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Manhunt to nab Masood
Pak court declines bail to Javed Hashmi Al-Qaida warns of attack on Japan
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Chandrika, Ranil to meet again China warns Taiwan against secession bid India’s gift to Chinese temple
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Manhunt to nab Masood Islamabad, November 17 Pakistan’s Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told local TV networks that Azhar, who formed Khudam-ul-Islam after last year’s ban on his outfit, Jaish-e-Muhammad, was yet to be traced. Though the police has sealed over 60 offices of the Khudam-ul-Islam, the Islami Tehrik Pakistan (ITP) and the Millatt-e-Islamiya of Pakistan (MIP), it has not arrested the cadre of the groups in any of the four provinces. District Police Officer of Bahawalpur, the home town of Azhar, Sikandar Hayat said the police raids on his house had proved fruitless. “He does not seem to be at his native town,” he said adding that nine offices and seminaries of the three groups had so far been closed in his division, local daily Dawn reported. Meanwhile, members of Azhar’s family have accused the police of ill-treating them during the raids. Azhar’s brother, Mufti Abdur Raof, alleged the police violated law and exceeded all limits during the raids. “They (the police) violated the sanctity of our homes and mistreated our family members,” he said. Feigning ignorance about Azhar’s whereabouts, Raof said, “He is somewhere in Punjab or Sind. I don’t know exactly.” Criticising the government’s decision to ban the organisation, he said the council of the banned group would meet soon to decide its future strategy. However, Hayat denied Rauf’s allegations saying, “This is absolutely wrong. We used women police in all raids and never entered anywhere forcibly”. In view of the ban on the groups, their bank accounts would be frozen and the process would be completed within the next 72 hours, he added. “We will not only seal main offices of these groups, but their covert establishments and sites will also be sealed,” he said adding that the banned groups would not be allowed to reorganise under any new name.
— PTI |
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Pak court declines bail to Javed Hashmi Islamabad, November 17 Judge Mansoor Ahmed rejected the petition filed by Hashmi’s daughter,
Memona, and asked the opposition leader to file the same in the lower court which remanded him to judicial custody. Opposing his bail plea, prosecution lawyer Shiber Raza Rizvi told the court that Hashmi had distributed a fake letter to create a rift within the Army and that he did not deserve any
relief. Memona Hashmi, herself an opposition legislator, said she would wait to get a written copy of the court ruling and her lawyers would challenge the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court. Hashmi, Pesident of the 15-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), was accused of releasing an anonymous letter purportedly written by Army personnel to the media on October 29, calling for an inquiry into the Kargil war and criticised the Army top brass for continuing to dabble in politics. Hashmi has been accused of instigating mutiny within the armed forces.
— PTI |
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Al-Qaida warns of attack on Japan
Dubai, November 17 Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, purported to be an Al-Qaida leader, warned the Japanese against sending troops to join the US-led coalition in Iraq, in an e-mail received by the Saudi weekly. “If they want to destroy their economic power and be trampled under the feet of the combatants of Allah, let them come to Iraq,” he said. “Our strikes will reach the heart of Tokyo.” A day after an anti-coalition suicide bombing in southern Iraq that killed 19 Italians and nine Iraqis, Japan last Thursday toned down an earlier pledge to send troops to Iraq by the end of this year. Japanese Defence Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba has since said that Tokyo remains committed to aiding with the reconstruction of Iraq, but the timing of a deployment of Japanese troops depends on the situation. Ablaj claimed the strike on the Italian police post in Nasiriyah on behalf of Al-Qaida. “Our strikes ... will be painful, and what we did to the Italians in Iraq, against their command base in Nasiriyah in the south of the county, is an example,” said Ablaj, who often communicates by e-mail with Al-Majallah. TOKYO: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today said Japan would not be intimidated by terrorists after a reported Al-Qaida threat to attack Tokyo spooked share and foreign exchange markets. “Terrorist threats have been made everywhere in the world. We must not give in to the threats,” Koizumi told reporters. The Foreign Ministry said Japan was investigating the credibility of the threat. “We are collecting information related to the report through the Japanese Embassy in London,” the official said. “First, we need to confirm the credibility of the report.”
— AFP |
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Chandrika, Ranil to meet again Colombo, November 17 “The Prime Minister has accepted an invitation to meet with the President either on Tuesday or Thursday,” G.L. Peiris told reporters. It will be the second meeting between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe since November 4 when the President took control of the ministries of defence, interior and media, suspended Parliament and briefly imposed emergency rule — all while Wickremesinghe was visiting the USA. Kumaratunga argues that Wickremesinghe has threatened Sri Lanka’s integrity by making too many concessions to the rebels in his efforts to end the conflict. The last meeting between the two produced no breakthrough. Kumaratunga has said she wants Wickremesinghe to carry forward the peace process, but the Prime Minister says she must return control of the Defence Ministry first.
— AP |
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China warns Taiwan against secession bid Beijing, November 17 “There is only one China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of it” an official of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the state council, China’s Cabinet, said while responding to the recent pro-independence moves by Chen, who is seeking re-election next year as President of Taiwan, which China views as a rebel province. The official said Chinese people and the government had a clear and decisive stance over safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity. “Anyone attempting to separate Taiwan from China will receive severe punishment,” Xinhua news agency quoted an official. He demanded that Chen should immediately stop separatist crimes through advocating a referendum and not to cheat and fool the Taiwanese people. The official said the Taiwan authorities under the pretext of local people’s interest recently united all sorts of Taiwan independence separatist forces and carried out separatist activities. “They attempted to prepare a legal basis for a future referenda on Taiwan independence, which is a very dangerous separatist move, an overt challenge against the one-China principle, damaging to mainland-Taiwan relations, a menace to peace and stability in the Taiwan straits and Asia-Pacific area and a severe provocation to the 1.3 billion Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots,” the official said.
— PTI |
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India’s gift to Chinese temple
Beijing, November 17 On behalf of External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Indian Ambassador to China Nalin Surie presented the Tripataka set to the chief abbot of the temple recently, sources said here today. The set comprises 140 volumes and the presentation was made in response to a ‘felt need’ of the library of the temple, sources added. The set forms the basis of the Theravada of Buddhist teachings and embodies the original thoughts of Buddha and his earliest disciples. The Tripataka (Three Baskets) includes ‘sutras’ (doctrine), ‘vinaya’ (discipline) and ‘abhidharama’ (philosophy). During the brief function, the Indian Ambassador said the ancient Buddhist connection had served as an important link between India and China. He welcomed continuing exchanges in the area.
— PTI  |
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Return of the sun-eating dragon Paris, November 17 At 0349 IST Sunday, the moon will start to creep between the earth and the sun, casting a small crescent shadow at a spot in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,100 km southeast of Kerguelen Island. Racing southwards and fattening with every minute, the shadow will hit the coast of Antarctica at 0405 IST, projected by a sun hanging low over the frozen landscape — just 13 degrees from the horizon, where at this time of year there is no night. The greatest eclipse occurs in Antarctica’s Wilkes Land at 0419 (IST), when totality will last its maximum of one minute 55 seconds.
— AFP |
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