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Saturday,
November 16, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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PPP
suffers split Pak man
executed for killing CIA staffers
Maoists
strike terror, 175 killed Doc linked
with Osama missing Sikhs
force changes in video-game
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PPP suffers split
Islamabad, November 15 At a hurriedly called Press Conference here around midnight, the PPP rebels, led by Mr Faisal Saleh Hayat, announced the formation of a forward bloc within the party to take independent decisions. They said they were backing a “government of national consensus”, a term used here for a proposed coalition between the PML-Q and the PPP. Despite the support of the breakaway group, the Pakistan Muslim League - Quaide Azam (PML-Q) still falls short by 22 votes in the National Assembly to get a simple majority. The PML-Q and its allies were reported to have secured 150 votes so far against the minimum required numbers of 172 in the 342-member National Assembly. Reacting to Mr Hayat’s announcement, PPP General Secretary Raza Rabbani accused the Musharraf government of breaking his party on the eve of the National Assembly session with coercion and inducements. With the defection of 10 of its members, the strength of the PPP in the National Assembly has now gone down to 71. The announcement of the new group within the PPP followed the failure of General Musharraf to secure the support of the religious parties alliance, Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA), for retaining his presidency as well as his controversial constitutional amendments which empowered him and the army with more powers.
PTI |
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Pak man executed for killing CIA staffers
New York, November 15 Aimal Khan Kasi’s execution was carried out at Greensville Correctional Centre in Virginia at 7:37 am IST amid tight security. Several Pakistani leaders had said sparing Kasi’s life would help the USA “win the hearts of millions”, which in turn would assist them in their war against terrorism. Recognising that the execution could raise the ire of people in Pakistan, the State Department had also issued a warning a week ago that it could lead to vengeance against Americans. The execution came a few hours after the US Supreme Court dismissed his final petition for clemency with the remark that he had shown no remorse. Hours before he was executed, Kasi met his brothers, lawyers and priest, corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said. Family members of the victims did not attend the execution. Kasi, with an AK 47, had shot dead CIA communications worker Darling, 28, and CIA analyst and physician Lansing Bennet, 66, as they sat in their cars at a traffic light. QUETTA: The brother of Kasi hailed him as a martyr on Friday, hours after his execution in the USA. “He is a martyr. His smiling face is still in front of me,” Naseebullah Kasi said. Police and paramilitary troops were patrolling Quetta, rocked by almost daily protests this week in the lead-up to the execution. ISLAMABAD: Kasi, said in his last interview, ‘’I do not regret my action, I will do it again if I get another chance.’’ He denied reports that he was working for the CIA or Pakistan’s ISI. He told BBC (Urdu) online that he killed the two CIA workers because he was against the US foreign policy, particularly relating to Islamic countries. He said after killing the two Americans, he returned to Pakistan and later moved to Afghanistan. When the Taliban captured Kabul, he went there and became friendly with some of them. He once had a chance to meet Osama bin Laden in Kandahar. ‘’That was the only contact with Osama,’’ he said. He also told the BBC that the Pakistani Government did not bother to intervene in his case. “I was very disappointed with the Pakistan Government, which should have intervened in my case. But they are never able to take a stand against the USA,’’ he said. Kasi said he had not been given a fair trial and he had hoped that the death sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment. I had been tried and convicted by the media even before the case opened,’’ he said in the telephonic interview.
Agencies |
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Maoists strike terror, 175 killed
Kathmandu, November 15 Some 3,000 rebels invaded the district headquarters in Khalanga town of Jumla district, 560 km north-west of Kathmandu, just before midnight, killing 27 policemen and four army men, and losing 23 of their men, Defence Ministry sources said. Twentyseven policemen, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were shot dead by the Maoists as they attacked the regional police office in Khalanga, they said, adding that four army personnel were also killed during the cross-firing between the security forces and the rebels that lasted for several hours. The rebels completely destroyed Jumla’s small airport and set fire to the government buildings in the Khalanga area of the headquarters, briefly taking over the town before being driven out. The rebels also targeted army barracks and a police office, where over 500 security personnel were deployed, army sources said. The communication links were broken soon after the attack additional security forces were sent along with a night vision helicopter to counter the rebels. But it could not land due to fog and smoke emanating from the buildings set ablaze by the Maoists. Radio Nepal quoting eyewitnesses said rebels were seen carrying away bodies of their comrades in bamboo baskets. As the day broke, the Army sent in reinforcements and launched both ground and air strikes to drive away the rebels from the district headquarters. In another attack, the Maoists bombed a security post and fired indiscriminately at Takukgt area in Gurkha district, the ancestral house of King Gyanendra, killing 23 policemen and injuring over 12.
PTI |
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Doc linked with Osama missing Islamabad, November 15 “We are not aware of his whereabouts. As soon as we locate him we will produce him,” a court official quoted Federal Deputy Attorney-General Danishwar Malik as telling the Lahore provincial High Court. Amir Aziz, a highly respected orthopaedic surgeon, was picked up in a joint operation by the Pakistani authorities and US FBI agents in the eastern city of Lahore on October 21. He was being held and interrogated on the suspicion of maintaining links with senior Al-Qaida figures, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
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Sikhs force changes in video-game London, November 15 In 1984, several hundred Sikhs were killed there when Indian troops stormed the temple during Operation Bluestar. Harpreet (15) from Birmingham told BBC’s Newsround why he found the game offensive. ‘’This game refers to terrorists in a gurdwara. This is disgraceful, because people may think that terrorists wear turbans but they don’t,’’ the news report quoted him as saying. Many people think that using a holy place for a game is disrespectful. The makers, Eidos, have agreed to change the next edition of the game, remove pictures of the scenes from their website and take steps to correct the game where they can, the BBC report said.
UNI |
PETITION
AGAINST PERVEZ DISMISSED 2
KILLED, 9 HURT IN BOMB BLAST |
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