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Spain Arrests
Indians in Malaysia begin fast
Pak nuclear arms secure: Musharraf
Elahi’s remarks on Aziz annoy Mush
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Pak’s Geo TV resumes broadcast
CIA conclusion on Mehsud killing Bhutto ‘wrong’
5 hacked to death in Kenya
Serial blasts rock Bhutan
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Spain Arrests New Delhi, January 21 Sources said Spanish authorities had been approached directly by Indian agencies for identification of individuals arrested in Barcelona in connection with plans to carry out terror strikes in that country. However, reports reaching here indicated that none of the arrested was from India and they comprised mainly nationals from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, they said. The suspects were detained on Saturday in the northern port city’s Raval neighbourhood, home to many Arabic-speaking and Muslim immigrants, in Spain. The Spanish police today linked all arrested men with Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba terror outfit. In a related move, the external affairs ministry had also approached the authorities in Madrid for providing immediate consular access if anyone of the arrested was an Indian national. The CBI also approached Interpol, Madrid, seeking details about the arrests made. The investigating agency cited media reports about the nabbing of two Indians among the 14 persons and sought details immediately. There was no official word so far from Spanish authorities. — PTI
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Indians in Malaysia begin fast
Kuala Lumpur, January 21 Several supporters of the five leaders held under the tough Internal Security Act that allows indefinite detention without trial, also joined the hunger strike at two different temples, a lawyer of one of the detainees said.
— PTI
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Pak nuclear arms secure: Musharraf
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said Pakistan’s nuclear assets and ballistic missiles are highly secure and even the nuclear attack could not affect them. “Nuclear weapons have been dispersed to various locations. Pakistan’s custodial control of the assets is highly protective and no common access is possible,” President Musharraf said while addressing a gathering of Pakistani community in a Brusels hotel on his first stop of the four-nation trip.
He ruled out any possibility of rigging in the upcoming general elections. Outside the hotel, a large crowd of overseas Pakistanis demonstrated shouting anti-Musharraf slogans and calling for the restoration of democracy, constitution, independence of judiciary and the rule of law. Musharraf hoped that a true representative government would come to power after February 18 elections and thus further strengthening the democratic institutions in the country. He said foolproof arrangements had been made to put the country on the path to true democracy. President Musharraf spoke at length on the socio-economic progress achieved during the past seven years. He said unprecedented economic growth had brought great improvement in the living standards of common people. The president said the elimination of terrorism was a major goal of the nation and “we will succeed in it.” He expressed his satisfaction that the Pakistan army had made a headway by successfully targeting terrorist hideouts in South and North Waziristan. The President, while speaking on the wrong perception in the West about Pakistan’s nuclear assets, said these were in safe hands. He said there was no question of nuclear assets falling into wrong hands. Musharraf also referred to various economic indicators and said a revolutionary progress had been attained, especially in communications and commercial and various other sectors. He said poverty and unemployment had declined over the years and “we need to sustain the robust economic growth with unity and concerted efforts”. The Pakistan President regretted that some political elements were misleading the nation on various issues by distorting hard and solid facts for their own vested interests. He expressed his grief on the tragic assassination of former Prime Minister and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and said it was one of the biggest tragedies in the political history of the country. He, however, lamented that some political elements were trying to exploit it just for their own political gains. They destroyed public and private property worth billions of rupees in riots in some parts of the country, especially in Sindh, following the tragic death of Bhutto. President Musharraf expressed the hope that findings of the Scotland Yard investigations would help determine the cause of death of Bhutto and thus exposed the elements who were behind this crime. He said former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry exploited his dismissal, which was done on the ground of corruption and tried to politicise the issue to destabilise the country. Deliberating upon arrangements made by the Election Commission, he said there was no question of setting up ghost polling stations since all of these had already been notified for the forthcoming elections.
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Elahi’s remarks on Aziz annoy Mush
President Pervez Musharraf has conveyed his strong displeasure over the remarks of former Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi against ex-premier Shaukat Aziz.
In an interview Elahi held former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz responsible for the current flour, wheat and electricity
crisis. Officials at the presidency said Musharraf personally contacted Pervaiz Elahi, central leader of PML-Q Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain and asked them to stop issuing statements accusing Shaukat Aziz of being responsible for the crises. The President said they should not blame the Prime Minister of their own government, stressing that the present flour crisis was due to smuggling and hoarding. “If Shaukat Aziz is responsible for the present flour crisis then why has flour crisis hit Punjab province despite the fact that Punjab was sufficient in wheat production. While Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was the Chief Minister of Punjab”, the President added. The sources further said the President had further advised both the brothers to refrain from mentioning name of Shaukat Aziz in their election campaign. He contacted Shaukat Aziz not to issue any counter-statement against the statement of the Chaudhry brothers. Aziz is currently in London and is scheduled to meet Musharraf either in Davos or London. Musharraf strongly defended Aziz during a meeting with a select group of editors.
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Pak’s Geo TV resumes broadcast
The news and sports channels of Pakistan’s largest TV network Geo resumed broadcasts on Monday, ending a forced closure for nearly 78 days since November 3. President Musharraf ordered lifting of ban on the two channels before leaving for his European trip on Sunday. The channels were back on air on Monday.
Sources said Geo’s owner Mir Shakeelur Rehman met Musharraf and agreed to certain conditions that paved way for resumption of broadcasts of the two channels. Two leading anchors disapproved by the government, Hamid Mir and Dr Shahid Masood, would remain off air for the time being. Other channels like Aaj TV and ARY were also compelled to sideline popular anchors, including Nusrat Javed, Kashif Abbasi and Asma Sherazi. All TV channels were closed on November 3 when Musharraf imposed emergency, suspended the constitution, sacked nearly 60 Supreme Court and high court judges and gagged media with draconian laws. Other channels were allowed to resume broadcasts after two weeks when they agreed to sign a stringent code of conduct that imposed conditions on criticising Musharraf, the judiciary and the armed forces. The Geo management resisted pressures despite incurring huge losses, which the management had estimated to be between Rs 1.5 to 2 billion. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Pakistan chapter of the South Asia Media Commission has welcomed the resumption of Geo broadcasts.
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CIA conclusion on Mehsud killing Bhutto ‘wrong’
Former interior minister Aftab Sherpao has taken exception to the release of CIA’s conclusion that Mehsud, militant tribal leader, had masterminded the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
“The CIA has seriously compromised the process of investigation currently underway with the assistance of Scotland Yard,” Sherpao told private TV channel Aaj. He said the American intelligence agency had tried to influence the direction of the probe and pre-empted its findings. The US Central Intelligence Agency’s conclusion that the assassins of Benazir Bhutto were directed by militant tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud had also been questioned by an adviser of Bhutto. Hussain Haqqani, who teaches at Boston University, said the C.I.A. appears “too eager to bail out its liaison services in Pakistan, who are being blamed by most Pakistanis.”
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5 hacked to death in Kenya
Nairobi, January 21 The five died in the capital’s Huruma, Babadogo and Mathare slums where feuding tribes clashed late into the night, bringing to 50 the number of deaths over the past six days, the police and eyewitnesses said. The police said the fighting and revenge killings raged between the members of pro-Kibaki tribes and those supporting Opposition chief Raila Odinga, who claimed that he was robbed of victory in the December 27 presidential poll. Three days of Opposition protests that began on Wednesday provoked a fierce crackdown by anti-riot and the paramilitary police, and some unarmed civilians were shot down in the capital and the western city of Kisumu. Overnight clashes left two dead in Huruma, one in Babadogo and two in Mathare, where the police commander Paul Ruto said 12 persons had been arrested following the violence.
— AFP
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Thimphu, January 21 A Royal Bhutan Police spokesman said there were four bomb blasts, including one in capital Thimphu, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The other explosions took place in the districts of Samste, Chukha and Dagana."In all, there were four explosions in which a woman was injured," a police official said. Bhutan's national newspaper Kuensel reported that the first blast went off at 11.10 a.m.yesterday near a vegetable market in Samste district but there were no casualties."The second blast took place at 11.45 a.m. in Thimphu. The impact shattered windowpanes of buildings in the area and unnerved shopkeepers, residents and passers-by but no injuries were reported," Kuensel said. — IANS
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