Islamabad, July 7
The Pakistani Taliban has set up several Shariat or Islamic law courts in the restive northwestern Bajaur tribal region, which are apparently becoming more popular than the courts run by the local administration.

The parallel courts set up by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in Sewai, 20 km north-
west of Bajaur agency's headquarters of Khar, have been functioning for about two weeks. As many as 12 ulema or clerics have been designated ‘qazis’ in these courts.

“We have set up the courts in accordance with people’s wishes,” local Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar told local journalists.

Noting that people were “fed up” with the previous legal system, he said the qazis are “competent scholars well-versed in Islamic jurisprudence”.

Journalists reported that people were going to the Shariat courts to settle issues like monetary matters and land and family disputes. Women too are bringing complaints about maltreatment by husbands to these courts.

Local residents said the judicial system of the political administration under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, a law dating back to the British Raj, is “oppressive”.

The courts run by the political administration are unable to provide them justice while the Shariat courts deliver “speedy and cheap justice”, they said. — PTI

Karachi, July 7
At least one person was killed and nearly 50 were injured in a series of six bomb blasts in the Pakistani port city of Karachi today.

The explosions, which occurred in busy commercial and residential areas, caused widespread panic in the bustling city of about 16 million people.

Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmed said the attacks were carried out to create ‘fear and tension in the city’.

“These series of blasts in Karachi were of low intensity and they have not caused any damage to property,” Ahmed told Dawn News channel.

Police and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers were deployed across the city and an emergency was declared in hospitals.

State-run PTV reported that one person was killed in a blast at Qasba Colony. Fifteen children were among the injured, TV news channels reported. Earlier, reports said two persons were killed in the blasts.

Baghdad, July 7
A female suicide bomber killed nine persons and wounded 12 when she blew herself up at a market in the northern Iraqi city of Baquba today, the police said. There were no further details on the attack in the capital of Diyala province.

The use of female suicide bombers has become a popular tactic of the Al Qaeda to avoid detection by security forces.

Men make up most of the Iraqi security forces and strong cultural taboos prevent them from searching women at checkpoints, which are set up at many markets in
the country.

The US military says there have been more than 20 female suicide bombings this year in Iraq. It has blamed the attacks on Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda.

Many of the attacks have occurred in Diyala, an ethnically mixed region that was once overrun by the Al Qaeda.

Last month, a female suicide bomber blew herself up among policemen outside a restaurant in Baquba, killing 15 people.

Violence in Iraq is hovering at four-year lows but suicide bombers remain capable of carrying out largescale attacks, the US military has said.

A sustained military campaign against Al Qaeda has pushed the group out of its traditional strongholds in Anbar province and Baghdad in the past year.

But its fighters remain a threat in the north, especially in northern Nineveh province and its capital Mosul, as well as in Diyala. — Reuters

Johnson placed a memorial card, which read, “We honour the memory of those who died on July 7, 2005. We salute the courage of those who were injured and our thoughts and prayers are with all victims and their families.” — UNI

Kathmandu, July 7
In a new twist to the Sobhraj-Nihita love story, it has now come to light that the ‘Bikini killer’ has appointed Nihita’s mother Shakuntala Thapa, a lawyer having close links with the Maoists, to defend him in a murder case.

Shakuntala, a CPN-UML supporter who recently switched to CPN-Maoist, is handling Sobhraj’s case as a lawyer, The Himalayan Times reported.

Sobhraj has appointed Shankutala as his lawyer in order to build bridges with the CPN-Maoist, waiting to form a new government after it emerged as the largest party in the Constituent Assembly election, the paper said.

The daily also claimed that Shakuntala is close to influential Maoist leader and minister for physical planning and works, Hisilayami.

She is the legal advisor of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project, which comes under the ministry of physical planning and works led by Maoist minister Yami.

Shakuntala is also contesting for the post of vice-president for Nepal Bar Association (NBA) on July 12 as the joint leftist candidate, NBA sources said.

However, whether she has political connections or not doesn’t make any difference in the judgment of Sobhraj’s case, said Supreme Court lawyer Dinesh Tripathi. The case will be decided on the basis of merit, he added. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Israel to exhume bodies of Hezbollah fighters
JERUSALEM: Israel will begin exhuming bodies of Hezbollah fighters on Monday ahead of a planned swap with the Lebanese guerrilla group, which is holding two soldiers, an Israeli military spokesperson said. Hezbollah captured army reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in the July 2006 border ambush, triggering a 34-day war. — Reuters

Dalit convention
NEW YORK: The international convention of Dalits and minorities here on Monday lambasted the communal and fascist forces for trying to create a wedge among the marginalised groups of the society and deny socio-political rights to them. Adopting the New York declaration, attended by over 400 delegates from all parts of the world, the convention said the “inter-group violence” posed a serious threat to the democratic and secular character of the country. — UNI

Blast death toll rises to 4
GEORGIA: The death toll from a blast that ripped through a crowded cafe in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia on late Sunday night has risen to four, local officials said. The blast, in the town of Gali near the de-facto border with Georgia, killed a local security chief, a translator from the local United Nations mission and two others, the officials added. — Reuters