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Karzai sworn in Afghanistan President
No soft-pedalling on Kashmir, says Pak
We did it, says Al-Qaida
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Raid underlines threat to Saudi monarchy
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Karzai sworn in Afghanistan President
Kabul, December 7 Two of the men most responsible for easing him into power, US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, were among those watching as Karzai placed his hand on the Koran to take an oath of allegiance in the heavily fortified presidential palace in Kabul. The inauguration passed off peacefully despite threats by guerrillas from the former Taliban regime that they would disrupt Karzai’s investiture, the culmination of his victory in Afghanistan’s first democratic presidential poll on October 9. “With international cooperation we can root out terrorism from Afghanistan,” Karzai, wearing a black lambskin hat and traditional cape, or chapan, said in an acceptance speech, broadcast live. “The relationship between terrorism and narcotics, however, and the threat of extremism in the region...is a source of continued concern,” he said, referring to worries over Afghanistan being the world’s main supplier of heroin. He vowed that disarming private militias, fighting the drugs trade, stamping out corruption and forging national unity among Afghanistan’s different ethnic groups and tribes would be his goals over the next five years. At least six Taliban fighters and three soldiers were killed in Afghanistan’s south-eastern province of Khost in a Taliban raid late yesterday, a provincial military official said. Cheney and Rumsfeld are two of the most hawkish members of President George W. Bush’s Cabinet and key architects of the Washington-backed war that overthrew the Taliban in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the USA. Washington chose Karzai as interim leader of the war-torn nation, and he was later endorsed by a tribal council.
— Reuters |
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Protests against Musharraf in UK
London, December 7 A similar demonstration was held when President Musharraf addressed UK Pakistanis in Central London yesterday. The demonstrations were held to draw attention to Pakistan’s “lack of independence” under the Musharraf regime and the continued “subservience” of Musharraf to foreign powers, Nadeem Ajaib Khan, an organizer of the demonstration said. “Musharraf has dutifully carried out US President George Bush’s demands - he has sold out over Kashmir, has permitted American forces to establish bases in Pakistan, and has legitimized the occupation of Iraq,” Khan said in a statement. Dr Imran Waheed, a UK based doctor and representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said “These demonstrations show the massive unease with a regime that calls upon the butchers of Baghdad, Blair and Bush, to solve the Kashmir and Palestine issues. We will be calling for re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) which will end Pakistan’s subservience to foreign colonialist powers and unify the vast armies and resources of the Muslim world into a single state.” Meanwhile, a top secret file detailing security arrangements for the visit of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to Britain this week was found abandoned on a London street. The police has started a probe. The 17-page document was reportedly found by a delivery driver in a brown envelope on upmarket Curzon Street hours before Musharraf and his wife touched down at Heathrow from Washington on Sunday.
— Agencies |
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Files detailing Musharraf’s security found, probe on
London, December 7 The dossier, which minutely revealed the President’s movements plus confidential police radio channels, call signs and codes, was found by a delivery driver in a street in Mayfair and gave it to the Mirror newspaper, which handed it over to the Scotland Yard. Musharraf and his wife Begum Sahba reached the Heathrow airport from Washington on Sunday
night. The files disclose security arrangements at the London hotel where the President and his entourage are staying.
— PTI |
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No soft-pedalling on Kashmir, says Pak
Islamabad, December 7 This was stated by Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Khan at his weekly briefing here on Monday when asked why in the Musharraf-Bush meeting there had been more emphasis on the Palestine question than on the Kashmir issue. Dispelling the notion that Kashmir was “left out” or not given enough attention, Mr Khan asserted: “There was no soft-pedalling of the issue. It was a major talking point between President of Pakistan and President Bush.” He said the US President was briefed about all the efforts made by Pakistan so far with emphasis on the need for the ongoing India-Pakistan dialogue process to be result-oriented. The Foreign Office spokesman termed President Musharraf’s brief visit to the United States “very successful”, saying that Pakistan was a close ally of the US. |
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We did it, says Al-Qaida
Jeddah, December 7 Monday’s broad-daylight assault on the fortified compound in the Red Sea city claimed as many as 13 lives, including consulate staff, gunmen and Saudi guardsmen, although there are conflicting reports and a final official toll is not available. US President George W. Bush said the attack showed that terrorists were still at large in the oil-rich desert kingdom and the Saudi Government vowed there would be no let up in its fight against Islamic extremists. But there are fears that foreigners could take fright and flee the kingdom, which has seen scores of people killed in a renewed wave of violence since May 2003, despite, a government crackdown. The Saudi branch of Al-Qaida claimed in a website statement that it was behind the attack and said some assailants had managed to flee before security forces regained control of the compound. “Your brothers of the squadron of the martyr Abu Annas al-Shami stormed one of the bastions of the American crusaders in the Arabian peninsula, in Jeddah,” it said.
— AFP |
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Indian among those killed
at Jeddah
Dubai, December 7 Muhammad Basheeruddin, 28, a procurement clerk, was confirmed dead at around 6.30 pm local time. ‘’Since noon, I have been trying to ascertain the fate of my brother,’’ Muhammad’s elder brother Aamer told Saudi Gazette. ‘’Till then his name was shown in the list of injured,’’ he cried. Basheeruddin’s family is in deep shock and his wife is in a state of trauma, one of their relatives said. Basheeruddin, who had joined the Consulate staff 18 months ago.
— UNI |
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Raid underlines threat to Saudi monarchy
The bloody raid by Islamic militants on the American consulate in Jeddah, in which 12 people were killed, has underlined the continuing instability that threatens the Saudi monarchy and its uneasy but vital alliance with the USA.
Though no Americans died in the assault, the carefully planned attack on one of the most heavily protected foreign diplomatic missions in the kingdom shows that an 18-month crackdown by the Saudi authorities has failed to stamp out violent opposition. Speaking after a White House meeting with Iraq’s interim president Ghazi al-Yawer, President Bush said the attack proved that “terrorists are still on the move,” trying to force the US to pull out of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. “They want us to grow timid and weary in the face of their willingness to kill randomly, and kill innocent people,” Mr Bush declared. “That’s why these elections (scheduled for January 30) in Iraq are very important.” The attack, which took three hours to quell, began when assailants threw explosives at the gate of the consulate and then forced their way into the compound and held civilians at gunpoint. In the ensuing gun-battle, at least 12 people were reported dead. The dead included five members of the consulate’s local staff, and four Saudi security personnel. Of the five attackers, three were killed and two captured, the Saudi interior ministry said. In addition several American citizens in the compound suffered light injuries, according to the State Department. “This is not an isolated incident, this is a big deal,” William Cohen, Defence Secretary in the second Clinton administration said, noting that despite the proclaimed crackdown in which hundreds of alleged militants have been killed and arrested, the radical opposition still has the capacity to strike. The Saudis, however, insist that attacks like Monday’s are the desperate gesture of a movement in its death throes. An Interior Ministry statement described the attack as the work of a “deviant bunch,” its standard description for Al-Qaida led by the Saudi-born Osama Bin Laden. But on Islamic militant Web sites, the attack was praised widely, with one contributor hailing what he called “the destruction of a bastion of atheism.” The most serious consequence of the raid, however, could be that the foreigners who play a key role in the Saudi economy, particularly in the oil industry, will be further deterred from staying in the country — exactly as the militants would like. — By arrangement with
The Independent |
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In video:
Tony Blair holds talks with Pervez Musharraf. (
