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90 militants killed in
anti-Taliban offensive
Hotel blast toll rises to 17
Pak to resolve Balochistan problems, says Gilani
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MPRF pushed towards split
India to help Lanka in promoting tourism
PML-N rejects pardon signed by Sharif brothers
Jet Crash
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90 militants killed in
anti-Taliban offensive
Islamabad, June 10 The military said troops had engaged militant positions at Janikhel in Bannu district with heavy fire and a “clearance operation” was underway in Zaidi Akbar Khan area. There was no official word on casualties in fighting in this region though Geo News channel said over 70 militants were killed in operations at Bakakhel and Janikhel areas of Bannu bordering restive Waziristan tribal agency. Another 23 militants and two soldiers were killed in Malakand and Dir during the past 24 hours, the military said. Twelve soldiers, including two officers, were also injured. The military described Janikhel as the “staging area of all militants operating in Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat and Peshawar”. It said between 600 and 800 militants had entered Janikhel from Miranshah and Razmak in North Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold of the Taliban. These militants planned to strike at different places in the North West Frontier Province, the military said. Security forces patrolled Bannu city today while militant strongholds were shelled by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery. —
PTI
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Hotel blast toll rises to 17
Islamabad, June 10 Among the dead were at least three foreigners, including two UN employees - Serbian national Aleksandar Vorkapic, who worked for the UNHCR, and Perseveranda So of the Philippines who worked for UNICEF. Three Pakistanis working for the UNFPA were also killed. Several foreigners were among the more than 50 persons injured. They included two employees of the UN's World Food Programme, three Nigerians, a German and Somalian. Javed Khattak, a doctor at Lady Reading Hospital, said eight of the injured were in a serious condition. Six bodies were pulled out from the debris of the Pearl Continental hotel early this morning, taking the death toll to 17. The bodies of the hotel's general manager and a captain of a Pakistan International Airlines flight crew were among those found today. — PTI
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Pak to resolve Balochistan problems, says Gilani
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani flew to Quetta on Wednesday and promised an all parties to build a national consensus and resolve constitutional, political and economic problems of the Balochistan province.
He was speaking at a conference Talking to reporters on arrival at the airport, the Prime Minister said the government was fully aware of the sense of deprivation that was prevailing in the province. Already it has taken several steps to address grievances of the people of Balochistan but is conscious of the fact that much more is needed,
he added. He said the government was serious in resolving the issues Balochistan
was facing.
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MPRF pushed towards split
Increasing animosity between the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) chairman Upendra Yadav-led group and Parliamentary Party (PP) leader Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar has finally pushed their party towards unavoidable spilt.
The establishment faction led by Chairman Yadav that had announced to sack Gachchhadar and six other leaders of the party on charge of acting against the party decision and anti-Madhes activities and withdraw its support to the CPN-UML-led coalition on Friday, held Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Birgunj on Wednesday to decide the party’s future course. Whereas, the dissident faction led by MPRF PP leader and Gachchhadar, which had filed a petition to the Election Commission on Tuesday along with the signatures of 16 CWC members and 29 lawmakers claiming that the party’s name, flag and election symblo. They had informed the Speaker and had sought official recognition. They have been holding CWC meeting separately in Kathmandu this evening. According to Yadav, the meeting has decided to elect the new PP leader instead of Gachchhadar and intensify protests in and outside parliament. He also said that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala were responsible for hatching conspiracy to split Forum and sabotage the Madhesi people’s desire for “entire Madhes, as an autonomous province” while drafting the new constitution through the CA.
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India to help Lanka in promoting tourism
Colombo, June 10 Sri Lankan Minister of Tourism Milinda Moragoda and Indian Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao agreed to this effect after a meeting in Beijing yesterday. "Indian Embassy will help Sri Lanka promote the country as a tourist destination while the Lankan tourism on its part will organise awareness campaign," Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said. "This is for the first time that the two countries have decided to launch joint tourism promotion programme to promote Chinese tourist market and attract more and more tourists to Indian sub continent," the ministry said. — PTI
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PML-N rejects pardon signed by Sharif brothers
With the Supreme Court continuing hearing of the petition by former premier Nawaz Sharif against his conviction in 2000 on charge of ordering the hijacking of the PIA plane carrying former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) reacted strongly to a stunning statement in the court by Advocate-General Sindh that Sharif was pardoned on a quest from him.
PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal in a statement accused the PPP of indulging in mudslinging against Nawaz Sharif to undermine his reputation. AG Yousaf Leghari submitted the pardon documents and maintained that Nawaz Sharif was ineligible to contest election because his sentence was remitted by a presidential decree and that did not set aside the conviction.
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Jet Crash London, June 10 Two names on the doomed AF 447’s passenger manifest also appear on a list of radical Muslims considered a threat to France, Sky News reported quoting French investigators. French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31, the channel said. Agents are now trying to establish dates of birth for the two dead passengers, and family connections, the channel quoted a source as saying. There is a possibility that the name similarities are simply a “macabre coincidence,” the source added, but the revelation is still being “taken very seriously”. A source working for the French security services told Paris weekly L’Express that the link was “highly significant”. The French police, however, appeared to downplay the possibility of a terror link and said this was a simple coincidence while ruling out a link to the accident. A senior French officer was quoted as saying that the names were “simple namesakes” and dismissed the notion that the suspects were on board, adding that this line of enquiry had been dismissed. The website of L’Express had also reported that French agents were making inquiries after finding the names of two suspected Islamist militants on the manifest. — PTI
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The death toll in the deadly suicide bombing of a luxury hotel in Peshawar rose to 17 today with the recovery of six more bodies from the rubble of the devastated
building
