KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was taking out a rally in Karachi on Tuesday calling for the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
There were strict security arrangements for the rally and the police had blocked all roads and streets between Capri cinema and Tibet centre with tankers.
GAZA CITY: Israeli warships on Tuesday intercepted a Jewish activist boat trying to run the naval blockade on Gaza and forced it to change course for a port in southern Israel, organisers told AFP.
“Ten Israeli warships forced the boat to head for Ashdod by force, but without raiding the ship,” said Amjad al-Shawa, a Gaza-based organiser.
“They surrendered because they were surrounded. They had no choice,” he added.
Shortly before the takeover, the warships had surrounded the vessel, the Irene, and warned they would stop it by force if it stayed on course for the Hamas-run enclave.
The Israeli military confirmed the navy had boarded the tiny, British-flagged boat, saying there had been no violence on the part of the troops or the passengers.
“A short while ago, navy forces took over the yacht Irene and it is now being towed with its passengers to Ashdod port. During the takeover there was no violence of any sort, either on the part of the troops or the passengers,” a statement said.
Describing the boat's attempt to reach Gaza as a “provocation”, the statement said the captain had ignored repeated warnings by the navy and had entered a closed naval zone, prompting the interception.
Earlier, Yonatan Shapira, one of the Israeli activists on board, told AFP the navy had ordered the Irene to change course.
“They said we were approaching an area under naval blockade and told us to change course,” Shapira told AFP by satellite telephone, saying the boat was on the edge of Gaza's territorial waters, some 20 nautical miles from the coast.
The navy also warned that the passengers and crew would be held legally liable if they insisted on heading to Gaza, especially those with Israeli nationality. Five of those on board are Israelis.
The sound of a voice over a megaphone urging the Irene to “change course”could be heard in the background.
The military had no immediate comment on the situation and refused to confirm that contact had been made with the boat, which is carrying seven Jewish activists from Israel, Britain, Germany and the United States, and two journalists, one of whom is an Israeli.
Israel had warned it would halt the vessel and divert it to Ashdod if it entered Gaza waters.
The activists have insisted they are not looking for a confrontation with Israeli forces.
“We have a policy of non-violence and non-confrontation,” Shapira, a former Israeli pilot, told AFP on Sunday. “But if the Israeli army stops the boat, we will not help them to take it to Ashdod.”In the past, Israel has said it would deliver any humanitarian cargo to Gaza overland after towing such boats to Ashdod.
In May, Israeli forces intercepted a six-ship flotilla heading for Gaza but the raid went badly wrong and nine Turkish activists including one with US citizenship were killed, prompting a wave of international condemnation.
Israel said its troops resorted to force only after they were attacked while rappelling onto the deck of the lead ship. Pro-Palestinian activists on board say the soldiers opened fire as soon as they landed.
The voyage of the Irene is organised by the London-based Jews for Justice for Palestinians.
Prominent British supporters listed on its website include humourist and actor Stephen Fry and Marion Kozak, the mother of newly-elected Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and of former foreign minister David Miliband.
On board the Irene are 82-year-old Holocaust survivor Reuven Moskovitz and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli whose daughter Smadar was killed in a 1997 Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
With them are a German nurse, British and US peace activists, Shapira's brother and a reporter for Israel's Channel 10 television.
Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza's borders after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier in June 2006 and tightened the blockade a year later when the Islamist Hamas movement seized power, allowing in only humanitarian aid.
Israel eased the closures to allow in all purely civilian goods in the aftermath of the deadly flotilla raid, but still restricts dual-use items such as construction materials that could be used to build militant fortifications. – AFP
KARACHI: A bill for the postponement of local bodies’ elections for an indefinite period was approved in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday.
The adjournment bill, presented in the assembly by Sindh’s Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, was unanimously approved.
Somroo said “new dates for local bodies’ elections will be announced after the rehabilitation of the flood victims”.
The assembly’s session was being chaired by Speaker Nisar Khurho.
MQM MPAs were not present in the session due to an MQM rally being taken out against Aafia Siddiqui’s sentence.
Provincial minister Pir Mazharul Haq said MQM MPAs had been taken into confidence regarding the adjournment bill.
The
“The nightmare of
Ashraf, who also led Pakistan in the World Cup and had to come out of retirement, was declared fit after suffering a hamstring injury during the team’s preparatory tour of the Netherlands earlier this month.
Since the World Cup flop,
Pakistan’s first task — reaching the semi-finals — looks tough as they are pitted alongside title holders and world champions Australia with hosts India, Malaysia and Scotland the other teams involved.
“It will be a very tough tournament, but I am confident that the boys will do well,” said Khan, a member of the team which won a gold medal for
Squad: Zeeshan Ashraf (captain), Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan, Waseem Ahmed, Mohammad Rasheed, Fareed Ahmed, Shafqat Rasool, Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Haseem Khan, Waqas Sharif, Mohammad Rizwan, Omer Bhutta, Imran Shah, Mohammad Tauseeq, Kashif Javed.
ANKARA: The leader of Turkey’s largest pro-Kurdish party in parliament was sentenced to 10 months in prison on Tuesday for disseminating propaganda in favour of Kurdish PKK rebels, state news Anatolian said.
The sentence against Selahattin Demirtas, which can be appealed, comes amid intense media speculation that the government and Kurdish politicians are engaged in diplomatic efforts to persuade the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group to declare a permanent ceasefire.
Conservative Turkish prosecutors regularly sentence Kurdish politicians and journalists on charges of disseminating PKK propaganda. Such cases are normally appealed against and final rulings sometimes takes months, if not years.
The predecessor of Demirtas' Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) was banned by Turkey's high court in 2009 for its suspected links to the PKK.
The PKK, which took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 to demand more autonomy in the largely Kurdish southeast Turkey, called a unilateral ceasefire on Aug. 13.
Turkey has officially refused to negotiate for a settlement with the PKK, but Turkish media has reported that government and BDP officials have held talks to convince the PKK to lay down its weapons.
The PKK is labelled a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people, mainly Kurds, have died in the conflict in the southeast. – Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR: The co-founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, on Tuesday slammed whistleblower WikiLeaks over its release of Afghan war documents which he said could “get people killed”.
Wales also expressed irritation over the website’s use of the term “Wiki”in its name, which refers to a site that allows different users to collaborate and make contributions.
“I would distance myself from WikiLeaks, I wish they wouldn't use the name, they are not a Wiki. A big way they got famous in the first place was by using the word Wiki, which was unfortunate in my view,” he said at a business conference in Kuala Lumpur.
WikiLeaks, in collaboration with The New York Times, Britain's Guardian and Der Spiegel of Germany, published 77,000 Afghan war documents in July and has said it will release another 15,000 related documents soon.
Earlier this month, WikiLeaks also announced plans to release a “massive cache” of classified US military field reports on the conflict in Iraq.
Wales, whose user-generated online encyclopedia has been a huge success, said such documents which experts say constitute one of the biggest-ever leaks of military intelligence must be handled responsibly.
“In the most recent round of leaks, the New York Times for example...actually redacted certain information that could put people in harm's way whereas Wikileaks is planning to publish absolutely everything,” he said.
“I think it is really important when we have sensitive information, that we do rely on responsible journalists to sort through it for us... it's much better than dumping all kinds of crazy information online and get people killed,” he added.
Wales said the documents could refer to “good-hearted people” working for civil society groups in Afghanistan, who would be affected if they were referred to in the leaked papers.
“It isn’t proof of anything but could be enough to get someone killed,” he said.
“I don’t think Julian Assange wants those people killed, however if he irresponsibly follows the policy of releasing absolutely everything, it's incredibly dangerous for those people,” he said, referring to WikiLeaks’ spokesman.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has previously warned the release of classified Afghan war documents may endanger the safety of international and Afghan troops.
The United States and NATO have 152,000 troops in Afghanistan aiming to quell the insurgency that began soon after the Taliban regime was overthrown in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
Created in 2006, WikiLeaks first gained widespread notoriety with the release of a graphic video of a US military Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad in 2007 that killed two Reuters employees and a number of other people. – AFP
RAIPUR: Indian authorities appealed to Maoist militants on Tuesday to free four kidnapped policemen as a deadline set by the ultra-leftists for meeting their demands was set to expire.
“I appeal to the Maoists to release the men unharmed,” said Raman Singh, chief minister of central Chhattisgarh state, a hotbed of militant activity.
His appeal came after police said Maoists killed at least three policemen and abducted another four in a clash last Sunday, 525 kilometres south of state capital Raipur.
Posters in a forest area near where the clash took place said the government had until late Tuesday to meet the rebels' demands, which included calling off a massive security offensive codenamed Operation Green Hunt.
The poster also said the militants wanted the release of several locals from tribal groups who had allegedly been wrongfully arrested on suspicion of being Maoists.
The posters made no mention of any specific threat against the policemen if the government failed to meet the militants’ demands.
“We are working at various levels to secure the release of the four police personnel, who were kidnapped by the Maoists,” Chhattisgarh police director general Vishwa Ranjan told AFP in Raipur.
Maoist attacks have increased since the government launched Operation Green Hunt involving tens of thousands of police and paramilitary troops.
The militants have fought for decades against state and central government rule, drawing support from tribal groups and landless farmers left behind by India's rapid economic expansion.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the Maoists the biggest single threat to India's internal security.
In April, militants massacred 76 policemen in the Chhattisgarh jungle district of Dantewada, a Maoist stronghold, in the deadliest single attack so far on security forces.
LAHORE: Pakistan’s cricket chief on Tuesday left for England, where he is expected to meet lawyers in a bid to clear his players of allegations of spot-fixing and fend off demands for an apology.
“I am leaving for London on an official trip,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt told AFP, without giving any details.
Reports said Butt and legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi will meet Elizabeth Robertson, the British lawyer representing Pakistani players and the PCB over the spot-fixing allegations.
Butt is also expected to meet Scotland Yard officials in a bid to expedite the case that saw Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz interrogated.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has provisionally suspended Salman, Amir and Asif, and have asked them to reply to the suspension notices.
Pakistan’s recent tour of England, where they also played Australia in a neutral venue series, was marred by the spot-fixing allegations.
The tour ended in acrimony when Butt alleged England players were paid “enormous amounts of money” to lose the third one-day international at The Oval, sparking a furious row between the two country’s cricket boards.
England players and the England and Wales Cricket Board have demanded an unreserved apology from Butt, who has refused, saying he was quoting bookie circles and will reply to the England players through his lawyer.
The ICC has launched a separate inquiry into the September 17 one-day between Pakistan and England after British tabloid The Sun said the scoring pattern of Pakistan’s innings in the match was pre-arranged with bookmakers.
Butt also met ICC officials last week in an unsuccessful attempt to get the provisional suspension on the three players lifted. —AFP
Federation president Giancarlo Abete handed over a cheque to Italian Red Cross president Patrizia Ravaioli in the presence of
“This is an opportunity for the whole football world to show our support for the Pakistani population,” said Abete.
Nearly 21 million people have been affected by the floods in the north of the country and officials say eight million people are reliant on handouts.
The donation will only make a small dent in the 120-million euros the UN High Commission for Refugees recently said it still needs to buy tents and other supplies. -AFP
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the petitions challenging the 18th Amendment.
A 17-judge full court heard petitions challenging certain clauses in the amendment.
The bench barraged Advocate Salman Raja with questions when he began arguing against the appointment of judges by judges.
During the hearing, Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jilani said the proposed procedure for judges' appointment diminishes the powers of the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice.
Moreover, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday remarked that the judiciary was separate and detached from the parliament and the executive as it has to play the role of watchdog for both the former organs of the state.
During the proceedings, Justice Saqib Nisar asked whether the Senate in the United States has the power to appoint judges. Regarding that, Justice Ramday said that the American constitution does not allow the country’s elected representatives a role in the appointment of judges.
Also, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said parliamentarians on reserved seats were not elected, but selected.
The hearing was later adjourned till Wednesday (September 29).
WASHINGTON: The CIA has stepped up drone attacks against militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas to try to foil a suspected terror plot against European targets, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The Journal, which cited current and former officials, said the exact nature of the plot could not be learned but it was believed to target multiple countries, including Britain, France and Germany.
Pakistani security officials have reported around 20 drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt along the Afghan border this month, the latest on Monday killing four militants.
It has been the highest number of drone attacks during a single month, surpassing the previous high of 12 in January, according to an AFP tally. – AFP
MOSCOW: President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday fired Moscow’s strongman mayor Yury Luzhkov, ending a controversial 18 year rule that saw the Russian capital boom but also attracted bitter criticism.
The firing of Luzhkov, one of Medvedev’s boldest moves since coming to power in 2008, came after the mayor was lambasted by the Kremlin for his aloof handling of the wildfire crisis over the summer that blanketed Moscow in smog.
A decree, published on the Kremlin web site, ordered Luzhkov, 74, to be “dismissed from the position of Moscow mayor because he has lost the confidence of the Russian president.”
The decree, which comes into force immediately and was published while Medvedev is on an official visit to China, appointed Luzhkov’s deputy, Vladimir Resin, as acting mayor.
In a snub, Medvedev’s spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said Tuesday that the president had no plans to meet Luzhkov. The Russian president has the power to fire the mayor of Moscow and all the other leaders of Russia’s regions.
“There are two ways that a regional leader can leave his post before his term ends. He can leave voluntarily by announcing his resignation or with a harsher wording of loss of confidence,” Timakova said.
“The mayor returned from holiday yesterday. Today the president signed a decree. You can draw your own conclusions from that,” Timakova told reporters in Shanghai.
The Kremlin publicly criticised Luzhkov’s decision to take a holiday during the August smog that engulfed the capital, and the mayor was targeted in a series of mud-raking documentaries shown on Russian television this month.
The mayor has long been dogged by corruption allegations over the business activities of his wife, construction billionaire Yelena Baturina, and has also been criticised by conservationists for destroying Moscow’s historic centre.
Luzhkov’s city hall controlled a vast budget of 32 billion dollars in 2009 as well as a property empire.
His dismissal came as the Kremlin seeks to freshen up the ranks of regional leaders, recently accepting the dismissals of a number of long-serving regional governors, who since 2005 have been appointed by the president.
Luzhkov on Monday had said in televised comments that he would not stand down as mayor voluntarily.
Luzhkov was appointed mayor by President Boris Yeltsin in 1992 and became popular with Muscovites for his beautification projects, which included rebuilding the Church of Christ the Saviour, blown up by the Bolsheviks.
He comfortably won mayoral elections before the post became a presidential appointment in 2005.
But the mayor also became a bete noire for the liberal opposition, sending in riot police to put down even small anti-government rallies and also notoriously describing gay rights rallies as satanic.
It remains to be seen how the move will be viewed by Medvedev’s predecessor in the Kremlin and strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who has been noticeably more restrained in his attitude to the Moscow mayor.
Luzhkov became Moscow mayor in 1992 at a time when Putin was still an obscure provincial official in Saint Petersburg and a complete unknown nationwide. —AFP
GHAZNI: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle has killed the deputy governor of Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Mohammad Kazim Allahyar, his son and two bodyguards who were in the same car, a top police official said.
Delawar Zahid, police chief of Ghazni province, which lies around two hours' drive southwest of Kabul, said that the men were near the airport in Ghazni city when the bomber struck.
“Allahyar was on his way to work when a suicide bomber on a motorbike targeted his car,” Zahid said.
“Allahyar, his son and two bodyguards were martyred.”
