Sindh ready to impose ‘flood tax’

ISLAMABAD, Sept 7: Faced with losses of around Rs447 billion due to floods, the Sindh government has decided in principle to impose ‘flood tax’ to finance rehabilitation of flood-affected people and rebuilding of damaged infrastructure.

Provincial authorities also fear severe losses in the agriculture sector as water-logging could make sowing for the Rabi season difficult.

The Sindh government has submitted a report to the federal government, highlighting the devastation caused by floods and the financial burden the calamity has put on the provincial government.

The provincial government has informed the federal government of its recovery and rehabilitation plan, aimed at rebuilding affected areas on modern lines.

However, in order to finance the rehabilitation plan a high-level committee of the cabinet will meet in Karachi on Wednesday (today) to discuss options for imposing the ‘flood tax’.

Finance Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister Dr Kaiser Bengali told journalists here on Tuesday that the new tax would not be imposed on the poor.

“The situation is more serious in Sindh as water is not receding quickly from most areas because of high flood in the Indus and high tide in the sea,” he said.

Dr Bengali said that because of water-logging in fields farmers would not be able to plant Rabi crops in about 50 per cent of the cultivable areas during the upcoming season.

It had been decided that the cost of rehabilitation would be borne by the province and the federal government on a 50-50 basis, he said.

Mr Bengali said that Sindh had been severely affected by floods with the worst displacement the province had ever seen in its history.

Socio-economic infrastructure in eight districts --- Kashmore, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Shahdadkot, Larkana, Dadu, Jamshoro and Thatta --- has been severely damaged.

He said the province was faced with short-term, mid-term and immediate problems because the provincial government was taking care of more than 1.3 million people living in camps and more than 100,000 were outside camps.

The mid-term and short-term rehabilitation work includes restoring health and education system besides reconstruction of key connecting roads.

Dr Kaiser Bengali said that over 7,274 villages and 43 towns had been submerged, over 2.2 million acres of crop land was under water while over 300 rice and other mills had been damaged.

He said initial estimates suggested that the total loss in the province by floods was Rs446.88 billion with Rs122.1 billion in agriculture sector and Rs2.6 billion in the health sector as 100 health centres had been damaged.

The loss to the education system is around Rs26.9 billion and the Sindh government is planning to include private sector in rebuilding works.

Twenty killed, 90 injured in Kohat bomb blast

KOHAT: At least 20 people, mostly relatives of policemen, were killed and more than 90 injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast inside a police colony on Tuesday.

Two policemen, Zafran Ali and Constable Nawazish Ali, were among the dead while other victims were women and children of the policemen living in the colony.

The blast took place at 6.58pm, a few minutes after iftar, when male members of the police colony had left their homes for prayers and their children and women were breaking their fast at homes.

Kohat’s District Police Officer Dilawar Bangash told Dawn that terrorists had parked a double-cabin pickup inside the police colony, located just behind the heavily-guarded police lines. The vehicle was laden with 200 kilograms of highly explosive material.

Independent sources said that more than 500 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast. The other important thing was that the terrorists had selected a very soft target and nobody had an idea that they could make a strike at such a place, they added.

The blast was so devastating that it left an eight-foot deep and 20-foot wide crater. It shook the entire city and was heard in a radius of five kilometres, completely or partially destroying around 300 buildings, including a number of mosques, schools, markets, petrol pumps and shops. The police colony, comprising 35 houses, was reduced to rubble.

The injured were taken to divisional headquarters hospital and women and children hospital where most of the victims died because of delay in provision of first aid.

A nurse who was removing nails from the body of a 15-year-old victim told Dawn that many children could not make it because they were brought very late to the hospital.

The district administration arrived at the scene after two hours because of security reasons whereas an excavator and a generator were pressed into the rescue operation after three hours.

Rescue workers said that the death toll was expected to go up because several people were buried under the debris.

The Kohat division administration had received an intelligence report that terrorists might strike at a sensitive place before or during Eid holidays.

The administration claimed to have deployed the Frontier Constabulary and elite police force at mosques, bazaars and all entrances from tribal areas to Kohat and Hangu.

A press release issued by the regional police office had claimed on Monday that all vehicles were being searched and suspicious people frisked at additional checkpoints.

Many heart rending scenes were seen soon after the blast. Policemen were crying out for help to dig out their family members buried under tons of concrete.

Frantic rescue workers were facing difficulties as electricity was suspended after the blast.

Authorities immediately sealed the cantonment area and all entrances to the city, beefing up security in the entire Kohat region.

In another attack, terrorists targeted two police mobile vans on Thall road in Hangu with IEDs. Three police officials, including a DSP, were injured. Later one of the injured constable Waliullah died in a hospital, police said.

Force only option to restore order in Balochistan: Malik

QUETTA: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said the government is planning a Swat- and Malakand-like crackdown in Balochistan to crush elements involved in target killings and bomb blasts.

Talking to journalists at the airport here on Tuesday, he said that target killings and other crimes had increased in the province and the government had decided to change its strategy against outlawed and terrorist organisations.

“Enough is enough. Now the government will use force to restore peace and order in Balochistan because they (terrorists) do not understand the language of love,” he added.

Mr Malik, who is on a two-day visit to the province, said that a large number of people had written letters to the prime minister and him about this situation. “Balochistan is strong hand of Pakistan and we want prosperity and development in the province,” he said.

The minister said that an operation had become necessary in the province where armed groups had taken the place of political parties. The government cannot tolerate this and will take strict action against these groups.

Mr Malik said the government was planning to launch a large-scale operation against Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Al Qaeda and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. He blamed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi for the Lahore and Quetta suicide attacks.

“I have been warning for one and half years that Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has become a very dangerous entity and we would have to curb it,” he said, adding that time had come to eliminate it.

The minister said he was visiting Balochistan on the directives of the president and the prime minister and would meet Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, leaders of political parties and officials of intelligence agencies to develop a consensus on action against anti-social elements.

He said that the NFC award and Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan package reflected federal government’s sincerity about solving problems of the province.

Answering a question, Mr Malik said the government had removed Frontier Corps checkposts on popular demand, but it yielded no positive results and target killings and other crimes increased. “I have not come here to restore the checkposts. This time the government has changed its strategy and action (against terrorists) would speak louder than words.”

The minister denied media reports that he wanted a complete ban on religious processions. He said he had appealed to religious scholars to either restrict processions to walled premises or shorten their route.

“It is our duty to provide security to people, but police can’t provide security to every individual, especially when a procession is long and its route is in kilometres.”

He said he would convene a meeting of religious leaders and scholars after Eid to discuss the issue and he would appeal to them to review the procedure and come up with an effective security plan.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zafraullah Zahri and Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani were present on the occasion.

Addressing a press conference later in the day, Mr Malik said that Baloch nationalist leaders Hyarbyar Marri and Nawabzada Brahmdagh Bugti had not responded positively to the government’s offer for talks.

He said he had met Mr Marri in London and approached Mr Bugti through an intermediary for negotiations on restoring peace in Balochistan.

“They did not give a positive response to the government offer to come to the negotiating table,” he said, adding that the government had already announced that it was ready to accept all legitimate demands of the nationalist leaders.

He regretted that the nationalist leaders ignored the talks offer, although President Asif Ali Zardari had apologised to the people of Balochistan for excesses committed during the Musharraf government.

England cruise to T20 win after Pakistan collapse

CARDIFF: England wrapped up a 2-0 Twenty20 series victory over Pakistan after the tourists suffered the embarrassment of being dismissed for 89 to add to their off-field problems here on Tuesday.

World Twenty20 champions England finished on 90 for four to complete a six-wicket win with 36 balls to spare, having won by five wickets here Sunday.

Pakistan's total was their worst in 40 matches at this level while England's seventh straight Twenty20 international win saw them equal a record held jointly by South Africa and Pakistan.

“It was irresponsible the way we played,” said Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi. “England are the world champions. We have to take more responsibility and show more pride.”By contrast, elated England skipper Paul Collingwood said: “It's a special achievement and we obviously did it during the best time which was during the World Cup.

“We are just doing a lot of things really good, and we still have a lot of intent with the bat as well. Hopefully that continues into the future.”

Yorkshire seamer Tim Bresnan, the man-of-the-match, took three wickets for 10 runs in 3.4 overs as Pakistan fell well short of their previous worst Twenty20 international score of 125 for nine in 20 overs against Australia at Melbourne in February.

England had held Pakistan to 126 for four on Sunday. But they did even better in this match as Pakistan were bowled out with eight balls of their innings left.

Stuart Broad, left-arm quick Ryan Sidebottom and off-spinner Graeme Swann took two wickets each, while left-arm spinner Michael Yardy's four overs cost just 10 runs.

Umar Akmal's 17 was the top score for 2009 World Twenty20 winners Pakistan. The tourists, after Afridi won the toss, collapsed to 22 for four off five overs, after taking 11 off the first from Sidebottom.

Bresnan started the slump with Kamran Akmal, for the second match in a row, top-edging a pull which was well caught by Swann.

Mohammad Yousuf, already dropped once, fell for two when he hooked Bresnan to Ravi Bopara at deep square leg as he too exited in similar fashion to the way he'd departed Sunday.

The big-hitting Afridi was out fourth ball when trying to carve Broad and was caught by Eoin Morgan.

Umar Akmal cheered up Pakistan fans in a meagre crowd of just 5,821 with a straight six off Swann and repeated the dose in Swann's next over. However, he was bowled the following ball trying to smash a slower delivery.

Bresnan ended the innings when he yorked Shoaib Akhtar. England briefly wobbled in reply, losing two wickets on 26, and then two more in quick succession to be 63 for four.

But Morgan (18 not out) and Yardy (six not out) saw England home. Pakistan's tour has been overshadowed by a 'spot-fixing' scandal that has seen Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif all suspended by the International Cricket Council after allegedly conspiring to deliberately bowl no-balls during last month's fourth Test at Lord's.

England, who won the Test series 3-1, will look for another victory against Pakistan when the teams meet in the first of five one-day internationals at Chester-le-Street on Friday.

Afridi, trying to remain upbeat added: “We are still making mistakes, but on this stage I just want one victory because one victory will keep the morale of my team high.” -AFP

Pakistan releases more Indian fishermen

LAHORE: Pakistan authorities released the last batch of 141 Indian fishermen on Tuesday. The fishermen were on their way to India via Wahgah border.

The fishermen had been released from different jails of Sindh as a result of a petition filed in the Supreme Court.

A delegation of Pakistan civil society was already in India for the release of 180 Pakistani fishermen.

The delegate, during the visit, will meet the judges of Indian Supreme Court and chairperson of Congress Sonia Gandhi.

Orakzai cleared of militants, says army

ORAKZAI: The army operation against militants in the Orakzai tribal region has now comes to an end, claimed a military official.

Operation incharge Brigadier Pervez, while addressing a press briefing, said that 90 per cent of the agency area has been cleared of militants during the operation, which was lasted for five and a half months.

Hundreds of families were returning back to the area for the Eid celebrations.

The agency was a stronghold of rebels and terror activities in South and North Waziristan, Khyber agency, Peshawar and other areas of the country were being controlled from here, said Pervez.

All the hideouts of militants had been destroyed and all the areas near Tira had been cleared, he added. “11,000 out of 30,000 families were returning to their homes in the agency.”

Pervaiz said that 60 soldiers had embraced martyrdom during the operation while 600 militants were killed and 250 arrested.

Security forces also seized huge cache of arms and ammunitions, explosives and suicide jackets, he added.

Ten million without shelter in Pakistan floods: UN

ISLAMABAD: More than 10 million people have been left without shelter in Pakistan's floods for the past six weeks, the United Nations said Tuesday, in “one of the worst humanitarian disasters” in UN history.

“According to new estimates following the most recent flooding in Sindh...at least 10 million people are currently without shelter,” said Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman in Pakistan for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“And this does not include those who already received emergency shelter supplies and those housed in schools,” Giuliano told AFP.

He said the floods in Pakistan had become “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in UN history, in terms of number of people that we have to assist and also the area covered.”

Blast rocks police installation in Kohat; 12 killed

PESHAWAR: Twelve people were killed and more than 50 wounded in a bomb attack targeting a police headquarters in Kohat on Tuesday, police said.

“It was a big explosion. I am on site and can see the smoke. Several people have been wounded,” senior police official Dilawar Bangash told AFP.

Police said a nearby police residential complex had also been severely damaged and houses had collapsed, trapping several people in the rubble.

Police said it was a bomb blast but they were investigating whether a suicide bomber had targeted the area or someone had planted a bomb.

“It was a bomb blast but I can't say (more) about the nature of the bomb, as our focus is to rescue people,” Khalid Khan, the top administrative official in Kohat, told AFP.

Nawaz losing grip on his party: Babar Awan

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan on Tuesday said that the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz had dual standards of politics, and that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was now losing his grip on his party.

Addressing media representatives, Awan said Punjab’s law and order situation was appalling because it had been handed over to “an outlaw”.

Awan said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) faced trials whenever the PML-N governed the Punjab province.

He further said that the PPP will sweep the 2013 elections in Punjab as well.

New DVD shows Beatles' first 1964 US TV appearance

NEW YORK: A new DVD about the Beatles' initial appearances on U.S. television's ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is like cracking open a time capsule to American life in 1964.

The DVD presents the programs exactly as they appeared that night complete with hapless magicians and comedians, commercials that would shame the advertising mavens of today's hit TV show ''Mad Men'' and illustrations of how the pace of television has changed.

The first night, Feb. 9, 1964, is a landmark in television. An estimated 73 million Americans tuned in, the largest ever for a TV show at the time, or three times the amount of people who watched the latest ''American Idol'' finale, according to the Nielsen Co.

A generation of musicians can trace their career choices to that night. One was Dennis DeYoung, former Styx lead singer, who told the Montreal Gazette that he watched it while at a high school dance.

''I looked at that and I went, 'Oh, my God! What is that? And how do I apply for that job?''' he recalled. ''That was it. There was never any doubt in my mind what I wanted in my life.''

Film clips of the Beatles on the Sullivan show have been available, but never the whole event until Tuesday's release of ''The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Starring the Beatles.'' SOFA Entertainment, which owns the archive of Sullivan shows a staple on CBS' Sunday night schedule from 1948 to 1971 is putting it out after getting the OK from the Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd.

Sullivan, a competitive former newspaper columnist, clearly knew the high stakes involved that night and gave the Beatles two showcases on the first show.

While the Beatles' appearance stands in memory like a thunderclap, their power seemed muted the first time they hit the stage. Their first two songs, ''All My Loving'' and ''Til There Was You,'' were both Paul McCartney showcases and the band didn't really hit its stride until the powerful ''She Loves You.'' Even then, the cameras seemed to shortchange John Lennon in favor of McCartney.

Their performances on the following week's show from Miami are much better. They had repeats: ''She Loves You'' was played both weeks.

Cutaways to the audience show young girls who can barely stay in their seats from the excitement of it all. Older people look bored, annoyed and clueless to the generational change staring back at them.

The Beatles' cheekiness, enthusiasm and talent was bracing.

''It's like they were in color and everybody else was in black and white,'' said Andrew Solt, CEO of SOFA Entertainment.

Watching the magician with the hard luck of following the Beatles to the stage that first night is painful. Fred Kaps' show biz career never really recovered from that moment, Solt said.

The sense that television moves much more quickly today is one of the most interesting finds in the DVD time capsule. Mitzi Gaynor, who was once the princess of musical comedy, gave a sweaty performance from Miami. Comic Frank Gorshin's routine with movie star impersonations was interminable.

The comic team of McCall & Brill, with a punch line about an ''ugly girl,'' would not have made it past today's taste police.

One other performance in that first week came from the cast of the Broadway show ''Oliver,'' including a young Davy Jones, whose life was changed in the wake of the Beatles' performance. A few years later, he was cast as one of the Monkees, a prefab rock band that was a Beatles knockoff.

Sullivan ''didn't spend too much money on talent that week because he knew he had the audience,'' Solt said.

Producers plainly believed people had an attention span then, certainly much more so than now. Remote controls were not available then, and viewers had only a few channels to pick from.

The same is true of the ads. Can you imagine a commercial break with only one commercial? The ads on the show are stunningly unimaginative. What were the Madison Avenue pitch men of the day thinking? Cold water detergent All was called ''revolutionary.''

The DVD also contains Sullivan shows from Feb. 23, 1964 and Sept. 12, 1965 when the Beatles also performed. The band did 20 songs in all on the show, including three versions of ''I Want to Hold Your Hand.''

The DVD also has a short interview Sullivan did with the Beatles in London in May 1964 that hasn't been seen since the day it aired. – AP

Advancing floodwaters threaten Dadu, Johi towns

KARACHI: River defences in Pakistan's flood-hit south were bolstered Tuesday in a bid to save two towns from catastrophic flooding as the UN warned the world community must help the militant-hit nation recover.

Eight million people remain reliant on aid handouts to survive, six weeks after monsoons caused devastating floods in the country's worst disaster in living memory.

Advancing floodwaters continue to threaten the towns of Johi and Dadu in Sindh province, with 19 of its 23 districts deluged and 2.8 million people displaced, according to provincial authorities.

“Armed forces and irrigation officials are racing against time to save Johi and Dadu,” said provincial irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo.

“Floodwaters are increasing pressure on Johi embankment, while the raging waters are just five kilometres away from Dadu city,” Dharejo said.

He said residents had formed a human chain to help reinforce embankments securing the towns.

“It is very heartening to us that local people are being very courageous and helping authorities, picking up stones to reinforce the embankments,” he said.

Dadu and Johi are about 320 kilometres north of Karachi.

Meanwhile, the UN's development chief for Asia said the world must respond to Pakistan's crisis and help it rebuild to secure hearts and minds in the insurgency-wracked nation.

Global cash pledges have been slow coming to bolster rescue and relief efforts in Pakistan, where more than 21 million people have been affected by the floods.

Helping Pakistanis rebuild homes and businesses, reduced to rubble by the unprecedented deluge, will be even more important to long-term regional and global stability, said UN Assistant Secretary General Ajay Chhibber.

“Now that the water has receded in large parts... what's clear from these visits is that the early recovery needs to start now,” said Chhibber during a visit Monday to the militant-hit northwest.

“If there's greater unrest in Pakistan it will have much greater regional and global implications.

“This is a country that is a very large, very important country in the region, a very large, very important country in the globe, so that battle for the hearts and minds of people here is very important.”

Last week the UN said that despite an improvement in aid donations after a visit by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in mid-August, extra pledges had “almost stalled” since a week earlier.

The UN has warned that the slow pace of pledges could impede relief operations and says Pakistan faces a triple threat to food supplies -- with seeds, crops and incomes hit.

An initial relief appeal has been about two-thirds funded, and Chhibbers said a second appeal would be launched on September 17, seeking help for the next steps in Pakistan's recovery.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie arrived in northwest Pakistan Tuesday with the UN's refugee agency to draw world attention to the crisis.

“UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie arrived in Pakistan today to meet people affected by the floods and to highlight the continued urgent need for help,” the agency said in a statement.

Jolie, the 34-year-old actress and roving envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, visited affected communities in the northwest, it said, where millions of long-term Afghan refugees reside.

The floods have ruined 3.6 million hectares of rich farmland, and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said farmers urgently needed seeds to plant for next year's crops.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has warned that the country faces inflation of up to 20 per cent and slower growth because of the disaster.

The floods have killed 1,760 people but disaster officials have said the number of deaths is likely to rise “significantly” when the missing are accounted for.

Aisam Qureshi in mixed doubles semifinals at US Open

KARACHI: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi set another precedent in the tennis history of Pakistan when he reached the semifinals of the mixed doubles at theUS Open for the first time in New York.

Qureshi, who has teamed up with Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic, reached the semifinals after defeating Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 3-6 6-2 10-4.

Qureshi and Peschke will now face Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas.

Quran burning may lead to uncontrolled emotions

TEHRAN: Iran said on Tuesday that plans by a Florida church to burn the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States could lead to an uncontrolled Muslim response.

“We advise Western countries to prevent the exploitation of freedom of expression to insult religious sanctities, otherwise the emotions of Muslim nations cannot be controlled,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters.

The Dove World Outreach Centre of Gainesville, Florida, said on its Facebook page that it will hold an “International Burn a Koran Day” on September 11.

The Quran burning plan has already triggered threats from Islamist groups, warning the move will trigger a rise in hate crimes.

Mainstream Muslim groups have also denounced the plan and lamented the sentiments promoted by the Gainesville church.

Since the announcement, the Dove church’s Facebook site has been rife with threatening messages and rants against Islam in response. – AFP

TTP says it will continue suicide attacks in Pakistan

MIRAMSHAH: The Taliban said Tuesday they would continue to target Pakistani security forces with suicide attacks as they claimed responsibility for the latest blast that killed 19, its spokesman said.

“We are targeting Pakistani security forces because the government has allowed America to launch drone attacks on us,” Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP by telephone.

“Rather it is on the Pakistan government's behest that drone attacks target us,” he said.

“We will continue suicide attacks on security forces. Civilians should avoid proximity with them.”

Tariq claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide attack on a police station in northwestern Pakistan in which 19 people were killed.

Nine policemen and four schoolchildren were among those killed by the attack in Lakki Marwat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, not far from tribal areas that are a stronghold of the Taliban.

“We carried out the Lakki Marwat suicide attack,” Tariq said, adding that the Taliban “regretted” the killing of schoolchildren in the attack.

“Our children are also killed in drone attacks,” he said.

The TTP frequently claims responsibility for attacks on Pakistani security forces but generally denies those that target civilians.

US forces have been waging a drone war against Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked commanders in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt, where militants have carved out havens in mountains outside direct government control.

The US military does not as a rule confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region.

Washington has branded the rugged tribal area on the Afghan border — part of which has now been hit by Pakistan's catastrophic flooding — a global headquarters of al-Qaeda.

Strict curfew after four new deaths in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Thousands of Indian police and paramilitary forces enforced a strict curfew in much of Kashmir on Tuesday after security forces shot dead four protesters, police and witnesses said.

Government forces have struggled to contain almost three months of violent demonstrations by Kashmiris ignited by the killing of a 17-year-old student by police on June 11.

A total of 69 protesters and bystanders have been killed over the past three months, mostly by security forces who have used live ammunition on rallies after being pelted with stones.

Troops sealed off neighbourhoods in Srinagar and other towns with barbed wire, iron gates and abandoned carts to prevent residents from leaving their homes to stage protests against the killings.

“We are enforcing a strict curfew to maintain the peace,” police officer Pervez Ahmed told AFP.

Four people were killed Monday in the northern village of Palhalan when security forces opened fire on protesters during fresh demonstrations against Indian rule in Kashmir.

Residents told visiting reporters that the protests were peaceful and that no one was throwing stones at the time of the shooting.

Authorities have launched a probe.

“Senior police officers have taken a serious view of the firing. Ammunition of the policemen is being checked to fix the responsibility,” an official statement said.

The deaths brought people out onto the streets of Srinagar and other Muslim-dominated towns in Kashmir Monday evening and the anti-India demonstrations continued until early Tuesday, witnesses said.

In highway towns residents squatted on the roads and held noisy demonstrations amid chants of “Freedom for Kashmir!” and “Oh! Tyrants, oh! killers, leave our Kashmir.”

In Srinagar, young Kashmiris attacked several police stations with rocks, bricks and petrol bombs.

The Muslim-majority Kashmir region has been fought over by India and Pakistan since the partition of British-ruled India in 1947, with the region now cut in two along a UN-monitored line of control.

Many on the Indian side reject rule from New Delhi and an estimated 47,000 people have been killed in the violent insurgency that has raged for much of the past 20 years.

Iran says it has the right to bar UN inspectors

TEHRAN: Iran’s nuclear chief says Tehran has the right to bar some U.N. inspectors from monitoring its disputed nuclear program.

The late Monday comments by Ali Akbar Salehi are in response to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency expressing alarm about Iran's decision to bar some of its inspectors.

The report followed Iran’s recent decision to strip two inspectors of the right to monitor its nuclear activities after they reported what they said were undeclared nuclear experiments.

The semiofficial Isna news agency quotes Salehi as saying Iran asked the agency to replace the two.

The West suspects that Iran's nuclear program is geared toward making weapons. Iran denies the charge. – AP

Iraqi Al Qaeda group says it behind army base raid

BAGHDAD: Al Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a daylight raid by suicide bombers on an army base in central Baghdad in which 12 people died.

US forces became involved in Sunday’s fighting less than a week after formally ending combat operations in Iraq.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group for al Qaeda-linked insurgents, said in a statement posted on a radical Islamic website that five suicide bombers were involved.

The first attacker blew up an explosives-laden vehicle at the back gate of the military compound and four attackers wearing suicide vets and armed with assault rifles and grenades then stormed the compound and occupied a building, it said.

“The engagement lasted inside the compound more than an hour, when the crusaders' planes and some of their patrols became engaged,” the ISI statement said, referring to US troops that ended up joining the gunfight.

“God has granted to the Holy Men the killing and the wounding of dozens of treacherous officers, soldiers and security leaders and after they ran out of ammunition, they exploded their vests upon the vanguard of the disbelievers who tried to storm the building.”

After Washington declared combat operations in Iraq formally over, the remaining 50,000 US soldiers there will focus on advising and helping Iraqi police and troops before a full withdrawal next year. However, they will still get involved in fighting if attacked.

The attack took place just over two weeks after at least 57 Iraqi army recruits and soldiers were killed by another suicide bomber at the same compound.

Insurgents are targeting Iraqi police and troops as the US military gradually pulls out more than seven years after invading. The failure of Iraqi leaders to agree a new government six months after an election has also stoked tensions.

Overall violence has fallen sharply since the height in 2006/07 of the sectarian warfare unleashed after the invasion.

But attacks by a Sunni Islamist insurgency are still a daily occurrence.

The end of the US combat mission has raised fears of a return to broader bloodshed. – Reuters

Indonesian volcano blows again, biggest eruption yet

BERASTEPU: An Indonesian volcano that lay dormant for 400 years shot ash 5 km into the air on Tuesday, its biggest eruption since it became active last week, and experts warned of more blasts to come.

Mount Sinabung, in northern Sumatra island, first erupted on August 29. Villages on its slopes have been evacuated and around 24,500 people are living in refugee camps, disaster officials said.

“It was the biggest eruption yet and the sound was heard from 8 kilometres away. The smoke was 5,000 metres in the air,” said Indonesia's chief vulcanologist, Surono, who goes by only one name as do many Indonesians.

“I think this will not be the last eruption. It will happen again,” he said.

A Reuters photographer at the scene said the ground shook for around three minutes during the blast.

Heavy rain mixed with the ash to form muddy precipitation that is lying a centimetre thick on buildings and trees.

Electricity in one village has been cut off, but there have so far been no casualties.

The area around the volcano is largely agricultural and the nearest big city is Medan, some 50 km away

Villages within a six kilometre radius of the volcano have emptied out, with only a handful of people staying behind to guard homes. – Reuters

Saving flood-hit Pakistan has global implications: UNDP

NOWSHERA: The world must help Pakistan rebuild homes and livelihoods destroyed by devastating floods to secure hearts and minds in the militant-hit nation, the UNDP's regional head told AFP.

Global cash pledges have been slow coming to bolster rescue and relief efforts ongoing in the flood-damaged nuclear nation, where more than 21 million people have been affected by a month of monsoon-triggered floods.

Now helping Pakistanis rebuild homes and businesses, reduced to rubble by the unprecedented deluge, will be even more important to long-term regional and global stability, said UN Assistant Secretary General Ajay Chhibber.

“Now that the water has receded in large parts... what's clear from these visits is that the early recovery needs to start now,” said Chhibber, the Asia-Pacific head of the UN Development Programme, during a visit Monday to the militant-hit northwest.

“If there's greater unrest in Pakistan it will have much greater regional and global implications.

“This is a country that is a very large, very important country in the region, a very large, very important country in the globe, so that battle for the hearts and minds of people here is very important.”

Last week the UN said that despite an improvement in aid donations after a visit by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in mid-August, extra pledges had “almost stalled” since a week earlier.

The UN has warned that the slow pace of pledges could impede relief operations and says Pakistan faces a triple threat to food supplies -- with seeds, crops and incomes hit.

An initial relief appeal has been about two thirds funded, and Chhibbers said a second appeal would be launched on September 17, seeking help for the next steps in Pakistan's recovery.

The millions made homeless, many living in makeshift shelters, will need to be encouraged back to their land, even if their homes have been destroyed, in order to restore the social fabric of communities, said Chhibber.

An initial 100 million dollars would also be required to establish cash-to-work schemes, paying the landless poor to clear debris and begin rebuilding schools, community and health centres.

“You can see people milling around, they need things to do,” said Chhibber after visiting the northwest town of Nowshera, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 19 people were killed Monday in the latest suicide bombing to hit the militant-riddled provin

London commuters struggle as strike closes subway

LONDON: Millions of Londoners are struggling to get to work by road, rail boat and bicycle as a strike by London Underground workers shuts down much of the city’s subway system.

Thousands of maintenance workers, drivers and station staff walked off the job for 24 hours in a dispute over planned job cuts that they say will hit service and safety.

More than 3.5 million people use the subway system, known as the Tube, daily.

Transport for London said Tuesday some services were operating on six of the city's 11 subway lines.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union said support for the strike was strong and only a skeleton service was running.

Buses were packed, and thousands of people were expected to use extra boat services on the River Thames.

The strike is due to end Tuesday evening. – AP

Floods threaten hundreds more Australian homes

WANGARATTA: Rising flood waters threatened hundreds of Australian homes Tuesday, after scores were inundated by weekend storms which caused millions of dollars of damage, officials said.

Water police and emergency helicopters were on standby to rescue stranded residents in the southeastern state of Victoria, and the government announced the formation of a special advisory body to help direct recovery efforts.

Residents in Wangaratta, in the state’s northeast, sandbagged homes in fears that a levee would burst, while officials worried that 500 properties downstream in Shepparton could be cut off by rising waters.

The State Emergency Service said 300 homes and businesses had already been damaged to some extent by the flooding in Shepparton and towards Horsham in the state's west after the weekend deluge.

“We’ve potentially got another 290 properties that are potentially at risk of being flooded,” a spokeswoman told AFP.

“Our main area of concern at the moment is Shepparton. The Goulburn River is still rising. It's expected to peak later today or into tomorrow.” Victorian Premier John Brumby said the floods had caused “significant damage” and there would be a multi-million-dollar clean-up bill.

“I've said that I think there will be tens of millions of dollars of damage,” Brumby told reporters.

“There will be roads, there will be bridges, there will be community infrastructure which is damaged due to inundation.”

But Brumby also said that benefits from the rains in the predominantly farming regions, which have spent the best part of a decade in drought, “far outweighs the damage that's occurred”.

“But that equation may just change a little over the next week to two weeks,” he said, adding that further minor to moderate flooding was likely later this month in the state's north. – AFP