Karachi/Islamabad, January 23
Former Chief Minister of Pakistan's Baluchistan province, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, has claimed that Pakistani forces are using chemical weapons in Baluchistan.

Mengal, who addressed the media at the Karachi Press Club, backed his claim by showing pictures of Baluch civilians who he said had been hit by chemical weapons.

Further backing his claim of use of chemical weapons Mengal pointed to the pictures and said that " you will note the blood coming out of people's mouth without any injury to their bodies...what does this show...it shows that poisonous gases have been used in the military operation".

Demanding the presence of international mediators to ensure a fair resolution of the dispute between the tribal-dominated province and Islamabad, Mengal, who is presently the President of the Baluchistan National Party (BNP), said the Baluchis are not ready to negotiate with either President General Pervez Musharraf or his hand-picked government.

"Chemical weapons are being used (to resolve the crisis), and a large number of women and children have died as a result," Mengal claimed in an interaction with the media here.

"The parliamentary committee on Baluchistan has failed to assert itself and the Baluch leadership has decided that we would not engage in any sort of dialogue with the military leadership or its representative committees. We can only talk in the presence of an international mediator," Mengal said, while appealing to all countries, "which claim to be an exponent of humanity and peace, to intervene immediately." Mengal's lament was completely endorsed and supported by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which categorically rejected repeated claims by authorities in Islamabad that regular armed forces were not being used to crackdown on people in Baluchistan in the wake of a string of rocket attacks by tribal militants last month.

The HRCP claimed that it had concrete evidence that action by the armed forces had led to the deaths and injuries among civilians" and that "populations had also been subjected to indiscriminate bombing".

"I challenge, I challenge the (Pakistan) government on their statement that there was no bombardment, number one. There was; and local people have confirmed that, or have alleged that. There were credible reports of that.Number two, they say nobody has died because of the conflict there. This is amazing, because if you go there and you find out people have given names and sadly, most of them were children and women," HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir told reporters at a news conference in Islamabad on Sunday.

According to a HRCP report, up to 85 percent of the 22,000 to 26,000-strong population in Baluchistan's Dera Bugti town has fled from their homes after they were repeatedly hit by paramilitary shelling. — ANI

Los Angeles, January 23
Director Ang Lee’s gay-cowboy romance “Brokeback Mountain” solidified its status as the front-runner for the Oscar glory when it was named best picture of the year by the Producers Guild of America.

In 11 of the past 16 years, the winner has gone on take home the academy award for best picture. Last year was an exception with “The Aviator” winning the Producers Guild Award but losing the Oscar race to “Million Dollar Baby.”

Oscar nominations will be announced on January 31 and winners unveiled on March 5 during the 78th annual academy awards.

The other contenders for the Producers Guild Award yesterday were the historical dramas “Capote,” “Walk the Line” and “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and the contemporary ensemble piece “Crash.”

“Brokeback Mountain,” which stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two lovelorn cowboys, led the pack last Monday at the Golden Globe Awards, another Oscar bellwether, winning four awards, including best drama and best director for Lee, a Taiwan native.

In other awards given out by the Producers Guild, “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” was named the year’s best animated movie and HBO’s “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers” was named best made for television film. ABC’s “Lost” was named best television series and HBO’s “Entourage” best television comedy series. Jeff Fager received the producer of the year award for producing CBS’s “60 minutes.” — Reuters

Islamabad, January 23
The Pakistan government has approached Interpol to get self-exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari arrested, as at least 10 cases of alleged corruption against them were pending before the courts, a media report said here today.

The government had approached Interpol to issue red corner notices and warrants against them, Pakistan daily 'The News' reported. There was no official confirmation of the report.

Zardari had been released on bail in 2004 after five years of imprisonment. He is currently in New York convalescing from a heart surgery. Bhutto is reportedly with him.

While the daily said that the government's move to approach Interpol was aimed at dispelling an impression that a deal was in the offing with Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) headed by her said the report was part of the "pressure tactics" to win her support as the political power base of Musharraf was "shrinking" due to his reliance on the "waning" ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

The reports of the government approaching Interpol came in the midst of speculation about back-channel talks between emissaries of Musharraf and Bhutto to work out a political deal to win the support of her party. According to PPP sources, Musharraf wanted Bhutto to permit her party to support him and join the government after the 2007 polls but insist, that she should continue to stay away from Pakistan.

Bhutto on the contrary wanted the government to scrap all cases against her, and also remove clauses in the rules which barred her to contest poll, the sources claimed. She wanted to become the Chairperson of Senate, which was equivalent to the Vice President, according to the sources.—PTI

Colombo, January 23
At least three soldiers were killed and two others wounded in a powerful landmine attack in eastern Sri Lanka today as Norway’s peace envoy arrived here to save the tottering truce, officials said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out the attack in Batticaloa, a military official in the area said. He said the victims were looking for mines along the road, when the blast took place.

The latest attack raised to 149 the number of persons killed in a fresh wave of violence since December.

The explosion came as Norway’s top peace envoy Erik Solheim arrived here in a bid to jump start the island’s stalled peace process and salvage a troubled truce amid fears that the island could slip back to full-scale war.

Hours before Solheim landed at the island’s only international airport, LTTE’s London-based chief negotiator Anton Balasingham also arrived to join talks with Solheim.

Solheim travels to the LTTE-held Kilinochchi on Wednesday for talks with Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The Norwegian-led truce monitoring mission warned this month that war may not be far away and shut down operations in the northeastern district of Trincomalee for two days.

Solheim is also due to meet with the visiting US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns today. The two men are expected to exert pressure on the LTTE to halt their attacks and resume talks.

Burns will have no direct talks with Tigers as they are bannd by the USA, but Solheim is due to meet Prabhakaran on Wednesday before leaving the island on Thursday.

AP ADDS: Later, suspected rebels threw a grenade at a police post in eastern Sri Lanka, wounding one policeman, local Deputy Inspector General of Police Rohan Abahayagunawardena said.

The grenade exploded just outside the police post and two other policemen who were inside the post were unhurt, he said. — PTI

Tribune News Service
The year 2005 proved to be the most dangerous year on record for journalists working not only in the Asia-Pacific region but also worldwide, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) annual report into the killing of media staff.

“2005 was a year of tragedy and the targeting of journalists in the Asia-Pacific region,” said IFJ President Christopher Warren. Of the 150 journalists and media workers killed in 2005, some 36 were from the Asia-Pacific region.

The Philippines once again earned its place as the most dangerous Asia-Pacific country for journalists to work in with 10 killings, second only to war-torn Iraq where 35 media workers were killed. South Asia is the most dangerous region within the Asia-Pacific, with journalists being killed in Afghanistan (2), Bangladesh (3), India (3), Pakistan ( 6), Sri Lanka (4), Sri Lanka (4) and Nepal (2).

The massive earthquake that struck South Asia was responsible for the deaths of three journalists.

Worldwide, some 61 journalists and media workers were killed when disaster struck while on assignment — 48 of them alone in a Teheran plane crash where questions are being asked about the safety of the military aircraft in which they were travelling.

The IFJ report says that around 89 journalists and media people were killed “ in the line of duty” — many assassinated by ruthless killers working for political gangs or criminals.

The report says more than 90 per cent of these cases do not result in serious investigations by authorities with only a handful of the killers are ever brought to trial. A combination of police corruption, judicial incompetence and political indifference creates a culture of neglect when it comes to media deaths, says the IFJ.

The IFJ has called for action by the United Nations Security Council and has pressed Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mobilises governments to act against the targeting and killing of journalists.

Peshawar, January 23
The Blauchistan Assembly has demanded the expulsion of the US ambassador to Islamabad today, more than a week after the US airstrike killed 13 persons in a border village.

The lawmakers in the provincial capital of Peshawar unanimously passed a resolution calling for Ambassador Ryan Crocker to be expelled.

It also condemned the January 13 attack and demanded an apology from the USA for the destruction of three homes in Damadola, which Pakistani and US officials said were the location of an Al-Qaida gathering.

The resolution is unlikely to move the federal government to accept such a demand. — AP