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28 killed in suicide
attack in Pak
Pak cleric almost clinches peace deal with Taliban
Indians are highest earners in US
196 Indian languages endangered
Scribe shot at in Nepal
LTTE planes attack Colombo; 28 hurt
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28 killed in suicide
attack in Pak
Islamabad, February 20 The suicide bomber struck the 1,500-strong funeral procession of cleric Sher Zaman, who was killed by unidentified gunmen yesterday and the blast created mayhem throwing bodies up in the air. The city, located close to the Taliban-infested Waziristan district, has been the scene of rising sectarian violence with at least six attacks reported in the past few months. District police chief Mohammad Iqbal told reporters 28 people were killed and 157 injured in the powerful blast. Though the procession had security cover, the bomber emerged from a crowded bus terminal on the route of the procession and blew himself up. No group claimed responsibility for the blast. Officials said the attack could be linked to sectarian rivalries. The attack sparked angry protests. People went on the rampage, firing in the air and burning a bus and several other vehicles, forcing the authorities to clamp curfew on the town and call military forces for assistance. Witnesses said the suicide bomber was aged between 15 and 17 years and was bearded. His body was later found torn apart. Relations between Pakistan’s Sunni majority and Shia are under great strain with a sharp rise in attacks on the minority community, ever since the Taliban and Al-Qaida took hold of most of the restive NWFP areas bordering Afghanistan. The protesters, who claimed authorities had not made adequate security arrangements, stoned government offices and security forces, torched and ransacked shops, burnt buses and set up road blocks in the city. They also damaged a police check post, hurled stones at cars on the roads and snatched cameras from television crews that were covering the incident. “The situation is under control and curfew will remain in force till tomorrow,” Iqbal said. People rushed home and parents went to schools to collect their children. There were also reports that staff at a hospital, where the injured were taken, fled on seeing a group of angry protesters. Some of the seriously injured persons were taken to hospitals in Punjab province and Islamabad.
— PTI
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Pak cleric almost clinches peace deal with Taliban
Sufi Mohammad, chief of the defunct Tahrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM), and Tahrik Taliban leaders held their third round of talks at a secret place in the Matta area of the Swat valley today amid reports that they almost concluded an agreement on ceasefire and laying down of arms by militants. Reports from Matta said Sufi Mohammad also had a one-on-one meeting with militant leader and his son-in-law Maulvi Fazlullah to clinch the matter. Sufi has been impressing on militants to end their armed struggle for Islamic Sharia in view of the government’s acceptance of the demand to establish Islamic justice system in Malakand and the Swat region. Informed sources said Fazlullah was agreeable to say farewell to arms, allow girls school system to be restored and help restore peace in the area if the government honours all its pledges. He has demanded a general amnesty for his colleagues, release of those arrested and compensation to hundreds of those who have been killed during fighting in the military operation that began in autumn of 2007. In Peshawar, chief of the ruling Awami National Party (ANP), Asfandyar Wali Khan, vowed to implement the accord reached with Sufi Mohammad and dispelled impression that President Asif Ali Zardari may back out from signing it into a law under international pressure. He said Zardari was firmly committed to approve the legislation adding that the ANP would quit the government if any hurdles were put in the implementation of the accord. “In elections we had promised to the people that we shall restore peace and put an end to violence,” Khan said. Meanwhile, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit while briefing the press brushed aside as “speculative” the concerns of the international community on ramifications of the Swat peace deal and cautioned that speculations in the matter would not be helpful. “These are mostly speculations. Pakistan attaches immense importance to eliminating militancy and terrorism,” he said when his attention was drawn to reservations expressed by NATO and Britain over the deal.
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Indians are highest earners in US
Washington, February 20 The median household income for US residents born in India is $91,195 as against an average of $50,740 for the total population, the data said. Besides, the overall median household income for foreign-born and native US residents is $46,881 and $51,249, respectively. Among all foreign-born residents, a massive 74 per cent of Indians have bachelor's or higher degree, as compared to a 27 per cent average for all foreign-born residents, the US Census Bureau has said, drawing on the data from the 2007 American Community Survey. The data reveals that only 28 per cent of natives in America have bachelor's degree. Overall, about 85 per cent of the total US population - 68 per cent of the foreign-born and 88 per cent of the native-born - are high school graduates. Egypt and Nigeria have rates above 60 per cent while about 80 per cent of the US residents born in China are high school graduates. Numerically, ethnic Indians with a population of 1.5 million rank fourth after Mexicans (11.7 million), Chinese (1.9 million) and the Philippines (1.7 million). — PTI
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196 Indian languages endangered
New York, February 20 India is closely followed by the US, which stands to lose 192 languages and Indonesia, where 147 are in peril. The facts were revealed in the latest Atlas of World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing unveiled by the UN’s cultural agency, Unesco, on the eve of International Mother Language Day tomorrow. The atlas classifies 2,500 of the 6,000 languages spoken worldwide as endangered. It adds that nearly 200 languages have fewer than 10 speakers and 178 others have between 10 and 50 speakers.
— PTI
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Scribe shot at in Nepal
Kathmandu, February 20 He worked for an independent FM radio station as a programme coordinator. “His condition is not critical and he has returned home after treatment at a hospital,” police official Shambhu Shah said. Authorities said there was no evidence yet of armed groups being involved in shooting Mishra and the motive for the crime was not clear. A woman reporter who worked for a local radio station in Janakpur, also in the southern plains, was stabbed to death last month.
— Reuters
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LTTE planes attack Colombo; 28 hurt
Colombo, February 20 “Two aircrafts have entered Colombo and dropped at least two bombs near the Army Headquarters ground,” eyewitnesses said. Following the explosions on the ground, the anti-aircraft guns fired in the direction of the planes as a result the sky was lit up, they said. There was no immediate report of any casualty or damage. One bomb was also reportedly dropped on the Revenue Department building in the high security fort area. Preliminary reports said at least 28 persons were injured in the explosions. Colombo’s International airport was soon closed down following the air raid. “The aircrafts suspected to have come through Puttalam have carried out attacks on Colombo around 9.30 pm tonight,” Puthinam.com reported soon after the strikes. Earlier, Air Force spokesman Janaka Nanayakkara said the air defence system in Colombo was activated following the reports of spotting of two unidentified aircrafts over the skies in northwestern Mannar. Power was cut off in an around Colombo and searchlights pointed towards the sky to detect any suspected LTTE aircraft. According to sources, radars first detected the aircrafts in Mannar before the strikes. “The aircraft disappeared from the radars after it reached some 2 km close to Vavuniya. Since then there were no clues about the aircraft. — PTI
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