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Obama to be tough on Pak: Reports
Islamabad taking dossier seriously, says Gilani
Tigers on backfoot as battle goes on
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Lanka assures freedom to media
‘LTTE chief vanishes along with 3 aircraft’
Car bomb, gunfight kill 22 in Somalia
Did UFO attend Obama’s speech?
US keen to work with Russia on Afghanistan
Pashupatinath Row
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Obama to be tough on Pak: Reports
Washington, January 24 This is the first tangible sign of the President’s commitment to sustained military pressure on the terrorists groups there, even though the Pakistanis broadly oppose such unilateral US actions, The Washington Post reported today. Throughout his election campaign, Obama maintained that his administration would not hesitate from going ahead with unilateral strikes against high-value targets inside Pakistan if it had actionable intelligence, even if this was opposed by Islamabad. In a page one report, The Post said though President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed hopes of a very warm relationship with the new administration, Obama's national security team has already "telegraphed their intention to make firmer demands of Islamabad than the Bush administration". This demand would be backed up with a threatened curtailment of the plentiful military aid that has been at the heart of US-Pakistani ties for the past three decades, it said. "The separate strikes on two compounds, coming three hours apart and involving five missiles fired from Afghanistan-based predator drones were the first high-profile hostile military actions taken under Obama's four-day-old presidency," The Post said. In an interview to CNN, the former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday said that such air strikes have made US unpopular. "Nobody in Pakistan is comfortable with the strikes across the border. There is no doubt in that. Public opinion is very much against it," he told. "But as far as this issue of the new president - President Obama having taken over and this continuing - I have always been saying that policies don't change with personalities; policies have national interest, and policies depend on an environment," he said. When asked about the strikes, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, refused to comment on it. "I'm not going to comment on those matters," Gibbs said yesterday. During her confirmation hearing, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 13, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said non-military aid to Pakistan would be made conditional upon progress on Islamabad's action towards terrorists. In an op-ed piece in The Washington Times yesterday, Senator John Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Pakistan is the ground zero of terrorists' threat to the United States. Even Obama addressing the State Department official on Thursday said Pakistan and Afghanistan are the central front against terrorism. All this has apparently made Pakistan uneasy. In an interview to the Geo TV, the Pak ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani hoped that the Obama administration would show some patience while dealing with Pakistan. Urging Obama to "hear us out" Haqqani cautioned: "We will review all options if Obama does not adopt a positive policy towards us." — PTI
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Islamabad taking dossier seriously, says Gilani
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said Pakistan is taking the dossier by the Indian government on Mumbai “extremely seriously” and hopes that the result of its investigation will come soon.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Saturday, he said: “I have talked to Dr Manmohan Singh and told him that whatever the intelligence sharing you need, we’ll extend full cooperation. And even for getting to the culprits, we will need their assistance.” When asked whether the attacks were launched from Pakistan, Gilani replied in negative. He said: “No, this is not the issue because the government of India doesn’t blame the government (of Pakistan). They don’t even blame the organisations and institutions. They were only pointing out to individuals and these individuals are from every part of the world.” “I have talked to the world community: okay we are serious, you are serious, let us look in to how we resolve the issue and should go in to the root cause.” Asked whether Pakistan has done enough to respond to Mumbai attacks and for de-escalation of tensions, he said: “We should focus on real issues and should not be engaged in war-type situation.”
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Tigers on backfoot as battle goes on
Colombo, January 24 The two camps, with luxury lodging and sanitary facilities, are believed to have been hideouts for top LTTE commanders, the defence ministry said. “LTTE rebels have blasted off the Kalmadukulam Tank bund this morning in a desperate attempt to stall the multi-frontal military surge towards Visuamadu area,” the defence ministry said, quoting latest reports from the Mullaittivu battlefront. There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE in regard to the destruction of the Kalmadukulam Tank bund, which is spread over 5 sq km and can provide water to over 500 acres of land. “This is totally an inhuman act with least respect to the lives of innocent Tamil civilians entrapped in the area,” an official said. According to defence observers, the floods will worsen the LTTE orchestrated humanitarian crisis at Mullaittivu with hundreds confined to small land patches and deprived of relief or aid supplies. Meanwhile, fierce fighting was reported between troops and LTTE in general areas, Northeast of Kalmadu and Nethiliaru, South of the A-35 Paranthan-Pooneryn main road since yesterday. Several LTTE cadres are believed to have killed in the confrontation, the defence ministry claimed.
— PTI
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Lanka assures freedom to media
Colombo, January 24 The government has faced allegations of not being able to prevent attacks on the media, with some sections even accusing it of orchestrating the incidents. In a statement, the government "vehemently" condemned the attack and said at a critical time when the country is about to eliminate terror completely, certain "conspirators" are trying to embarrass the government by such deeds.
— PTI
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‘LTTE chief vanishes along with 3 aircraft’
London, January 24 The Times said although Sri Lankan forces have captured five of the six airstrips that were used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), Prabhakaran himself might have escaped. It quoted Sri Lankan officials as saying they are unsure whether Prabakharan is in
Mullaitivu, the LTTE’s last outpost, or has already escaped, possibly by aircraft but more likely by boat. “We have surrounded them from all sides and the only option for them is to jump into the sea,” army chief Lt Gen. Sarath Fonseka said yesterday. The paper said a navy ship spotted what looked like the lights of a small aircraft flying at high altitude over Mullaitivu at 8.35 am on Wednesday but the lights appeared to turn back when anti-aircraft guns opened fire.
— IANS
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Car bomb, gunfight kill 22 in Somalia Mogadishu, January 24 Somali police chief Abdi Hassan Qeybdiid said the death toll from the explosion rose to 17 after three more people died of their wounds. Earlier, Mogadishu's deputy governor Abdifatah Ibrahim Shaweye said 14 civilians died in the blast. Five civilians were also killed and 23 wounded in gunbattles between the peacekeepers and insurgents after the explosion, a doctor said. — AFP
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Did UFO attend Obama’s speech?
London, January 24 The recording features CNN anchors talking about the 44th President's historic speech before turning to shoot a scene of Washington DC's Capitol on January 20. The footage later depicts a small dark object zooming past the Washington Monument as thousands braved the freezing weather to see America rewrite history with the swearing-in of their first African-American President. The video, titled 'Filmed by CNN News - UFO at Inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama', was said to have become an online rage on the popular video-sharing website YouTube. It has further prompted blogger discussions, with some dubbing it as a bird or a UFO. "Personally, I think the little green men rocked up to join the rest of the world in wishing Obama well," the Sun quoted a blogger as saying.
— ANI
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US keen to work with Russia on Afghanistan
Washington, January 24 "We certainly look forward to working with Russia on Afghanistan. It's in both the countries' interest to try to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan and bring about, you know, more economic development and security in the country," State Department spokesperson Robert Wood said.
— PTI
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Pashupatinath Row Kathmandu, January 24 A workshop organised by the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), the body that manages the 17th century shrine, today recommended formation of a three-member committee to regularise worship, determine the salary of priests and make the financial system at the shrine transparent. The Pashupatinath Temple’s priests and his aides will now be paid salaries and the shrine’s income will be made transparent, said PADT officials. The trust is headed by the Maoist Minister for Culture and State Restructuring Gopal Kiranti. The PADT is also seeking to formulate the selection criteria of the priests, their qualification and code of conduct. — PTI
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