Arghandab (Afghanistan), June 18
Helicopter gunships and troops with small and heavy arms blasted a valley in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday as local and NATO forces launched a huge offensive against hundreds of Taliban insurgents, many of whom broke out of jail last week.

The defence ministry in Kabul said 20 Taliban guerrillas were killed in a NATO air strike and two Afghan army officers also died in the operation, in Arghandab district. The ministry said three Taliban group leaders were killed further south.

Some 600 Taliban fighters on Monday took over villages in Arghandab, on the northern outskirts of Kandahar city, days after freeing hundreds of inmates in an attack on the city's main jail, according to the Taliban and an Afghan official.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said militants had set their sights on Kandahar itself, the movement's birthplace, which lies about 20 km from Arghandab.

After massing troops, the Afghan army and NATO-led forces have now started an offensive to flush out the Taliban from the villages, while stepping up security in Kandahar city and imposing a night curfew.

NATO said it expects the operation to last for the next three days, adding the number of insurgents in the district had been "greatly exaggerated".

The developments in Kandahar come amid rising violence in the past two years, the bloodiest period since Taliban's removal from power in 2001 in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, four Afghan policemen were killed when a remote controlled bomb hit their vehicle in the southeastern province of Khost, a provincial official said.

In neighbouring Paktika, two soldiers from the NATO-led force were killed and 10 wounded by a separate blast, the alliance said, without identifying the victims' nationalities.

Later, an abortive suicide attack aimed at a NATO convoy in the western province of Farah, killed three Afghan civilians and wounded ten others.

And on Tuesday, four British soldiers from NATO-led force were killed after a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Helmand, bordering Kandahar, the bloodiest single incident in one day against the British soldiers in Afghanistan. One of the soldiers is believed to be a woman.

Thousands of families have fled Arghandab since Monday, when NATO warned that an operation would be staged to flush out the Taliban from the district, said Agha Lalai, a member of Kandahar's provincial council and a tribal chief of Arghandab. Afghan forces have barred journalists from staying long in the area.

Several NATO helicopter gunships were seen firing at targets in the distance, while the sound of artillery and small arms fire echoed.

The Taliban in a statement said the militants had "pushed back" the offensive and had blown up a tank.

The Afghan defence ministry says that at least eight villages had been taken by the Taliban who, according to some escapees, had planted land mines to deter attempts to expel them. — Reuters

Breaking six decades of taboo, the government presented details of the defence budget in the Senate, a move lauded by both sides of the aisle while several lawmakers called for reducing defence spending to divert resources for the uplift of the people.

The Leader of the House in the Senate, Raza Rabbani, laid before the House the papers containing service-wise break-up of the Rs 295.306 billion budget for the next financial year and Rs 276.186 billion revised budget for the current year.

Rabbani termed the move a step towards restoring sovereignty of Parliament. He said that in the past "only one-line defence budget" was presented and the issue was never debated in Parliament. He said the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had agreed in the Charter of Democracy that the defence budget would be brought to Parliament for debate.

Rabbani admitted that complete details were still not being provided to the Senate, but expressed the hope that next time, more details of defence expenditures would come before the house for discussion.

The defence budget details were put before the Senate on the last day of a general debate on the budget, which is expected to be passed by the National Assembly by June 26.

Lahore, June 18
Pakistan’s ruling PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday met his coalition partner and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif in Lahore to discuss a possible move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf and steps to reinstate judges deposed by the former military ruler.

Earlier in the day, Sharif held a meeting with top PML-N leaders Raja Zafrul Haq and Javed Hashmi as well as Punjab chief minister and his brother Shahbaz Sharif.

PML-N sources told PTI that two leaders discussed the possible impeachment of Musharraf. The meeting is being held amidst increasing pressure on Musharraf to quit.

Addressing a rally organised by the lawyers’ movement in Islamabad last week, Sharif said Musharraf must be made accountable for all his actions over the past eight years.

Yesterday, Zardari told a gathering of senior journalists that the PPP did not recognise Musharraf as a constitutionally elected President.

Though Zardari evaded questions on the possible impeachment of Musharraf, he said the PPP would decide on a consensus president after consulting its coalition partners.

In his public comments in recent days, Zardari has repeatedly hinted that Musharraf’s days in the presidency could be numbered.

However, Musharraf made it clear recently that he had no plans to quit or go into exile. In his first press interaction since the PPP-led government came to power in March, Musharraf also said he was ready to face an impeachment motion in parliament. — PTI

Jerusalem, June 18
Israel has confirmed an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire with Hamas that is to take effect from 6 a.m on Thursday, Israel Radio reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and defence minister Ehud Barak endorsed the ceasefire after sending their senior truce negotiator, Gen Amos Gilad (retd) , to Egypt overnight to hear details and finalise the deal, Israel Radio said.

Egypt's official MENA news agency announced the truce on Tuesday evening.

Hamas, the radical Islamic movement ruling the Gaza Strip, confirmed it shortly afterwards at a news conference called by its de facto foreign minister, Mahmoud al-Zahar.

But Israel had said late on Tuesday that the announcement was "premature" and that the deal was not final until it was sealed by its envoy to Egypt."Even if we should reach one, it is unclear how long it would last," Barak said near Tel Aviv while adding that Israel had an obligation to give it a chance. He also said that the Israeli army must be prepared "for all developments". — DPA

London, June 18
A teenage Sikh girl used an image of England cricketer Monty Panesar wearing a “kara” to support her case before a British court for her right to wear the Sikh religious bangle in school.

Fourteen-year-old Sarika Watkins Singh, a Punjabi-Welsh girl, who was banned from her school for refusing to remove her kara, told the high court yesterday the steel bracelet was a symbol of her faith and not an item of jewellery.

The schoolgirl claimed she was the victim of “unlawful discrimination” when she was excluded for wearing the kara.

Her former school, where Sarika was the only Sikh among 600 girls, banned all jewellery apart from wristwatches and plain ear-studs.

Her lawyer Helen Mountfield told the court the kara was one of the five “K’s of Sikhism”, the others being “kesh” (uncut hair), “kanga” (wooden comb), “kaccha” (specially designed shorts) and “kirpan” (religious sword).

When Justice Silber said he would like to see one of the bangles, Mountfield referred the judge to a photograph of Panesar, the England spinner, wearing a kara as a symbol of the faith.

The case centres on a “vital question” about the protection of the rights of cultural expression, Mountfield argued.

Sarika was excluded from Aberdare Girls’ School in November last year and had since been enrolled at another school. — PTI

London, June 18
An Indian doctor working in Britain's National Health Service (NHS) has been prohibited from treating female patients except in emergencies after complaints of "inappropriate" examination of two women patients in August, 2002.

For nearly four years, Syed Asghar Zaheer, who graduated from Lucknow University in 1958, has restrictions placed on his employment after the medical authorities found him guilty of the charges.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has now decided to further extend the restrictions for one more year since he did not submit any evidence on how he had addressed the concerns raised when he was first pulled up for the controversial examination.

At a 'fitness to practice' hearing this week, a GMC panel directed that except in life- threatening emergencies, Zaheer must not undertake consultations with female patients without the presence of an attendant. — PTI

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Kidnapped journalists released
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