Quetta, September 6
Key Opposition parties of Baluchistan today spurned Islamabad's offer for talks to resolve the developing imbroglio in the country's largest province following last month's killing of Baluch leader Akbar Khan Bugti.

The Opposition, which has gathered under the umbrella of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM), and includes prominent political outfits like the Baluchistan Nationalist Party (BNP), the Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz (JSQM), the Jaamat-e-Islami and the Awami National Party to name a few, told Islamabad firmly that their conscience and the unfulfilled aspirations of the Baluch people did not permit them to engage in negotiations with the "exploitative" Musharraf regime.

"It will be a travesty of justice if we agree to talks when the people of Baluchistan are in grief over Nawab Akbar Bugti's tragic killing and are suffering due to the misplaced and misguided policies of those in power in Islamabad," said former Baluchistan Chief Minister Akhtar Mengal at a meeting of his BNP supporters.

"Wednesday's crackdown on our activists and the supporters of other Opposition parties by the army and the paramilitary forces shows that Islamabad is not interested in helping the Baluchis coming out of their present state of underdevelopment nor working for a long-term solution to a decades-old problem," Mengal added.

The senior Baluch leader's broadside against the federal government came even as a shutter down and a wheel jam strike gathered tempo across Baluchistan in protest against the August 26 killing of Akbar Bugti in a military operation in the Bhambore Hills of Kohlu, about 250 km outside of Quetta.

The refusal of the authorities to also hand over Bugti's body to his heirs has spurred a popular agitation, the reverberations of which are being heard right across Pakistan and even in the immediate neighbourhood.

Areas such as Khuzdar, Turbat, Mand, Dasht, Panjgur, Jaffarabad, Dera Allahyar, Dera Murad Jamali, Osta Muhammad, Naushki, Chagai, Qalat, Awaran and Kharan were reported to be almost deserted, as people opted to stay indoors and not come in the way of agitators who were determined to spread mayhem and disorder in order to have their voices heard.

Key trade and business centres and bazaars in Quetta downed their shutters, while main thoroughfares like the Abdul Sattar Road, the Jinnah Road were barricaded by security personnel to avoid any untoward incident.

So far, the Army and the Pakistani Rangers have taken over 500 BNP and Baluchistan Student Organisation activists into custody. The pre-emptive measure has angered rather than pacified the agitators, and if the Baluch leadership is to be believed, the latest development is nothing short of declaring a war.

Obstacles and boulders have been placed at Mastung, blocking the movement of traffic on the Quetta to Karachi Highway. Angry mobs have also blocked the RCD highway in the industrial area of Hub by putting up burning tyres and other

The Makran Coastal Highway has also been blocked and no traffic is moving to or from areas like Hub, Gadani, Othal, Bela, Panjgur, Gwadar, Pasni, Ormara, Qalat and Mastung.

Sindh is observing strike Wednesday on a call given by JSQM to protest against killing of veteran Baluch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. All markets and shopping centres were closed in Hyderabad, Thatta, Kotri, Jamshoro, Tando Jam, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Larkana, Shikarpur, Qambar Ali Khan, Shahdadkot, Dadu, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Padidan, Moro, Kandiaro, Mehrabpur and Naushehro Feroz.

London, September 6
Britain’s beleaguered Prime Minister Tony Blair today came under renewed pressure to quit as two of his junior ministers resigned in protest against his continuation in office.

Tom Watson quit as Undersecretary of State for Defence while Khalid Mahmood stepped down as Parliamentary Private Secretary over the leadership of 53-year-old Blair.

The development came hours after a report said that Blair, who marks 10 years in power in May, 2007, would formally quit on July 26 next year once his successor has been chosen, most likely Chancellor Gordon Brown. Prior to that he would resign as the Labour Party leader on May 31, The Sun reported.

In their efforts to force Blair to step down quickly, both Mahmood and Watson expressed the views that the only way the Labour Party and the government could renew themselves in office was through urgently renewing the leadership. Watson has already been replaced by junior Transport Minister Derek Twigg.

Watson and Mahmood were among the 17 normally loyal Labour MPs who signed a letter calling on Blair to quit.

Just minutes after Watson announced his decision to quit, Blair said he was going to sack him anyway. He branded Watson as “disloyal, discourteous and wrong” for signing the letter.

“I had been intending to dismiss him but wanted to extend to him the courtesy of speaking to him first. Had he come to me privately and expressed his view about the leadership, that would have been one thing. But to sign a round robin letter which was then leaked to the press was disloyal, discourteous and wrong. It would, therefore, have been impossible for him to remain in office,” said Blair. — PTI

United Nations, September 6
Former American President Bill Clinton has been selected by members of the United Nations Correspondents' Association (UNCA) to receive its annual World Citizenship Award for 2006 in recognition of his outstanding efforts to rebuilt communities in a dozen countries after the Asian tsunami.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will formally hand over the award to Clinton, who is also is UN Special Envoy for tsunami relief, on December 8 at specially organised function.

Announcing the award, UNCA President Masood Haider said the UNCA was honouring Clinton for its continued commitment to hundreds of thousands people who lost their homes, loved ones and livelihood.

The citation says Clinton had traveled to tsunami-affected areas and countries around the world to promote his campaign for building a better world.

“He has also been instrumental in mobilising funds for tsunami victims and in promoting the need for early warning system to prevent another tsunami from doing extensive damage,” it said.

The award has been constituted to honour the memory of veteran UN diplomat Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian, who was killed in August 2003 terrorist bombing of the world body’s headquarter in Iraq. — PTI 

Tokyo, September 6
Japan’s Princess Kiko today gave birth to the royal family’s first boy in more than 40 years, easing a succession crisis and silencing calls to let a woman lead the world’s oldest monarchy.

Networks broke in with special broadcasts, commuters snapped up extra editions of newspapers and political leaders rushed to offer congratulations for the birth of the long-awaited third in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

The boy is the first male child to be born to the royal family since his father Prince Akishino, the emperor’s second son, in 1965.

For months, Japan’s press was full of fevered speculation on whether it would be a boy or girl, although the palace insisted it had been a secret until the delivery.

Princess Kiko, an ever-smiling housewife just one week shy of her 40th birthday, had a smooth Caesarean section to deliver the boy, who weighed a light 2.6 kg.

“The new prince is very healthy and well. He has been crying,” said Dr Masao Nakamura, who performed the Caesarean section operation at Aiiku Hospital.

In the first of a series of imperial rituals, Emperor Akihito was to give his fourth grandchild a ceremonial sword. He will be named in a week’s time and is expected to be out of the hospital within 10 days. —AFP

Islamabad, September 6
Pakistan’s disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is suffering from prostrate cancer, will undergo a surgery in the port city of Karachi.

Khan, who has been flown to Karachi, would be operated upon at the Agha Khan University Hospital, reports said.

The 70-year-old Khan has been under house detention for over two years after he confessed to leaking nuclear weapons technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya.

The government made his condition public last month but said the disease was not at an advanced stage. Several opposition parties, specially the Islamist Muthida Majlis Amal, (MMA) has demanded his release.

Symptoms of the fatal disease termed as adenocarcinoma were detected during a routine trial but were confirmed after a detailed examination at the Khan Research Laboratory Hospital. — PTI