President Gen Musharraf believes a civilian government on its own cannot handle the militancy situation.

“Only a unified command can take on the forces of terrorism and extremism”, Gen Musharraf told editors and senior journalists in a special briefing here while justifying his decision to stay in power as a president in uniform.

He acknowledged that there is a “definite need” for “a joint effort” (with politicians) in which a military-president can effectively use the security forces in the troubled areas.

In the past Musharraf has explained his favourite concept of “unity of command” as an arrangement in which military, executive and legislative authority is wielded from one source adding that military government will be more effective in weeding out militancy.

He said the country was in open war with Islamic militants, who have launched a spate of suicide attacks in recent days. Suicide bombings and other related incidents in the country have clearly drawn the battle lines between the forces of moderation and extremism, he said.

He added, “We are in direct confrontation with extremist forces. It is moderates versus extremists. We have to attack the source where suicide bombers are sprouting. We have a fair idea of who is behind that, we must attack those who sponsor them,” he said.

Musharraf said in order to do that he would prefer to get re-elected from the present assemblies and that too without doffing his uniform. “Yes, I will remain the way I am,” he said while pointing towards his military uniform.

He observed that it was not possible to fight terrorism without the armed forces being on-board. “You can’t fight against extremism without being in power,” he asserted.

But he insisted that he wants this power not because of any personal ambitions but to serve the country. “I have had no ambition, no ego in whole of my life,” he said and also debunked allegations from certain quarters that he was anti-religion. “I have a moderate view of religion,” he asserted.

The President said the biggest challenge for the government now is to effectively block the rising tide of Talibanisation from the tribal region to the country’s settled areas.

There were three ways to curb extremism; one, straight away bombarding their hideouts and killing them; two, cordoning off the hideouts and searching the area; and three, intelligence gathering. “ We are going for the third option,” he observed.

To combat terrorism in NWFP, particularly regions adjacent to the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan, two Army divisions have been moved to assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order when needed and in training the law enforcement agencies of the province, including police.

He said it has been done on the request of Chief Minister Akram Durrani, who, he said, was fully on board.

The President said Pakistan was facing three kinds of enemies; namely, Al-Qaida, militant Taliban and Talibanisation. Referring to statements by US officials and media that Al-Qaida reinforced itself following a peace agreement with Pakistan forces in September last year, Musharraf said, “I don’t agree that Al-Qaida is gaining strength. They are on the run. Our constraint is that we don’t fully bombard their hideouts because of the massive collateral damage. We resort to only target killing,” he explained.

Referring to cross-border terrorism the President said, “We have stopped cross-border movement from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Whatever, but it nearly doesn’t exist.”

He further said the Afghan government is happy over our proposal of fencing the Pak-Afghan border. The real issue, he said, is Talibanisation, which is affecting our society.

“Many of Taliban are with us. Some of them are double-crossing us,” he revealed but did not elaborate.

Answering a question whether he ordered operation against Lal Masjid under US pressure, the President said,” I wasn’t under any pressure to launch the operation. For the last six months, no American has exerted any pressure.

“They (Americans) are concerned about their interests. I’m concerned with the interest of my own country,” he observed adding,” Americans should accept some brunt of the problem.”

He said he told American, “We are not with you if you are not concerned about our sensitivities. We have our inner self-respect. We will take everybody on-board. We are not here to play your game.

We are here to protect our country.” He vehemently rejected the notion that he was somebody’s poodle and said he does not take dictation from anybody.

The 13-member full Bench of the Supreme Court today deferred till tomorrow the pronouncement of verdict in the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s constitutional petition challenging his suspension.

The court decided against allowing extended time to CJ’s lead counsel Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan to conclude his rebuttal of arguments by government counsel beyond normal court hours today. Instead, it asked Ahsan to take less than an hour on Friday.

“We intend to pass a short order for which we need some time for consultation,” presiding judge, Justice Khalil Ramday, told Ahsan while reminding him that Friday was half day for the court.

The authorities have made stringent security arrangements on the Supreme Court premises in anticipation of the verdict.

Rebutting the government contention, Aitzaz Ahsan said the government had failed to respond to Iftikhar’s affidavit and that amply proved the mala fide intention in sending the presidential reference against him. The reference had relied on the statements of intelligence chiefs in support of allegations against the suspended Chief Justice that carry no legal basis. The President had no authority to suspend the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice is not above accountability but his impeachment could not be done by junior judges.

He said there was no explanation to Iftikhar’s assertion that he was forcible kept in the army house for five hours on March 9 during which intelligence agencies pressurised him to resign. For next four days the Chief Justice remained confined to his house and was not allowed to consult even his lawyers.

In a related development the suspended Chief Justice’s defence counsel told a news conference that there was no basis in government’s claim that a suicide bomber had caused the blast in the Chief Justice’s meeting here on Tuesday. They said eyewitnesses, including the injured and even a wounded security official, had contested the government’s attempt to label the explosion as a suicide bombing.

Pakistani businessmen recommended by different chambers of commerce and industry would be provided with visas within 24 hours on urgent basis, Indian high commissioner Satyabrata Pal has said.

Talking to traders at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Pal said medical visas would also be issued immediately to Pakistanis seeking treatment in any hospital of India.

The envoy said Pakistan could export 140 million tons of cement to India annually as its demand is growing very rapidly.

“ India is currently also facing shortfall of wheat and we need five million tons wheat,” he said, and added that over 60 per cent of population in both countries was linked with agriculture, so there was a lot of potential for enhanceinf bilateral cooperation in this field.

He said in tourism sector the two countries could earn of foreign exchange. Last year 100,000 Indian tourists visited Pakistan, he added.

According to him, both countries can overcome the energy crisis with the help of nuclear energy, which is the best way for power generation as coal energy is disaster for the environment.

Pal said a large number of foreign companies were investing in India, and Pakistani investors would also be welcomed. He said both countries were still rural economies and improved relations between them would make the life easier for the common people.

London, July 19
A Jordanian doctor has been charged in connection with foiled car bomb plots in London and Glasgow, the police said today.

Mohammed Jamil Asha, 26, was charged with conspiracy to cause explosions, a police spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, in line with force policy.

Asha was detained on a northern England highway on June 30. His wife, Marwa Asha, was arrested on the same date, but later released.

Asha is the fourth person to be charged since a pair of cars packed with gas cylinders and nails were found in central London on June 29.

The next day, two men crashed a flaming Jeep Cherokee loaded with gas canisters and gasoline into security barriers at Glasgow airport's main terminal.

Asha will appear in a London court tomorrow. In Jordan, Jamil Asha — Asha's father — said he had no comment, and Jordanian officials also declined comment. — AP

Moscow, July 19
In a tit-for-tat move, Russia today expelled four British diplomats and declared that it will not entertain visa applications by British government officials.

The Russian move came in reaction to London’s decision earlier this week to expel four Russian diplomats and imposition of curbs on visas for the Russian officials.

This came after Moscow refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, a prime suspect in the murder of former KGB-officer and British citizen Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. — PTI

London, July 19
Voting for the two by-elections in Ealing Southall — better known as Little India — and Sedgefield began on Thursday morning with police investigating complaints that trends in postal ballots for the former had been leaked on the Internet.

The by-election in Ealing Southall, in west London, was triggered by the death of Labour’s Piara Singh Khabra on June 19. The Sedgefield constituency in Durham county goes to the polls following the resignation of Tony Blair as prime minister and MP.

The Sedgefield seat is considered ultra-safe for the Labour Party, but Conservative and Liberal Democrats have poured in large resources to challenge Labour in Ealing Southall, where the “robust” campaigning had echoes of a colourful Indian election.

The two by-elections are the first since Gordon Brown took over as prime minister. A Labour victory in both will contribute to ongoing discussions within the party of capitalising on the high ratings enjoyed by Brown to call an early general election.

The three leading candidates in Ealing Southall are Virendra Sharma (Labour), Tony Lit (Conservative) and Nigel Bakhai (Liberal Democrat).

Hours before voting began in Ealing Southall, the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation following complaints that results and trends of postal ballots had been leaked on the Internet by a ‘Conservative source’.

A posting on a Daily Telegraph website — subsequently withdrawn — claimed that the Tories were neck and neck with Labour and the Liberal Democrats trailing in third place, about five points behind.

It is possible for campaign headquarters to get a sense of the results of postal voting, but it is a breach of electoral law to communicate this information because it can influence voters going to the polls.

Anyone found guilty of leaking such information can face six months in prison. The Telegraph site quoted a source in the Conservative campaign saying that, based on the process of verifying the postal ballots, the result was likely to be close. — IANS

London, July 19
Four men were sentenced to four to six years in jail today by a UK court for incitement to murder during protests outside the Danish embassy in London against publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad last year.

Mizanur Rahman, 24, Umran Javed, 27, and Abdul Muhid, 24, were each jailed for six years for soliciting murder after telling a crowd to bomb the UK.

A fourth man, Abdul Saleem, 32, was jailed for four years for stirring up racial hatred at the protest.

The men, from London and Birmingham, were convicted at the Old Bailey court. Judge Brian Barker said their words had been designed to encourage murder and terrorism.

The judge told the defendants, "Freedoms of speech and assembly have long been jealously guarded by our laws. With freedom comes respect and responsibility, none of which was demonstrated by you.

"The jury have found in the case of three of you, your words and behaviour were designed to encourage any young and impressionable person to perform a terrorist act in the name of religion with the indiscriminate carnage with which we are all too familiar," the judge said.

The British men had insisted they were not the prime movers in the demonstration and denied having extremist views.

About 300 protestors marched outside the Danish embassy in February last year after the cartoons were published in newspapers in Denmark and other European countries.

Outside the sentencing hearing, a group of around 40 demonstrators waved placards with slogans including "Muslims Under Siege". — Reuters

New York, July 19
Panic gripped the city after an underground pipe carrying steam at high pressure burst in midtown Manhattan, killing one and injuring 20 others, two of them seriously.

The explosion with a huge roar, which occurred last evening, sent geyser of scalding steam, water, mud and debris high above the 77-storey Chrysler building, one of the tallest structures in the city.

Hundreds of people ran from the scene in panic, dropping their handbags, brief cases and some without shoes apparently believing it might a terrorist act.

But authorities moved quickly to assure that it was due to a pipe burst, something Manhattan has seen earlier too.

“There is no reason to believe whatsoever that this is anything other than a failure of infrastructure,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters at the accident site within an hour of workers shutting off the steam.

“A 24-inch steam pipe installed in 1924 burst with explosion most likely to be caused by introduction of cold water in the pipe,” he said.

Thousands of people from the nearby building were evacuated, police closed more than 2 square kilometers area, underground local train services were suspended on several routes and bus services disrupted at the height of evening rush hour.

Commuters ran out of the multi-level Grand Central train station, used by tens of thousands every day, as workers shouted instructions that all leave the terminal.

Millions of pounds of steam are pumped through underground pipes in the city every hour, heating or cooling thousands of buildings.

The area where the pipe burst, has high rise office and residential buildings.

It was unclear when the residents would be allowed back as the engineers were examining the structure integrity. Window panes had cracked on the multi-storey buildings in the vicinity of the explosion. — PTI