Two Bangladeshi relief workers were freed from their Afghan kidnappers in an operation to rescue them, officials said Sunday. The workers, held in Ghazni province by the Taliban since Oct. 23, were employees of the non-governmental organization the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. A Ghazni government spokesman told KUNA, the Kuwait news agency, the two men were freed as a result of an operation conducted by the Afghan security forces.
The Bangladeshi group issues "microloans" to women for small projects and provides health services to impoverished Afghans. Another worker from the same group was kidnapped and freed after three months last year, KUNA reported.
The Election Commission (EC) has decided to reject registration applications of around 40 organisations for not meeting the criteria. Islamic Democratic Party (IDP), formed by leaders of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJi) with patronage from a US-Israeli lobby, is among the parties in question.
As many as 107 organisations have applied for registration, now mandatory for seeking election to parliament. Of these, 22 are religion-based parties.
As per the criteria laid down in the electoral laws, an organisation must have won a seat, or polled 5 percent of the vote in a constituency in any of the parliamentary polls since independence. It must have headquarters, and offices in at least 10 administrative districts or 50 upazilas.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday opted to stay absent from a hearing in the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat, where a host of organisations and individuals submitted depositions and other documents proving the Islamist party's history of war crimes including genocide and rape.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Three Tunisian men accused of terrorism links by Italian prosecutors arrived in Milan under heavy security after being extradited from Britain, Italian police said.
Habib Ignaoua, Mohamed Khemiri and Ali Chehidi, who arrived in Milan on Saturday, were arrested in the London and Manchester areas last year as part of coordinated raids across Europe against an alleged Italian-based network recruiting fighters for Iraq and Afghanistan. European warrants for their arrest had been issued by an investigating magistrate attached to courts in Milan who accused them of plotting to organise the recruitment of volunteers ready to commit acts of terror from Milan. They are accused of proselytising and politico-religious indoctrination with the aim of committing terrorist acts, conducting illegal immigration and making false documents.
Ignaoua and Khemiri have previously been tried and convicted in their absence in Tunisia of terrorism-related offences. London's High Court approved the extraditions in July, saying they had failed to prove that they faced a real risk of being deported to Tunisia, where they say they could be tortured. Lawyers for the trio had argued that Italy would use counter-terrorism legislation to send them back to their home country before they could appeal against their expulsion.
The U.S. commander running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for talks with government and military officials, a U.S. embassy spokesman said.
His visit to Pakistan, his first foreign tour since taking charge of U.S. Central Command on Friday, highlights growing concern in the United States about a country seen as crucial to bringing stability to neighboring Afghanistan and defeating al Qaeda. Analysts in the United States say nuclear-armed Pakistan is facing a major threat from Islamist militants at a time when the country and its new civilian government are engulfed in extraordinarily difficult economic problems.
Petraeus is being accompanied by Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Richard Boucher. "They are here for previously scheduled meetings with government and military officials," said U.S. embassy spokesman Lou Fintor.
The Defense Ministry said the two Americans would meet Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar on Monday. Petraeus is also due to meet Pakistan' army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, a military spokesman said. Officials have not confirmed talks with President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
#2
Petraeus, stop that shit, or we blow you to hell
Pakistni Officials (Stutter, stammer and can't speak).
Petraeus, did you understand me?
Pakistan, But,but,but, you can't do that (Can you)
Petraeus, Hell yes I can, and will, now play nice, or die.
"Meeting" ends as all but Petraeus hits the door running.
Petraeus, "Meeting Adjourned".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2008 18:51 Comments ||
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UNMOGIP is the oldest UN peacekeeping operation. It has a budget of 6 million dollars a year. In the 1950s the Indians caught them moving boundary markers in favor of Pakistan. They are not allowed to patrol on the Indian side anymore.
ISLAMABAD: A simple but impressive ceremony was held on Saturday at the office of the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to mark the opening of their routine six-monthly rotations here. Acting Chief Military Observer Brigadier General Mats Wigselius hoisted the UN flag to mark the opening of the UNMOGIP tenure in Pakistan. Pakistan Army officials were also present on this occasion. UNMOGIP was established on January 24, 1949 with a task to aid local commanders on both sides, in verifying the Line of Control (LoC) and notification of ceasefire violations to the two parties
Thousands of jihadis crossing the LOC. Tens of thousands dead in terrorist violence. Shelling and machinegun fire every day. That is one successful UN operation.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/02/2008 06:42 ||
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PESHAWAR: The womens swimming event has been dropped from the inter-provincial games scheduled to begin here from 9th of the current month. Other competitions in the four-day event include athletics, swimming, badminton, squash, volley-ball, judo, baseball, taekwondo, karate, football, kabadi, boxing, weight-lifting, wrestling, hockey and cycling. Arrangements and venues for the games were finalised during a meeting held here on Saturday.
Provincial Minister for Sports Syed Aqil Shah, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Secretary Sports Sahibzada Fazal Amin and other officials attended the meeting. Briefing journalists after the meeting, Sports Minister Syed Aqil Shah said womens swimming competitions were not being held for some inevitable reasons. He said the age limit for the players would be strictly observed. No concession would be given in this regard, said the minister.
Talking to media persons, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the games would prove a respite for the violence-weary people of the province. The games will pass on a positive message to the world that the wave of violence and terrorism is not long lasting and that the people of NWFP will overcome it with their love for peace and non-violence, said the minister. This would also prove a psychological blow for those involved in terrorism and militancy, he added. He said NWFP people were peace-loving and the games would prove that to the rest of the world. Mian Iftikhar said players were the peace envoys of a country, a province or an area and the upcoming event would bring a positive change in the atmosphere of this violence-wracked province.
Earlier, the meeting decided that besides cycling and baseball, rest of the competitions would be held in Peshawar. Venues have been selected in Mardan, the hometown of NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti, for the two events. The games will be formally inaugurated by the chief minister while Governor Owais Ghani would give medals to the successful players on the concluding day, officials said. Each group of players will have five liaison officers. During the opening ceremony, one player in each group will carry the national flag. Besides medals and certificates, cash prizes will also be given to successful players. Officials said uniform, kits and other necessary items would be given to players on November 6
Posted by: john frum ||
11/02/2008 06:38 ||
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#1
"were not being held for some inevitable reasons" = "cuz wimmins are icky"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/02/2008 8:03 Comments ||
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#2
Not only is they icky, but they gots...parts. The horror!
American and NATO missile strikes inside Pakistan are counterproductive in the war on terror and the world should urge the United States to stop the incursions, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday. "We are a nuclear power but we will not demonstrate any irresponsible attitude," he told a press conference after returning from his visit to Turkey. "But we will take measures for protection of integrity of Pakistan."
Gilani said he would raise the issue in a meeting with the US ambassador, adding that Afghan President Hamid Karzai would also take the matter up with NATO. NATO will no doubt take up with the government of Pakistain the number of bad turbans who are identified and zapped on a regular basis within the borders of that country.
The prime minister said he had told world leaders during the World Economic Forum that he attended that Pakistan was committed to fighting terrorism. "The whole world is thinking of helping Pakistan in the present economic crisis. They have great feelings for Pakistan. A stable Pakistan is in the interest of the whole world," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"protection of integrity of Pakistan" is like a $5 whore protesting her virtue
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/02/2008 8:05 Comments ||
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#2
Indeed, Frank. With the volume of the protests inversely proportional to the virtue.
My advice: explain to the Pakis that the drones are under the control of Skynet and the matter is now out of our hands.
Palestinian security forces arrested 17 members of Islamic Hamas movement in West Bank this morning and last night, Hamas said on Sunday. The arrests took place in the cities of Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and Jenin, according to the statement by Hamas.
The arrests take place as Egypt works to launch an inter-Palestinian dialogue ending the rift between the two movements. Hamas leaders said that the arrests in West Bank aim at thwarting the dialogue, scheduled to start on November 9.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday that the next United States president should reverse current policy toward the Palestinians by lifting the embargo on the Gaza Strip and cutting back support for Israel.
Shunned by the West for its refusal to coexist with Israel or renounce violence, the Palestinian militant group Hamas has generally withheld public comment on next week's U.S. election.
"The current American administration exhausted the international community because of the cover it gave to the occupation and its aggressions on the Gaza Strip," said Haniyeh, Hamas' top politician in Gaza.
"We hope the new administration will learn today's lessons and seek to prove it's a balanced and a neutral administration," he said, stopping short of voicing support for Democratic candidate Barack Obama or his Republican rival John McCain.
On the campaign trail, both candidates have spoken in favor of continuing to isolate Hamas. But Obama has criticized the Bush administration for overseeing unproductive talks between Israel and Hamas' secular Palestinian rivals, and pledged to find diplomatic "breakthroughs" if elected president.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hopefully, the next US president will tell the Israelis to push the Gazans into Egypt.
Moro rebels will not return to the negotiating table without an international guarantor, as they called on the United Nations to set up an observer post in Central Mindanao to prevent an escalation of hostilities. Ghazali Jaafar, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vice-chairman for political affairs, also broached a possible European Union involvement in future talks.
In a meeting with reporters last week, Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief peace negotiator, said any resumption of the peace process will only be made in the presence of an international guarantor to ensure that all agreements will be implemented. "We dont trust anymore this [Arroyo] government. We want an international guarantee which will make the government adhere to agreed points," said Mr. Iqbal, citing the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD).
In late July, the MoA-AD was initialed by Mr. Iqbal and retired general Rodolfo C. Garcia, government chief peace negotiator, and witnessed by the Malaysian facilitator. It was supposed to be signed formally in the first week of August in Malaysia but the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the government panel from formally signing the deal. Last month, the high court ruled that the pact was unconstitutional. Insofar as the MILF is concerned, however, the agreement was a done deal. "This government cannot offer domestic relief to the Mindanao problem," Mr. Iqbal said.
Mr. Jaafar said Moro rebels wanted the UN to set up observer posts in Central Mindanao, with a main office in Cotabato City, to prevent the situation from developing into an international humanitarian crisis. "This UN-funded, UN-managed observer office can help resolve the Mindanao problem by getting first-hand knowledge of whats really happening on the ground," he added.
Mr. Jaafar lamented the suffering of the half-a-million residents in squalid evacuation camps in Central and Northern Mindanao displaced by the war that erupted in August. He said continued military offensive against MILF elements headed by Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdulrahman Macapaar alias Bravo will result in a humanitarian crisis blown out of proportion.
Despite the military offensive, Mr. Jaafar said the MILF still respects the peace process with its peace panel still intact, in contrast to the government that has abolished its group pursuant to a new tack disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation.
Syria has rejected calls by President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to pursue the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, a plan touted by the more pragmatic moderate Arab elements across the Middle East. The initiative, a broad proposal for a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, calls for Israel's withdrawal from territories captured in 1967 in return from normalized relations with the Arab world.
Syrian embassy spokesman in London Jihad Makdissi called Israel's recent revival of the initiative "another attempt to bluff and evade peace." Makdissi made his remarks in a letter to leading Syrian blog Syria comment. In his letter, he said that any pan-Arab initiative would not let anyone but Syria negotiate with Israel over the fate of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
"As for the notion of weakening Syria and its allies simply by reviving the Arab peace initiative," the Syrian official wrote, "it is not consistent at all because any Pan Arab initiative will not enable any Arab country to negotiate on the Golan on behalf of Syria because comprehensiveness is the broader political umbrella for all tracks and not the substitution."
"All Israeli leaders negotiated with Syria starting with Shamir, until Olmert (whether directly or indirectly), none of them had a clear vision for peace with Syria or genuine conviction of peace per se, except maybe Rabin" Makdissi went on to say.
#2
That Syrian denial sounds like it's aimed more the Saudis than the Israelis. The back and double back channel messages must be flying - I suspect Syria's got itself in a knot it's trying to untie, but cannot figure out how to without screwing more than one nominal ally.
I wonder if it's really in their interest to remain a frontline state vs. Israel, if the trigger finger is in Tehran instead of Cairo or similarly nearby neighbors.
There may be a slight wedge coming to make arab vs. persian somewhat as distasteful as arab vs. jew. If so, Syria is in much less danger, and only a nominal target of Iran, as opposed to 1st on the list if Israel is attacked.
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.
Moro rebels will not return to the negotiating table without an international guarantor, as they called on the United Nations to set up an observer post in Central Mindanao to prevent an escalation of hostilities. Ghazali Jaafar, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vice-chairman for political affairs, also broached a possible European Union involvement in future talks. 
Syria has rejected calls by President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to pursue the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, a plan touted by the 
