The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Cleric Qadri ends protest after talks with Pak govt

Supporters of Pakistani cleric Tahirul Qadri brave rain at a protest rally in Islamabad on Thursday

Islamabad, January 17
Pakistan's fiery cleric Tahirul Qadri today announced that an agreement has been struck with the government to end his four-day protests that had increased pressure on the country's fragile coalition government.

After five hours of talks with a 10-member team of federal ministers and leaders of parties in the Pakistan People's Party-led government, Qadri told his supporters that the two sides had finalised an "Islamabad Long March Declaration".

Qadri said the document would be read out at the site of the protest on Jinnah Avenue, the main boulevard of Islamabad, after it was signed by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.

Qadri's supporters began celebrating and shouting slogans after he had spoken.

The team that negotiated with Qadri included Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Law Minister Farooq Naek, Commerce Minister Amin Fahim, Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Farooq Sattar.

The talks were held inside Qadri's bulletproof container.

Footage on television showed Qadri and the government leaders, visible through the large windows of the container, engaged in hectic consultations.

Earlier in the day, Qadri extended a deadline he had set for the government to act on his demands to quit and dissolve the national and provincial assemblies after being contacted by emissaries for a dialogue. Qadri had given the government a 90-minute deadline to act on his demands by 3 pm. As the deadline ended, he addressed his supporters camping on Jinnah Avenue and said he had given the government time till 3.45 pm. — PTI

Pak SC adjourns PM’s corruption case
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf gained a reprieve on Thursday as the Supreme Court adjourned a case alleging corruption by him till January 23 after the chief of the country's anti-graft agency said he lacked evidence to make arrests.

Appearing before a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, National Accountability Bureau chairman Fasih Bokhari said investigators had not yet uncovered enough evidence to arrest Ashraf or any other suspects linked to alleged corruption in rental power projects.

The Bench directed Bokhari to submit the complete record of investigations into the power projects and adjourned the matter till January 23.

Earlier in the day, the Bench was irked when Bokhari said the evidence gathered so far was weak and unlikely to lead to convictions.

He also said an investigation report submitted to the apex court in the past was inaccurate. Bokhari said the allegation about the power projects causing losses to the national exchequer had not been proved. Investigation officers had worked in a hurry and did not provide adequate proof in their reports, he added.

His remarks angered the bench, which said the stand taken by NAB did not reflect the reality.

The Chief Justice directed Bokhari and other NAB officials to immediately submit all records of their investigations to the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from PTI)

‘Faulty’ report

NAB chairman Fasih Bokhari said an investigation report on alleged corruption in rental power projects, submitted to the apex court, was inaccurate

Bokhari said the evidence gathered was weak and that the allegation about the power projects causing losses to the national exchequer had not been proved

He said if a case is filed on the basis of the investigations done so far, the suspects will be acquitted

14-yr jail for Headley’s aide Rana

Chicago, January 17
Tahawwur Rana, an accomplice of convicted terrorist David Headley, was today sentenced to 14 years in jail followed by five years of supervised release by a US court for providing material support to Pakistan-based LeT and for backing a plot to strike a Danish newspaper.

Pakistani-Canadian Rana (52) was sentenced by the Chicago federal court despite his defence attorneys seeking a lighter sentence of not more than a 9-year jail term, citing his poor health.

US prosecutors had sought 30 years for Rana, who his lawyers said was duped into participation by his school-time friend Headley.

Rana was convicted in June 2011 by a federal grand jury, which found the businessman guilty of providing material support to LeT and planning an aborted plot to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

Rana, who was originally arrested in 2009 for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was acquitted of that charge.

However, Indian investigators have accused him of being involved in the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and are seeking to question him for the second time.

Headley, who conducted reconnaissance of the targets of the Mumbai terror attacks for LeT, had entered a plea bargain with the FBI, saving himself from a possible death penalty.

Acting US attorney Gary S Shapiro has requested the Chicago court in a position paper that Rana be handed down a total of 30 years in prison.

Referring to the heart attack Rana suffered in June 2012 and the hospitalisation thereafter, his attorney Patrick W Blegan had told teh court earlier, "It is likely that his health will continue to deteriorate. He will likely at some point require dialysis due to his kidney disease, and is, of course, at risk for a second heart attack or vasovagal event".

Pakistan-born, Rana is a naturalised Canadian citizen who later on moved to Chicago for business purposes and has been living here for more than a decade now.

Rana is the first of the eight co-defendants who were indicted by the federal prosecutors in October, to be sentenced by the Chicago Court.

Sentencing of Headley has been scheduled for January 24. In March 2010, he pleaded guilty to all 12 counts against him, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six American victims.

Facing a maximum sentence of life in prison, Headley cooperated with the government since he was arrested in October 2009, and testified as a government witness at Rana's trial.

Among other six indicted by the FBI, include Ilyas Kashmiri, influential terrorist organisation leader in Pakistan who is in regular contact with of al-Qaida leaders; and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, both of whom were charged in two conspiracy counts relating to the Denmark terrorism plot. — PTI

Plea to US to send Indian baby home

New Delhi, January 17
A group of eminent citizens today made an emotional appeal to US authorities to announce a date by which a one-year-old Indian baby, who is in foster care since September last year, would be repatriated to his relatives back home.

They met US envoy to India Nancy J Powell here today and submitted a petition to her demanding that Indrashish, born to Debashish and Pamela Saha of Bengal, be sent to India to be with his grandparents.

"Indrashish has been repeatedly injured and suffered medical emergencies in foster care. On December 31, Indrashish had to be hospitalised in emergency care for extreme dehydration while in charge of his state-paid fosterer," the citizens claimed in their petition.

The signatories, including former Delhi HC Chief Justice AP Shah, CPM leader Brinda Karat and former NCW chairperson Mohini Giri, said the baby's parents want him to be returned to relatives back in India. — PTI

Obama proposes sweeping reforms to stem gun violence

Washington, January 17
US President Barack Obama has unveiled sweeping gun control measures, including background checks and a ban on military-style assault weapons, to reduce gun violence in the wake of incidents like the Wisconsin Gurdwara shooting and the Connecticut school massacre.

"We cannot put this off any longer. I will put everything I've got into this," Obama said while proposing the most sweeping gun control legislation in decades.

With relatives of some of the 20 children killed in the Connecticut rampage looking on, Obama signed 23 executive actions, which do not require congressional approval, to strengthen existing gun laws and take steps on mental health and school safety.

"The right to worship freely and safely, that right was denied to Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The right to assemble peaceably, that right was denied to shoppers in Clackamas, Oregon, and to moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado," Obama said yesterday at a White House event. — PTI

Sikhs back Obama

Washington: Welcoming the gun control steps taken by President Barack Obama, the Sikh community in the US has asked the Congress to support his proposals, saying many innocent people have become victims of these senseless killings.

Militants: 35 hostages killed in Algerian raid

Algiers, January 17
At least 20 foreign hostages escaped from Islamist militants who had taken over an Algerian natural gas complex in the Sahara desert, an Algerian security official reported.

Americans and Europeans were among those who escaped today, he said, without elaborating. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

At least 20 gunmen attacked the vast complex early yesterday in retaliation for France's military intervention against Al-Qaida-linked rebels in neighbouring Mali.

The militants, who claimed to have 41 hostages, have been in a tense standoff since then, surrounded by the Algerian military, which has helicopters flying over the plant.

Some 30 Algerian workers fled the complex earlier in the day, suggesting that the militants are having trouble managing the many hostages they have taken at the vast natural gas complex, the third largest in oil-rich Algeria. — AP

China for talks with Japan to resolve disputes

Beijing, January 17
After months of high profile military posturing over the disputed islands with Japan, China said it attaches importance to the ties with Tokyo and called on the Japanese government to resolve the dispute through dialogue to keep the relations on track.

The two countries were locked in a showdown since September last year over the islands in East China Sea, called Diaoyu by China and Senkakus by Japan. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Indian researcher bags Alzheimer’s drug discovery award
London: London-based Indian researcher Mahaveer Golechha has been selected for a prestigious award for his work on a drug to cure Alzheimer's. The 27-year-old will be travelling to San Francisco to receive the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation's 'Young Investigator Scholarship Award' at the 7th Annual Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration Conference next month. — PTI

Four killed in Indonesian floods
Jakarta: Seasonal rains triggered massive flooding in Indonesia's capital on Thursday, killing at least four persons, triggering the evacuation of at least 20,000 and paralysing much of the city. Floods regularly hit parts of Jakarta in the rainy season, but the inundation following an intense rain storm was especially widespread.— AP

A dog is blessed by a priest at San Anton church in Madrid on Saint Anthony's Day on Thursday. Dogs, cats, rabbits and even turtles, many dressed in their finest, trooped into churches across Spain in search of blessing on Saint Anthony's Day, the patron saint of animals. — AFP

US carries out 1st electrocution since 2010
Washington: An American who murdered two fellow inmates while serving a life sentence was put to death by electric chair, a first such execution since 2010, the authorities said. Robert Gleason, a 42-year-old former tatoo artist, was declared dead at 9:08 pm local time, said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections in the state of Virginia. —AFP

64 Indian labourers rescued from Nepal
Kathmandu: As many as 64 Indians, including 27 minors, who were working in a brick factory in southern Nepal as bonded labourers, have been rescued. The Siraha District Court on Wednesday freed 64 labourers who were forced to work in Om Brick Industry in Siraha District for the last two months, with the help of the local administration, according to the police. — PTI

Pak legislator, 3 bodyguards gunned down
Karachi: A Pakistani provincial legislator and three of his bodyguards were shot dead by unidentified gunmen here on Thursday. The police said four armed assailants opened fire on the car of the Mutthaida Qaumi Movement legislator Manzar Imam in Orangi Town of Karachi which killed him. Three of his bodyguards were killed on the spot. —PTI