indian affairs: January 2014

Thursday, 30 January 2014

PM chairs meeting of high-powered Taliban talks committee

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday morning gave guidelines for holding negotiations to the four-member committee formed to facilitate talks with Taliban militants, DawnNews reported.

The first meeting of the committee, chaired by the prime minister, discussed in detail the framework and strategy for the talks.

Indian Consul General Faiz Ahmed Kidwai briefed Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, head of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs, about the preparations being made in India for Haj pilgrims.

Kidwai called on Al-Sudais at his Makkah office recently to brief him on the preparations and also to offer condolences to him on demise of his father Shaikh Abdulaziz Al-Sudais.

Al-Sudais briefed the Indian envoy about the ongoing expansion projects at Haram and the commitment of the Saudi leadership to ensure that pilgrims perform rituals without any problems, a statement issued by Presidency of Two Holy Mosque Affairs said.

Given the rapid increase of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, a former CIA analyst suspects the country has a commitment to provide a nuclear bomb to Saudi Arabia.

"One of the great unknowns is whether they (Saudi Arabia) have already got a deal with the Pakistanis for a bomb. That's one of the mysteries of the contemporary Middle East and South Asia," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst who is currently with the Brookings Institute, an eminent American think-tank.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan departed for Tehran Jan. 28 for his first meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Turkey and Iran will sign an agreement to establish a high-level cooperation council during the visit, after Western countries eased sanctions on Tehran over an interim nuclear deal.

Paying a two day visit to Tehran, Erdogan will hold talks with Rouhani, First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, and the religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. He will also deliver a speech at the international institute of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, a visit to Turkey by President Hassan Rouhani will also be on the agenda. Spokeswoman Marzihe Afkham described the visit as “very important.”

KARACHI: At least six persons, including two Rangers personnel, were wounded in grenade attacks in Karachi's Nazimabad area on Wednesday whereas five other persons were killed in different incidents of violence in the city, DawnNews reported.

A Rangers checkpost and a police mobile van were targeted in two separate hand-grenade attacks in Nazimabad area of Karachi.

Rescue and emergency teams reached the site of attack and shifted the victims to a nearby hospital for treatment.

WASHINGTON: United States President Barack Obama says negotiations to limit Iran's nuclear program will be difficult and may not succeed, but he's warning Congress he will veto new economic sanctions against Tehran while the discussions are ongoing.

Obama described the US on Tuesday as cleared-eyed about longstanding mistrust between Iran and six world powers that are working to prevent the Islamic republic from enriching enough uranium to build nuclear weapons.

PML-N resolves to take battle to TTP bastion

ISLAMABAD: Although the government and the military continued to discuss matters behind closed doors, government officials took pains on Tuesday to argue that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had made up his mind to take the battle to the TTP stronghold in North Waziristan Agency (NWA).

“More than one option is being considered for going into NWA; it’s just a matter of time now,” a government official privy to the development told Dawn.

He added that the military planning would take time, but the ball had been set rolling by the PML-N government in meetings between the prime minister and the army chief over the past week or so.

Sydney :Chand Raat Eid Festival (CREF) has received ‘Community Event of the Year 2014’ Award. Syed Atiq ul Hassan, the Director of CREF was also the finalist for the ‘Local Citizen of Year Award’. The ceremony was held at Bicentennial Park in Sydney Olympic Park on Australia Day.

The Auburn City Council Award Ceremony was held during the official function of the Australia Day 2014 celebrations organised by the Auburn City Council and Sydney Olympic Park Authority. The event was attended by many government officials, parliamentarians and community leaders. More than 6,000 people joined the colourful Australia Day celebration.

CAIRO: Gunmen on a motorbike shot dead Tuesday an Egyptian police general in Cairo, who was also an aide to the interior minister, security officials and medics said.

The brazen morning attack comes a day after Egypt's military backed its chief Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, to run for the presidency.

It also coincided with the start of a second trial against Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, whose ouster in July has polarised Egypt amid a sweeping police crackdown on his supporters, mostly Islamists.

BEIRUT: A suicide bomber from an Al Qaeda-linked rebel group killed 13 soldiers in an attack on the Syrian defence minister's hometown, an opposition monitoring group said on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Saudi militant who came to Syria to fight with the country's al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, blew himself up late on Monday at an army checkpoint in the village of Rahjan in central Hama province.

Syria's nearly three-year conflict began as peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule but has devolved into civil war that has killed more than 130,000 and brought violence to every region.

ALIGARH: Suspended chairman of department of law Aligarh Muslim University was sent to jail after his bail plea was rejected.

Professor M Shabbir's bail plea was rejected by Additional Chief Judicial magistrate Vinay Kumar on Monday.

The matter is now scheduled to be taken up in the court of the Additional District Judge today.

Prof Shabbir was suspended in the first week of December following a charge of sexual harassment by a girl student.

HAMILTON: India slumped to their second consecutive series defeat overseas as New Zealand rode on Ross Taylor's unbeaten century to thrash the visitors by seven wickets in the fourth one-dayer and take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match rubber on Tuesday.

Chasing 279 for victory, the Kiwis reached 280 for three in 48.1 overs with Taylor scoring a match-winning 127-ball 112 not out to take the hosts home with 11 balls to spare.

Taylor also shared two important partnerships - first with Kane Williamson (60) putting on 130-run for the third wicket and then with skipper Brendon McCullum (49 not out), an unbroken 92 runs for the fourth wicket.

Gunmen open fire at Sisli municipal building in Istanbul downtown

Armed gunmen opened fire late Jan. 27 on the municipal building of Sisli, one of the most vibrant and central districts on Istanbul’s European side.

The attack caused no casualties, police said, although the assault seemed to target Mustafa Sarigül, the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate for Istanbul mayor and the current mayor of Sisli, ahead of the March 30 local elections.

The attack also came in the wake of an attack against a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) election office in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district that killed party adviser Cengiz Akyildiz on Jan. 26.

The Cabinet on Monday reiterated the Kingdom’s stance that Bashar Assad and his regime should not have any role in the interim Syrian government. It also denounced the terrorist bombings in Egypt.

The Cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, said the Geneva 2 conference should form the interim Syrian government, which should be allowed to work without any external interference.

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has drawn a distinction between the 2002 Gujarat riots and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on the grounds that while the violence in Gujarat was aided and abetted by the Narendra Modi state government, in the 1984 riots the government tried to stop the violence.

KARACHI: Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has called on the country’s political leadership to wake up to the threat posed by militant groups including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan(TTP).

Speaking to the BBC's Lyse Doucet in an interview, Bilawal said some of the country’s political leaders were afraid to take a clearly defined position on the issue of talks with the Taliban.

Pakistan: 9-year-old Hindu girl raped, killed in Punjab province

A nine-year-old Hindu girl was raped and killed in Punjab province of Pakistan, officials said on Sunday. Basti Kata, a resident of Mauza Ghunia in Rahim Yar Khan district, located 400 km from provincial capital Lahore, said his daughter went missing while playing outside his home on Thursday.

New Delhi: Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, today mocked the Congress for not naming Rahul Gandhi its presumptive PM for the 2014 general elections despite much clamour, at its mega conclave two days ago.

Mr Modi alleged that there were several reasons for that decision taken by Congress president and Rahul's mother Sonia Gandhi. Primarily, that her party "is staring at certain defeat." "I see a very human, sensitive reason for the decision.

NEW YORK: Iran has been invited to attend a meeting of foreign ministers in the Swiss city of Montreux on Wednesday ahead of internationally brokered peace talks between Syria's warring factions, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Sunday.Ban said he had issued the invitation to Iran after ''speaking at length in recent days'' with Iranian Foreign Minister Javid Zarif, who had ''pledged that Iran would play a positive and constructive role in Montreux.''Ban spoke to reporters at an impromptu briefing Sunday late Sunday afternoon.

BANGKOK: Explosions injured almost 30 people in central Bangkok on Sunday during a continuing “shutdown” protest aimed at toppling the Thai government, an emergency centre said.

Twenty-eight people were taken to several hospitals across the city, according to the Erawan Emergency Centre. Protesters said the injuries were caused by two separate blasts at a rally.

Witnesses said the explosions occurred about two minutes apart.

At least 20 Pakistani soldiers were killed on Sunday when an explosion hit an army convoy in the northwestern region of Bannu, intelligence and military sources said.At least two dozen others were wounded in the attack in a town near North Waziristan, a lawless Pakistani region on the Afghan border where many militant groups are holed up in remote mountain camps.Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that the militant organisation was responsible for the attack and said that their attacks on security forces would continue.

Armed attacks kill JUI-S leader, ExpressNews workers in Karachi

KARACHI: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Samiul Haq (JUI-S) leader Mufti Usman Yar Khan along with his driver and a personal guard was gunned down by unknown miscreants on Karachi’s Sharae Faisal, while a separate attack killed three people who worked for ExpressNews television channel Friday night, DawnNews reported.Police said another person was injured in the attack on Mufti Usman that took place near Awami Makaz.A spokesman for Karachi police said attackers sprayed bullets at the car of the provincial deputy chief of JUI-S, a religious party headed by Samiul Haq known in the West as “father of the Taliban”.

UNITED NATIONS: UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Friday strongly condemned a suicide gun and bomb attack on a Kabul restaurant in which four UN staff were among at least 14 fatalities.A UN statement said other dead from the attack claimed by the Taliban were from other international organisations“Such targeted attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable and are in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law,” Ban was quoted as saying by a spokesman.

At least 18 people were killed in a stampede that broke out in the early hours of Saturday near the Malabar Hill residence of Dawoodi Bohra spiritual leader Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, who died on Friday morning, officials said.

According to the Mumbai Police and officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Disaster Control, the stampede took place at around 1.30 am when thousands of mourners assembled near Saifee Mahal, where the Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin's body was kept for people to pay their last respects.

New Delhi: Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, wife of union minister Shashi Tharoor, has been found dead at the five-star The Leela Palaces Hotel in Delhi, two days after she said she was deeply disturbed by an alleged affair her husband was having with a Pakistani journalist. (Read: Unseemly Twitter war involving Tharoors)

Mrs Tharoor was 52; she has a 21-year-old son from an earlier marriage.

Sources said a suicide note has not been found. A tweet by her very early this morning, in response to someone who wished her well, said "will try got so many issues diagnosed in KIMS that know who knows when I got 2 go with joy Hastay hua jayegay (sic)." (Condolences pour in on Twitter)

In a fiery crash near Dakhna on Hejaz Road, Qassim, a jeep carrying a maid and a 7-member Saudi family — a military officer, his wife and five children — collided head on with a car with two youngsters in it, killing all 10 on the spot.

Such was the impact of the collision that bodies of nine people were charred beyond recognition, and the vehicles turned into a mangled pileup of steel.

The bodies of 14 Sunni Muslim tribesmen were found in date palm groves north of Baghdad on Thursday, a day after they were kidnapped by uniformed men in security forces vehicles, Iraqi police and medics said. The victims, all from the Albu Rawdas tribe, had been abducted while they were attending a funeral in the town of Tarmiya, 25 km (16 miles) north of the Iraqi capital.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said trust in Turkey's legal system was essential to it attaining its long-term growth goals, as the government pressed ahead with plans to assert control over the judiciary.

DALLAS: Personal physician of former president Pervez Musharraf and a prominent cardiologist Dr. Arjumand Hashmi has said that Musharraf is under his care since 2006.

Talking to Jang/Geo correspondent, Dr Hashmi said that he was in good health during his medical examination in 2006. However, his health condition has gradually deteriorated which is reflected in his periodic medical examination reports.

Dr. Hashmi said that he has issued a medical certificate on General Musharrf's health condition upon a request from his family.

PESHAWAR: At least ten people were killed and more than 60 injured Thursday evening when a bomb exploded at a religious centre in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Eyewitnesses said the blast occurred when the second rakat of the Maghrib prayers was being offered.Those killed in the blast included Azim Khan of Ittehad Colony in the city and his 10-year-old son Ismail, Arsala Khan of Musazai village near Peshawar and one Umar Gul.

“The blast was triggered by a time-device. Five kilograms explosives were used in the explosion,” Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) Shafqat Malik told The News.

PM calls for world’s support as 52 die in Iraq bombing

Bomb attacks hit the Iraqi capital Baghdad and a village near the northern town of Baquba today, killing at least 52 people, police and hospital sources said.

In the deadliest incident, a bomb blew up in a funeral tent where mourners were marking the death two days ago of a Sunni Muslim pro-government militiaman, police said. It killed 18 people and wounded 16 in Shatub, a village south of Baquba.

ISLAMABAD :India has imposed few new conditions for issuing visas to those Pakistanis who intend to visit the neighboring country in future.

According to a letter received by the Pakistan Foreign Office from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, all those Pakistanis must drink polio vaccine drops six weeks prior to start of India tour.

RIYADH: Saudi authorities beheaded Tuesday two Pakistanis for drug smuggling in the ultra-conservative kingdom's first executions of the year, the interior ministry said.

Abrar Hussein Nizar Hussein was executed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after being convicted of trying to smuggle in heroin hidden in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Zahid Khan Barakat was beheaded in Qatif, in Eastern Province, over a similar charge, a separate statement said.

KABUL: Afghan police say security guards killed a suicide bomber in Kabul as he tried to attack the home of a tribal elder opposed to the Taliban.

Gen Gul Agha Hashimi, the head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Department, said the bomber was shot Tuesday as he tried to enter the elder's home in western Kabul.

He says the house belonged to Mohammad Alam, from northern Baghlan province.

CAIRO: Egyptians lined up in numbers to vote Tuesday on a new constitution many said they had not read but would approve anyway in support of the army’s ouster of President Muhammad Mursi.

Polling at most stations got off to a smooth start, but 10 people were killed in clashes between Mursi supporters and police and anti-Mursi groups in central and southern Egypt, security officials said.

The referendum has been billed by authorities as the first in a series of polls that will restore elected government by the end of the year.

Chandigarh/Amritsar: Amid claims that the Margaret Thatcher government might have helped Indira Gandhi plan Operation Blue Star, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab on Tuesday said this had exposed a "major conspiracy" of the Congress against Sikhs.

"The party (Congress) had even gone to the extent of compromising the national sovereignty for political gains," SAD secretary Daljit Singh Cheema said in a statement in Chandigarh.

CAIRO: Egyptians vote for a new constitution on Tuesday in a referendum seen as a test of support for a presidential bid by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, almost seven months after he toppled Mohamed Morsi.An Islamist coalition led by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has called for a boycott and "civilised peaceful protests" during the two-day referendum, but the interior ministry has pledged to "decisively" confront any attempts to disrupt voting.

KARACHI: In a bid to thwart any untoward terrorist incident on the occasion of Eid Milad-un-Nabi, mobile phone services were suspended in most parts of Pakistan on Tuesday whereas security was beefed up in all major cities of the country, DawnNews reported.Muslims across the country celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal, which falls on Tuesday, January 14 this year.Over 100 Ulema, Mashaikh and scholars of the Sunni Ulema Board have urged people to maintain peace.

BAGHDAD: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Iraqi leaders to address the “root causes” of a surge in bloodshed as security forces clashed on Monday with gunmen in violence-racked Anbar province.

General Bikram Singh says army must stay and have special powers in view of possible "terrorist spill-over" into region.

India’s top miliatary general has argued for the continuing presence of soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir in view of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan that may result in a "terrorist spill-over" into the disputed region.

US explains nuclear deal with Iran

WASHINGTON: Iran will receive $4.2 billion from blocked overseas funds and about $7 billion of benefits from sanctions relief for concluding an interim nuclear deal with the P5+1 countries, US officials said on Monday.The first instalment of $550 million will be released on Feb 1 and the rest will in six instalments. The entire fund, blocked in the West due to a nuclear dispute with the West, will be transferred to Iran by July this year.

SRINAGAR, India: Indian law enforcement officers killed two suspected militants in a gunbattle Monday in the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed Kashmir region, police said.

Indian police and paramilitary forces also trapped a third suspected rebel in the shootout in Sopore, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) northwest of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-ruled Kashmir, area Police Chief Abdul Qayoom said.

PARIS: Ahmad Jarba, the leader of Syria’s opposition National Coalition, said on Sunday that the US-led “Friends of Syria” grouping had agreed that President Bashar Al Assad and his family will have no role in the country’s future.

Jarba did not announce whether or not the opposition would take part in peace talks with representatives of Assad’s regime due to start next week in Switzerland. The coalition, which is under intense pressure to confirm its participation, has said it will decide on the issue on Jan.17.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is the most admired person on Earth, while retired cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is fifth on the list of the 30 most admired people, compiled from 13 countries.

The survey 'world's most admired people' was conducted by YouGov for The Times, in a survey sample of almost 14,000 people in the US, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, India, China, Australia, Pakistan, Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria and Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that it would continue to impose a 20-percent cut in foreign pilgrims and a 50-percent reduction in domestic pilgrims during the upcoming Haj season.

“The government will continue to request foreign countries to slash the quota of their Haj pilgrims by 20 percent due to ongoing expansion works in Makkah and the holy sites,” said Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar.

Speaking to the Turkish Haj mission, he said the measure was taken upon directives issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to ensure the safety and security of pilgrims.

ISLAMABAD: India and Pakistan are set to resume secretary-level trade talks in New Delhi Jan.14, a media report said on Monday.

According to a Dawn report, the meeting will only maintain the "momentum of talks" as part of the composite dialogue process.

The meeting starting Tuesday is likely to agree on fresh timelines for implementing the road map for removing bottlenecks in trade liberalisation, the report said.

Jerusalem: Israeli security forces were put on high alert today ahead of former premier Ariel Sharon's funeral in the southern Negev desert which is likely to be attended by thousands including US Vice President Joe Biden, given its close proximity to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Sharon, who died on Saturday at the age of 85 after remaining in coma for eight years, will be laid to rest beside his wife Lily at Anemones Hill nearby the family's northern Negev Sycamore Ranch this evening.

ADEN: Armed tribesmen attacked an army post in southeast Yemen on Sunday and killed six soldiers in the latest assault targeting security forces in the area since December, a military official said.

The attack took place near Shahr in Hadramawt province, which has been hit by protests against the central government since last month, after the army killed tribal chief Said Ben Habrish and his bodyguards at a checkpoint.

Taliban bombing kills senior police officer Chaudhry Aslam

KARACHI: A powerful explosion targeted a convoy of police vehicles in Karachi on Thursday killing senior police official Chaudhry Aslam Khan.

Chaudhry Aslam, who had survived numerous assassination attempts in the past, died along with two other officers when the bomb targeted the convoy on the Lyari expressway in Karachi.

Senior police officer Iqbal Mehmood confirmed to reporters that SP CID Chaudhary Aslam Khan died in the attack, which took place around 4:40 pm near the Essa Nagri area.

AMMAN: The al Qaeda-linked Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant executed dozens of rival Islamists over the last two days as the group recaptured most territory it had lost in the northeastern Syrian province of Raqqa, activists said on Sunday.

One of the activists, who spoke from the province on condition of anonymity, said up to 100 fighters from the Nusra Front, another al Qaeda affiliate, and the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, captured by ISIL in the town of Tel Abyad on the border with Turkey, the nearby area of Qantari and the provincial capital city of Raqqa, were shot dead.

Libya's deputy industry minister, Hassan al-Droui, was shot dead during a visit to his hometown of Sirte, east of Tripoli, security and hospital sources said.The identity of the shooters was not immediately known, but the official's death was the first assassination of a member of the transitional government since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's government in October 2011.

United Nations: The UN Security Council on Friday gave strong backing to an Iraqi government campaign to retake provincial strongholds from al Qaeda-linked militants.The 15-nation council agreed a statement backing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki amid mounting concern over the battle for Anbar province, which runs from the western suburbs of Baghdad up to the border with Syria.

ISLAMABAD: An attempt by former president retired General Pervez Musharraf to avoid his possible indictment on Jan 16 came to naught on Friday when the special court seized with his treason trial dismissed an application seeking suspension of his summons.“This court has no jurisdiction to modify, alter or change its orders, except correcting the clerical mistakes,” observed the three-judge court, headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court.

QUETTA: An 18-inch Sui gas pipeline was blown up on Saturday by unknown miscreants in the Dera Murad Jamali district of Balochistan, DawnNews reported.Police personnel stated that due to the gas pipeline explosion, gas supply was disrupted to Quetta and several other districts of Balochistan.

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