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Pak Poll
Zardari wants to be Pak’s Sonia
PPP objects to slander campaign against Zardari
‘If a Bhutto must run PPP, why not Fatima?’
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Bhutto’s medical report fraught with lacunae: Experts
Safe from hackers, Pak electoral rolls in Canada
UK sleuths interview cops posted at Bhutto rally
Democrats agree on right to pursue Osama in Pak
LTTE intelligence chief killed
Lanka in urgent need of monitors, says rights group
37 LTTE men, 2 soldiers killed
UN agencies to provide aid to displaced Kenyans
‘Corrupt US officials helped Pak steal N-weapons secret’
14 killed in Baghdad blasts
Britney released from hospital
Brown hints at taking ‘tough’ decisions
Hindu Temples in Malaysia
Malaysian employers mistreated us: Indians
Nepal army chief against Maoist fighters in army
Sex Tape
Fresh offensive against militants in Swat
US storms claim 3 lives
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Pak Poll
President Pervez Musharraf has said that elections would be held on February 18 at every cost adding that any further deferment of elections was ruled out.
“Elections were postponed in the face of deteriorating law and order situation. However, these will take place on February 18 at every cost. Any possibility of the deferment of poll stands ruled out”, he said in an interview with Columbia Broadcasting Service here. He urged the political parties to extend cooperation to the government assuring elections would take place in fair and transparent manner. Democratic process will return to country what he had pledged to the nation, he added. Responding to a question, he said Pakistan would continue its war on terror as it was in its own interest. Back of terrorists had been broken in Swat and normalcy was returning there, he told. Assistance of army and rangers would be sought to ensure law and order during Muharram and general election, he added. Replying to a question, he said he was profoundly shocked over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The nation is still in shock, he added. Scotland Yard team has reached the country to ascertain the causes leading to killing of Benazir Bhutto. The team has started its work, he said adding that no interference would be made in the work of visiting Scotland Yard. “We will remain neutral during the investigation”. He went on to say that every possible help would be provided to team. It will be free to investigate people. The team would have access to all sites so that causes of the assassination of Bhutto could be brought to light as I also wanted to know about the elements behind her killing, he added. Meanwhile, former PM Shaukat Aziz and President Musharraf met here on Saturday and discussed the prevailing political, social and economic situation along with the situation arising in the aftermath of murder of Bhutto. During the one-hour talk, Aziz declared Benazir’s murder as a national tragedy for Pakistan. He said country was in dire need of solidarity and harmony.
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Zardari wants to be Pak’s Sonia
London, January 6 “If our party wins a majority in next month’s elections, I will not take a Cabinet post but will act like Sonia Gandhi, as an advisory figure without a seat in Parliament,” the PPP leader, who was made the party’s co-chairman following the assassination of his wife, said in an interview published in The Sunday Times today. At the same time, he expressed his apprehensions about the election being held at all. “We don’t have any faith that there will be elections. They might make another huge incident. Anyone could be a target,” he said. The elections, which were earlier scheduled for January 8, were put off till February 18 following Bhutto’s assassination on December 27 and the ensuing violence that left scores of people dead. Zardari said the night before Benazir Bhutto was assassinated he had begged his wife on the phone to stop holding election rallies and let him take her place. “She had just addressed this public meeting in Peshawar where they’d caught this suicide bomber,” Zardari said. “I told her, for God’s sake be careful, but she said, “What can I do? I have to go and meet my people.” I pleaded with her: You stay home and I’ll go do the rallies. You’re the mother”. “I always used to tell her that as long as the queen bee is alive we workers will always live... but I guess it wasn’t so...,” Zardari said. That telephone call was to be the couple’s last conversation. Zardari said, “After she survived the Karachi bus bombing (on her return from eight years in exile last October), we were all of the opinion that she was superwoman and could survive anything, but it turns out she wasn’t.” Zardari was speaking at Bhutto’s ancestral home in Naudero, in rural Sindh province, where he flew with her body nine days ago to bury her in the mausoleum that she had built for her father and brothers, all of whom have been killed. He explained that the document read last Sunday to the central committee of the PPP, naming him as her successor, was only her political will. “There’s this whole handwritten document in which she even says who to give her clothes and shoes to, which servant to give what to the trust she wanted set up and how it should be run.” Zardari had been unaware that she had drawn it up. “The day her remains came to Naudero a person came from Dubai and said, “I have this document that madam left with me.” The will was dated October 16, two days before Bhutto had returned to Pakistan. “That was the day she’s been warned not to go back and she wrote that letter to President (Pervez) Musharraf showing her apprehensions about certain people.” The message that she left for the party asked for the leadership to pass to Zardari until it can be run by their son Bilawal. Aged only 19, Bilawal will return to Christ Church, Oxford, this week, for his second term as an undergraduate and has freely admitted that he was more interested in Facebook and movies than politics. It is his youngest sister Asifa, 14, who has always said that she wants to follow in her mother's footsteps to be prime minister. Zardari said, “It’s very hard as a father. But how can you stop a tradition where so many people have knowingly given their lives as she did.?” Zardari is convinced that Bilawal will grow into the job as Benazir - known as Bibi - did after her father, the former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was ousted in a military coup in 1977 and hanged two years later. Asked if he denied ever taking kickbacks on government contracts, Zardari retorted: “Why should I do it? If one was to do that then one would stay with them because then there wouldn’t be any inquisitions or accountability processes. “They were always offering me deals. If money was what I was interested in, all I had to do was say: thank you Bibi, I’m off. And I could have had whatever I wanted.” Zardari has no doubt who he thinks is behind his wife’s assassination. He referred to an e-mail she sent to Mark Siegel, a Washington lobbyist, which was to be read in the event of her death and which pointed the finger directly at Musharraf.
— PTI
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PPP objects to slander campaign against Zardari
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has drawn attention of the Election Commission to the smear campaign unleashed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) against Asif Zardari.
The PPP further alleged that former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi was engaged in fomenting ethnic hatred in speeches at corner meetings and advertisements in the media. He was also insinuating that Asif Zardari plotted the murder of Benazir Bhutto to capture the party. A senior party leader, Khalid Kharal, said the PML-Q leadership was engaged in a very dangerous game at a time when anger was seething across the country in general and Sindh in particular against Bhutto’s assassination. He said the PPP was trying to calm the situation and sentiments in Sindh in order to save the federation. Kharal said the Bhuttos had stood for integrity and solidarity of the country and marginalised the separatist elements in Sindh during the past 40 years. Benazir Bhutto was universally recognised as the bond in the unity of all four federating units. Leading newspapers in their editorial comments had also expressed concern over the PML’s campaign and called for sanity in the election campaign. English daily The Nation said it was highly unbecoming of the PML-Q leadership to target Asif Zardari at a time of his extreme grief. Analysts here said the PML-Q had planned to assail Zardari’s past in its election campaign. It was portraying him as a Sindhi leader taking advantage of ethnic prejudices to oust Punjabi settlers from the provinces. The PML-Q has set up centres to help those settlers who had fled recent violence in Sindh in the aftermath of Bhutto’s murder. At an official meeting of the party’s provincial assembly ticket holders, PML-Q Punjab chief Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi directed the party’s candidates to resume their election campaigns, which were suspended after Benazir’s killing, on an anti-Zardari and anti-Shahbaz Sharif line. The new slogans devised for the PML-Q election campaign are: “We want Quaid’s Pakistan not Zardari, the plunderer’s Pakistan,” and “Save Pakistan from Zardari”. Panel to assess losses during riots formed
Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro has formed a commission to assess losses incurred during riots that erupted after the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto on December 27. According to an interior ministry notification,the commission will comprise inspectors- general of police of the provinces and representatives of the home and revenue departments.The commission will submit its report to the government within 30 days. The Sindh province was in the grip of rioting, arson, looting and killing immediately after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27.Lawlessness prevailed for the next four days without law enforcement agencies making any attempt to stop the violence. The army was moved later to restore peace. It is estimated that the losses were to the tune of Rs 35 billion.President Musharraf estimated the total loss at Rs 100 billion.He promised to compensate those who suffered in this violence.
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‘If a Bhutto must run PPP, why not Fatima?’
Islamabad, January 6 The "justification" for the selection of Benazir's son as chairman (of the Pakistan People's Party) was that only a Bhutto could provide unity within the party, the British socialite wrote in the Sunday Telegraph. "If so, then why not 25-year-old Fatima Bhutto, who is arguably more qualified for the job than her teenage cousin?" Jemima asked. "If everything's in a name, Fatima need not have changed hers in order to inherit. Brought up in Pakistan, unlike Bilawal, and a native speaker, she is an established writer and political commentator. "At least, she has some work experience. Aunt Benazir's first-ever job was prime minister of a 160-million-strong nation," wrote Jemima, who had often criticised Benazir Bhutto's politics.
— PTI
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Bhutto’s medical report fraught with lacunae: Experts
Islamabad, January 6 Mian Rashid, a professor of forensic medicine and member of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, was of the view that the depressed wound referred to in the report was actually the “point of exit” of the bullet that hit Bhutto after a rally in Rawalpindi on December 27. “Since the report says that whitish brain matter was coming out, it can only happen at point of exit,” Rashid told the Dawn newspaper. He was also of the view that the depressed wound has been “grossly misinterpreted” by the doctors. Rashid said the doctors, who attended to Bhutto, omitted the point of entry of the bullet, as they “skipped the standard procedure for examining such wounds”. Senior medico-legal expert Zaman Niazi said the report contained alarming technical lapses and was “prima facie a case of foul play”. He said the report was “just half-truth” and an attempt to conceal the other half. Niazi based his contentions on the absence of the casualty medical officer (CMO) from the list of seven doctors of Rawalpindi General Hospital who signed the report, which was released a day after the assassination of Bhutto. Other experts also questioned the absence of a forensic expert from the team that wrote the report.
— PTI
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Safe from hackers, Pak electoral rolls in Canada
Islamabad, January 6 Election Commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad said the organisation had decided to store the electronic versions of the voters’ lists abroad as the country did not have the required infrastructure. Cronomagic Canada Inc, a Montreal-based data warehouse owned by Pakistani immigrant Hayee Bokhari, was selected to store the electoral rolls. Pakistan’s parliamentary polls were originally scheduled for January 8, but were put off till February 18 after former premier Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Bokhari said the data had been stored in Canada because Pakistan could not meet the security and bandwidth requirements. After spending two weeks collating the data in Urdu, Cronomagic even engaged computer hackers to try and break into the system but they failed, he said. “It’s a completely locked system,” Bokhari, owner and president of Cronomagic, told CanWest News Service. Cronomagic’s workers stayed at the company’s offices in Montreal during the Christmas holidays to complete
the biggest Pakistani database every assembled. “Such projects usually involve several companies and this can sometimes create security problems,” said Bokhari, who emigrated from Pakistan 17 years ago and is also the founder of mehndi.com, a popular matchmaking website. Cronomagic won the contract from Pakistan’s Election Commission, which received technical advice from IFES, a US and UN-funded NGO. The IFES has also advised the Election Commission on how to deal with nearly 1,000 complaints of alleged rigging filed by political parties and individuals. “But nobody knows how we did it because we did it all ourselves. There is no 100 per cent solution, but in tests that we have run we did all right. Hackers that we deal with it tried to get in and couldn’t,” said Bokhari, owner and president of Cronomagic. “There was not much money in it but it was a real challenge for my team,” said Bokhari, the only project member in Canada who could read Urdu. “I have always wanted to help Pakistan and I am glad that I have been able to give something back.”
— PTI
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UK sleuths interview cops posted at Bhutto rally
Islamabad, January 6 The five-member team from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter-Terrorism Command, which yesterday scoured the site, where Bhutto was attacked more than a week ago, today conducted further inquiries in
Rawalpindi. Accompanied by Pakistani investigators, the Scotland Yard team interviewed some of the policemen, who were posted at Liaquat Bagh, the ground outside where Bhutto was attacked after addressing an election rally on December 27. The team then visited Rawalpindi General Hospital and spoke to the doctors, who treated her. The team inspected Bhutto’s bomb-damaged Toyota Land Cruiser again at the Police Lines in
Rawalpindi. It had earlier examined the bulletproof vehicle on Friday and yesterday. — PTI
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Democrats agree on right to pursue Osama in Pak
The Democratic presidential candidates agreed in a debate on Saturday night that the USA has the right to pursue Osama bin Laden in Pakistan regardless of whether it had permission from the government in Islamabad.
Last summer, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois said if he had "actionable intelligence" that bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan, he would order U.S. action against him whether or not the government of Pakistan gave permission.Obama said he stood by that statement. "As much as possible," the USA should seek agreement from Pakistanis, he said. He said the U.S. should press Pakistan to act but "if they could not or would not, then we should strike.We have to make sure that we do not hesitate to act when it comes to Al- Qaida." Obama, who faced fierce criticism from the Pakistani government when he suggested similar action last year, said, " My job as commander- in- chief will be to make sure that we strike anybody who would do America harm when we have actionable intelligence to do that." A similar opinion was echoed by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.The New York Democrat said, "At some point, probably when the missiles have been launched, the Pakistani government has to know they are on the way." She said it was important to ensure Pakistan didn't mistake the missiles for an attack from India. The debates follow Thursday's Iowa caucuses in which Obama pulled off a surprise victory in the Democratic field, leaving front-runner Clinton at the third place.Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina came in second. A new poll showed Obama and Clinton in a tight race ahead of the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday. At the end of this electoral exercise, both the Democrats and the Republicans will determine who will be their respective party's presidential nominees for the November elections. The White House hopefuls have had sharp disagreements on various policy matters.But on Saturday,Edwards agreed with Hillary Clinton and Obama on getting tough with bin Laden."If I as President of the United States know where Osama bin Laden is, I would go get him," he said. Another Democratic candidate, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also said that if diplomacy failed and the Pakistani government was incapable of moving against bin Laden, "then you do take that action." A recent National Intelligence Estimate found that Al- Qaida has established a safe haven in the northwest tribal areas of Pakistan. President George W. Bush has said the U.S. would take out bin Laden and other Al- Qaida leaders believed to be hiding in Pakistan if he had "actionable intelligence". He has refused to say whether he would seek permission first from the Pakistani leader.The Bush Administration has retained the option of targeting Al- Qaida in the region but officials say it is also keen to respect Pakistani sovereignty.
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LTTE intelligence chief killed
Colombo, January 6 Charles or Shanmuganathan Ravishankar (43), was killed along with three other cadres yesterday in a claymore mine attack on their van by the Sri Lanka Army’s Deep Penetration Unit in Pallamadu, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website said today. The killing of the top operative, who masterminded several deadly attacks in the country, would clearly rattle LTTE Supremo V.Prabhakaran, who lost his close aide political wing chief S.P. Thamilselvan in an Air Force raid barely two months ago. The defence ministry confirmed that it had ambushed a vehicle carrying Charles, after “accurate ground of information” from LTTE dominated Wanni region. “The loss of Charles is a far greater loss to LTTE than it had suffered when it lost its political head in November 2007,” a ministry statement said. The killing indicated an escalation in fighting since the government withdrew a tattered ceasefire on Wednesday. However, there was no immediate word from the LTTE on the killing. Eeelam People’s Democratic Party chief and social welfare minister Douglas Devananda said the death of Charles was a “setback” to Prabhakaran. “Charles has been involved in killing of some senior leaders and the Colombo Central bank bomb blast,” which had left 91 persons dead and 1,000 injured in January 1996, said Devananda, who himself recently survived a suicide attack carried out by a suspected LTTE woman bomber.
— PTI
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Lanka in urgent need of monitors, says rights group
Colombo, January 6 “There is now going to be a greater void in monitoring and reporting of human rights abuses in the conflict zone. The need for international human rights monitors is now ever more crucial,” director of Minority Rights Group (MRG) International, Mark Lattimer said. Sri Lanka has expressed reservations on previous calls for a UN rights mission here. MRG also condemned Monday’s killing of a Tamil opposition parliamentarian T. Maheswaran at a Hindu temple in Colombo. According to a MRG statement, it brought out a briefing paper last month on the Island country. “In December 2007, MRG released a briefing paper which argued that Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils and Muslims were worst affected by increasing human rights abuses following the promulgation of tough anti-terror laws and the escalation of fighting in 2006,” the release said. “The paper also highlighted the increasing number of killings of minority human rights activists, religious leaders and journalists in Sri Lanka,” it said. The Scandinavian monitoring mission appointed to oversee the ceasefire will end operations from January 16 following the government’s decision announced earlier this week.
— PTI
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37 LTTE men, 2 soldiers killed
Rajapakse’s senior adviser resigns Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's top advisor on peace process, Jayantha Dhanapala today resigned following the government's decision to scrap the Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. There was no immediate reaction from the government, which last week announced it was terminating the truce from January 16.
Colombo, January 6 In northern Jaffna peninsula, troops launched an attack on an LTTE bunkerline at Muhamale and killed four rebels today, the defence ministry said. In another clash at general Muhamale area, two soldiers lost their lives, the ministry stated. Two militants were killed in a suicide explosion in Kottadi in Jaffa today, the army stated. "Troops destroyed two Tiger bunkers and killed eight militants in Adampan area in north-western Mannar yesterday," the ministry said. Troops killed 10 militants and destroyed six LTTE bunkers in the Parappakandal area in Mannar yesterday, it said, quoting the LTTE communication intercepts. The ministry said three bodies had been recovered so far. In northern Vavuniya troops killed three militants in Kallikulam area yesterday, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said. Separately, two rebels were gunned down in Pullikayarkulam in Vavuniya yesterday while troops confirmed that five militants were killed on Saturday at Kutinchakulam area in Vavuniya, the MCNS added. In north-east Welioya, three militants were gunned down by the government forces yesterday at Kokuthuduwai, the ministry said. The government had announced on Thursday that it was ending the Norwegian-brokered cease-fire pact between the LTTE and the security forces.
— PTI
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UN agencies to provide aid to displaced Kenyans
New York, January 6 An estimated 350 persons had been killed and 2,50,000 persons were displaced so far by the violence, the UN officials said. The UN Country Team is working with the Kenya Red Cross Society and a number of national and international non-governmental organizations, as well as faith-based groups, to provide immediate humanitarian assistance. The situation in the country was “calm but tense,” said the UN security officials, adding that much of Nairobi appeared to be returning to “near normalcy.” However, many of the internally displaced persons still feared for their safety, the UN said yesterday. The UN World Food Programme was providing food through the Kenya Red Cross for the people displaced in the Rift Valley. While Kenyan security forces had been escorting food convoys between depots, it stressed, “the sustainability of this mode of operation is not guaranteed.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that more than 5,000 Kenyans had fled to Uganda and Tanzania. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that several hospitals were in desperate need of medical supplies to treat trauma and injuries. “Supplies and staff are needed to treat victims of shooting, burning, beating, slashing and trampling,” said UNICEF’s Sara Cameron.
— PTI
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‘Corrupt US officials helped Pak steal N-weapons secret’
London, January 6 Intercepted communications showed that former ISI chief Mahmoud Ahmad and his colleagues, stationed in Washington, were in constant contact with attaches in the Turkish embassy, according to The Sunday Times. The paper reported the account of whistle blower Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, who listened to hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office. She approached the newspaper last month after reading about an Al-Qaida terrorist, who had revealed his role in training some of the 9/11 hijackers while he was in Turkey. Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of the US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions. According to Edmonds, she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington, who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan. Intelligence analysts said members of the ISI were close to Al-Qaida before and after the 9/11 attacks on the US. Ahmad was accused of sanctioning a $ 1,00,000 wire payment to Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, immediately before the attacks, the report said.
— PTI
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14 killed in Baghdad blasts
Baghdad, January 6 The suicide attack on the soldiers took place in Karrada as gifts were being handed out to the troops by a civilian organisation on the Army Day, an official holiday marking the 87th anniversary of the founding of the army. Interior and defence ministry officials said at least nine persons were killed in the attack, and at least 17 more were wounded. Among the dead were six members of the security forces, hospital officials said. Seven policemen and soldiers were wounded, along with 10 civilians. US military spokesman Lt Steven Stoder said according to eyewitnesses two Iraqi soldiers were killed, when they flung themselves onto the attacker as he detonated his explosives. “They absorbed some of the blast. They saved a lot of lives,” said Stoder. An AFP photographer, who witnessed the attack, said the suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a group of soldiers, who were singing and chanting outside the building, where the event had taken place. In another lethal attack here, at least four persons were killed and 11 wounded in a vehicle bomb explosion in the mixed northeastern district of Al-Qahira, security officials said.
— AFP
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Britney released from hospital
New York, January 6 The troubled star was discharged from Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where she was admitted as a “special needs” patient, yesterday even though celebrity psychologist Phil McGraw, after an hour-long talk with her and her family members, diagnosed that she was in “dire need of both medical and psychological intervention.” Spears, 26, was taken on a stretcher by paramedics on Thursday night after the police intervened when she refused to return the children to Federline after a monitored visit. She was released moments before McGraw’s arrival and was packing when he entered the room. “We visited for about an hour before I walked with her to her car. I am very concerned for her,” McGraw said. Media reports said she had demanded release which the hospital granted. TMZ.com, which follows celebrity news, reported that the hospital released her without consulting any one, including her lawyers. On Friday, court commissioner had given Federline sole, “physical and legal”, custody of their two sons, Sean Preston, 2 and Jayden James, who is 15 months old, until January 14 when another hearing would be held.
— PTI
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Brown hints at taking ‘tough’ decisions
London, January 6 “This is the year when we will make and implement all the major long-term decisions that are going to safeguard and equip Britain properly for the future,” Brown told The Observer in an interview. “We will have to make a decision, yes or no, on nuclear power. We will have to make a decision, yes or no, on how we deal with making some of the big decisions about... physically planning the future of the country,” he said. Brown criticised the opposition for they were being against his long-term decisions.
— PTI
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Hindu Temples in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur,January 6 The move comes just weeks after Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi instructed MIC president and works minister Samy Vellu to list the number of temples in the country and identify their problems. Vellu said the councils would be chaired by the state executive councillors from the MIC or the state party chiefs."The MIC considers the demolition of temples as a very serious political matter and it requires consultations from various parties," he said in a statement. These would also safeguard temples and protect the integrity of the Hindu religion;would register temples which comply with the requirements; and obtain permanent and suitable alternative sites for temples. Vellu said that if a temple was found to have been built on private or government land, the council concerned would seek an alternative and suitable site for it. However, it would not interfere in the running of the temple or its administration, he added.
— PTI
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Malaysian employers mistreated us: Indians
Kuala Lumpur, January 6 S. Rajendra and M. Sangeetha, both 27, claimed that they were being beaten up by their employers, a couple, from the day they arrived at the music and dance school here. “They slammed our heads against the wall and would not stop even when we were bleeding,” Sangeetha was quoted by the New Straits Times, today. “We were never taken to clinics for treatment. Rajendra would often use medicine for dogs to treat our wounds.” She said her students had asked about the wounds but she had told them that she had injured herself in the bathroom. “We were always watched and could not tell our students the truth. Besides, how could I tell them that their teacher was being treated like a slave?” Rajendra and Sangeetha, both certified classical dance and music teachers, claimed that the employers’ maid had also slapped them, the paper said. “We live in fear, not knowing what might set our employers off. Whenever the wife was angry, she used to tell us either to strip naked and go out of the house or do 300 squats as punishment,” she said. The two teachers came to Malaysia after their employers approached their ‘guru’ in India. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) Youth Welfare bureau chief T. Mohan said he had attended to at least nine similar cases last year. MIC is part of the ruling coalition of Malaysia.
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Nepal army chief against Maoist fighters in army
At a time when the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist leaders have been urging the government and other coalition partners to integrate their combatants into the Nepal Army, chief of army staff General Rookmangud Katawal today hinted that he was against integrating politically indoctrinated Maoists cadres into the army.
Talking to journalists at Tribhuvan International Airport today before leaving for a week-long official visit to China, Katawal said the Nepal army should not be kept under any ism, ideology and political motivation since it is a national army. Responding to a query about possibility of integration of Maoist fighters into the army, Katawal said: "The Nepal army is Nepali people’s army that is paid by the people. It should be kept impartial." He cautioned to consider long-term impact while making any decision in the pretext of resolving one problem. Indirectly referring to acts of burning national flags by some extremist Madhesi groups and comments coming from Madhesi leaders about Nepal's national unity, Katawal said: "Primary concern of the Nepali army is to safeguard Nepal's national unity and integrity." On his China tour, he said: "I am heading for a goodwill visit to China. I will work under the government's order and briefing of the defense minister and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala." It may be recalled that the major political parties and Maoists leaders have reached series of understanding where they have agreed to start integration process between the 19,000 Maoists combatants cantoned at different cantonment sites across the country with the Nepal Army to end the decade-long Maoist insurgency.
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Sex Tape
Kuala Lumpur, January 6 The New Straits Times said a 48-year-old DVD vendor found in possession of three copies of the recording, and a woman in her 20s, were detained yesterday on suspicion of distributing the footage.The police has already arrested a 29-year-old beauty salon owner and a 50-year-old farmer over the video, which showed married minister Chua Soi Lek having sex in a hotel room with an unidentified woman. After the tape began circulating in southern Johor state the 61-year-old minister quickly admitted his involvement and resigned, said the scandal was engineered by his "enemies".
— AFP
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Fresh offensive against militants in Swat
Islamabad, January 6 Troops in the Swat valley of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) were mobilised for a new offensive against militant followers of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who had fled from towns and villages and regrouped near Matta, the Army said. Over 300 militants have been killed and scores arrested since the security forces launched an operation in October last year.
— PTI
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US storms claim 3 lives
Fernley (Nevada), January 6 Forecasters predicted more rain and snow today, but without the severe storms that have pounded the region in recent days. Winter storm warnings were in effect in parts of the region. A ruptured levee sent a frigid "wall of water" from a rain-swollen canal into the desert town of Fernley yesterday, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing rescue of dozens of people by helicopter and boat.
— AP
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