W O R L D

Pak: India sought 3 suspects, not 20
India has sought three suspects, says interior adviser Rehman Malik and denied reports that India had provided Pakistan a list of 20 wanted suspects. And this list of three persons does not include the name of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, he added.

Getting UK citizenship won’t be easy
London, December 5
The UK plans to unveil tougher citizenship rules under which immigrants will have to “earn” their right to stay by integrating themselves fully to the British society, including acquiring a sound knowledge of English.

Politics on hold as Thais pray for ailing king
Bangkok, December 5
Thailand marked the king’s birthday today in a solemn mood, concerned for the health of the ageing monarch and worried as well over the country’s debilitating political deadlock.

SHARP SKILLS: A man looks at knives on sale for the forthcoming Eid-al-Adha celebrations at a market in Islamabad on Friday. Photo AFP

Rahat dedicates concert to Mumbai victims
Dubai, December 5
Before kicking off a thrilling live performance here, Pakistani Sufi singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan dedicated the evening to the victims of the Mumbai terror strikes.

NASA delays Mars mission
Washington, December 5
US space agency NASA delayed a landmark mission to Mars by 26 months, adding another $400 million to the already over-budget project to see if the red planet can support life, officials said.

‘Missing Somali-Americans training as terrorists’
Chicago, December 5
The FBI is reaching out to the Somali-American community amid reports that young men are being recruited to be trained as suicide bombers in Somalia, officials said.

26 killed, 95 hurt in Pak blast
Islamabad, December 5
At least 26 persons, including three children, were killed and about 95 others injured in a powerful bomb blast targeting a prayer hall of the minority Shias in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar today.

US aid for Zimbabwe
Washington, December 5
The US said it was providing $600,000 to help fight a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe that has claimed hundreds of lives. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe pleaded for international help yesterday to fight the epidemic in which 560 people have died.— AFP

Pak: India sought 3 suspects, not 20
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

India has sought three suspects, says interior adviser Rehman Malik and denied reports that India had provided Pakistan a list of 20 wanted suspects. And this list of three persons does not include the name of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, he added.

“They gave us three names, two of them are Indian nationals - Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon - and the third is Masood Azhar,” Malik told reporters. He said the two Indian nationals were not on Pakistani soil, and India should provide evidence against Azhar so that the “law can take its own course”.

Malik who flew to Karachi on Friday told reporters prior to his departure that the leadership of both countries have shown utmost restraint and there was no apprehension of current crisis developing into active hostilities on borders. He also denied India had asked Pakistan in writing for a visit of the ISI chief.

“Pakistan will extend unconditional co-operation to India to bring culprits (of Mumbai terrorist attacks) to justice. A criminal is a criminal whether he is from Pakistan, India or from anywhere in the world. But we need concrete evidence against those mentioned by India and the law of the land will take its course,” Malik said.

To a question regarding the alleged role of Lashkar-e-Toiba in terrorism in India, Malik said the organisation and its activities had already been banned in Pakistan.

Getting UK citizenship won’t be easy

London, December 5
The UK plans to unveil tougher citizenship rules under which immigrants will have to “earn” their right to stay by integrating themselves fully to the British society, including acquiring a sound knowledge of English.

Under the proposed changes to rules, immigrants will have to “earn” the right to a passport rather than simply achieving it through five years’ residence. The measure will end the automatic right to stay and replace it with a new system of “earned citizenship” and temporary residence.

The latest measure announced by the home office proposes that immigrants making little effort to integrate into the British society will have to wait longer for citizenship.

Immigrants convicted of serious criminal offences could be barred from citizenship and those found guilty of minor crimes may face delays in having their applications processed.

Those seeking citizenship will have to demonstrate a good ability in English and a knowledge of life in Britain.

Immigrants who do no voluntary work will qualify only after eight years and those who become unemployed will be asked to leave. The government proposes to levy a top-up fee on immigrants to create a fund expected to run to 20 million pounds. — PTI 

Politics on hold as Thais pray for ailing king

Bangkok, December 5
Thailand marked the king’s birthday today in a solemn mood, concerned for the health of the ageing monarch and worried as well over the country’s debilitating political deadlock. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turned 81 today, failed to deliver his annual birthday eve address at a time when many Thais had been looking to him to issue a call for unity after protests by People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) activists shut down Bangkok’s main airport for a week.

His speeches in the past three years have been nuanced and focused on the need for national unity, although his calls for clean government were widely read as a swipe at Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist Prime Minister ousted in a 2006 coup.

Thailand’s caretaker government cancelled next Monday’s special parliamentary session to choose a successor to Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law, who was convicted of vote fraud this week and banned from politics for five years.

Seen as semi-divine by many of Thailand’s 65 million persons, the king has intervened in politics three times during his six decades on the throne, variously favouring the elected and military administrations.

The monarch has been thrust into the centre of the fray by the PAD’s persistent use of his name in their fight with Thaksin, whose popularity with rural voters, based on cheap healthcare and credit, upset Bangkok’s old royal and military elite.

Bringing hope to 2,30,000 stranded foreign tourists, airports of Thailand said the $4 billion Suvarnabhumi Airport, one of Asia’s largest, resumed full operations today after the week-long shutdown.

“We are up and running and its business as usual,” transport minister Santi Prompat said during a tour of the airport today.

The airport shutdown has already cost the tourism- and export-dependent economy hundreds of millions of dollars.

Despite the return of relative normality at the airport, analysts said more trouble was in store after the brief hiatus of the king’s birthday.

The caretaker government called off a special parliamentary session on Monday to select a replacement for Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

Speaker Chai Chidchob said the king had not responded to the parliament’s request for an extraordinary sitting. His comments came before news of the king’s illness.

Somchai’s People Power Party, which the PAD accuses of being a front for the exiled Thaksin, was dissolved in the same ruling but most of its rank-and-file members simply switched to another “shell” party.

It and the other five parties in the ruling coalition easily have the numbers in the parliament to form the next administration, an eventuality that seems bound to lead the PAD to resume its street protests. — Reuters

Rahat dedicates concert to Mumbai victims

Dubai, December 5
Before kicking off a thrilling live performance here, Pakistani Sufi singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan dedicated the evening to the victims of the Mumbai terror strikes.

The famous singer of many hit Bollywood songs expressed sadness at the loss of lives and showed solidarity with the families of the deceased. “Murder of an innocent is like murder of entire humanity,” he said, before his live performance, last evening.

A one-minute silence was also observed before the concert - Sufiana the Revival Sounds of the Soul - got underway. The singer, who has several Bollywood hit numbers to his credit, later enthralled audience with his soulful numbers.

Rahat presented his most popular number ‘Jiya dhadak dhadak jaaye’ (from the film “Kalyug”) twice apart from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s composition ‘Damadam mast qalandar’, ‘Mera piya ghar aaya’ and ‘Aafreen Aafreen’. — PTI

NASA delays Mars mission

Washington, December 5
US space agency NASA delayed a landmark mission to Mars by 26 months, adding another $400 million to the already over-budget project to see if the red planet can support life, officials said.

“We will not be ready to launch Mars Science Lab by the hoped-for date next year,” NASA administrator Michael Griffin told a news conference yesterday. — AFP

‘Missing Somali-Americans training as terrorists’

Chicago, December 5
The FBI is reaching out to the Somali-American community amid reports that young men are being recruited to be trained as suicide bombers in Somalia, officials said.

“There are reports of kids missing from different parts of the country,” said FBI special agent E.K. Wilson yesterday.

“Our concern is that they are returning to fight and to train to fight or conduct terrorist activity.” Citing department of justice policy, Wilson said he could not confirm whether the FBI was actively investigating whether a terrorist recruiting cell was operating in the Somali-American community.

Some 20-40 Somali youth were reported to have disappeared in Minneapolis where about half of the estimated 2,00,000 Somali Americans reside.

“We are in touch with the community and we’re committed to working with them to stop or prevent recruitment and radicalisation of Somali youth,” Wilson said.

Wilson said the FBI was assisted the Somali authorities in investigating an October 29 suicide bombing, but would not confirm reports that a Somali-American youth who was buried on Wednesday was the bomber.

“The FBI did facilitate the return of some remains after the bombing of a US citizen to Minneapolis. We are not confirming the identity or whether it was the bomber or a victim.”— AFP

26 killed, 95 hurt in Pak blast

Islamabad, December 5
At least 26 persons, including three children, were killed and about 95 others injured in a powerful bomb blast targeting a prayer hall of the minority Shias in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar today.

The blast took place outside an Imambargah at a busy street in Kucha Risaldar area. Hospital sources said at least 21 persons died in the blast when Shia shoppers crowded the area ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival.

About 25-30 kg of explosives were used in the huge blast, which caused extensive damage to the prayer hall and some nearby houses, the police said. It triggered a massive fire in shops and warehouses in the area and also caused a power outage, hampering rescue work in the congested locality.

The explosives were believed to have been hidden inside a vehicle. The blast caused a five-foot crater in the area, police officials said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. — PTI