Vowing to review Pakistan’s relations with the United States, Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has said he would order a comprehensive probe into the Kargil episode after coming to power.

In various TV interviews, Sharif, who is widely regarded as the front-runner in election race, has said that, if elected, he would not only investigate the Kargil war but also make its report public.

Apparently learning from his own experience of giving out-of-turn promotion to Musharraf, Sharif said the selection on the post should be based on merit and seniority.

But former ISI chief Hamid Gul questioned the wisdom of this policy saying that merit should be given pre-eminence, though not arbitrarily.

Addressing a big gathering near Minawali, home constituency of Imran Khan, on Sunday, Sharif had a swipe on both Khan and Asif Zardari and urged people not to elect “novices” and “jugglers”.

He said he has a mature team which has the experience and capacity to resolve the myriad of problems that the country is facing.

He recalled his rule in the 1990s saying the country had been put on path of unprecedented progress and was regarded on top in the region. However, military intervention interrupted this march which would now be resumed to make Pakistan a progressive, forward-looking and prosperous nation.

He slammed both Musharraf and Zardari for promoting only power outages, inflation, corruption, economic mess and mis-governance.

He said Pakistan should reconsider its support for the US war on terror and suggested that he was in favour of negotiations with the Taliban.

“I think guns and bullets are always not the answer to such problems,” he said.

In sharp contrast to his Sharif-bashing in Punjab, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan attacked religious groups who are exploiting the name of religion and propagating that he was an agent of Jewish and Qadiani lobbies.

Khan said his party would devolve power to the lowest union council level so that people could resolve their problems and manage development funds themselves at the village level.

The education system would be reformed to eliminate distinction between the English and Urdu medium and raise the level of government educational institutions to a level that these could produce top leaders of the country.

He said small farmers would be provided power and fertilisers at subsidised rates so that they could double their produce as farmers in Indian Punjab have done.

Imran Khan criticised both Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif for failing to address the energy crisis and on how to improve governance.

At least three persons were injured in a hand-grenade attack on Sunday - the second attack within 12 hours - near an election office of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Fazalabad area near Mardan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa province.

The police said that unidentified motorcycle-borne attackers lobbed a hand grenade near the election office of the PTI where party candidate Rehmanullah was holding a corner meeting. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Various attacks targeting several political parties, namely the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP), have recently taken place across the country. These have been claimed by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.

Recently, religious political parties including the PTI, JUI and Jamat Islami have also been targeted underpinning the perception that the Taliban’s fundamental aim is to disrupt the upcoming elections, challenge the writ of the state and impose their peculiar brand of Islam.

In a related development in the restive Balochistan province, at least two Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and four dacoits were killed on Sunday during an exchange of fire in the Bhag area of Bolan district.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Malik Mohammad Habib talking to reporters on Sunday said the interim government is taking stringent measures to curb terrorism.

Meanwhile, most major cities in Sind province, including Karachi and Hyderabad, were shut down in protest against Saturday night's two bomb blasts at MQM offices that killed three persons and injured dozens.

Boston, May 5
The body of slain Boston bombings suspect will undergo a second "independent" autopsy as demanded by his relatives, a family spokeswoman has said.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, the main accused in the Boston bombings along with his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar, was shot dead by police in the wee hours of April 19.

For nearly two weeks, Tamerlan's body lay unclaimed at the Boston medical examiner's office. A funeral home now has the remains and a quest is underway to find him a resting place in Massachusetts.

But first, he will undergo a second "independent" autopsy demanded by his relatives, a family spokeswoman said.

His death certificate is yet to be filed with the Boston city clerk, and there is no burial plot yet, according to the funeral home holding the remains.

If no grave site is found after the second autopsy, Peter Stefan, the owner of the funeral home, plans to ask the government to find a grave, CNN reported.

Three cemeteries that Stefan contacted said they feared reprisals, but the funeral home owner said that one cannot pick and choose when it comes to a burial.

"This is what we do in a civilised society, regardless of the circumstances," Stefan said.

"As I told some of them, at the immediate moment you may fear (reprisal), but later on, when things calm down, people are going to resent you because you didn't do it," he said.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar allegedly carried out the deadly Boston Marathon bombings in which three people were killed and more than 250 others were injured on April 15, in one of the worst terrorist attack in the US post 9/11.

Tamerlan's body remained unclaimed until Thursday, when an uncle, who had previously publicly condemned his alleged attacks, had a funeral parlor pick up the body.

The uncle, Maryland resident Ruslan Tsarni, had decried the alleged bombers as "losers" after the attacks.

Their parents in Dagestan have said they will not fly his body back to Russia for burial, spokeswoman Heda Saratova said.

Residents of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, took to the streets to boo Tamerlan, when they heard about the presence of the corpse in their town, The Sun Chronicle reported.

Others took to social media to vent anger at the funeral home for accepting the body.

It was later transported to Stefan's funeral home, Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester.

"Everyone deserves to be buried," he said. — PTI

Kuala Lumpur, May 5
Malaysia's governing coalition won a tight national election on Sunday to extend its 56-year rule, fending off an opposition alliance that pledged to clean up politics and end race-based policies in South-east Asia's third-largest economy.

As counting went late into the night, the fractious multiracial opposition proved unable to unseat one of the world's longest-serving governments and pull off what would have been the biggest election upset in Malaysia's history.

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), or National Front, passed 112 seats, giving it a simple majority in the 222-seat Parliament. The opposition alliance had 60 seats.

With more than two-thirds of seat results confirmed, it remained to be seen if Prime Minister Najib Razak would receive a strong enough mandate to continue gradual reforms aimed at boosting investment and easing authoritarian laws. He is under pressure to improve on the coalition's worst-ever result, recorded at the last election in 2008 when it won 140 seats and lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority.

Failure to do so could weaken his leadership, unnerving investors and raising uncertainty over policy in the multi-ethnic nation of 28 million people. Election officials said voter turnout was about 80 percent, a record high.

"I hope the opposition accepts the result with an open heart and will allow the democratic process to continue," Najib told a news conference.

The opposition retained economically important Penang state as its leader Anwar Ibrahim sought to build on stunning gains in 2008, when it took over four state governments and deprived the BN of its two-thirds parliamentary majority. It also claimed to have retained the crucial industrial state of Selangor, which Najib had vowed to win back, although that could not be confirmed with election officials.

The ruling coalition had been expected to win, but opinion polls showed a tightening race with Najib struggling to translate strong economic growth and a deluge of social handouts into votes.

The possibility of a disputed result loomed large amid opposition claims of widespread election fraud. — Reuters

Johannesburg, May 5
A wealthy Indian family in South Africa today apologised for a diplomatic scandal over the use of a military air base to land a private jet flying their guests to a wedding this week.

The Gupta family, with close ties to President Jacob Zuma and the ruling ANC party, on Tuesday landed a chartered plane at Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria without permits, prompting a national condemnation.

“In light of what happened... the family would like to issue a general apology to all affected, including the South African and Indian governments, the local authorities, the South African public and especially our guests,” said Atul Gupta in a statement.

A senior South African diplomat and several police officers have been suspended for their role in allowing the aircraft to land at the restricted base.

Some 200 passengers, including Bollywood stars and politicians, were attending the lavish wedding of Vega Gupta, a niece of the powerful Gupta businessmen who own several companies including Sahara Computers and the pro-government New Age newspaper.

They received a full police escort to the Sun City resort for the four-day affair billed as “the wedding of the year”.

In a bid to save face, South African authorities yesterday announced a full scale seven-day probe into the controversial landing, which has been described as an embarrassment and as undermining the country’s laws.

India’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Virenda Gupta, has also been implicated in the scandal, as he is believed to have asked for landing rights, although it’s not clear who granted the permission.

The foreign ministry’s chief of state protocol Bruce Koloane was Thursday suspended pending an investigation into the matter. Earlier in the week, the Gupta family said it had received permission for the aircraft - which was carrying “foreign ministers and other dignitaries” - to land at the base.

The wedding party left the country in the evening yesterday through OR Tambo International Airport, after the jet was ordered to vacate the base. — AFP