The shooting which took place near Karachi airport is most likely another incident of target killing.
Several injuries have also been reported.
One shop and one office set ablaze in Safora Goth area of
Fear rises as firing and unrest continues
Monday, August 23, 2010
Brother of ANP leader shot dead in Karachi
Pakistan floods destroy crops over 4.25mn acres
ISLAMABAD: Floods in Pakistan have destroyed or extensively damaged crops over 4.25 million acres (1.72 million hectares) of land, Food Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal said on Monday.
The total areas under cultivation is about 23 million hectares, food ministry officials say.
“The floods have destroyed or extensively damaged crops, including cotton, rice, sugarcane, maize and others over an area of 4.25 million acres,” he told Reuters.
According to an estimated breakdown of losses prepared by the food ministry, rice was the worst hit with an area of 1.51 million acres (614,157 hectares) destroyed by the floods.
Industry officials say that translates into a loss of 1.5 million tonnes of rice. Less output means Pakistan will have a smaller surplus for exports.
Pakistan had a bumper crop of 6.7 million tonnes of milled rice in 2009/10 and exported about 4.5 million tonnes, traders say.
But a US Department of Agriculture attache in Pakistan said in a report this month that the country exported 3.75 million tonnes of rice in 2009/10. -Reuters
Tajik borders tightened after deadly extremist jailbreak
DUSHANBE: Twenty-five extremist militants serving long jail terms in Tajikistan have escaped from prison, killing guards and sparking fears they could cross into neighbouring Afghanistan, officials said Monday.The inmates broke free late Sunday from a detention centre of Tajikistan’s State Committee of National Security in the capital Dushanbe, attacking guards and seizing their arms, a representative of the committee told AFP.
“As a result, one of the guards was killed, 25 armed inmates escaped from jail, changing into fatigues,” the official said, citing a statement.
Officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, described the inmates as Islamic militants convicted of terrorism and drug trafficking many of whom were serving sentences ranging from 30 years to life.
Following their prison break, the inmates raided a nearby detention centre of the justice ministry in the early hours of Monday where they killed four guards and fled, the official said.
An official at the country’s interior ministry, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the escapees went to the Rasht Valley in the east of the country, adding that most of them are from that region and know it well.
Authorities have beefed up security across airports, railway stations and roads and are planning to deploy armoured vehicles and special forces in the east to recapture the escapees, officials said.
Tajikistan, where a bloody civil war between extremist forces and backers of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, shares a porous 1,300-kilometre border with Afghanistan.
Military officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, expressed concern that the 25 criminals may attempt to illegally cross the border into northern Afghanistan.
Border guards were put on high alert to prevent the escaped militants from crossing the border, a spokesman for border guards told AFP.
Posts on the border with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and China have also been put on high alert, the spokesman said.
The escaped militants include nationals of Afghanistan and six Russian citizens, all of them natives of the volatile North Caucasus region, where Russian authorities are battling an extremist insurgency.
Last Friday Tajikistan’s Supreme Court handed down prison sentences of 19.5 years to each of the five Russians, while the sixth was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The men were part of the militant group the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and had been accused of seeking to topple the government in a riot in the east of the country last summer.
Earlier Monday, Rakhmon convened an extraordinary meeting with law enforcement and military officials, ordering them to capture the escaped militants.
The United States, which fights the Taliban militants in Afghanistan, has been sending non-lethal US supplies for its troops there through Tajikistan and is planning to build a 10-million dollar training centre for armed forces in the country to boost its hand in the region. —AFP
Pakistani athletes get two-year bans for doping
Pakistan Amateur Athletics Federation secretary Khalid Mehmood says all seven athletes can appeal the suspensions.
Javelin thrower Mohammad Imran, who is due to compete in Commonwealth Games, is among the suspended athletes. Rozina Shafqat, Nadia Nazir, Shagufta Naureen, Zahra Razzak, Asif Javed and Mohammad Waseem are the others.
Mehmood said Imran will be replaced in javelin event of the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held in
Last month, an appeal tribunal of Pakistan Olympic Association upheld sprinters Sadaf Siddique and Javeria Hassan’s two-year suspensions.
Protester killed, 31 policemen hurt in Kashmir
SRINAGAR: A protester wounded during clashes with Indian security forces in Kashmir died on Monday, stoking fresh tensions after 31 policemen were hurt in weekend clashes, police said.
The latest death brought to 63 the number of protesters and bystanders killed in two months of violent protests in the mainly Muslim region, most of them young men or teenagers shot dead by security forces.
The 28-year-old who died on Monday had been wounded during clashes in northern Baramulla district on August 14 and died in hospital, police said.
Residents said the death had led to new protests, where hundreds of people blocked the main highway in the dead man's village of Singhpora.
The scenic Kashmir region has been under rolling curfews to contain deadly protests that were sparked by the killing June 11 of a teenage student in Srinagar by a police teargas shell.
Anti-India demonstrations at five places in southern Pulwama district late Sunday left 31 policemen injured, including the district police chief, police said. One protester was also hurt.
Heavily militarised Indian-administered Kashmir has been the scene of a deadly anti-India insurgency for the past two decades.
Many commentators attribute the latest protests to frustration among the young generation because of deadlock in talks about the status of disputed Kashmir and high unemployment.
The government in New Delhi has suggested unrest is being whipped up by separatists and militants.
US, Nato soldier killed in Afghan attacks
KABUL: Two Nato soldiers, one of them American, were killed in attacks on Monday in volatile regions of Afghanistan, the alliance said, a day after four US troops died in violence.
Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that two of its soldiers had died in separate improvised bomb attacks in the north of the country and in the south. It gave no further details.
An ISAF spokesman told AFP the soldier who died in the south was a US national.
The deaths bring to 453 the total number of troops to die in the Afghan war so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on a count kept by the independent icasualties.org website.
Most of the troops in the north are German, Norwegian and a small contingent from Sweden, being reinforced by Americans as violence in the northern provinces escalates.
The United States and Nato have 141,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting to quell the Taliban insurgency grinding towards the end of its ninth year.
The number is set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks, with most new deployments heading to the southern hotspots of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, Taliban territory where fighting is fiercest. —AFP
Iran hangs three drug traffickers: report
TEHRAN: Iran has hanged three men, including an Afghan, convicted of drug trafficking in the central city of Isfahan, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The Iranian men, identified as Akbar Z., 33, and Hamid Reza H., 28, and the Afghan Shah S., 38, were hanged on Sunday in a prison in Isfahan, hardline newspaper Kayhan said.
The latest hangings bring the number of executions in Iran to at least 108 so far this year, according to an AFP count based on media reports. Last year, at least 270 people were hanged.
Iran says the death penalty is essential to maintain public security and is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are all punishable by death in the Islamic republic. —AFP
Bangladesh battling anthrax outbreak: health ministry
DHAKA: Health officials are struggling to contain a major outbreak of anthrax in northern Bangladesh, with at least 52 new infections registered in the past week, the health ministry said Monday.At least 162 people have been infected with the bacteria in nine separate outbreaks in less than a year, but no one has died so far, Mahmudur Rahman, a health ministry director, told AFP.
Most of the cases have been in the rural cattle-rearing region of northern Bangladesh.
“In the latest outbreak in the northern town of Shajadpur, 52 people became infected in the last week,” Rahman said.
Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacterium that exists naturally in the soil and commonly infects livestock which ingest or inhale its spores while grazing.
It can be transmitted to humans who handle or eat infected animals.
Rahman said the latest outbreak was caused by cattle farmers slaughtering diseased cows and selling the contaminated meat.
There is a vaccine to prevent infections in cows, but the Bangladeshi livestock authorities “do not have adequate supplies” to immunise all the country’s cattle, Rahman said.
“It’s an emerging disease in Bangladesh — one that has caught the farmers and the livestock department off guard,” he added. —AFP
Mother, daughter shot by militants in Indian Kashmir
SRINAGAR: Suspected militants have shot dead three people in Indian-administered Kashmir, including a mother and her teenage daughter, a police statement said Monday.
It said four masked militants barged into a house in southern Kulgam district late Sunday evening and shot dead a 40-year old woman and her 19-year old daughter.
“This action of militants has evoked resentment among the people of the area,” the statement said.
In the neighbouring Pulwama district, police said around the same time suspected militants shot dead a male government employee.
“The people of the area have protested against the killing in the holy month of Ramadan,” the statement said.
Militants often target people affiliated with pro-India political parties or whom they suspect of working as informers for the Indian troops.
Police said the motive behind the three killings was not immediately known.
Indian-administered Kashmir has been the scene of a bitter Muslim insurgency since 1989 that has left more than 47,000 people dead, according to an official count.
In the past, the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which began August 12, has seen increased violence in Kashmir, as militants believe those who die fighting during the Ramadan period will be specially rewarded.
Rebels want to secede Kashmir from India and join it with neighbouring Pakistan or carve out an independent state. —AFP
New Zealand dismisses idea of sending team to Pakistan
WELLINGTON: New Zealand cricket chiefs on Monday backed the idea of fundraising matches for flood-ravaged Pakistan but ruled out the prospect of the Black Caps travelling there.
Reports from Pakistan indicated New Zealand had offered to play there to raise funds for flood victims, but New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said his message to the Pakistan Cricket Board had been misconstrued.
“At no point did we offer that the Black Caps would be touring as they certainly won’t be playing there this year,” Vaughan said.
“But it would be nice to think that in a cricket-loving country such as Pakistan that cricket could play a part in alleviating some of the suffering that is going on there.”
International cricket came to an abrupt end in Pakistan in March last year after a terror attack on the touring Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
The near month-long floods in Pakistan have killed 1,500 people and affected up to 20 million nationwide in the country’s worst natural disaster.
But with foreign cricket teams not prepared to play in the country because of security concerns, Vaughan said it was up to the Pakistan Cricket Board to organise fundraisers outside the country.
New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association manager Heath Mills backed the idea of cricket to raise money, but added: “But at this point in time there is no way anyone can consider putting a cricket team into Pakistan to play.”
He added that he did not envisage the Black Caps going to Pakistan “in the short term”. —AFP
Man United-Fulham draw, Newcastle rout Villa
LONDON: Manchester United and Fulham served up a frantic 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage on Sunday while Newcastle United stunned Aston Villa 6-0 with a hat-trick from Andy Carroll on another dramatic day of Premier League action.
In their top flight home return, Newcastle ran riot at St James’ Park with Kevin Nolan (2) and Joey Barton also among the goals to secure their first points of the new season.
It was also the third 6-0 score-line of the weekend following Chelsea’s win over Wigan Athletic and Arsenal’s demolition of Blackpool on Saturday.
Fulham meanwhile secured an outstanding draw after Norway defender Brede Hangeland scored a goal at either end in the closing minutes after a Paul Scholes strike had earlier been cancelled out by Simon Davies for the hosts.
The results left champions Chelsea as the only team in the division with a 100 per cent record after the opening two matches.
MEMORABLE RETURN
Hat-trick hero Carroll gave an outstanding display and did his claims to be considered for a place in England manager Fabio Capello’s senior side no harm to the delight of the home fans who included Tyneside scoring hero Alan Shearer in the stands.
“It’s great feeling, especially in front of the home fans,” Carroll told ESPN. “I’m just over the moon with all three of them. I enjoy playing my football, I’m happy being the number nine at this club but I just want to do well for the team.”
Villa wasted a golden opportunity to go ahead when John Carew skied a penalty high over the bar after 10 minutes and soon after last season’s Championship (second division) winners took control.
Barton fired home an angled shot after 12 minutes before Nolan headed in at the second attempt just after the half hour mark and Carroll made it three for the Magpies minutes later.
Carroll blasted in the fourth on 67 minutes with another Nolan header and a neat stoppage-time finish from Carroll sealing Newcastle’s win to get them off the mark following an opening 3-0 defeat by Manchester United on Monday.
“We expected a very tough game, but once we got the first goal that lifted any fears we might have had and we played some very good attacking football, managed to keep it going and score some very good goals,” said Newcastle manager Chris Hughton.
“The quality and intensity of our play was too much for them.”
Villa, who started the season with an encouraging 3-0 win over West Ham United last week, rarely threatened and the hopes of caretaker coach Kevin MacDonald getting the job fulltime following the shock resignation of Martin O’Neill before the season began were not helped by his team’s performance.
FRANTIC FINALE
The main drama at Craven Cottage came in the closing stages after Scholes scored his 150th goal for United with a low drive from 27 metres to give them the lead after 11 minutes.
Davies equalised after 57 minutes following a flowing move involving Damien Duff and Bobby Zamora before Hangeland put through his own net on 84 minutes to put United 2-1 ahead.
Three minutes later Duff conceded a controversial penalty for handball only for Fulham’s reserve goalkeeper David Stockdale to save Nani’s spot-kick – a miss United were soon left to rue.
In stoppage-time the visitors were pegged back to 2-2 when Hangeland made amends for his earlier mistake with an unstoppable header from a corner.
United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports: “We had an opportunity to win it, the penalty was not hit at a good height, and Fulham deserved a point.”
Mark Hughes, aiming to win his first home match as Fulham’s manager with victory over his old United boss, told reporters:
“We could have gone 3-1 behind, so we are delighted for what we achieved because we showed real character to get back in the game, and the penalty save maybe gave us a little bit of belief to push on and get the equaliser.
“In the first half United played some really good stuff, I just felt that as the half went on I thought we got more belief and really worked well in the second half.” —Reuters
India opposition raises fresh objection to nuclear bill
NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition party has reneged on a promise to support a bill that seeks to open up the country’s nuclear power market, saying current provisions make it difficult to get compensation in case of accidents.The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had agreed to support the bill, crucial for the entry of companies like US-based General Electric and Westinghouse Electric, after the Congress Party-led coalition government agreed to hike compensation caps and extend liability to suppliers.
The BJP is now objecting to a provision that makes suppliers liable for compensation only if wilful intent to cause damage is proved.
“They have inserted “intent”. That is the problem,” S.S. Ahluwalia, the BJP’s deputy leader in the upper house of parliament, told Reuters.
“It is difficult to establish “wilful”, for compensation cases. This (provision) is not adequate,” said Ahluwalia, who was also on the parliament committee which vetted the government’s version of the bill.
While the ruling coalition in theory has a majority, it needs the support of the BJP, which has the powers to stall the bill through the upper house of parliament.
The nuclear bill has the personal backing of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh whose 2008 deal with former US president George Bush ended India’s isolation in the global nuclear market.
The government is hoping to have the bill enacted into law in the current parliament session that ends Aug. 31. —Reuters
At least 20 people killed in bus accident
SUKKUR: At least 20 people were killed Monday when a bus overturned in strong water currents in flood-hit Pakistan, officials said.
The accident took place near Khad Buzdar village in the centre of the country. The bus, which had 50 people on board, was bound for the northwestern city of Peshawar.
“At least 20 people are confirmed dead and 10 others were rescued,” Doctor Natiq Hayat, from the local emergency rescue service, told AFP.
“The search for other passengers is on.”
Dera Ghazi Khan district administration chief Iftikhar Ali said the route had been closed overnight due to the danger of torrents of water from nearby hills but that the bus driver ignored the warning.
Near month-long floods have killed 1,500 people and affected up to 20 million nationwide in Pakistan's worst natural disaster.
Pakistan may have tried to thwart Afghan talks: report
WASHINGTON: January's capture of top Taliban commander Abdul Ghani Baradar may have been a bid by Pakistani intelligence to thwart talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, The New York Times said late Sunday.
Baradar was a top military strategist and trusted aide of the militia's shadowy leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
He was arrested in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi reportedly in a secret raid by CIA and Pakistani agents, an operation that was described as a huge blow to the group.
Citing unnamed Pakistani officials, it said Pakistan's intelligence had set out to capture Baradar with the CIA's help as it wanted to end secret peace talks between Baradar and the Afghan government that excluded Pakistan, the Taliban's longtime backer.
In the weeks after Baradar's capture, Pakistani security officials detained up to 23 Taliban leaders, many of whom had been enjoying Islamabad's protection for years, the report said.
These developments resulted in the talks coming to an end.
The events surrounding Baradar's arrest have been the subject of debate inside military and intelligence circles for months, The Times said.
“We picked up Baradar and the others because they were trying to make a deal without us,” the paper quotes a Pakistani security official as saying.
“We protect the Taliban. They are dependent on us. We are not going to allow them to make a deal with Karzai and the Indians,” the official said, referring to Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President.
Some US officials say the Pakistanis may be trying to make themselves appear more influential, the report said.
“These are self-serving fairy tales,” The Times quotes one US official as saying on condition of anonymity.
“The people involved in the operation on the ground didn't know exactly who would be there when they themselves arrived. But it certainly became clear, to Pakistanis and Americans alike, who we'd gotten.”
But other US officials suspect the CIA may have been unwittingly used by the Pakistanis for the larger aims of slowing the pace of any peace talks, the report said. – AFP
US troops unlikely to resume combat duties in Iraq
WASHINGTON: It would take ''a complete failure'' of the Iraqi security forces for the US to resume combat operations there, the top American commander in Iraq said as the final US fighting forces prepared to leave the country.
With a major military milestone in sight, Gen. Ray Odierno said in interviews broadcast Sunday that any resumption of combat duties by American forces is unlikely.
''We don't see that happening,'' Odierno said. The Iraqi security forces have been doing ''so well for so long now that we really believe we're beyond that point.''
President Barack Obama plans a major speech on Iraq after his return to Washington, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because details were being finalized. The speech will come shortly after Obama returns to the White House on Aug. 29 from his Martha's Vineyard vacation.
About 50,000 US troops will remain in the country until the end of 2011 to serve as a training and assistance force, a dramatic drawdown from the peak of more than 170,000 during the surge of American forces in 2007.
Obama will face a delicate balancing act in his speech between welcoming signs of progress and bringing an end to the seven-year-old war without prematurely declaring the mission accomplished, as former President George W. Bush once did.
US involvement in Iraq beyond the end of 2011, Odierno said, probably would involve assisting the Iraqis secure their airspace and borders.
While Iraq forces can handle internal security and protect Iraqis, Odierno said he believes military commanders want to have the US involved beyond 2011 to help Iraqis acquire the required equipment, training and technical capabilities.
He said Iraq's security forces have matured to the point where they will be ready to shoulder enough of the burden to permit the remaining 50,000 soldiers to go home at the end of next year.
If the Iraqis asked that American troops remain in the country after 2011, Odierno said US officials would consider it, but that would be a policy decision made by the president and his national security advisers.
Odierno's assessment, while optimistic, also acknowledges the difficult road ahead for the Iraqis as they take control of their own security, even as political divisions threaten the formation of the fledgling democracy.
South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who's on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CBS' ''Face the Nation'' that he hopes ''we will have an enduring relationship of having some military presence in Iraq. I think that would be smart not to let things unwind over the next three or five years.''
On Thursday, the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division began crossing the border from Iraq into Kuwait, becoming the last combat brigade to leave Iraq. Its exodus, along with that of the approximately 2,000 remaining US combat forces destined to leave in the coming days, fulfills Obama's pledge to end combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31.
In interviews with CBS' ''Face the Nation'' and CNN's ''State of the Union,'' Odierno said it may take several years before America can determine if the war was a success.
''A strong democratic Iraq will bring stability to the Middle East, and if we see Iraq that's moving toward that, two, three, five years from now, I think we can call our operations a success,'' he said.
Much of that may hinge on whether Iraq's political leaders can overcome ethnic divisions and work toward a more unified government, while also enabling security forces to tamp down a simmering insurgency.
Iraq's political parties have been bickering for more than five months since the March parliamentary elections failed to produce a clear winner. They have yet to reach agreements on how to share power or whether to replace embattled Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and amid the political instability, other economic and governmental problems fester.
Fueling that instability is neighboring Iran which, Odierno said, continues to fund and train Shiite extremist groups.
''They don't want to see Iraq turn into a strong democratic country. They'd rather see it become a weak governmental institution,'' said Odierno.
He added that he is not worried that Iraq will fall back into a military dictatorship, as it was under the reign of Saddam Hussein. – AP
Trapped miners in Chile alive after 17 days
SANTIAGO: Chile rejoiced Sunday at word that 33 miners trapped deep below ground for more than two weeks were alive and apparently in good condition, but engineers warned that rescuing them could yet take months.
The miners were able to send up a note through a shaft drilled 700 meters (2,300 feet) into the earth to alert engineers and family members above ground that they were together and alive inside an emergency shelter.
“All 33 of us are well inside the shelter,” said the note, written in bold red capital letters.
President Sebastian Pinera read the message aloud and waved it in the air, as friends and relatives wept with joy outside the northern Chilean mine whose entrance collapsed on August 5, trapping the workers inside.
His words were met by a roar of cheers after days of fading hopes outside the San Jose gold and copper mine near the city of Copiapo, 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Santiago.
A remotely operated camera lowered down the bore hole later showed the miners sweaty and shirtless in the hot (32-36 degrees Celsius, 90-97 Fahrenheit) shelter, but in apparently good condition and high spirits.
“Many of them approached the camera and put their faces right up against it, like children, and we could see happiness and hope in their eyes,” Pinera said, adding that the images “gave me a lot of happiness and faith that this is going to end well.” National Emergency Office regional director Carlos Garcia said the trapped miners had some water and lights and that in the next few hours they would get fresh supplies of food and water, which they would have to ration out carefully.
Garcia said relatives would be soon allowed to speak with their loved ones through a cable dropped down the drill bore.
As word spread that the miners were alive after 17 days below ground, drivers honked their horns in the capital Santiago and thousands of people gathered in other cities to celebrate and wave national flags.
Until Sunday, there had been no sign that the miners had survived their ordeal.
But then came two notes in a plastic bag attached to a line that had been lowered through the narrow shaft drilled into emergency shelter.
Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said the first note they pulled out was a letter from Mario Gomez, one of the trapped miners, to his wife Liliana.
“We celebrated without knowing anything more than that,” Golborne said.
“But then came that message that says the 33 are alive.” In his letter to his wife, Gomez, 63, said: “I hope to get out soon. Have patience and faith. I haven't stopped thinking about all of you for a single moment. I love you all.” One of the most experienced miners inside the shelter, Gomez said “a little water” was trickling down into the shelter and that for days the drilling machines could be heard clearly from above.
“I'm sure we'll get out of here alive. I hope to talk to you later,” he wrote.
“I knew my husband was strong,” his wife told reporters after reading his letter.
Despite the dramatic breakthrough, the chief engineer in charge of the rescue operation, Andres Sougarret, said it would take at least four months to drill a shaft large enough to bring out the trapped miners.
“A shaft 66 centimeters (26 inches) in diameter (will take) at least 120 days” to complete, the engineer said.
Reaching the miners with the small-bore shaft through which their note was relayed took several hit-and-miss attempts, and rescuers had almost lost all hope of finding the men alive, Sougarret added.
Rescuers said the miners would have to assist in their own release by clearing debris away from the hole beneath ground as drillers worked from above.
Rescue worker Pedro Ramirez told TVN television drilling the new shaft would begin on Monday, adding that the miners would be pulled out “one by one” from the bottom of the mine once it was completed.
During the past two weeks, some 500 people clambered to the mine on top of a mountain in Chile's Atacama desert to pray for the trapped men. Messages of hope were written with piles of stones around the entrance to the mine.
Friends and family at the site celebrated the good news by cheering and waving a Chilean flag that had been found among the debris left by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated central Chile on February 27.
“They'll come out thin and dirty, but whole and strong, because the miners have shown they have courage and mettle, which is what has kept them together,” Pinera said, choking with emotion. – AFP
Canada to match aid provided by its citizens to Pakistan
OTTAWA: The Canadian government, which last week announced 32 million dollars for victims of Pakistan's historic floods, said Sunday it would give more aid by matching the amount donated by its citizens.
“The Canadians have always been ready to come to the assistance of people in need and in order to support their generosity, we will be giving a contribution equivalent to their contribution,” House of Common leader John Baird said.
“This will be additional financial assistance, apart from the 33 million (Canadian, 32 million US dollars) already announced,” said Baird.
“It will equal the contributions made to Canadian registered charitable organizations between August 2nd and September 12th,” he said, adding that there was no ceiling on the final amount of aid.
“We have not placed a dollar limit on the amount of funds that we will provide through this important program,” Baird said.
“When these things happen around the world, Canadians are very generous people and they want to support the effort and if the announcement we make today can help encourage individual Canadians to match the support given by the government, we hope that will be the case.” The aid announcement came as Pakistani authorities evacuated tens of thousands from areas in the south of the country on Sunday, following a month of flooding that has killed 1,500 people and affected up to 20 million nationwide. – AFP
‘Exceptionally high’ flood at Kotri for several days
LAHORE: The Indus will remain in ‘exceptionally high’ flood at Kotri for four to five days and in ‘very high’ flood for another five to eight days, the Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) has warned. According to a warning issued here on Sunday, the second flood wave passing Kotri has attained an exceptionally high level and the flow will continue to rise in 24 hours.
The peak flow will sustain for four to five days, followed by a very high flood level of 700,000 to 800,000 cusecs for five to eight days and high flood of around 600,000 cusecs for at least another 10 days.
The FFD said inundation and riverine flooding were likely in low-lying areas of Sajawal, Mirpur Batharo, Mirpur Sakro, Jungshahi, Allah Rakhio, Makaro, Keti Bunder and Shah Bunder in Thatta district and parts of Jamshoro, Matiari and Hyderabad districts.
Scattered rains are expected in upper Punjab, Hazara division and Kashmir on Monday.
Dry weather has been forecast for Sindh.
Sialkot district police chief detained
LAHORE: Sialkot’s District Police Officer Waqar Ahmad Chohan was detained for 30 days on Sunday in connection with the lynching of two brothers by a mob. According to an executive order issued by the Sialkot District Coordination Officer, Mr Chohan would be detained by police and kept in police custody for 30.
A senior provincial government official, privy to the development, told Dawn that movements of Mr Chohan, who is living in his official residence in Sialkot, were being monitored by officials in plainclothes and his activities would be watched till the conclusion of two high-level inquires being held by the director general of anti-corruption and a senior police officer.
He said the step had been taken to prevent him from escape in case inquiries found him guilty.
He said the DPO could not be arrested unless sufficient evidence about his involvement was produced.
Citing some reports and witnesses’ accounts, the official said that the former DPO was at the place where two youngsters were clubbed to death after the suspects had declared them robbers. The official said that a probe committee headed by Punjab CID Mushtaq Sokhaira would submit its report within a week.
The official criticised the Gujranwala Regional Police Officer for introducing a culture of violence -- killing criminals in encounters and parading their bodies in public – which had pushed people to take law into their own hands.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is reported to have requested Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to suspend Mr Chohan for being responsible for the incident.
There are reports that the provincial chief secretary has written to the federal secretary establishment for Mr Chohan’s suspension.
Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, when contacted, said all the people, the administration personnel and locals who were directly or indirectly involved in the incident, would be brought to justice.
Some TV channels reported on Sunday night that the federal government had suspended Mr Chohan.—Faisal Ali
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