Pak court stops clearance of ‘illegal’ Bollywood films
Lahore, December 20
A Pakistani court today stopped the Central Censor Board from issuing clearance certificates to "illegally" imported Indian movies.

Singapore, December 20
Fifty-two Indians were today deported from Singapore for their alleged involvement in the city-state’s worst street violence in 40 years. Four others will be repatriated tonight.

The process of deporting 53 men - 52 Indians and one Bangladeshi - began yesterday even as the authorities were pressing criminal charges against 28 Indians for their role in the December 8 rampage in Little India, a precinct of Indian-origin businesses, eateries and pubs, where most of the South-Asian workers take their Sunday break.

The four Indians, to be repatriated tonight, were among seven persons who were earlier charged in the court, but had their charges withdrawn subsequently, police commissioner Ng Joo Hee said.

“When the last of these four are removed, bringing the total number repatriated to 57, the repatriation operation arising from police investigations into the Little India riots will come to an end,” Ng said.

The 53 people already deported received stern police warnings and would not be allowed to re-enter Singapore, the police said.

Other 200 workers, who were involved in the rioting but have a “passive and incidental role”, would be issued formal police advisories on Sunday at the Police Cantonment Complex.

The trouble started after a private bus fatally knocked down an Indian pedestrian, 33-year-old Sakthivel Kuaravelu, in Little India. Around 400 migrant workers were involved in the rampage that left 39 police and civil defence staff injured and 25 vehicles, including 16 police cars, damaged.

Singapore previously witnessed violence of such scale during race riots in 1969.

The other three of the seven, discharged from rioting charge earlier, would be issued police advisories, but would be allowed to remain in Singapore.

Earlier this week, a civil group had questioned the “arbitrary deportation” of these people, citing the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants.

A Committee of Inquiry (COI) was set up, followed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s order to probe the riot. He had warned to use “full force of the law” against trouble-makers.

At the same time, the Prime Minister said his government would treat foreign workers fairly and properly.

“We do not stand for ill-treatment or unfair treatment of foreign workers,” Lee had said. — PTI

Islamabad, December 20
Former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf has sought “forgiveness” for any wrongs he may have committed during his nine-year regime, saying he will face all cases against him and not flee the country like a coward.

“Whatever I did, I did it for the country. It could be wrong, but there was no bad intention in it. Even then, if someone thinks that I have committed a mistake, I seek forgiveness,” Musharraf said in an interview, his first since he was placed under house arrest at his palatial farmhouse on the outskirts of the capital eight months ago.

As insisted by his close associates earlier, Musharraf said he would not leave the country to run away from the numerous cases registered against him, including a high treason case. “I don’t want to runaway cowardly and will face all the trials to makes the thing clear,” the former President said. “Let there be 100 trials,” he said. Musharraf has been granted bail in all four major cases against him, including one over assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, but is now facing trial in a special court on the charge of high treason for imposing emergency in 2007.

This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that a former military dictator is facing trial for treason. If convicted, Musharraf could face either life imprisonment or death penalty. With a shawl around his shoulder, kurta-clad Musharraf sounded emotional at times and termed revival of the economy and tackling extremism and terrorism as the most serious challenges the country is facing.

Asked about the negotiations with the Taliban and other militant groups, he said he supported it but “talks should be held from a position of strength.” The former President said talks were being held from a position of weakness.

“I don’t agree with begging before them saying please spare us our life...Government says talks and the Taliban says we don’t want to talk,” he said, adding that there was no respect and the government should exercise its power.However, Musharraf said, “The Taliban and others are our own people who have gone astray.”

Musharraf said terrorism and extremism had to be controlled for economic revival and for foreign investment to come in and setting up of industries. He said the current PML-N government was “begging” before the IMF.

“There is no respect for beggars in the world. We are begging before IMF. If someone shows a Pakistani passport, there is no respect. Economy has to be set right,” Musharraf said. “If I get the chance to rule the country in future, I will do whatever is beneficial for Pakistan,” he asserted.

Musharraf came to power in 1999 by toppling a Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government and ruled till 2008, when he was forced to resign after being threatened with impeachment. — PTI

London: Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf’s legal team has urged the UN to intervene in his case to prevent a “stage-managed show trial”of the former military general. His lawyers in London claimed that the treason charge against Musharraf was politically motivated.

Lahore, December 20
A Pakistani court today stopped the Central Censor Board from issuing clearance certificates to "illegally" imported Indian movies.

Justice Khalid Mahmood of the Lahore High Court issued the direction to the Central Censor Board's chairman in response to a petition filed by controversial TV talk show host Mubashir Lucman, a former film producer known for his anti-India stance, and a dozen others.

Mahmood also sought a reply from the federal government and the Censor Board's chairman in two weeks.

Since the petition was filed by members of the Pakistani film industry last month, the High Court has imposed restrictions on the screening of Indian films and laid down conditions for their release.

The court earlier directed authorities to strictly implement a ban on screening "films made in India". During today's hearing, the judge observed that films made in India could not be screened in Pakistan as these were on the "negative list" of the Import Policy 2013.

Under Pakistani rules, only Bollywood films shot outside India can be imported into the country. However, these rules were rarely enforced and Indian movies were screened in Pakistan within days of their domestic release.

The petitioners contended that under the Motion Picture Act, no film made in Indian territory can be exhibited in Pakistan. — PTI

Islamabad, December 20
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has cleared the appointment of career diplomat Aizaz Chaudhry, one of the key officials who handled the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, as Pakistan's new Foreign Secretary.

Chaudhry, a moderate known for his strong conviction, earlier served as Foreign Office spokesman and Additional Foreign Secretary.

He was Director General (South Asia) at the Foreign Office at the time of the Mumbai attacks and frequently interacted with Indian diplomats when bilateral ties went into a tailspin after the terrorist assault on the financial hub.

Current Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani has already been named as Pakistan's new Ambassador to the US. Chaudhry's appointment came after he was promoted this week. "The decision has been taken but the outgoing Foreign Secretary is still here. It will become official when the notification is issued," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said. — PTI

President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday conferred the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest honour, on new army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman Gen Rashad Mehmood. The investiture ceremony at the presidency was also attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. PTI

Islamabad, December 20
Pakistan and India have agreed to resume trade talks, a media report said Friday. A report in Geo News cited officials from Pakistan's ministry of commerce as saying that the talks would resume with secretary-level discussions in India.

The talks will be held in January or February, the report added. — IANS

Bangkok, December 20
Anti-government protesters resumed marches in Bangkok on Friday, trying to energise supporters in the centre of the Thai capital before a planned mass rally at the weekend to put pressure on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down.

Yingluck called a snap election last week when the protests reached their height. She remains caretaker premier until the February 2 vote but has refused to push back the date to allow the drawing-up of political reforms demanded by the protesters.

“Once the government has resigned, I would like to have other people who are neutral take charge,” said protester Siriroj Oh-Prechacharn as marchers prepared to leave the main rally site at Bangkok's Democracy Monument.

About 160,000 protesters surrounded Yingluck's office on December 9 but momentum has waned since then. The Election Commission (EC) dismissed suggestions it would postpone the vote. "We are ready to hold elections on February 2 ... today the government said it will help ensure that elections take place smoothly," said commission member Teerawat Terarotwit, following a meeting between Yingluck and EC members.

The commission had earlier expressed concern over the possibility of unrest at the polls and said it could delay them if all parties agreed.

The government says voting will go ahead as planned. The protesters want to eradicate the influence on Thai politics of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. — Reuters

Washington, December 20
The White House warned Congress that President Barack Obama would veto a Bill threatening new sanctions on Iran, saying it could derail diplomacy aimed at sealing a comprehensive nuclear deal.

The Bill, backed by both Democratic and Republican senators, would impose new sanctions on Tehran if it violated an interim nuclear agreement reached last month or if no final deal is reached. But the White House appears alarmed that the move could undermine the Iranian negotiating team or offer the Islamic Republic an excuse to walk away from the negotiations.

“If it were to pass, the president will veto it,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said yesterday. Carney argued that the legislation was "unnecessary" because if a deal was not reached there would be no impediment to Congress, in conjunction with the White House, swiftly passing tougher sanctions.

Twenty-six US senators introduced new Iran sanctions legislation earlier yesterday, despite an intense White House lobbying campaign. The Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act, introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez, fellow Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Republican Senator Mark Kirk, would kick in should Iran violate the temporary deal or should negotiators fail to reach a comprehensive final agreement.

"Current sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table and a credible threat of future sanctions will require Iran to cooperate and act in good faith," said Menendez in a statement introducing the legislation. It was not immediately clear if or when the bill could see a vote on the Senate floor. A vote this year is highly unlikely, with the Senate set to recess this week until early 2014.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated he is opposed to bringing such a bill to the floor, saying he agreed with the Obama administration's call to give the delicate negotiations a chance to work. The proposed sanctions would require Iran to reduce its oil production and would apply new penalties to the its engineering, and construction industries. — AFP

Seoul, December 20
North Korea has threatened a "merciless" strike against the South after activists burned effigies of the ruling Kim dynasty on the second anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-Il, officials said today.

The warning was contained in a message sent yesterday by the secretariat of the National Defence Commission, the North's highest military body, through a military hotline, the South's defence ministry said.

In rallies on Tuesday to mark the death anniversary of Kim Jong-Il, South Korean conservative groups burned effigies of young North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, his late father and grandfather.

The North said the rallies had insulted the "highest dignity" of its leadership, and threatened to take "merciless" retaliatory acts without prior warning, the defence ministry said.

"We've sent a reply vowing to react sternly to any provocations by North Korea,"ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told reporters. The North's threat comes at a time of growing concern over the regime's stability after last week's execution of Jang Song-Thaek, a high-level official who was the uncle and former political mentor of Kim Jong-Un. — PTI

London, December 20
At least 76 people were injured when the ceiling of a 112-year-old theatre in the heart of London collapsed last night, leaving children and adults bleeding in the rubble amid scenes of panic.

Apollo Theatre, one of the popular venues in West End theatre district, was packed with 720 people for a show of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”, when plaster and masonry from a section of the ceiling fell with a crackling sound and left many wounded.

Paramedics initially said 88 people were injured but later revised the number to 76, seven of whom were seriously wounded. Another 51 "walking wounded" were taken to hospital with minor injuries. London Ambulance today said all those who had been trapped inside were freed. It was later confirmed that none of them had life-threatening injuries. — PTI