Qatar is mediating talks between the Taliban and the United States, the Pakistani weekly Nida-i-Millat has reported.
The talks come as US President Barack Obama faces a self-imposed deadline to draw-down troop counts in Afghanistan and end the US military presence in Iraq.
Both pull-back initiatives have become increasinly problematic as violence continues unabated in both countries making it difficult for Obama to claim the US has achieved its goals.
According to Nida-i-Millat, Qatar is also playing a role for conciliation between the Taliban and the Karzai government.
The paper did not identify the Arab sources it quoted.
Tayyab Agha, the head of the political wing of the Taliban, has been meeting with the Qatar authorities, and is now holding talks in Germany to advance the process started in Doha. His efforts would culminate in the Second Bonn Conference to be held in December, the report said.
The first Bonn Conference was held before the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. At the time, the US was trying to replace the Taliban government with the Northern Alliance.
The purpose of the latest talks is to find an honourable exit for the US from Afghanistan, the weekly said in its Urdu report, republished in English by Pakistani daily The Nation this week.
A secret meeting was held last week between a Qatari official and a representative of the Karzai government, the report said.
Omar Daudzai, Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, represented the Kabul authorities.
#1
This is the brutal lynching and public display of the close confidante who shot dead Ahmed Wali Karzai - the half-brother of president Hamid Karzai.
Brutal? The guy was a Talib. I say problem solved. Now go find his family.
A group of men in plain clothes hung the corpse against the wall in Kandahar for around 20 minutes before they carried it away.
A group of men in plain clothes. Marching in lockstep. Whose very presence seems to delay the arrival of the police. Much like any small group of troublemakers.
Ahmed Wali Karzai was assassinated on Tuesday by the man who is said to have been from his own tribe and home town, whom he had travelled with and worked alongside for seven years.
#2
That's just not fair for the lawyers. They gotta have their appeals! I mean, they guy coulda been innocent! Mebbe he had a tough childhood!
Swift justice.
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07/14/2011 5:47 Comments ||
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#3
What? They don't have 20+ years on death row, endless appeals, challenges to the Constitutionality of the death penalty and means of death, cable TV, books, special diets, etc.? Oh, for a moment I forgot we are talking about Afghanistan where justice is swift.
KARZ, Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai buried his assassinated brother on Wednesday, then swiftly gave another brother a key role opened by the killing, in what could be a bid to stave off political infighting in the volatile south.
"Thanks Big Brother! Er, I think."
President Karzai wept and kissed the face of his dead brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, unofficially the most powerful man in southern province Kandahar, at a burial in their ancestral village attended by thousands of mourners.
Only hours after the body was lowered into the ground, the president appointed another brother, Shah Wali Karzai, as de facto leader of the Popalzai tribe to which the Karzai family belongs.
Tribal leaders have proposed for me to replace martyred Ahmad Wali Karzai with Shah Wali Karzai as your tribal elder, the president said to hundreds of people thronging the governors compound in Kandahar city after the burial.
Tribal leaders stood up and raised their hands in support, a Reuters witness said. Several elders then stepped forward to place the turban of his slain brother onto Shah Wali Karzais head.
But the relatively unknown Shah Wali Karzai, even as head of the tribe, may struggle to fill the power void created by his brothers death. Shah Wali Karzai is a businessman and engineer by training, who travels regularly between Dubai and Kandahar.
What seems certain is that nobody can entirely replace Ahmad Wali (Karzai) in holding the south together as he did, wrote Pakistani author and expert on Afghanistan Ahmed Rashid in the New York Times.
On the list of those tipped to possibly replace Ahmad Wali Karzai as the main power-broker in Kandahar is Gul Agha Sherzai, an ally of the president, who served as Kandahars governor until 2004 when he was removed by the president and sent to Nangarhar. He flew down for the burial.
This is one of the saddest days for Afghan people, I came here to give my deepest condolences. He was killed in a cowardly manner, the plotters will be severely punished, Sherzai told Reuters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"But I don't want to be his next favorite brother! I hardly know the guy! I don't want to die!"
[An Nahar] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... Wednesday renewed his call on the Taliban to make peace, even as he buried his brother whose liquidation was claimed by the militia.
A grieving Karzai led thousands of mourners at the funeral of his brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was assassinated at his home in southern Kandahar city by his own head of security on Tuesday.
"Even if the Taliban say they have killed my brother, I call on them, brothers, come make peace," the president told a crowd of tribal elders and politicians in Kandahar after the funeral.
He said that despite the death of his brother, "we're determined to make peace. Nothing will stop us from bringing peace and stability to this country."
Karzai has been pushing to persuade the Taliban and other beturbanned goons fighting against his government to reconcile in an internationally backed process.
The Taliban, the main group behind an increasingly deadly insurgency in Afghanistan, have grabbed credit for the killing and said that the assassin Sardar Mohammad was their associate.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... other commentators have expressed doubt that the Taliban were behind the actions of Mohammad, who was the long-serving chief of the younger Karzai's personal protection force.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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In the last two years, the U.S. and NATO have increased (from ten to 40 percent) the portion of military supplies moved to Afghanistan via Central Asian and Russian railroads. This has been an economic boost for Afghanistan's northern neighbors, and a loss to Pakistani trucking and port firms. So Pakistan can be bypassed completely when forces are cut back to pre 2009 levels. U.S. Troop Levels and Fatalities in Afghanistan
#1
U.S. troop fatalities tracks troop levels. This makes sense--although I wish it didn't. There is more exposure to the risk of firefights, ambushes, and danger.
CAIRO: Egypts government, meeting a key demand by protesters, fired nearly 700 top police officers on Wednesday to cleanse the discredited and widely unpopular force, state television reported.
In another nod to demands by activists, Egypts military is delaying parliamentary elections initially expected to take place in September, Egypts state news agency said. The vote is now to be held in October or November, the report said.
Many of the political parties that arose from the Jan. 25-Feb. 11 uprising against Hosni Mubarak sought to delay the vote so they could compete more effectively against better prepared and financed Islamists, like the Muslim Brotherhood.
The military, which took control of the country when Mubarak stepped down, effectively announced the delay already Tuesday, saying preparations for the legislative election would begin Sept. 30.
The dismissal of 669 police officers was announced Wednesday by Interior Minister Mansour el-Issawi. It responds to one of the main demands of protesters camping out in Cairos central Tahrir Square. The protesters want the police force to be purged of remnants of the Mubarak regime and officers involved in the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the uprising.
Egyptian state TV said that 37 of the dismissed officers face charges of killing protesters.
Among those dismissed were 505 major-generals, including 10 of the interior ministers top assistants, 82 colonels, and 82 brigadiers, the report said.
This is the biggest administrative move ... to bring new blood, to the police force, el-Issawi said. He promised that police officers would be held accountable for any violations.
The military also said Tuesday it would draft a set of regulations for selecting the 100-member assembly that will write a new constitution. That could make it more difficult for any Islamist-led legislature to choose the body and thereby give the charter an Islamist slant.
Protesters still in Tahrir lifted their siege of the citys largest government building Wednesday, allowing business to resume there while staying camped out in the square for a sixth day to press the countrys new military rulers for faster change. Hundreds of Egyptians holding personal documents funneled into the building, a symbol of Egyptian bureaucracy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
But I thought they were the very model of a modern major general...so confused.
#2
Promotions will be speeded up, now there's so many more available positions. It won't hurt to cut expenditures for a bit, too, against reduced revenues...
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Saudi border guards arrested more than 19,000 infiltrators from troubled Yemen in June, nearly double the number caught the month before, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The sharp increase comes as Yemens security situation is rapidly unraveling. Yemens president is being challenged by a five-month-old popular uprising that has emboldened al-Qaida-linked militants in the south of the country. Yemenis routinely try to sneak into Saudi Arabia, its wealthy northern neighbor, in search of jobs. Saudi border guards usually send them back, though smugglers among the infiltrators are put on trial.
Saudi border guards have clashed several times with al-Qaida militants crossing the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabias southern Jazan border region.
Col. Abdullah bin Mahfouz, spokesman for Saudis border command, said Wednesday that 19,145 infiltrators and 433 smugglers were arrested in June, virtually all from Yemen. Guards confiscated dozens of weapons, along with ammunition and drugs, the spokesman said.
In May, just over 10,000 infiltrators were caught, according to government figures. Last year, some 180,000 Yemenis were caught trying to sneak into Saudi Arabia.
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[Dawn] An international rights group is urging Bangladesh to bring its proceedings related to alleged war crimes committed during the country's 1971 war for independence into compliance with international standards.
New York-based Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said in a statement Tuesday that the government needs to do more to make its efforts to try suspects accused of crimes against humanity during the war that gained Bangladesh independence from Pakistain internationally accepted.
The government set up a tribunal in March 2010 to prosecute those accused of collaborating with the Mighty Pak Army in killings and other crimes during the war.
Human Rights Watch praised Bangladesh for recently amending a 1973 act outlining prosecution and punishment for people accused of genocide and other crimes under international law.
But the group said that more changes need to be made, including that an accused should be able to question the impartiality of the tribunal, which current law prohibits. It also said changes were needed regarding the enumeration of crimes to ensure that the definitions of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide conform with international standards.
"Bangladesh has promised to meet international standards in these trials, but it has some way to go to meet this commitment," Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, said in the statement.
The administration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has placed in long-term storage four top leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ... a Pakistani catspaw remaining active in Bangla politix, loosely affiliated with the Pak religious party of the same name and closely affiliated with most of the terror organizations in Bangla. A member of the BNP's four party governing coalition.... , the nation's largest Islamic party. The suspects face charges including genocide, murder, rape, torture, looting and arson related to the independence war.
Jamaat-e-Islami, which sided with Pakistain during the war, says the charges are politically motivated.
Bangladesh says Pak soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people, raped about 200,000 women and forced millions to flee their homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Even though mainstream Mexican leftist publications are crowing happily about Tuesday's Supreme Court decision concerning rules for the Mexican military have left Mexican government officials and journalists silent about the ruling's potential impact.
Tuesday the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that civilian courts can try soldiers suspected of crimes against civilians in civilian courts, reversing an opinion issued two months ago which permitted Mexican military to investigate charge and try military personnel under military law. The provision in the Code of Military Justice, Article 57, states that military personnel can only be investigated, charged and tried in military courts for crimes committed against civilians in security operations. Under the May ruling, which was attached to a new national security law currently in limbo, nothing changed.
With the new decision that guts Article 57, the Mexican Supreme Court has not only removed all 18 rifle battalions recently formed to deal with organized crime from drug cartel situation rooms, it has left a security apparatus with no alternatives in dealing with the pervasive organized crime problem in Mexico.
Late Tuesday a joint communique was released from the Mexican Army (SEDENA), Marines (SEMAR) the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) which stated in rather lame terms their intention to abide by the new ruling. English language press said the press released stopped short of saying the Mexican military will turn over all current such cases to civilian courts.
On Wednesday, Mexican Army head of the Direccion General de Derechos Humanos (Human rights Directorate) Colonel de Justicia Militar Anibal Trujulllo Sanchez called the decision one which favors the drug cartels.
In an APRO wire service report, Colonel Trujulllo Sanchez said that since 2006, of more than 6,000 human right cases filed against the Mexican Army alone, 86 were found to have some foundation and were either disposed of through Mexican military justice system or were in process. The remainder, she said, were likely filed by individuals sympathetic to or in the pay of organized crime.
The colonel said the new venues and processes opened up by Tuesday's decision, which now permits human rights cases against the Mexican military to be filed at all three levels to be in conformance with international human right conventions, is an additional and unnecessary stress for the military.
It is why military personnel should not be subject to civilian courts.
Universidad Anahuac professor of law Federico Ponce Rojas said in an article published in Milenio Wednesday the new ruling is inconsistent with the Mexican constitution.
The underpinnings of the decision,conformance to international human rights treaties is the problem.
"...treaties must conform to the Constitution and the Constitution to treaties," he is quoted as saying.
In fact the only Mexican politician to come out in favor of the ruling has been Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI) federal deputy Hector Guevara, who said the main fucntion of the Mexican miltary should be national security, not fighting crime.
He said the new strategy imposed by the new ruling means the Mexican military now must be moved to the barracks and concentrate on national security work, not on fighting crime.
Where the new ruling leaves the natonal security law is anyone's guess. Over the weekend, it was announced that any new work to be performed on the new law, now in limbo in favor of other issues, will be delayed to August.
The new decision affects only part of the new law. Substantial charges were proposed in the law such as giving the president the power without consulting congress to imposed martial law in specific municipalities as part of counternarcotics operations, under the advice of army and subordinate field commanders. The new ruling potentially complicates the aftermath of martial law and leave uncertain how martial law in specific municipalities would affect humans rights cases filed after martial law is lifted.
(KUNA) -- North Korea would like to co-host the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in South Korean alpine town of Pyeongchang, a senior North Korean sports official said Wednesday, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency reported.
Jang Ung, a North Korean member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told Yonhap in Tokyo it was "positive" for Asia to host only its third Winter Games.
When asked about the possibility of sharing some events with Pyeongchang, Jang replied "I hope so," according to the report.
"The political and military situations between the Koreas aren't good, and they have to be improved. Otherwise, they could influence the Olympics," he was quoted as saying.
"Nice Winter Olympics you got there. Sure would be a shame if anything happened to it..."
Jang arrived in Tokyo to attend the general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). Pyeongchang beat Munich of Germany and Annecy of La Belle France last week to win the bid for the 2018 Games.
Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, head of South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party, said earlier this week that he will explore ways for the two Koreas to co-host the Games.
The two Koreas remain technically at war with each other because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. They have fielded joint teams in football and in table tennis in international events, but never at an Olympics or an Asian Games.
They have marched in together for opening ceremonies, most recently at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION TOPIX > [JoongAng Ilbo] CRACKS ARE SHOWING IN NORTH [DPRK], AMERICAN SCHOLAR SAYS, as per between the Kimmie Regime + DPRK Public-Mainstream.
* SAME > TEN MORE PKG-CLASS VESSELS TO BE DEPLOYED [to NLL] TO DETER NORTH KOREA: SOUTH.
* SAME > JAPAN: NO US FOOD AID TO NORTH KOREA [withheld] UNTIL ABDUCTEES RETURNED.
Nippon wants resolution on Japanese Citizens kidnapped by the North during the Cold war.
#3
Not even the Norks are stupid enought to mess with the Olympics. Even those who voted for Obean would recognize the Norks for what they were if something were to happen to the Olympics.
Here's another opportunity to call the Norks' bluff.
#4
gorb: I'm not so sure. This is a nation known for digging giant invasion tunnels, intentionally starving most of their population, whose main product seems to be bottled crazy.
The want money, as Steve White pointed out in the inline, and are anything but reserved in how they get it.
#5
Remember, they sold the beijing footprint firework show demo tape as the real deal, even got short stack costas to go along with it who, until then, I considered the best and brightest common tator.
Looking at the time, money, graft, and chaos created by the olympics, I'd say send the whole kit and kaboodle to NORK.
Ay Pee summarized: In April the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported 1.6 million foreigners had potentially overstayed their visas. Subsequent audit indicated 843,000 had definitely gone home left the country. But as for the rest...working illegally, married locals, involved in crime or terror? It would be good to find out how much of a concern this is, then go after the worst badmen among them. And of course, there is the issue of how many have false passports, but one step at a time.
Federal documents state a gun smuggling operation allegedly run by three public officials from a tiny New Mexico border town had ties to Mexican drug cartels and some of the weapons were used in several murders.
Last week, federal agents raided Columbus in Luna County arresting Mayor Eddie Espinoza, Village Trustee Blas Gutierrez and Chief of Police Angelo Vega, along with several others. In total, 11 people are accused of smuggling guns into the Mexican cities of Cíudad Juarez and Palomas.
Palomas sits just across the border from Columbus.
For the first time the federal arresting agencies have officially said Espinoza and Gutierrez helped traffic firearms to Mexican drug cartels. Vega and eight others are charged as conspirators.
Prosecutors said the smuggling operation helped the cartels wage their bloody turf wars with shocking efficiency. Federal documents track the guns from New Mexico to the streets of Cíudad Juarez and Palomas and the crimes committed with the weapons.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or ATF have connected some of the guns to at least eight recent murders in those cities.
Mexican authorities are looking into whether the 11 should be charged in those crimes.
The ATF said guns from the smuggling operation were also seized during drug raids and turned up in a bust of a kidnapping operation in Juarez.
Federal documents also show that the village trustee, Blas Gutierrez, and Police Chief Angelo Vega were working to outfit a village van so they could smuggle 600 pounds of drugs for the cartel.
On Tuesday, a federal judge denied bail for the three public officials.
In total eight men are being held without bond. The two women charged in the case are free on bond.
Agents said one of the eleven suspects has not appeared in court yet. Ignacio Villalobos, 24, is still on the run.
The Village of Columbus has voted to eliminate their police department after a gun smuggling investigation involving the former police chief, mayor, and a council member.
Columbus will not be patrolled completely by Luna County Sheriff's Office. The village's board of trustees voted on the change last Thursday. Council member Blas Gutierrez resigned the following day. He was the last of the three accused officials to leave his post.
All three are among a dozen people accused of smuggling guns to Mexican cartels.
#1
Let me get this straight..gov officials are selling weapons to anti-gov forces in Mexico so gov officials are ordering the crackdown on private law-abiding businesses?
WASHINGTON: Senators pressed the Obama administration on Wednesday on why a suspected Somali terrorist will be tried in a civilian court in New York and not the US facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, 23 lawmakers questioned whether the administrations actions in the case of Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame go against Congress wishes that military commissions handle the trials of terrorism suspects.
Bambi doesn't listen to the wishes of Congress. Haven't you guys figured that out?
The lawmakers, including Republican leaders, also asked Panetta whether the administration has a policy for handling high-profile suspects.
The American people must be assured that terrorists are not brought into the United States for trial only to be released as a result of an acquittal, a short sentence, or some other action such as inability of the United States to deport an individual that allows the terrorist in the United States to remain here and be released into the general population, the lawmakers wrote.
The military captured Warsame on April 19, and then put him aboard a Navy warship, where he was interrogated at sea by intelligence officials, administration officials said.
Not that I'm complaining but American law says you can't do that.
Warsame provided what officials said was important intelligence about Al-Qaeda in Yemen and its relationship with Al-Shabab militants in Somalia.
The two groups have been known to have ties, but the extent of that relationship has remained unclear. The FBI later stepped in and began the interrogation from scratch, in a way that could be used in court. After the FBI read Warsame his Miranda rights, which include the right to remain silent and speak with an attorney, he kept talking for days.
"More giggle juice, Ahmed?"
"[hick] Ya sure, yew betcha!"
He was indicted on federal charges in New York last week.
The senators cited congressional testimony from Vice Adm. William McRaven, who said decisions are made case by case on where to hold suspects captured by the US outside of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The lawmakers noted that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen also have told Congress that there is no single policy.
We believe this is an intolerable situation, the senators wrote.
They asked 11 questions, including whether Guantanamo was an option, whether detainees held at sea had been transferred to another country and whether the administration has a consistent policy.
Among those signing the letter were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Last week, McConnell accused the administration of undermining national security by bringing Warsame into the United States.
The administration has purposefully imported a terrorist into the US and is providing him all the rights of US citizens in court, McConnell said. This ideological rigidity being displayed by the administration is harming the national security of the United States of America.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Ammonium nitrate was used as explosive substance to carry out the triple blasts in Mumbai Wednesday evening.
Home Secretary R.K. Singh said Thursday that Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) which used ammonium nitrate and electronic detonators were used in the blasts, adding that the IEDs showed that they were not crude devices but indicated sophistication.
Revealing that the blast at the Opera House was of the strongest intensity out of the three, Singh said that 11 people were killed and 73 others injured when the IED placed below a garbage can exploded. The blast at Zaveri Bazaar left six people dead and 50 others injured while the bomb in Dadar was a low-intensity one which left 10 injured. The IEDs at Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar were hidden near a motorcycle under an umbrella and on a bus shelter respectively..
Almost one kg of ammonium nitrate was used to carry out the blast at the Opera House, 400-600 grams were used at Zaveri Bazaar and 200 grams in Dadar.
The method and the substance used to carry out the dastardly terror strike point to the involvement of Indian Mujahideen.
Whoever it is that they might be... (see Bill Roggio's thoughts on the subject here)
Talking about the investigation into the three blasts in Mumbai, Home Minister P Chidambaram said the forensic evidence have already been collected from blast sites and that ammonium nitrate was used with timer mechanism in the blasts.
[Straits Times] PAKISTAN on Wednesday voiced concern for the first time over US aid cuts ahead of top intelligence talks looking to repair a relationship damaged by the US killing of the late Osama bin Laden ... who is currently warming his feet by the fire with Hitler and Himmler... .
'We have concerns over the recent statements by American officials about aid,' Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... told news hounds in Quetta, the capital of oil and gas-rich Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
'Though we are not officially informed, it is a matter of concern for us. We are fighting a war against terrorism and extremism,' he added.
His remarks came after Pakistain's spymaster left for US talks on intelligence cooperation, in what analysts said could shore up the strategic alliance against Al-Qaeda after the crisis sparked by bin Laden's killing.
In a rare move following months of increasing acrimony between Islamabad and Washington, Pakistain said Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, flew to the United States for the top-level talks.
'He is going there to discuss the intelligence coordination,' a Mighty Pak Armyfront man said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) - Pak Prime Minister on Wednesday -- expressing concern over the US decision to cut military aid to the country -- said that it will affect the ongoing fight against terrorism.
The United States on Monday announced its plan to suspend around USD 800 million in military aid to Pakistain. Addressing a presser in Southwestern Baluchistan province, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... Gilani said he was worried about the US decision.
"Though this is our own war, we are fighting the war for the entire world, for the peace and prosperity and progress of the whole world", said the Premier, adding, "We are concerned over this issue of aid because we are in the middle of the war against terrorism and extremism".
The remarks of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani came as General Shuja Pasha, head of Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), headed to the United States to discuss matters related to intelligence sharing and, apparently, the cut in aid as well.
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[Dawn] Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said Wednesday that federal cabinet meeting has decided to set up a judicial commission headed by a judge of the Supreme Court to conduct probe into the killing of veteran Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Addressing a presser after the meeting, Awan said: "Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... and the federal cabinet took decision that a judicial commission headed by judge of the Supreme Court will investigate the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti".
She said that the premier has also directed to recruit with immediate effect over 6700 posts of the federal government on Balochistan quota.
"The prime minister has ordered that a selection board will conduct test and walk in interviews of the recruitment process within one day in Quetta after an advertisement through newspapers," she said.
Awan said that the step would give a message to the Balochistan's youth that government was serious in addressing their problems.
She said that under the devolution plan, the federal government had devolved several departments including health, education, environment, sports, women development, food and agriculture and this would help create more job opportunities in Balochistan.
The minister said that the meeting reviewed one-point agenda of development in connection with implementation of Aghaz-e- Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package.
Awan said that about 65 per cent points of the package have been implemented while the work for implementing the remaining points was in progress.
The minister said the government was taking measures to ensure security and protection to life and property of people of Balochistan by improving law and order.
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[Dawn] Former federal minister Jehangir Khan Tareen says a party of 'clean' politicians will be launched in September to provide an alternative to Pakistain People's Party and Pakistain Mohammedan League-N in the next general election.
The new party could forge an alliance with Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... 's Pakistain Tehrik-i-Insaaf "due to the similarities in objectives", Mr Tareen, who is the parliamentary leader of PML-F, told Dawn on Tuesday.
The nucleus of the new party will comprise the 'electables' -- politicians who have the potential to win the polls in a National Assembly constituency on their own. Sources said Mr Tareen has held meetings with a number of politicians of the mainstream parties to woo them to his side.
Among the politicians who are said to have shown some inclination of joining the new political party are PPP renegade MNA Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi; outspoken former PML-Q member Marvi Memon; PML-Q MNA Awais Leghari,; Jaffar Leghari; former federal minister and a rival of Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... from his Multan constituency, Sikandar Bosan; former minister of state Ishaq Khan Khakwani; former PML-N MNA from Faisalabad Raja Nadir Pervaiz; former minister of state Omar Ayub; former federal minister G. G. Jamal; former federal minister Sarwar Khan; former National Reconstruction Bureau chief Danyal Aziz; PML-Q MNA Tahir Shah; and former Punjab governor Mian Mohammad Azhar.
PML-N MNA Javed Hashmi and PPP's Aitzaz Ahsan, Naheed Khan and Senator Safdar Abbasi have also been approached to join the emerging party. Likewise, a group of MNAs and MPAs belonging to the PML-N and Q from the Seraiki belt and Sindh are said to have assured Mr Tareen that they will at least seriously consider joining his 'clean' outfit.
"The establishment believes that Imran Khan's party and a group of clean politicians can emerge as a strong political force in the coming elections as both the major parties -- PPP and PML-N -- have disappointed the people," a source who is familiar with the effort of creating the new party says.
Confirming he was striving to shape a new party of 'clean' politicians, Mr Jehangir Tareen, who is an MNA from Rahim Yar Khan, said: "The new party will consist of only clean and untainted politicians who will work for the betterment of the country. We are getting together on a single platform not for power but for the sake of a country where corruption is so rampant today."
In what appeared to be an application of an old formula, Mr Tareen's focus is "on clean politicians who can secure their seats in the national or provincial assemblies".
The emphasis on the 'clean' apart, this is a policy not dissimilar to the one adopted by the PML-Q leaders before the 2008 election -- a policy that failed to deliver since many of PML-Q's so called sure winners lost in that election. Yet, in his telephonic talk with Dawn on Tuesday, Mr Tareen sounded hopeful as he unveiled his attempt to ally with "parliamentarians who are unhappy with their parties over the way the affairs of the party and the country are being run".
According to his count some 20 well-known politicians who are not part of the parliament now and about 30 parliamentarians across the country have agreed to join his party which is to be announced in September. "These politicians are not opportunists and practise the politics of ideology," Mr Tareen said.
"And they are going to be backed up by a team of technocrats who would advise on ways of dealing with the challenges the country is faced with."
"No, the establishment has no role in it," Mr Jehangir Tareen responded to the obvious question that has greeted all past congregations of the 'electables' in Pakistain. Instead, he said the move had arisen out of a strongly felt need to save the country. "If we do not come forward we will be equally responsible for the condition of our country," he said.
A large number of politicians who are in line for joining the 'clean' party come from rural background. Yet Mr Tareen did not rule out an alliance with Imran Khan's PTI which has recently come up with an urban-centric, 100-day plan of action should it come to power. "Imran Khan has waged a war against corruption and our objective is more or less the same. The two of us may join hands for the election," Mr Tareen said.
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07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] High-level US-Pakistain visits were unfolding Wednesday for the first time since Washington announced it was cutting more than one-third of its military aid to its terrorism-fighting partner.
Marine Gen. James Mattis, the head of US Central Command, met with Pakistain's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... , and the joint chiefs chairman, Gen. Khalid Shameem Wynne, the US Embassy in Islamabad said.
The visit by Mattis was to "share perspectives on the current relationship between the two militaries and to review the way ahead," according to an embassy statement. It said the stop was part of Mattis' routine of consulting with Pak officials.
Officials said the trip was planned for some time and was his fifth since becoming US commander for the region 11 months ago.
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07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) - A Pak Minister on Wednesday said that foreign intelligence agencies were involved in the law and order situation in Southwestern Baluchistan province, where nationalist cut-throats have been waging a low-level insurgency since decades.
Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. addressing a presser in the placid provincial capital Quetta said that foreign intelligence agencies were involved in the law and order situation in Baluchistan. However, we can't all be heroes Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... he added, with the government's measures, the security condition is improving.
He said that he held meetings with the country's two intelligence agencies, attached to military, "ISI and MI to discuss the murder and recovery of bullet-riddled bodies in Baluchistan and I have proof that foreign intelligence agencies are involved" in the province's law and order situation to meet their nefarious designs.
He said that he had information about the people who received money for throwing hand grenades and killing innocent people. He extended a negotiating hand to the angry nationalist Baluch parties saying, "Pakistain will not disintegrate as it was created to live forever."
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07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It's the Hidden Black Hand!!!!! And possibly Hinjooooooos!!!eleventy!!
[Dawn] Pakistain's president and prime minister on Wednesday condemned multiple blasts in the Indian city of Mumbai.
Three separate blasts hit the city, India's commercial capital, according to the Indian home ministry.
"President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... , Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... , the government and the people of Pakistain, have condemned the blasts in Mumbai and expressed distress on the loss of lives and injuries," the Pakistain foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The President and the Prime Minister have expressed their deepest sympathies to the Indian leadership," on the loss of lives, injuries and damage to property in Mumbai, it added.
The foreign ministers of India and Pakistain are scheduled to meet later this month in New Delhi in the latest round of peace talks, which comes after a break of more than two years.
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07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT: The Arab League said Wednesday that Washington overstepped its bounds by saying Syrian President Bashar Assad had lost the legitimacy to lead his country.
Haven't you guys heard? We're the Great Satan.
Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby said Assad assured him that Syria has entered a new era and is now moving on the road of a genuine reform.
Syria came under withering international criticism Tuesday as the White House said Assad has lost legitimacy and the UN Security Council condemned attacks on the US and French embassies in Damascus.
It was a sharp escalation in pressure on Assad and a sign that the Obama administration could be moving closer to calling for regime change in Syria over the violent crackdown on a four-month-old uprising. Previously, the US position on Assad was that he should lead a transition to democracy or leave.
Elaraby said nobody has the right to say that the president of any country has lost his legitimacy.
This issue is exclusively decided by the people, he said after meeting Assad.
Except the ones being trampled by tanks...
Since the uprising began in mid-March, the Arab League has been mostly silent about the situation in Syria.
Wishing not to call attention to the other Arab thugocracies...
Last month, Elarabys deputy, Ahmed bin Heli, said Syria was a main factor of balance and stability in the region. Elaraby repeated that position Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, Syrias Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem said he regretted Mondays attacks by government supporters on the US and French embassies in Damascus.
Whoever did that was wrong, Al-Moallem said, adding that Syria is responsible for protecting the embassies and their staff and we bear full responsibility for that.
"We'll regret the next time we do it too," he added softly.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See also FREEREPUBLIC [new] > MEMRI TV > [Former Leb Minister Wiam Wahhab at Damascus University] IFF NATO INTERVENS IN SYRIA, HIZBULLAH + SYRIA WILL FIRE 100,000 ROCKETS AT ISRAEL.
[An Nahar] Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Wednesday stressed "Leb's right to protect all its borders and defend them against any violation."
Miqati also emphasized that Leb has the right to benefit from its natural resources.
During a ministerial meeting dedicated to discuss the issue of demarcating Leb's maritime borders, the premier noted that "the issue of the maritime borders will be discussed in cabinet tomorrow in order to take the appropriate decision concerning the strategy to confront the Israeli ambitions and threats."
The conferees were briefed during the meeting on the process of demarcating Leb's maritime borders and the steps that should be taken to follow up on this issue with the relevant international organizations and the Republic of Cyprus, "in order to stress Leb's right to defend its borders and preserve its rights," state-run National News Agency reported.
Ministers Jebran Bassil, Adnan Mansour, Ghazi Aridi, Shakib Qortbawi, Fayez Ghosn and Nicolas Nahhas attended the meeting.
Miqati's sources told As Safir daily in remarks published Wednesday that during the meeting the prime minister would give instructions to prepare a file to submit it to the U.N., after Israel's cabinet approved a map of the country's proposed maritime borders with Leb that conflicts significantly with those suggested by Leb in its own submission to the world body.
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said that the conferees would "seriously and responsibly follow the issue and come up with a comprehensive national plan to confront the Israeli aggression on Leb's rights."
The plan would later be submitted to the cabinet to take the appropriate decision, he told As Safir.
For his part, Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil hailed Wednesday's meeting at the Grand Serail as a "very important step."
"It reflects the importance of maritime borders and the keenness on Leb's right," he told the newspaper. "We asked during the (tenure of the) cabinet of Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. for such meetings more than seven times but no one met our request."
"We should immediately resort to the U.N. to confirm not only Leb's right to its oil and gas resources and the recognition of its maritime and economic borders but also to request it to respect its decisions and international law," Bassil said.
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07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... stressed Wednesday that "Leb will not tolerate whatsoever any breach of its oil, gas, water or territory."
Leb "will remain vigilant in order to regain its full rights, whatever it takes," Qassem vowed.
He voiced Hizbullah's support for "the national stance defending these maritime rights" and "the Lebanese government, in the steps and choices it will take to demarcate these borders."
"We will not be frightened by the Israeli threats and we will not change our stance in adhering to our rights, and Israel knows that its threats against Leb are worthless, after the bitter experiences it went through in the face of Leb's steadfastness and vigor," Hizbullah number two said.
Addressing the thorny issue of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb, Qassem stressed that "there will be no exchange between justice and stability; in other words: we want justice and we want stability, and we don't accept to separate between them or that one be at the expense of the other."
Reiterating Hizbullah's stance, Qassem added: "We consider the tribunal a part of the American-Israel plot, which will go on for years and years, and this tribunal has nothing to do with the liquidations, truth, justice or Leb's future."
Qassem also hit out at the Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement without naming it. "We won't stage a 'day of anger' ... if some are betting that will be incited and provoked, then they are mistaken."
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07/14/2011 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
North Korea
(Xinhua) -- Ammonium nitrate was used as explosive substance to carry out the triple blasts in Mumbai Wednesday evening.
(KUNA) - Pak Prime Minister on Wednesday -- expressing concern over the US decision to cut military aid to the country -- said that it will affect the ongoing fight against terrorism.
[Dawn] Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said Wednesday that federal cabinet meeting has decided to set up a judicial commission headed by a judge of the Supreme Court to conduct probe into the killing of veteran Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Mehmood 
Punjab
(KUNA) - A Pak Minister on Wednesday said that foreign intelligence agencies were involved in the law and order situation in Southwestern Baluchistan province, where nationalist 
Pakistain's president and prime minister on Wednesday condemned multiple blasts in the Indian city of Mumbai.
Najib Miqati
