 |
|
|
UK Bomb Scare
Lal Masjid stand-off
3 imprisoned for running terror websites
|
|
|
Pak oppn leaders converge in London
Clinton too talks of Gandhigiri
Birthday Celebrations
Honour for Peter Bhatia
|
|
Australian cops search hospitals
Canberra, July 6 Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said four Indian doctors had been interviewed and released, while another Indian doctor in New South Wales state was also being looked at in an investigation now spanning the country. "The people we are trying to talk to at the moment, we are trying to gather evidence or information about the network, about who is linked to who and whether in fact anybody has committed any criminal offence," Keelty said. "We've seized similar material to what we have seized in Queensland," he said of the raids conducted on a hospital in Perth, and another in the gold mining city of Kalgoorlie. On Thursday a court judge in Queensland granted Australian police and a senior British counter-terrorism officer an extra 96 hours to question Mohamed Haneef, detained in Brisbane on Monday as he tried to leave the country, under anti-terrorism laws. Keelty said investigators were gathering information on Haneef, 27, before resuming 12 hours of formal questioning on Monday. The doctors questioned were migrant Indian doctors, he said. The police is examining more than 30,000 files on Haneef's laptop computer and a Sim card mobile phone device he left with one of the British bomb suspects. "We are largely focusing on the high-tech material, computer files, and obviously they take some time to work through, particularly if they are in a foreign language," Keelty told journalists. Permission to extend Haneef's interrogation came as the hospital authorities in Western Australia (WA) said two suspects in the suspected Al-Qaida car bomb plot in Britain had applied to work as doctors in the state. Brothers Sabeel Ahmed, 26, and Kafeel Ahmed, 27, had applied for work but were rejected over reference concerns, said Dr Geoff Dobbs, WA president of the Australian Medical Association. WA Premier Alan Carpenter said the investigation in his state appeared to have been largely routine. "There has been nothing found so far that would suggest any sinister connection between what happened in the UK and here in Perth. The operation is routine," he said. Keelty said no one had yet been charged, describing the investigation as difficult and complex, spanning three Australian states and internationally. But any prosecutions would occur in Britain, he said, meaning Haneef was likely to be extradited if the police laid charges against him. — PTI
|
|
Lal Masjid stand-off Security forces continued on Friday to mount pressure on the beleaguered Lal Masjid clerics and students with heavy gunfire, shelling and mortar fire amid crumbling resistance from armed militants who have reportedly retreated to basements of the mosque and the adjacent seminar Jamia Hafsa. Deputy chief cleric Ghazi Abdul Rashid during telephonic talk with TV channels from his hiding place, appeared resigned to his fate and vowed to accept “martyrdom” after government rejected his offer to come out along with his elderly mother if allowed to shift to a place of his choice. Government said Ghazi must surrender unconditionally and face the due process of law on cases against him. It assured that he would not be humiliated or tortured and could even be released on bail. Troops banged the seminary premises with heavy fire, demolishing its outer wall and part of the roof top twice during the day, in morning and evening, after a pause of about seven hour as part of a strategy to flush out inmates warning them to give up fight. Several heavy explosions were heard around the mosque and the seminary as dense clouds of smoke billowed over the building. Officials said the government is holding back final assault on the basements where militants have taken shelter, apparently along with students, including girls and boys, believed to be made hostages and used as human shield. Apart from concern for security of these hostages, government action was stymied by apprehensions that the militants might set off powerful explosives in a suicidal attempt to blast themselves and blow us the attacking troops. Interior minister Aftab Sherpao did not rule out the presence of some foreign militants with Al-Qaeda ties. Religious affairs minister Ejazul Haq said Ghazir. The Lal Masjid standoff was further dramatised by reports that rockets were fired from an empty house in a locality close to Islamabad, on President Musharraf’s plane when he flew to Balochistan to visit the flood affected areas. Army spokesman refuted the reports but officials acknowledged that the police and security agents had cordoned off the area. The spokesman said both incidents had no nexus with the ongoing Lal Masjid operation.
|
||
|
3 imprisoned for running terror websites
London, July 6 Morocco-born Younis Tsouli, 23, who prosecutors said had uploaded guides to building suicide vests on to the Internet, used the online ID "irhabi007" -- the Arabic word for terrorist and the code name of the fictional British spy. With accomplices Tariq al-Daour and Waseem Mughal — who were also jailed yesterday — Tsouli offered advice and motivation to would-be terrorists on a myriad of web pages run from their London homes, prosecutors said. Despite the similarities to the methods allegedly used by eight doctors suspected of attempting car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow last week, police officials said they have found no links between the two groups. —
AP
|
|
Pak oppn leaders converge in London Top leaders of all but one opposition party, democratic groups and civil society activists have converged in London for the All-party Conference (APC) convened by former premier Nawaz Sharif. The meet, convened to devise a common strategy on vital issues confronting the nation, comes at a crucial juncture of Pakistani politics. Former PM Benazir Bhutto, who has been in covert contacts with President Gen Pervez Musharraf to strike a secret power-sharing deal, has declined to attend but named a panel of second string leaders to represent her Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Maulana Fazlur Rehamn, secretary general of Muttahida Majlise Amal (MMA), who earlier appeared to be a doubtful participant, left here this morning for London along with more enthusiastic supporter of the APC and chief of the MMA, Qazi Hussain Ahmed. Cricketing legend and an ardent supporter of APC Imran Khan, nationalist leaders Asfandyar Wali Khan and Mehmood Khan Achakzai and others have also reached the UK capital. The all-party conference is being held against the backdrop of Musharraf’s removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, a countrywide upsurge of popular spontaneous popular reaction to the dismissal, the May 12 slaughter in Karachi to block his rally, the imminent verdict on his constitutional petitions in the Supreme Court and the bloody drama underway in Islamabad as a result of operation against defiant clerics of Lal Masjid. A vital issue to be discussed is to formalize a united front of all democratic forces against Musharraf and the mode of public campaign to oust him from power. Though most opposition parties want Bhutto to attend, a dominant view taking shape would seek to go ahead with the goals even if she disagrees, hoping it would alienate her from mainstream politics and popular will. Sources close to Nawaz Sharif said a last-minute surprise participation by Bhutto cannot be ruled out. The government has temporarily been successful to deflect attention from the APC and the judicial crisis by launching an operation against Lal Masjid but opposition leaders say its devious tactics are fully exposed.
|
|
Clinton too talks of Gandhigiri Washington, July 6 Clinton told delegates at the annual Telugu Association of North America here, "It is the central challenge to the 21st century world. It is about identity, how you define your life in relation to others," he said. "Gandhi understood this. He had a vision of India which was heartbreaking in the beginning -- Pakistan separates. Gandhi knew from the depths of his soul," he said. Clinton also did some fund raising for his wife Hillary, the top Democratic candidate seeking the party nomination.
— PTI
|
|
|
Gyanendra pleads for security
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu Nepal’s King Gyanendra asked the government to provide adequate security during his diamond jubilee birthday celebrations this weekend after student and youth organisations aligned with the eight political parties in the interim government warned of foiling the party. According to a Home Ministry spokesperson Baman Prasad Neupane, the royal palace has asked for security arrangement for the Narayanhiti royal palace on July 8, where the main birthday celebration will take place. “It is a normal practice of sending letter to the Home Ministry and we have asked the district security committee to make the necessary arrangements in this regard,” he said. Meanwhile, chief security officer at the royal palace, Col. Raj Kumar Khadka, has asked the chief of army staff division to arrange for necessary security by establishing coordination among the Kathmandu District Administration, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and National Intelligence Department. On Thursday, youth wings of eight-party alliance had announced to carry out rallies to prevent the people from joining the King Gyanendra’s birthday celebrations. Meanwhile, the government and high-level officials including leaders of eight-party alliance and lawmakers in the interim parliament have also decided to boycott the celebrations.
|
|
Honour for Peter Bhatia
New York, July 6 Bhatia, whose journalistic career spans more than three decades, is the executive editor of 'The Oregonian' newspaper published from Portland in Oregon State. The Hall of Fame recognises veteran US journalists who helped shape coverage of South Asia, as well as pioneering South Asian journalists for their contributions to the US media. —
PTI
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Videos
(
