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Group within ISI working against Pervez: Minister
China rejects US appeal to cut off oil supply to N. Korea
Blair keeps Brown, Straw in Cabinet
Trimble loses as Northern
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US anti-ship missiles
for Pak
4 Americans among 17 dead in Baghdad
Three blasts rock Myanmar capital
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Group within ISI working against Pervez: Minister
Islamabad, May 7 “There is an ISI within the ISI, former more powerful than the original. They were the godfathers of the Taliban who attacked President Musharraf. Only Army personnel can do this. A third attempt on President Musharraf’s life is possible. These are the people who are the enemies of Musharraf,” Mr Amir Liaqat Hussain, Minister of State for Religious Affairs, said. Asked to substantiate his allegation, he said “yes there is plenty of evidence. For example look at the tone and tenor of (Islamist Alliance) Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed. From where does he derive the confidence to claim that he would have
Mush raff kicked out of the army very soon. He got some people behind him,” he said in an interview to ‘Daily Times.’ Mr Hussain pointed to assertions by President Musharraf that Pakistan faced more internal threats than external ones. “President Musharraf has on a number of occasions told the nation that the real threat to the country was from within. Which means that there exists an internal threat, far greater than the outer one. Well, internal includes the Army.” “A third attempt on President Mr Musharraf’s life is also possible. There are people who are enemies of Musharraf. They will not spare me either. My life is in danger too. President Musharraf should be careful about his life. He has enemies within,” Mr Hussain, who belongs to the Sind-based Muthahida Quami Movement (MQM), party said.
— PTI |
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China rejects US appeal to cut off oil supply to N. Korea
A
senior U.S. envoy asked Chinese officials last week to cut off North Korea's supply of oil as a way of pressuring the government to return to disarmament talks. But the Chinese rebuffed the idea, saying it would damage their pipeline, according to U.S. officials briefed on the talks.
After Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill raised the idea of a ``technical'' interruption of fuel at a meeting in Beijing on April 26, one senior Chinese official, Yang Xiyu, complained that the Americans were focused on too narrow a range of tools for China to influence Pyongyang. Chinese officials suggested that cutting off food deliveries would have the greatest impact on Pyongyang, and indicated Beijing was considering expanding a ban on certain imports to North Korea. But they did not elaborate on their comments or indicate that any action was forthcoming, U.S. officials said. Hill's push for a Chinese fuel cutoff is part of an escalating struggle between North Korea and the United States that has raised tensions. North Korea in February announced it was a nuclear power and said it would not return to the six-nation talks on its nuclear
programmes — which now have not taken place for 11 months — because of the Bush administration's ``hostile policy.'' U.S. officials have responded with increasingly dark warnings about North Korean threats and behavior, including suggesting two weeks ago that North Korea may be laying the groundwork for its first nuclear test. “They are escalating as we speak,'' said one senior U.S. official on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It is becoming much more tense.'' Signifying the divide between Washington and Pyongyang, Chinese officials also told Hill about an unofficial North Korean proposal for ending the impasse that even Beijing deemed unrealistic. The North Korean idea called for a secret bilateral meeting between the United States and North Korea, during which the United States would privately apologize for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comment that North Korea was an ``outpost of tyranny.'' After that secret session, North Korea would consider returning to six-nation negotiations. "It was not a serious effort to advance the process,'' said another U.S. official familiar with the North Korean approach. China provides much of North Korea's energy and food, and has boosted trade with its neighbour by 20 per cent in the past year. With relations between Washington and Pyongyang at a nadir — North Korea labeled President Bush a ``philistine and a hooligan'' last weekend — U.S. officials have increasingly turned to China to help bring North Korea back to the negotiating table. But China's apparent reluctance to put additional pressure on Pyongyang, even though Chinese officials regularly complain about North Korean behavior, has deeply frustrated U.S. officials. — By arrangement with the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post |
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Blair keeps Brown, Straw in Cabinet
London, May 7 Mr Geoff Hoon would leave the Defence Ministry, to be replaced by Health Minister John Reid, officials said. In turn, Mr Reid’s job would be filled by Trade Minister Patricia Hewitt. Mr Hoon, criticised over the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq, would become the government’s leader in Parliament. In what was probably the crucial move of Britain’s election campaign, Mr Blair promised Mr Brown he would remain as Chancellor of the Exchequer, acknowledging his popularity in the Labour Party and with the public. “The Prime Minister’s view is that this reshuffle puts key reformers in key public service departments and represents the Chancellor and the Prime Minister working closely together,” Mr Blair’s spokesman told reporters. Mr Straw had been thought to be vulnerable but was untouched. He helped persuade Mr Blair to promise a referendum on the European Union’s constitution next year, a vote that looks tough to win given Britain’s eurosceptic public. If Mr Blair fails to persuade the public to back the constitution, it could fatally undermine his grip on power. — Reuters
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Trimble loses as Northern
The
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was the biggest casualty in swing to the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party as the more moderate parties were squeezed out by the Republican and Unionist extremes.
Mr Trimble lost Upper Bann, which he has held since 1990, to the DUP's David Simpson, who taunted him that the era of "pushover Unionism is over". Mr Simpson had a majority of more than 5,000. The defeat of the Nobel Peace Prize winner is expected to signal the end of his turbulent political career, which saw several spells as Northern Ireland's First Minister in an administration which included Sinn Fein. Gains by the DUP and Sinn Fein left the two parties in effective control of the political landscape as the Ulster Unionists collapsed and the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party only just survived. The results confirmed the impression that the Ulster Unionist Party was badly organised while the DUP has fashioned itself into a professional electoral machine. On the nationalist side, Sinn Fein confirmed its lead over the SDLP, its long-time rival, although the SDLP pulled off an unexpected victory in South Belfast with the election of Alasdair McDonnell. Mr McDonnell, who has been fighting the seat unsuccessfully for many years, benefited from a split in the Unionist vote. UUP and DUP candidates shared 16,000 votes, the SDLP man taking the seat with 10,000. The two Unionist parties blamed each other for the loss of a traditionally Unionist seat to a nationalist party. — The Independent |
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US anti-ship missiles
for Pak Washington, May 7 The US Defence Security Cooperation Agency which handles foreign arms sales for the Pentagon, informed the Congress of a possible sale to Pakistan of 40 AGM-84L and 20 RGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $ 180 million. — PTI
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4 Americans among 17 dead in Baghdad
Baghdad, May 7 “According to the latest toll, there are 13 Iraqi civilians killed and four foreigners whose bodies were completely charred,” the official said. He added that at least 33 Iraqis were also wounded in the blast, among them women and children. “According to the badges we found, they are Americans,” said medic Khaled Ibrahim. A US officer on the scene confirmed that the four were US citizens. The bodies of the four foreigners, presumed to be security guards, were completely charred inside the wreckage of their vehicles.
— AFP |
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Three blasts rock Myanmar capital
Yangon, May 7 “A bomb exploded at the Yangon Trade Centre where Thailand has organised the biannual Thailand exhibition,” a Thai diplomat in Yangon said. A stall owner at the trade centre said there were “many casualties” when a bomb went off at about 3:00 pm (1430 IST) on the building’s crowded third floor as a fashion show was being held. “There were many people there, and there were many casualties but I cannot confirm how many,” the stall owner said. In the third blast at a shopping centre near Junction 8, a road junction 13 km north of the city, a source at the scene said “casualties are inevitable” after a bomb blast rocked the building near a supermarket entrance.
— AFP |
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Jolie doesn’t want Pak refugee camps relocated
Islamabad, May 7 “I don’t think it is a good idea,” she told the media at a press conference when asked to comment on remarks by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf about relocating the camps. President Musharraf told the Hollywood star yesterday of his proposals to push UN-maintained camps in Pakistan over the border back into Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said, but did not say why Pakistan wanted to move the camps. “The President reiterated the proposal that... rather than the UNHCR maintaining refugees camps in Pakistan, along the border areas, these should be relocated within Afghanistan,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. Moving the refugees camps in certain areas of Pakistan to Afghanistan would add to people’s suffering, Jolie said. Many of those in the camps had been living there for years. The Oscar-winning US actress has been in Pakistan since Wednesday on a four-day mission to focus world attention on the plight of more than three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A joint Pakistan-UN census on Monday said more than three million Afghans were still sheltering in Pakistan, 25 years after war forced them to flee their native land. Islamabad has so far repatriated 2.3 million Afghans under a three-way agreement among the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Pakistan and Afghanistan. But many have made new lives for themselves in Pakistan and show little desire to return to Afghanistan. — AFP
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