed to a Home Office taskforce tackling radicalisation in the UK. Last week, Mr Bunglawala was featured on the BBC and in many newspapers as the moderate ‘voice’ of British Islam after the Luton anti-war demonstrations.

Critics claim his arrest will once again focus attention on the MCB. In his final years as Prime Minister, Tony Blair came to distrust the organisation amid claims it was linked to Islamic extremism. But the MCB has enjoyed a renaissance under Gordon Brown and briefed Counter-Terrorism Minister Bill Rammell on community tensions last week. MCB representatives also advised Foreign Secretary David Miliband during last year’s Israel-Gaza War.

Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, who worked as a security adviser to Mr Brown, said of the alleged incident: ‘This calls into question the Government’s vetting of its Islamic advisers.’ Mr Bunglawala has previously worked as a civil servant at Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs but now runs an Islamic website. His wife, Tahmina Saleem, works for Redbridge Council in East London. They have several children. According to the Land Registry’s records, Mr Bunglawala bought his large Luton townhouse for £300,000 in August 2007.

Many in the Islamic community have been concerned at his behaviour. Mr Bunglawala – the MCB assistant general secretary and Press spokesman – lodged a complaint with the BBC after its website described firebrand cleric Abu Qatada as an ‘extremist’. Dubbed Al Qaeda’s ‘Ambassador in Europe’, Abu Qatada gave religious authority to extremist groups in the UK and abroad, including the men behind the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. Last night, a BBC News source said: ‘We were right to call Abu Qatada an extremist and we would be happy to do so again.’
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2009 09:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The arresting officers will be investigated on suspicions of racism.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2009 10:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Bunglawala's the BBC's Favourite Muslim and he's also Slime Incarnate (I'm sure anyone who's heard him speak would agree). How appropriate.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/15/2009 12:36 Comments || Top||


NIreland Riots After Police Arrest 3 Over Killings
Irish nationalist gangs hurled gasoline bombs at police Saturday after three alleged IRA dissidents were arrested on suspicion of killing two British soldiers in an attack designed to trigger wider violence in Northern Ireland.

Police operating in armored cars and flame-retardant suits said none of their officers was injured during the rising mob violence in the Irish Catholic end of Lurgan, a religiously divided town southwest of Belfast. Rioters also blocked the main Belfast-to-Dublin railway line that runs alongside the hardline Kilwilkie neighborhood of the town.

Later, police said they arrested a 37-year-old man and 30-year-old woman, and seized a gun and ammunition in the neighboring town of Craigavon, where Irish Republican Army dissidents shot to death a policeman Monday.

Police would not say whether those arrests and the arms find were connected to the March 7 shooting of the soldiers or the subsequent killing of the policeman. Police said the couple were being questioned about unspecified "serious terrorist crime."

The unrest came in direct response to Saturday's arrest of Colin Duffy, 41, the best-known Irish republican in Lurgan. Police arrested two other suspected Irish Republican Army dissidents aged 32 and 21 in the overwhelmingly Catholic village of Bellaghy -- all on suspicion of shooting to death two soldiers last weekend.

Police arrested two teenage rioters and advised motorists to stay away from the Catholic north side of Lurgan to avoid having their cars seized and burned as road barricades. An Associated Press reporter driving through the area at dusk Saturday night had to make a rapid escape to avoid youths -- some wearing masks or with scarf-covered faces -- hurling rocks and bricks in an apparent attempt to stop his vehicle.

Police long considered Duffy the IRA godfather of Lurgan and twice charged him with murders in the town in the run-up to the IRA's 1997 cease-fire -- which breakaway factions are now trying to destroy.

Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is so much easier to break than to build.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/15/2009 5:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Irish nationalist gangs hurled gasoline bombs at police Saturday after three alleged IRA dissidents were arrested on suspicion of killing two British soldiers

No wonder, IRA emphatise with Paleos---the mentality is very similar.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2009 7:10 Comments || Top||

#3  We had gotten passports and started planning -dreaming, given financial state - a trip to Eire but this kind of stuff does not make me feel so bad about postponing it.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/15/2009 10:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Glenmore, the Republic of Ireland will always be a safe place to visit, but it seems Northern Ireland is going through one of its more unsettled periods.
Posted by: Bulldog || 03/15/2009 12:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Went pub crawling in Belfast in Nov 1992 with an engineer friend who worked in the water dept there in Belfast. The Brit army Land Rovers had chains on the sides to stop molotov cocktails and there was a gunner through a hatch on the top of the vehicle. It felt like a scene in Bladerunner. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/15/2009 17:19 Comments || Top||


Europe
Seven Dutch-Moroccans accused of planning Amsterdam terror attack
Amsterdam police arrested seven Dutch-Moroccans on terrorism charges Thursday (March 12th), one day after receiving a tip from a Belgian informant, international press reported. The six men and one woman, aged 19-64, reportedly targeted a busy shopping mall to maximise civilian casualties. A concert by popular band The Killers was cancelled as a result of the arrests.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe


Home Front: WoT
Where's Osama? Chitral, Pakland?
Where's Osama? Try Chitral, once a trekkers' paradise in Pakistan that has been sealed off to outsiders and is now regularly buzzed by American spy drones.

The U.S. won't say it officially, but an exhaustive Daily News investigation finds the world's biggest manhunt for the monster who murdered nearly 3,000 people on 9/11 has zeroed in on Chitral's stunning peaks and deep valleys.

Six U.S. and foreign officials confirmed to The News that northwestern Pakistan's impenetrable Hindu Kush mountains - which boast some of the world's tallest climbs - in the Chitral region have been eyed as Bin Laden's hideout since 2006 by Osama hunters aiming for the big kill.

A lengthy review of evidence, including recent Predator fly-bys, Bin Laden's tapes since 9/11 and interviews with three dozen experts on Al Qaeda, Pakistan and special operations, point to these vast mountains as the terror chief's most likely haven.

Captured Al Qaeda leaders have given up as his hideout. "Debriefings of Al Qaeda leaders arrested confirmed this," said Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside Al Qaeda."

Two senior foreign officials said the nearby town of Kalam also is suspect.

Drones were first spotted spying on Chitral last summer and were seen again as recently as Feb. 2. Chitral is so far from U.S.-run airfields that drone sorties are limited to just a few hours because of fueling issues.

Moreover, Islamic militancy is taking root in several Chitrali valleys leading to the Afghan border, prompting Pakistan's tourism ministry to decree them off-limits to foreigners, local sources said - reinforcing the suspicion Osama is nearby.

CIA Director Leon Panetta has told Congress he asks "every day" where Bin Laden is hiding.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2009 07:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why would officials say that? Because it isn't true? Because it is, and they want him to move? Because they're idiots?
Now, if there's a geostationary spy satellite parked overhead..... I don't think I want to know.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/15/2009 10:51 Comments || Top||

#2  I've looked at this area on Google Earth. There's a nice house with several out-buildings about halfway up the valley there, with a road that goes almost to the Afghanistani border (approximately where the white area is on this picture). There are several areas that could be used for training, and one probable cave entrance near the top of the valley. A handful of lookouts in the trees near the top of the valley could see someone approaching while they're still ten miles away. The area appears lifeless, but the roads and buildings are all in good repair. It would be an ideal place for Bin Laden to hide.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/15/2009 12:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Or in an ISI safehouse inside Rawalpindi cantonment.
Posted by: john frum || 03/15/2009 13:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Fred knows. But he ain't saaa.... wait a sec...
Posted by: Shipman || 03/15/2009 14:52 Comments || Top||

#5  obama is hiding him in the white house basement
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 03/15/2009 17:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Clearly PANETTA + US INTEL, etc. aren't analyzing andor talking to Osama's favor--i-i-i-te 1960's = 1980's MTV Babe WHITNEY HUSTON, aren't we???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/15/2009 18:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Hey, thinking maybe Binny needed a bit of sunshine to beat the winter blahs, JM? Whitney Houston has a home in Antigua, possibly a victim of Sir Stanford's bank there.
Posted by: Thealing Borgia122 || 03/15/2009 19:09 Comments || Top||

#8  obama is hiding him in the white house basement

Working on your 'legalize marijuana' expertise again. I see.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/15/2009 20:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to be restored as Chief Justice of Pakistan
In a golden moment in Pakistan’s history, the government has decided to restore the deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar told Geo news about the decision of Justice Iftikhar’s reinstatement. He told Geo news senior Analyst Kamran Khan that Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had personally told him about Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s reinstatement.
Posted by: john frum || 03/15/2009 17:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  as either Tu, Raj or Mojo noted: "He's baked!"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2009 17:23 Comments || Top||

#2  I've lost my scorecard and game notes - is there any chance this "chief justice" has an interest in common law, or will he bridge the gap between common law and sharia?

For all the lawyers in Pakistan, what's their secular background, and does it have any interest in distinguishing between rule of law and rule of cleric?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 03/15/2009 19:52 Comments || Top||


Taliban attacks NATO trucking terminal in Peshawar
From Long Wars Journal
A Taliban rocket attack on a trucking terminal in Peshawar has destroyed more than 20 NATO trucks and set part of the terminal ablaze.

A Taliban force of more than 40 fighters entered the Pak-Afghan Container Terminal "scaled the back wall of the compound and tied up the guards," Dawn reported. The Taliban fighters lobbed petrol bombs and launched RPGs at the trucks and containers.

The fire, described as an "inferno" by Geo News, "is getting more and more difficult to control" due to the "intensity" of the flames. It is unknown if further vehicles or shipping containers are in danger of being destroyed. Dawn reported that dozens of containers and trucks have been destroyed.

The early Sunday morning attack in Peshawar is the first major strike against NATO's supply lines through northwestern Pakistan since the Feb. 3 attack in the Jamrud region in the Khyber tribal agency. The Taliban bombed a vital bridge spanning a dry river bed. The bridge was nearly destroyed and traffic was halted for more than a week until the route could be reopened.

The attack in Jamrud forced the government to shut down the route for the sixth time since September 2008. Some Pakistani truckers have refused to travel through Peshawar and Khyber as the security situation has deteriorated.

There have been multiple attacks on NATO truck terminals along Peshawar's Ring Road. More than 450 NATO vehicles and containers have been destroyed in a series of attacks on shipping terminals in Peshawar as well as attacks on convoys moving through the region. During several bold attacks over the course of two days in early December 2008, an estimated force of 300 to 400 Taliban fighters destroyed more than 200 vehicles and shipping containers.

NATO's most vital resupply route for its forces in Afghanistan stretches from the Pakistani port city of Karachi to Peshawar, then through the Khyber Pass to Kabul. More than 70 percent of NATO supplies and 40 percent of its fuel moves through Peshawar.

Taliban commander Hakeemullah Mehsud has been leading operations against NATO's supply lines in Khyber and Peshawar. Hakeemullah is a senior lieutenant of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and the cousin of Qari Hussain, the notorious Taliban commander who trains child suicide bombers in South Waziristan.

Hakeemullah has become an influential leader in Pakistan's Taliban movement. He also commands the Taliban in the Kurram and Arakzai tribal agencies. He declared sharia, or Islamic law, in Arakzai in January 2009. In Khyber, Hakeemullah has rivaled the Lashkar-e-Islam for control.

The government and military have launched several offensives to drive out the Taliban in Peshawar and Khyber, but Pakistanis living in the area say the efforts have been unsuccessful.

The military claimed that Peshawar has been freed from a Taliban siege, but a recent series of deadly attacks against police stations and outposts in the city and surrounding areas indicates the Taliban still have a grip on the region.

The growing Taliban insurgency in the Northwest Frontier Province coupled with the assault on the supply lines has forced NATO to seek alternative supply routes into Pakistan. In Late January, NATO secured an agreement with Russia to allow supplies to pass through the Central Asian republics. NATO officials have said its members could use Iranian routes to resupply its forces, while the US is also exploring the possibility of establishing routes through Iran.
Iranian routes to Afghanistan is like putting your head in a noose and begging the executioner not to tighten it, I read somewhere......
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/15/2009 15:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  i wouldn't put those guards back on duty , i would also start asking what religion they are from or if they have any
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 03/15/2009 17:42 Comments || Top||

#2  It appears to had been a busy weekend for the Taliban, as they have THREATENED BOTH LOCAL PAKI-WOOD CELEBRITIES [ actors, singers]; + INTERNATIONAL AID WORKERS WITH DEATH.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/15/2009 19:03 Comments || Top||


Pak Army reinforcements may affect war on terror
Pakistan Army's reinforcements to Islamabad from the restive northwestern part in the face of mass protests against the PPP-led government has fuelled concerns that it may weaken the war against the al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists near the Afghan border.
As if we'll notice ...
Pakistan on Saturday plunged deeper into political chaos with a defiant Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the PML(N), leading thousands of supporters towards Islamabad for a mass sit-in front of Parliament on Monday.

Pakistan has put its Army on standby as the confrontation between the country's two main parties the PPP and the PML(N) showed no signs of abating despite frantic efforts by national and international mediators. The Army said it has brought reinforcements to Islamabad from northwestern Pakistan, fuelling concerns that it is being distracted from the terror war against the militants near the restive Afghan border, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Notice they didn't pull reinforcements away from the Indian border ...
"It may affect our fight against terrorists, but we don't have any choice," Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik was quoted as saying by the British daily.

U.S. and British officials fear the unrest is undermining counter-terrorism operations and could precipitate another military coup in a country that has been ruled by the Army for more than half of its 61-year history, the report said.

In an apparent effort to mediate in the political crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Mr. Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday.
"Mahmoud! Talk to this chattering woman!"
"Of course Your Enormity. What will you be doing?"
"Looking for my ten percent!"
Mr. Malik said that extraordinary security measures were being taken as intelligence agencies have warned that terrorists could take advantage of the protest to carry out "target killings" and a "series of bombings", including suicide attacks. "The government cannot allow mass demonstrations in the capital because of the threat of violence," Mr. Malik said in Islamabad. "I urge all Pakistanis not to join the long march as we have credible information that enemies of Pakistan could take advantage of the situation," he stressed.

The lawyers and opposition parties launched the long march on Thursday to pressure the ruling PPP to reinstate judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf during the 2007 emergency.

The PML(N)-backed the protest after accusing Mr. Zardari of influencing a Supreme Court verdict that barred Mr. Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from contesting polls and holding elected office.
Posted by: john frum || 03/15/2009 14:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sharif heads for Islamabad as rebellion fears haunt Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plunged deeper into a political chaos on Sunday night as a defiant Nawaz Sharif, joined by tens of thousands of supporters in Lahore, was headed towards Islamabad for a mass sit-in front of Parliament on Monday amid reports that IGP of Punjab province's police and other senior officials had resigned and joined his 'long march' for restoration of the Constitution.

Heading for a showdown with the Government, Sharif, the PML-N leader and a former premier, defied his house arrest in Lahore as one of Pakistan's biggest civil disobedience movement unfolded with hundreds of stone-throwing anti-government protesters fighting pitched battles with police in the capital of Punjab province. The Punjab Deputy Attorney General was also reported to have resigned.

As Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met Army Chief General Ashfaq Gilani to discuss the escalating situation, the protests by lawyers and PML-N supporters for restoration of judges sacked in 2007 by the then President Pervez Musharraf gathered steam and threatened to spiral out of control after Sharif defied the house arrest.

Emerging from his Model Town residence, Sharif who his party supporters said was ordered to be placed under house arrest for three days along with his brother Shabaz Sharif urged people to defy restrictions and join the 'long march'.

"Brothers, do not be scared or worried. These obstacles are temporary. We must remove them and only then can we reach our destination," he said.

Denounced his house arrest order as illegal, Sharif told his flag-waving and chanting supporters, "These are the decisive moments." "After 1947 this is the second time that the country needs you," the former premier said giving a call to oust President Asif Ali Zardari.

Sharif told supporters before leaving for the GPO chowk from his residece, "I tell every Pakistani youth that this is not the time to stay home; Pakistan is calling you to come and save me."

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, however, claimed no orders had been issued for putting the Sharif brothers in house arrest.

Sharif's younger brother and former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz, who was in the garrison city of Rawalpindi at a PML-N leader's residence, gave a slip to police and went into hiding before he could be served order for his house arrest, PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq said.

Earlier, media reports had said that Shahbaz too was placed under house arrest.

The government also issued orders for the detention of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and cricket-turned- politician Imran Khan, the leader of Tehrik-e-Insaf party, both of whom are in hiding, local media reports said.

On the penultimate day of the long march which was launched on March 12, a large police contingent fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse lawyers, civil society activists and workers of the PML-N, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and Jamaat-e-Islami parties, who had gathered at GPO Chowk in Lahore to join the rally to Islamabad.

Both sides pelted stones at each other and police in riot gear beat protesters with batons and sticks. Several persons were injured in the clashes and some protesters were also arrested and bundled into police vans.

Earlier this morning, police arrested over 20 PML-N activists who had gathered at a camp set up outside Sharif's residence at Model Town. Police also put under house arrest several other senior PML-N leaders, including Senator Ishaq Dar, parliamentarian Saad Rafiq and Zulfikar Khosa, the chief of the party's unit in Lahore. Dissident PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan, a key player in the lawyers' movement, too was placed under house arrest.

Supporters accompanying Sharif's swelling convoy smashed the windows of buses parked along the route. Others set fire to tyres, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.

To thwart them, authorities parked trucks across major roads on the edge of the city, and riot police took up positions outside the railway station and government buildings.

Still, several thousands flag-waving demonstrators pushed past police barricades to reach the courts. Sone lawyers were seen cutting the barbed fire fences.
Posted by: john frum || 03/15/2009 11:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, lessee. Sharif is a returned exile who has positioned himself as the underdog. Tailor made for a dem administration here to usher him into power. This worked out so well when carter did it for khomeini...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/15/2009 12:54 Comments || Top||


Three militants killed in Jammu mosque
Jammu: Three militants holed up at a mosque in the Sarawan-Keshwan area of Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir were gunned down by security forces on Saturday. Another militant, a ‘self-styled commander,’ was still holed up. The encounter started in the morning.
Posted by: john frum || 03/15/2009 08:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "holed up" or "returned to base"?
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2009 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2  RTB'd Frank, awaiting further instructions.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/15/2009 8:56 Comments || Top||


Nawaz arrested!
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's government has placed opposition leader Nawaz Sharif under house arrest to stop him taking part in an anti-government rally.

Sharif's spokesman Pervez Rasheed says hundreds of police surrounded his house Sunday in the eastern city of Lahore. He says they showed Sharif aides a detention order stipulating Sharif was to be placed under house arrest for three days.

There was no immediate word from Pakistani authorities about the move.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2009 00:04 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sharif, he don't like it... (apologies to The Clash)
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/15/2009 2:17 Comments || Top||

#2  The Inspector General of the Punjab Police and his officers have resigned and joined Sharif.
Posted by: john frum || 03/15/2009 11:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Pakistan opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has defied an apparent house arrest order to head for a protest in Lahore.

Describing the order - denied by the government - as "illegal" he left his Lahore home urging people to join him.

Police fired tear gas at the stone-throwing protesters who plan to march to Islamabad to demand judges sacked by the former government be reinstated.

But Mr Sharif's car was allowed to drive through a police cordon as it approached the rally in central Lahore.

The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leader later set off in a convoy of vehicles to join the protest "long march" to Islamabad.

"It's now a matter of the future of Pakistani nation and coming generations," Mr Sharif told the Geo TV news channel by telephone from his bullet-proof car, reported Reuters news agency. "How can we abandon our mission halfway?"
Posted by: john frum || 03/15/2009 12:02 Comments || Top||

#4  SKOOOOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!
Posted by: Shipman || 03/15/2009 15:04 Comments || Top||


Four UN officials kidnapped in Lower Dir
Unidentified criminals kidnapped four United Nations officials of the World Food Programme (WFP) from Shakar Tangi Maidan area of Lower Dir on Friday when the team visited the area to distribute food and oil amongst students of government-run schools, sources told Daily Times on Saturday.

Sources said the abducted workers included the Lower Dir WFP field monitor, distributor Imran and driver Munir. They said the officials visited the area on Friday but did not reach their homes until Saturday evening. District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ghulam Muhammad told reporters that he had received no formal ransom demands yet.

Maidan is considered a stronghold of the Taliban and they have been suspected of abducting the officials. However, Dir Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) district chief Hafeezullah said the Taliban were not involved in kidnapping these people. Separately, unidentified miscreants kidnapped two people from Kumbar Maidan on Friday. Residents said Sahar Gul, a butcher, and a youth of the area had been missing for a day but no demands had been obtained for their release as yet.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Perfect financing set-up: UN guys go in to get captured, then UN pays fat ransom, then US & other enemies of bad guys get billed by UN. Repeat as necessary.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/15/2009 10:48 Comments || Top||


Five Lashkar militants killed in IHK clashes
Troops in Indian-held Kashmir shot dead five members of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) in clashes on Saturday, police said.

Hemant Lohia, a senior police officer, told AP four gunmen hid in a mosque in Kishtawar district in Srinagar as army and police cordoned off the area during a search operation on Friday night.

When the gunmen refused to surrender police opened fire. Three of the militants were killed, while one remains in the mosque, said Lohia.

Separately, two more LT members were shot dead by security forces later on Saturday in another gun battle in north Kashmir, police said.

New Delhi says the LT was behind last November's attacks in Mumbai in which nearly 170 people were killed, a charge the radical group has denied.

Officials say more than 47,000 people have been killed since an anti-India insurgency broke out in 1989 in the disputed Himalayan region. But overall violence involving Indian troops and separatist guerrillas has declined significantly across Kashmir since India and Pakistan began a slow-moving peace process in 2004. New Delhi put a pause on the dialogue after the Mumbai attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Seven LI members released
The political authorities of Khyber Agency released seven members of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) on Saturday. The members, including a senior commander, had been arrested some five months ago when they were returning from Jamrud. They were moved to an undisclosed location. Both the LI and Bara Aman Committee had been demanding the release, which was granted after the committee said it would offer guarantees on behalf of those people. The committee members had also met Environment Minister Hamidullah Jan Afridi two days ago in Islamabad to discuss the release. The captives were handed over to the political authorities of the agency by security forces who later handed them over to the Bara Aman Jirga in Peshawar on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Two killed in Quetta firing
Two people were killed and one injured as unknown militants opened indiscriminate fire at a van on Saryab road in Quetta, police sources said on Saturday. According to sources, unidentified militants riding a car opened indiscriminate fire at a van, bound to Jacobabad from Quetta, near Gahi Kahn Chowk on Saryab road, killing two persons Niaz Muhammad and Kamal Khan and leaving one person (Abdun Nabi) injured. Injured Abdun Nabi and dead bodies were shifted to Civil Hospital where injured was provided medical care, Edhi sources said. Police have registered case and lodged investigation, police sources added.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Al-Qaeda suspects gunned down in Iraqi custody
Six detainees suspected of belonging to the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq were fatally shot while being transferred from custody in the northern province of Nineveh to the western province of al-Anbar, police said.

"Unidentified gunmen killed six detained al-Qaeda members between the villages of Baiji and Haditha in the northwest of Iraq," a source in al-Anbar's security forces, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Saturday. He said the men had been captured near Mosul by US soldiers, who transferred them to Iraqi custody. Iraqi security forces were bringing the men to Boka Prison in southern Iraq when gunmen attacked their convoy as it passed through the men's native al-Anbar province.
Hummmm. Sounds like a unknown cadre of miscreants attempted to free their associates and when they tried to flee, they were caught in a crossfire. Or is that another country I'm thinking of? Anyone find a shutter gun lying around?
Iraqi police have arrested more than 100 suspected insurgents since they launched "Operation New Hope," an attempt to pacify the area around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which remains one of the country's most dangerous areas.

Insurgents have responded with a rash of retaliatory bombings and shooting attacks that have mostly targeted Iraqi police and army patrols.

On Saturday, unknown gunmen shot a police officer in central Mosul's central Saray market before disappearing into the crowd, police there said.

In an apparently unrelated attack on Saturday, Ahmed Murad Shehab, a professor in Mosul University's Faculty of Administration and Economics was fatally shot in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of al-Nur, on Mosul's left bank, police said.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Vigilantes?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 03/15/2009 13:28 Comments || Top||

#2  And, what would greenie know about F4 eh?
Posted by: Shipman || 03/15/2009 15:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, why let a perfectly good macro go to waste.
Posted by: Steve || 03/15/2009 15:24 Comments || Top||

#4  the BDR fiasco has certainly kept the RAB/Steve "Lambada" from RB's pages lately. Ima missrn him
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2009 15:28 Comments || Top||

#5  those who were detained by the iraqi police may have known a little too much
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 03/15/2009 17:46 Comments || Top||

#6  The dead can't talk.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/15/2009 20:00 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli policemen gunned down near Jewish settlement
TWO Israeli policemen have been shot dead in an attack near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attack took place near Massua in the northern Jordan Valley.

An anonymous caller claimed responsibility on behalf of the "Imad Mughniyeh Group" in a telephone call to the media. The group is named after Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in a car bomb attack in Damascus in February 2008 that was blamed on Israel. The Jewish state denied any involvement.

Police and the army sent reinforcements to the area where the attack took place and troops had launched search operations in a bid to track down the assailants, Mr Rosenfeld said.

The Haaretz newspaper website reported that one of the policemen was killed on the spot and that the other died of his wounds shortly after the arrival of emergency services. Their car was found on Highway 90 which skirts the border with Jordan to the east.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2009 18:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Arson attack on school leads to shootout with Thai terrorists
Terrorists Insurgents hurled a petrol bomb against a school in this southern border province early Sunday but village defence volunteers managed to put out the fire before it damaged the school. The arson attack against the Ban Buchoh School in Ban Buchoh village in Tambon Bachoh of Bachon district at 1:15 am caused only little damage a school building. The defence volunteers exchanged gunfire with the insurgents for about 5 minutes before the insurgents retreated. No one was injured.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/15/2009 05:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Gunmen kidnap 3 Philippine schoolteachers
Unidentified gunmen abducted three public schoolteachers in a remote southern Philippine town in the latest kidnapping in the volatile region, the military said Saturday.

Four armed men seized the three female teachers in the coastal town of Naga in Zamboanga Sibugay province on Friday, military spokeswoman Lt. Steffani Cacho said. The gunmen forced them to board a boat that then sped away, she said.

Cacho said authorities have no immediate suspects and no group has claimed responsibility. She said the navy was helping with the search.

Three other teachers are being held for ransom by suspected Muslim militants on southern Basilan island after they were seized in January.

Militants from the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf also are holding three international Red Cross workers on Jolo, farther south. The group is demanding the withdrawal of military forces from the area before starting any negotiations. The military has refused.

Suspected militants also are holding four other hostages on Jolo and one on Basilan, Cacho said.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka military kills 32 rebels in heavy combat
COLOMBO, March 13 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed 32 Tamil Tiger separatists in intense fighting in what the government says are the final battles of Asia's longest-running civil war, the military said on Friday. Sri Lanka's military has surrounded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a 37 sq km (15 sq miles) of the island nation's northeastern coast and is fighting to deal a death blow to a civil war that has raged off and on since 1983.
This is how you solve a long-running civil war. Norway take note ...
"Fighting continued in Puthukudyiruppu. Troops killed 32 LTTE terrorists from yesterday's fighting and recovered 15 dead bodies," military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Combat operations now are concentrated on the last town the separatist LTTE holds and commanders say nearly all of the Tamil Tigers' top guerrillas including leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran are in that area, with some personally commanding the battles. Troops are inside the town and have just a few kilometres to go before they reach a lagoon on its eastern edge, across from which is a 12-km coastal strip set up as a no-fire zone. Tens of thousands of civilians are inside the area.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Heavy Combat? Where is that, exactly? Somewhere close to Final Victory, I hope.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 03/15/2009 13:32 Comments || Top||

#2  It's slightly north of Tony Upazilla.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/15/2009 15:14 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
69[untagged]
5Govt of Pakistan
2Lashkar e-Taiba
2Hamas
2TTP
1Govt of Iran
1Abu Sayyaf
1al-Qaeda
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Palestinian Authority
1Govt of Sudan
1al-Qaeda in Europe
1al-Qaeda in Iraq

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
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Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2009-03-15
  Nawaz arrested!
Sat 2009-03-14
  Sudan: Kidnappers demand Bashir arrest warrant be dropped
Fri 2009-03-13
  Pakistain: Political leaders in hiding as hundreds arrested
Thu 2009-03-12
  Taliban Hideout dronezapped
Wed 2009-03-11
  Boomer near Sri Lanka mosque kills 15
Tue 2009-03-10
  33 dead as Iraq tribal leaders attacked
Mon 2009-03-09
  Iraq suicide bomber kills 30, wounds 57
Sun 2009-03-08
  Palestinian PM submits resignation making way for unity govt
Sat 2009-03-07
  US taps Delhi on Lanka foray: Marines to evacuate civilians
Fri 2009-03-06
  Marwan to be 'freed' as part of Shalit deal
Thu 2009-03-05
  ICC issues arrest warrant for Sudan's president-for-life
Wed 2009-03-04
  Lanka troops in last Tamil Tiger Towne
Tue 2009-03-03
  Lanka cricketers shot up in Lahore
Mon 2009-03-02
  Hariri tribunal gets underway in The Hague
Sun 2009-03-01
  Mighty Pak Army claims famous victory in Bajaur

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