Syrian rebels committed war crimes: Report
Beirut, October 11
Jihadi-led rebel fighters in Syria killed at least 190 civilians and abducted more than 200 during an offensive against pro-regime villages, committing a war crime, an international human rights group said today.

A Pakistani court on Friday remanded beleaguered former President Pervez Musharraf in judicial custody for 14 days in the Ghazi Abdul Rasheed murder case, commonly known as the Lal Masjid case, while another court rejected a request to bar him from travelling out of the country.

Earlier, the Islamabad magistrate refused a police request seeking five-day remand of former dictator Pervez Musharraf because he failed to appear before the court in person. The magistrate told the police that remand can only be given in the presence of the suspect and ordered them to present Musharraf before the court.

Musharraf, who had secured his release on Thursday following bail being granted in the Akbar Bugti murder case, found himself under arrest again on the charges of murdering the ‘prayer leader’ of the Lal Masjid, Abdul Rasheed, during the infamous 2007 operation.

“We have put General Musharraf under house arrest in a case involving a military operation on an Islamabad mosque,” Muhammad, Rizwan, a senior official of the Islamabad police said.

The police had earlier refused a request by leaders of the Lal Masjid to name General Musharraf as a suspect in the case of a military raid in 2007 which saw dozens killed, including one of the administrators.

On orders from the Islamabad High Court, though, a case was finally registered against Musharraf on September 2, for the murder of Abdul Rashid and his mother during the Lal Masjid operation, paving the way for his recent arrest.

The case was filed after Haroon Rasheed, the son of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, submitted an application at the Aabpara police station for the registration of an FIR against the former president for involvement in the death of Haroon’s father and grandmother.

In the application, Rasheed had referred to about 20 pages of the Lal Masjid Commission report, which held the former military ruler responsible for the operation. On October 9, Musharraf was granted bail by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the Bugti murder case on account of insufficient evidence against the accused. The indicted former dictator had already received bail in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and the judges’ detention case.

Plea to put him on ECL rejected The Islamabad High Court rejected a petition submitted by Haroon Rasheed Ghazi, a son of the slain Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, which sought to add Pervez Musharraf’s (in pic) name to the Exit Control List (ECL). The court said the former president was already under police custody adding that it was the Interior Ministry’s responsibility to add names to the ECL.

Oslo, October 11
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an obscure body recently thrust into the spotlight by the Syria crisis, today won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work to rid the world of chemical weapons.

The UN-backed OPCW was honoured “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons,” Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said in announcing the surprise choice.

“Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons,” the Norwegian jury said in its statement.

The chemical watchdog was not considered among the frontrunners for the prize until the eve of the announcement. Teenage Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege had been among the favourites for this year’s prize.

Nobel Peace Prize committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said the award was a reminder to nations such as the US and Russia to eliminate their own large stockpiles, “especially because they are demanding that others do the same, like Syria”. — AFP

Beirut, October 11
Jihadi-led rebel fighters in Syria killed at least 190 civilians and abducted more than 200 during an offensive against pro-regime villages, committing a war crime, an international human rights group said today.

The August 4 attacks on unarmed civilians in more than a dozen villages in the coastal province of Latakia were systematic and could even amount to a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a 105-page report based on a visit to the area a month later.

“The findings strongly suggest that the killings, hostage taking, and other abuses rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the rights group said. — Agencies

Washington, October 11
President Barack Obama and congressional Republican leaders moved to end their fiscal impasse on Friday, but struggled to strike a deal on the details for a short-term reopening of the federal government and an increase in the US borrowing limit.

After the first signs on Thursday of movement in the standoff, both sides worked furiously to find enough agreement to get federal workers back on the job and extend the government’s borrowing authority past the October 17 limit.

About 20 House of Representatives Republicans huddled with Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Friday morning, a day after Republicans floated a plan that would provide for a short-term debt limit increase lasting about six weeks. Republicans also have dangled the possibility of a quick reopening of government if there was a commitment by Obama to broader deficit reduction steps.

Obama had asked for a short-term debt limit increase with no conditions attached. Obama will press his case in a morning meeting at the White House with Senate Republicans. Vice President Joe Biden will join Obama for the session as the two sides hunt for a quick resolution.

“We've been very good about this, the White House has been great about it overnight to say let's stay out of all the details as we talk through all the different options," Oklahoma Republican Representative James Lankford said on CNN. — Reuters